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The Battle to Control America's Media
Metropolitan Books
January 2007
On Sale: January 9, 2007
352 pages
ISBN: 0805078193
EAN: 9780805078190
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Political
A groundbreaking investigative work by a critically
acclaimed sociologist on the corporate takeover of local
news and what it means for all Americans For the residents of Minot, North Dakota, Clear Channel
Communications is synonymous with disaster. Early in the
morning of January 18, 2002, a train derailment sent a cloud
of poisonous gas drifting toward the small town. Minot’s
fire and rescue departments attempted to reach Clear
Channel, which owned and operated all six local commercial
radio stations, to warn residents of the approaching threat.
But in the age of canned programming and virtual DJs, there
was no one in the conglomerate’s studio to take the call.
The people of Minot were taken unawares. The result: one
death and more than a thousand injuries. Opening with the story of the Minot tragedy, Eric
Klinenberg’s Fighting for Air takes us into the world of
preprogrammed radio shows, empty television news stations,
and copycat newspapers to show how corporate ownership and
control of local media has remade American political and
cultural life. Klinenberg argues that the demise of truly
local media stems from the federal government’s malign
neglect, as the agencies charged with ensuring diversity and
open competition have ceded control to the very
conglomerates that consistently undermine these values and
goals. Such “big media” may not be here to stay, however. Fighting
for Air delivers a call to action, revealing a rising
generation of new media activists and citizen journalists—a
coalition of liberals and conservatives—who are demanding
and even creating the local coverage they need and deserve.
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