Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy

Description

Celebrants and sceptics alike have produced valuable analyses of the Internet's effect on us and our world, oscillating between utopian bliss and dystopian hell. McChesney argues that a society drenched in commercial information is a democratic one. He says the Internet is not naturally' commercial. Capitalism's colonisation of the Internet has spurred the collapse of credible journalism and has made the Internet a place of numbing commercialism, an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance and an anti-democratic force.'

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of several books on the media, including the award-winning "Rich Media, Poor Democracy" and "Communication Revolution." He lives in Champaign, Illinois.

"No one knows this field better than McChesney, and with this book he has reached the pinnacle." -Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive "A thorough and alarming critique of the corruption of one of the most influential inventions in human history." -Publishers Weekly, starred review "Indispensable reading." -Gar Alperovitz, author of What Then Must We Do? "Once again, McChesney stands at the crossroads of media dysfunction and the denial of democracy, illuminating the complex issues involved and identifying a path forward to try to repair the damage. Here's hoping the rest of us have the good sense to listen this time." -Eric Alterman