by Robert McChesney
In this 90 minute address, Dr. Robert McChesney argues that the disappearance of journalism from newspapers and broadcast media marks the twilight of democracy. Back in the days when Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists started their newspapers, the US Postal Service was mailing them for free. At the time, newspapers were 90% of post office volume, and accounted for 2% of its income, a massive government subsidy. Only a massive subsidy --- a stimulus program for journalism, and stripping corporate owners of dozens and hundreds of stations that some of them own, can begin to make real democracy possible.
“We salute all peoples who are fighting/We honor all those who have died/For the cause of freedom.”
This lecture was delivered on February 3, 2026, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada) for the monthly series “Black History and the Project of Black Studies.”
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Tennessee's claim of being "tough on crime" means racialized policing and incarceration, and profit making off of marginalized people.
