Book Review: America’s Battle for Media Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform, by Victor Pickard

Abstract

Victor Pickard America's Battle Media Democracy: Triumph of Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 247 pp.This book brings together insightful archival historical research about the development of newspapers and radio during a watershed period, particularly during the 1940s, that has far-reaching impact. Pickard, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School, guides readers using materials found in archives to shed light on what he refers to as a nascent media reform movement, which set the stage a cluster of progressive court actions and policy interventions (p. 3). 1940s decade begins with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chain broadcasting rules and concludes with the Fairness Doctrine public interest standard.Pickard traces regulation through organizational documents, newspaper and journal articles, and editorials to write this historical narrative. He states that his research aligns with Gramsci's theoretical ideology, and the research reveals a critical juncture in history in which activists, intellectuals, and others came into conflict with media industry owners, but corporate libertarianism among media owners was triumphant in influencing media regulatory policymaking (pp. 2, 8).The first four chapters focus on radio industry regulation. Chapters 5 and 6 mainly cover the Hutchins Commission and newspapers. Taken as a whole, America's Battle Media Democracy covers formative years of media policymaking; the book's contents are helpful in providing an historical context to understanding how normative ideas about media in democracy were forged.In The Revolt Against Radio and A Progressive Turn at the Pickard writes about the inception of the FCC, which had a close relationship with media industry owners-including the first four commissioners, all of whom had close prior ties to AT&T or with broadcasting industry corporations. When FCC Commissioner Lawrence (Larry) Fly was appointed in 1939, however, the agency began to take a decided turn (in response to public critics) against commercialism and in support of communities. Furthermore, when many newspaper owners began buying radio which gave rise to the conglomeration of media outlets, the FCC took notice. By the 1940s, the FCC issued an internal report that was published with a blue cover under the title Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees that came to be called simply the Blue Book (p. 63).America's Battle Media Democracy contains Pickard's meticulous research on the origin and development of the Blue Book that was used by radio broadcast regulators in the FCC a short time. federal government reserved ultimate control over all radio channels and granted licenses for use of such channels, but not the ownership thereof (p. 65). In 1940, licenses were reviewed renewal every 3 years and today are reviewed every 8 years.According to Pickard, Fairness Doctrine was basically a lightweight version of the FCC's 1941 Mayflower decision stemming from a license renewal case station WAAB. Fairness Doctrine gave media industry more control over their programming but mandated that they must devote a reasonable percentage of their broadcasting time to the discussion of public issues of interest in the served by their stations, and these programs [must] be designed so that the public has a reasonable opportunity to hear different opposing positions on the public issues of interest and importance in the community (p. …