Robert McChesney Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“If you're running for reelection in the House of Representatives race, you know, it's very important to you that you be on fairly good terms with the local affiliates in the largest market in your area. I mean you don't want to antagonize them.”

“And understand that scarce spectrum is used today for example for cell phone operators, they have to pay for the airwaves they use, for their services.”

“The commercial broadcasters have tremendous influence in Washington, D.C., for a couple of reasons. First, they're extremely rich and they have lots of money and they have had for a long time, so they can give money to politicians, which gets their attention.”

“Our existing media system today is the direct result of government laws and subsidies that created it.”

“So the competition isn't once you got the license, running the station; it's getting the license.”

“The public gets not one penny from them in return for those airwaves.”

“If you look at the history of broadcasting, what you find is the National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association whose mission is to protect the interests of the commercial broadcasters.”

“Also, the commercial media in a superior position, really, to any other corporate lobby, because where would people hear about commercial media or corporate media criticism, where would they hear criticism of them other than in the commercial media?”

“And they've got to be held accountable; our broadcasting system has to be made accountable; and unless it is, it's going to be very hard to change anything else for the better in this country.”

“Because Hightower's problem, among other things, is that advertisers would be a lot less interested in his show than in Limbaugh's, even if they have similar ratings, because of what Hightower is saying.”