December 1, 2025
John Bellamy Foster introduces our special issue celebrating the life and work of MR former coeditor and MR Press author Robert W. McChesney. In his recounting of over 50 years of close friendship and collaboration, Foster paints a portrait of McChesney as a visionary intellectual and activist whose work will reverberate through the communication field for decades to come.
December 1, 2025
In this deeply personal essay, communication scholar Inger Stole shares with readers a glimpse into her life with Robert W. McChesney, her husband of 37 years. Stole reveals the depth of feeling with which McChesney approached all aspects of life, from his work as an intellectual and advocate to his role as a father and life partner.
December 1, 2025
John Nichols, Robert W. McChesney's longtime collaborator and frequent coauthor, celebrates McChesney's near-clairvoyant thought and scholarship. Nichols notes that McChesney's impressive foresight enabled him to see the pitfalls of the digital age long before the Internet became a tool for the worst impulses of the elites under capitalism.
December 1, 2025
Matthew Rothschild looks back on nearly 40 years working alongside his friend and colleague Robert W. McChesney. McChesney, he writes, brought to the world a sharp analysis of not only the contradiction between corporate media and democracy, but between the capitalist system as a whole and a true democracy that serves the people.
December 1, 2025
Sigurd Allern echoes Robert W. McChesney's call for an insurgent communication scholarship that extends beyond the borders of academia and understands media not just as an industry, but as a public good and—critically—key infrastructure for functioning democracy.
December 1, 2025
Victor Pickard celebrates the passion and clarity that Robert W. McChesney brought to his work as an author, media advocate, and founder of Free Press—and in particular, McChesney's bold proposals for a publicly funded and democratic model of local journalism designed to serve communities, rather than corporate interests.
December 1, 2025
In this transcript of a talk from 2015, Robert W. McChesney discusses the "great definitional communication revolutions" that have shaped humanity's trajectory. Even a decade ago, McChesney was able to see the fraught relationship between new technology and democracy, the re-emergence of fascism, and the political dangers of the Digital Age.
December 1, 2025
To conclude our special issue on Robert W. McChesney's legacy, MR presents a series of tributes capturing his impact on the world around him. The diversity represented by these illustrious contributors, from his colleagues at the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) to Senator Bernie Sanders, is a testament to McChesney's enduring influence.
November 1, 2025
In this far-reaching analysis, Vijay Prashad enumerates the conditions of the current conjuncture that, despite seemingly intractable capitalist and imperialist hegemony, point to a reinvigorated revolutionary consciousness among the global population. In a world of capitalist degradation, Prashad declares: "A politics to produce dignity is a socialist politics…. Capitalism inherently generates forms of inequality and indignity. Therefore, all undertakings that seek dignity for all are socialist projects."
November 1, 2025
In this reprise from April 2000, John J. Simon explored the consequences of the landmark Supreme Court case Sweezy v. New Hampshire, which saw MR founding editor facing off against the state of New Hampshire after refusing to respond to questions concerning his political activities. While the case is often seen as marking the waning of McCarthyism, MR editors had a different view: the decline was due to the successful ascension of capitalist interests in U.S. society. "The extreme right had served its purpose, Simon noted, "and could now be reined in."