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."
November 1, 2025
Paul Buhle reviews Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism, a new biography of the seminal—yet previously lesser known—activist and journalist, Hubert Harrison. Through this new intellectual and cultural study of Harrison's remarkable life and work, Buhle writes, author Brian Kwoba tells a story of a man ahead of his time in challenging white supremacy and capitalism through Black radical thought.
