Foreword by Robert W. McChesney
Microradio and Democracy discusses the role of citizen access to communications in a democratic society, and how diversity, localism, and core political speech are undermined by corporate control of the public airwaves. Greg Ruggiero examines the emergence of the microradio activism and recent court cases, and the links between the microradio struggle and larger movements for democracy and social justice. Illustrated with photos and graphics, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned about keeping free speech for communities, not corporations.
Represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, in February 2002 Ruggiero won a First Amendment victory in Federal District Court. The case, Ruggiero vs the FCC proved that the U.S. government's lifetime prohibition against individuals who had engaged in civil disobedience from applying for a low-power FM license was unconstitutional. The victory was later overturned by an en banc decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected to hear the case.
Greg Ruggiero co-founded the Open Media Series in 1991, which has since published some of the most outspoken scholars, social justice advocates, and dissidents of our time, including Angela Y. Davis, Allen Ginsberg, Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Arundhati Roy, and Subcomandante Marcos. He currently works for City Lights, the legendary San Francisco-based publisher.
A longtime media analyst and critic of capitalism, Robert McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2002, he co-founded the Free Press, a media reform organization, and acted as its president until 2008. McChesney lives in Illinois.
