In These Times magazine presents an evening with John Nichols, Washington correspondent for progressive newsmagazine The Nation, and Robert W. McChesney, award-winning author and media critic, on Tuesday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m. This free event will take place at In These Times’ offices, located at 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago. Refreshments will be served.

Nichols and McChesney will discuss their new book, Tragedy & Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy. The book documents the decline in resources and standards for political journalism and examines the organized campaign by the political right to control the news cycle, providing an essential framework by which to judge the role of the media in American democracy. The two authors co-founded of the national media reform group Free Press and are considered among the country’s foremost media analysts.

Using the 2004 elections and the war in Iraq as case studies, Tragedy & Farce makes a powerful case for media reform as one of the most pressing agendas in contemporary democracy. Nichols and McChesney will discuss how their book takes on the corporate interests and political strategists influencing the spin, and even omission, of vital news.

Bill Moyers, former host of PBS’ Now, declares Nichols and McChesney “the Paul Revere and Thomas Paine of our time. We ignore them at democracy’s peril.”

Visuals of the book cover and authors are available.

For more information regarding this event, please contact:

Erin Polgreen,
Advertising and Marketing Coordinator, In These Times
Phone: 773/772.0100 Ext. 225, E-mail: Erin (at) inthesetimes.com

Joseph Huff-Hannon,
The New Press
Phone: 212/629.4281, E-mail: jhhannon (at) thenewpress.com