Free Press Mourns the Death of Co-Founder and Scholar Robert W. McChesney

WASHINGTON — Robert W. McChesney, the eminent media scholar and co-founder of Free Press, died on Tuesday, March 25, in Madison, Wisconsin. Before his retirement, McChesney was the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he taught for two decades. He also taught from 1988 to 1998 at the University of Wisconsin. Among many other honors, he received lifetime-achievement awards from the International Communication Association and the Union for Democratic Communications. 

McChesney was the author or editor of 27 books, including Rich Media, Poor Democracy; The Problem of the Media; and Digital Disconnect. He co-authored several books with his frequent co-author and close friend John Nichols, including The Death and Life of American Journalism and Dollarocracy. McChesney was the president of Free Press in its early years and served on its board of directors afterward.

Free Press President and Co-CEO Craig Aaron said:

“Bob McChesney was a brilliant scholar whose ideas and insights reached far beyond the classroom. He opened the eyes of a generation of academics, journalists, politicians and activists — including me — to how media structures and policies shape our broader politics and possibilities.

“While McChesney spent much of his career charting the problems of the media and the critical junctures that created our current crises, he believed fundamentally in the public’s ability to solve those problems and build a media system that serves people’s needs and sustains democracy. His ideas were bold and transformative, and he had little patience for tinkering around the edges. Rather than fighting over Washington’s narrow vision of what was possible, he always said — and Bob loved a good sports metaphor — that we needed to throw the puck down to the other end of the ice.

“McChesney believed in turning ideas into action — which is why he co-founded Free Press. He believed that people deserve a say in policy decisions that for far too long were made in their name but without their consent. He taught us that the media wasn’t something that just happened to us, but something that we can and must shape and change. We at Free Press remain committed to that work and his vision.

“McChesney was a generous mentor and devoted friend to me and so many others who made his cause our life’s work. While I was first moved by his words on the page, what I will remember most is his humor and kindness, his passion for the Cleveland Browns and Boston Celtics, and especially his devotion to his family. We send our deepest condolences to his wife, daughters and many friends. May his memory be a blessing.”