Robert W. McChesney

Robert W. McChesney

Robert Waterman McChesney is an American professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. McChesney has a particular interest in the state of journalism, and the relationship of media systems and structures to effective self-governance. He is the co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization. From 2002-2012 McChesney hosted the “Media Matters” weekly radio program every Sunday afternoon on WILL-AM radio.

McChesney frequently writes with John Nichols and John Bellamy Foster. He is among the most widely read and honored communication scholars in the world today. His work has been professionally translated into 30 languages. In 2001 Adbusters Magazine named him one of the “Nine Pioneers of Mental Environmentalism.” Utne Reader in 2008 listed him as one of their "50 visionaries who are changing the world". In 2006 David Horowitz included McChesney on his list of the “101 most dangerous professors in America.”