Words & Money

Back in the early 80 it’s estimated that there were over 50 companies that controlled or influenced media in the US. Today that number is less than 6. In spite of the dramatic increase in blogs, the web, 24/7 cable, there is clearly a homogenization of our media. More then the story of how this has happened, the real question is what impact has it had on our democracy and on the proliferation of new ideas, on debate and on the intellectual, creative destruction that is the very essence of a free society. Legendary publsiher Andre Schffrin has been on the barricades of these questions for over fifty years. Now he reexamines all of it in his new book Words & Money. My conversation with Andre Schffrin: