The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-Hungry Government Are Turning America Into a Dictatorship »

In this chilling account of an America in political and cultural decline, media critics Elliot D. Cohen and Bruce W. Fraser show how mainstream media corporations like CNN, Fox, and NBC (General Electric) together with giant telecoms like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have become administration pawns in a well-organized effort to hijack America. Cohen and Fraser show in blunt terms how incredible power, control, and wealth have been amassed in the hands of an elite few while the rest of us have been systematically manipulated, deceived, and divested of our freedom. Calling attention to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a carefully devised plan for international dominion launched by high officials in the Bush administration, this book tells the story of an America quietly being stripped of its democratic way of life on its way to becoming a full-blown authoritarian state.

The authors detail how mainstream media have failed us in covering issues crucial to the survival of American democracy-the Bush administration's domestic spying program; the facts about the September 11 attacks; presidential election fraud; the events leading up to the Iraq war; and the selling out of Internet freedom, to name just some. They reveal how corporate media have systematically attempted to dumb down and distract us from reality with sex and violence; how government has used corporate media to "shock and awe" Americans into surrendering their constitutional rights in the name of the "War on Terrorism"; and how media personalities have been complicit in the mass deception.

The final chapter points out important ways in which Americans can counter the erosion of democracy by relying less on mainstream media and more on independent news sources, through grassroots activism, peaceful assembly, and exercising their free speech, and by using critical thinking to expose the dangers we face.

Introduction   Peter Phillips, director, Project Censored     9
The New American Dictatorship     17
London Bridge Is Falling Down     17
The Emperor Is Naked     32
Bush's "Culture of Life" Is Really a Culture of Oppression     47
The Fox Is Guarding the Henhouse     55
Who's in Bed with Whom?     55
The Socio-Pathology of Corporate Media Giants     62
Less Unscrupulous Media Corporations     64
Film Censorship: Coming Soon to a Theater Near You     72
Look Who's Not Looking Out for You     81
The High-Priced Hookers of Mediaville     81
Journalists with Chutzpah     93
The Media Matrix     108
The Un-American Dream     109
The Illusion of Freedom     110
Extreme Makeover of the American Mind     118
Wasting Away in Mediaville     127
Manufacturing Prejudice     127
Exploiting Family Relations     130
Dumbing Down America     136
Marketing War     139
Blaming the Liberals     148
The Quiet Plot to Steal America     150
The Myth of Liberal Bias     155
Shock and Awe     173
American Terrorism (The MSM Covers Up the Blood)     173
Bush's War on Terror: Keep Us Afraid, We'll Submit     176
Who Terrorized Whom on 9/11?     183
Big Brother Is Watching Us     195
Dissidents Beware: The Outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame     197
Prosecuting Journalists as Traitors for Doing Their Job     202
Project for the New American Net     208
The PNAN Plan     209
The Supreme Betrayal of Internet Freedom     212
Silencing the Little Guy: The Mega Telecom "Pay for Play" Plan     217
The Great American Firewall     219
Now Under Way: The Hostile Takeover of Wi-Fi Internet     228
Pax Americana     233
America the Tyrannical: The Neoconservative Vision for the Twenty-first Century     234
The Godfathers of K Street     246
Deconstructing Politico-Corporate Power     254
Democracy in a Black Box     259
The Help America Vote Act (AKA: The Help to End Free Elections in America Act)     261
The Unimpeachable Evidence for Widespread, Systematic Voting Fraud     271
What Now, Compatriots?     290
The Timely Lesson of Nazi Germany     291
Keeping Informed with Indie Media      298
Saving the Free Internet     300
Peaceful Assembly and Civil Disobedience     302
Educators Are Vanguards of Democracy     306
Selected Media     313
Selected Bibliography     317
Index     321