Hammer Forum

Dollarocracy

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In their new book, Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America, John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney calculate that a record-breaking $10 billion was spent on the 2012 election campaign, much of it on political advertising. As we enter another election year, the award-winning coauthors show us how unbridled campaign spending defines our politics and, failing a dramatic intervention, could signal the end of our democracy. Nichols is the Washington correspondent for The Nation and McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the president and co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization.

This ongoing series of timely, thought-provoking events addresses current social and political issues.
Hammer Forum is moderated by Ian Masters, journalist, author, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and host of the radio programs Background Briefing, Sundays at 11AM, and The Daily Briefing, Monday through Thursday at 5PM, on KPFK 90.7 FM.

Hammer Forum is made possible in part by Bronya and Andrew Galef. 

All Hammer public programs are free and made possible by a major gift from the Dream Fund at UCLA.

Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, the Simms/Mann Family Foundation, The Brotman Foundation of California, Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, and all Hammer members.