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Rating: 
Summary: Strong material poorly organized
Review: Despite the dead-on title, Sheckter's narrative works better as personal reminscence than serious critique of a sterile media. A chief reason lies in the general absence of structure. There is no observable principle ordering the text. This results in an unpredictable and erratic narrative, which a more astute editor, I believe, could have presented more effectively - the material is there. Unfortunately, the whole adds up to considerably less than the parts.At bottom, Sheckter's book provides insights into both strengths and weaknesses of the New Left from which he hails. None of the Old Left's rigid dogmatism enters into the text. On one hand, this allows him to confront a lock-step media in a more agile and less preconceived manner than critics of old. On the other hand, it produces a hopeful innocence that seems to learn much less from informed experience than should be the case. Does the author really expect these corporate entities to reform themselves in a progressive manner as his recommendations indicate. Here we arrive at a crux of the dilemma confronting any erstwhile reformer. Can real, humane change be expected of those entities whose bottom line is always money, even when an inventive and dedicated gadfly like Sheckter burrows from within. Without serious pressure from outside the industry, can such gadflys serve as anything more than occasionally troublesome house radicals. Given the temper of the times, that may be as much as anyone can expect.
Rating:
Summary: Strong material poorly organized
Review: Despite the dead-on title, Sheckter's narrative works better as personal reminscence than serious critique of a sterile media. A chief reason lies in the general absence of structure. There is no observable principle ordering the text. This results in an unpredictable and erratic narrative, which a more astute editor, I believe, could have presented more effectively - the material is there. Unfortunately, the whole adds up to considerably less than the parts. At bottom, Sheckter's book provides insights into both strengths and weaknesses of the New Left from which he hails. None of the Old Left's rigid dogmatism enters into the text. On one hand, this allows him to confront a lock-step media in a more agile and less preconceived manner than critics of old. On the other hand, it produces a hopeful innocence that seems to learn much less from informed experience than should be the case. Does the author really expect these corporate entities to reform themselves in a progressive manner as his recommendations indicate. Here we arrive at a crux of the dilemma confronting any erstwhile reformer. Can real, humane change be expected of those entities whose bottom line is always money, even when an inventive and dedicated gadfly like Sheckter burrows from within. Without serious pressure from outside the industry, can such gadflys serve as anything more than occasionally troublesome house radicals. Given the temper of the times, that may be as much as anyone can expect.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly, 'tis the truth
Review: Great book. It magnifies the dynamics at the coalface of infortainment. This book, read alongside the scholarly Chomsky and Herman's "Manufacturing Consent", give a wholesome and accurate picture of the media. Chomsky and Herman provide a structural analysis of the 4th estate, and Schechter testifies further to the accuracy of their analysis by sharing his experiences.
Rating:
Summary: Sadly, 'tis the truth
Review: Great book. It magnifies the dynamics at the coalface of infortainment. This book, read alongside the scholarly Chomsky and Herman's "Manufacturing Consent", give a wholesome and accurate picture of the media. Chomsky and Herman provide a structural analysis of the 4th estate, and Schechter testifies further to the accuracy of their analysis by sharing his experiences.
Rating:
Summary: Some good thoughts ... but author gets WAY off track
Review: The author does make some excellent (and scary) points about the state of modern journalism in the first 2 or 3 chapters of the book. However, the book soon veers off course focusing mainly on the aphartide in South Africa. While this does correspond with the theme, I don't know if it deserves 3/4 of the book. I also got the impression that the author sees himself as a saint, impervious to the trends that are affecting the rest of the media. Not a bad book, I suppose, but there are better out there.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-Provoking
Review: This book is an overall excellent read. Although a little wordy and self-promotional at times, "The More You Watch..." is definitely a book that'll make you think. It gives behind-the-scenes details of the fall of journalism and the incredible dangers of corporate media culture. I was particulary interested in the "dumbing down of America", I feel that Schecter is right and that we as people in a democratic society should start questioning the media and not allow the government to give away our right to information!
Rating: 
Summary: Important story - great read
Review: This is just about as engaging an adventure story as you could possibly hope for, from the media-[Groucho]Marxist whom Boston-area progressives will remember as The News Dissector. Somebody is bound to make this book into a movie. It's just too visual, too many great characters to keep pent up between covers. But why should *you* wait? Get it now. No, Danny didn't grow up to run the New York Times or CBS. Every now and then in the book, there's little edge that suggests that maybe he half-wishes he had. Maybe that's one reason it's such a good read. That, and the tales he's collected over the course of the 30 years he's spent writing and shooting from all over the world, following stories from the civil rights and antiwar movements in the US, to the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. Danny's also been watching his own profession as closely as any developing story. He's seen it from a variety of interesting perspectives - behind the mike at the '70s FM voice of Boston's progressive community, over the line in all night lo-budget TV, across the table from Ted Turner in the early days at CNN, on location for ABC's 20/20, or denned-up in Manhattan at Globalvision, the independent progressive TV production company he cofounded a decade ago with fellow network refugee Rory O'Connor. And this award-winning veteran doesn't mind telling you, he's more than a little disturbed about what's happened to journalism. But unlike most critics who start from the premise that the media need fixing, Schechter genuinely believes things *can* be fixed, that a grass-roots movement can be media's salvation, and that there is a role for *us* in the struggle to make journalism better. Us. You and me -- Joe and Josephine Consumer. Buy this book and learn your part.
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