Over the past thirty years, monumental changes have pushed the media further from its core mission of serving the public interest. Political pressures, commercial imperatives, deregulation, and the concentration of immense capital in just a few hands have converged to distort the flow of information and weaken the media’s ability to hold power to account. As a result, trust erodes, civic life suffers, and those without influence are increasingly marginalized.

In this episode of FMC Fast Chat, Jaci Clement speaks with Natalie Fenton —professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, co-founder of the Media Reform Coalition in the UK, and author of Democratic Delusions: How the Media Hollows Out Democracy and What We Can Do About It — to explore the ways a weakened media system harms our demo ...