| Advertising and a Democratic Press Subjects: Advertising -- Political aspects -- United States; Pressure groups -- United States; Censorship -- United States; Manipulative behavior -- United States; Freedom of the press -- United States; Advertising -- Taxation -- United States; Advertising law -- U; In this provocative book, C. Edwin Baker argues that print advertising seriously distorts the flow of news by creating a powerfully corrupting incentive: the more newspapers depend financially on advertising, the more they favor the interests of advertisers over those of readers. Advertising induces newspapers to compete for a maximum audience with blandly "objective" information, resulting in reduced differentiation among papers and the eventual collapse of competition among dailies. |