4-24-03

Media critic and author Eric Alterman will read from his new book, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News, at Malaprops Bookstore in downtown Asheville at 7 p.m. Friday, May 2. His reading will be followed by a book-signing.

What Liberal Media? describes how regulatory and legal decisions over the last 20 years have increased the concentration of media ownership and strengthened corporate control of America's newsrooms, especially in TV and radio.

This ownership trend, he writes, has increased the tendency for news and information favoring the views and interests of Wall Street, corporate boardrooms and conservative think-tanks.

Alterman currently writes the "Stop the Presses" media column for The Nation magazine. He also writes "Altercation", a daily weblog on media and culture for MSNBC.com.

Alterman teaches magazine journalism at New York University and is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at New School University.

He holds a doctorate in US History from Stanford. Alterman is currently at work on his fourth book, When Presidents Lie: Deception and Its Consequences.

Alterman will also speak and sign books on Saturday, May 3 at the Rolling Thunder Downhome Democracy Tour, the all-day music and political festival at the Asheville Civic Center. For more information, visit the Rolling Thunder-Asheville website at www.main.nc.us/rollingthunder.