Robust, uninhibited, provocative, and even scurrilous criticism of corporate media by the Fifth Estate-composed of private citizens and watchdog and partisan groups of all stripes-is vital to the functioning of the American democratic process. Hayes reviews the historical development of press criticism since the 1880s in each of ten categories: muckrakers, journalism reviews, columnists and authors, television press critics, press councils, advocacy groups, scholars, ombudsmen, bloggers, and satirists. The author provides nine case studies of recent press criticism campaigns that have, though widely vilified as uncivil or marginalized as kooky, contributed significantly to checking the pretensions of corporate media to an unwholesome monopoly on journalistic truth.

Press Critics Are the Fifth Estate is the first serious book about the press to treat Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as important and effective watchdogs of corporate media. Hayes’s other case studies include:

Ben Bagdikian vs. media conglomerates

bloggers vs. CBS, CNN, and the New York Times

Steve Brill and Brill’s Content

Jeff Cohen and FAIR

Reed Irvine and Accuracy in Media

Carl Jensen and Project Censored

Project for Excellence in Journalism

Jay Rosen and Civic Journalism