Robert W. McChesney

Robert W. (Bob) McChesney, a man of unwavering kindness, principle and intellect, passed away in his Madison home on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, a little over a year after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was 72 years old.

Bob was born on December 22, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Edna (Meg) and Samuel Parker McChesney Jr. He graduated from Pomfret high school in Connecticut, and later from Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. These educational experiences shaped his intellectual and political growth, and many of his teachers, professors and fellow students would remain friends and collaborators throughout his life. Upon graduation, Bob worked for the Sun, a weekly newspaper in Seattle. He then cofounded and served as the publisher for The Rocket, a popular music magazine, which chronicled the burgeoning Seattle rock scene of the 1980s.

Bob developed an interest in media policy and was accepted to the University of Washington, from which he received a MA and a PhD in Communication. In 1986, two years before he accepted his first teaching job in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he married Inger Stole. Their first daughter, Amy was born in 1988 and Lucy, their second daughter, was born in 1995. Bob was a loving father who took great joy in his daughters. He delighted in telling them stories and inventing games for them when they were young, and he remained exceptionally close to both of them as they grew to adulthood.

The move to Madison was a transformative experience for Bob. His dissertation had explored the tactics that commercial broadcasters had employed to gain control of the radio industry in the 1930s. He charted the growing consolidation of corporate control of almost all media over the ensuing decades, and began to sound the alarm about threat this concentration of power posed to democracy.

Connecting initially with Madison activists, and members of the media community who shared his concerns, Bob soon began working with media scholars and activists across the country. He would eventually lecture at top universities in the United States and around the world, while his books earned honors such as Harvard's Goldsmith Book Prize and the Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award.

In 2003, soon after he had accepted a position in the Institute for Communication Research at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Bob collaborated with his friend, political journalist John Nichols, and Josh Silver and Kimberly Longey, to form Free Press, a national group that has led the fight to keep mass media free from monopoly control and censorship. This was followed by two active decades. In addition to university teaching and research, Bob wrote (and co-wrote) dozens of books and hundreds of articles calling for media reform. He gave lectures to civil, religious and educational groups, participated in documentaries and television shows, and hosted a weekly program called Media Matters on radio station WILL in Urbana, Illinois. He also worked diligently, and successfully, to include graduate students in media reform work, providing them with opportunities for internships and postdoctoral research projects. Keenly aware that the fight for media reform would be a long-lasting battle, Bob recognized the importance of recruiting young scholars and activists to continue the struggle. By the end of his life, he was particularly concerned about the ongoing decline of American journalism, a trend he had identified and warned about for more than three decades. He never stopped working to reverse that trend.

Bob was constantly looking for ways to connect people with one another. He made himself available and generously shared his time and knowledge. He never worried about being credited for his work, believing that getting things done was the most important goal. Asked in the late stages of his life about how he wished to be remembered, he did not mention his scholarship, academic awards, popular books or activist record. Neither did he want his legacy to be that of the fanatical Boston Celtics and Cleveland Browns fan that he was. Bob's hope was that he would be remembered as "a good friend."

In addition to his wife and two daughters -Amy (Martin), of Boulder, Colorado, and Lucy, of Denver, Bob is survived by his brother Samuel (Vicki) McChesney, nephew Jed McChesney and niece Amanda Lockett, all of Kansas City, Kansas. A second nephew, Nate Mcchesney, lives In Denver, Colorado. He will be missed by his beloved cats; Gus, Bernie and Lucifer. Bob also leaves behind hundreds of loving friends, grateful students, and media activists who will continue the vital work that he began. 

A celebration of Bob's life is planned for later this year.

In Bob's memory, please consider a donation to The Progressive Magazine, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Free Press, or a progressive activist group of your own choosing.

For a wonderful tribute, see: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/robert-mcchesney-obituary/

Please share your memories of Bob by posting in his Guestbook.

Cress Funeral Services

3610 Speedway Road, Madison

(608) 238-3434