FDL Book Salon: The New Blue Media: How Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, Jon Stewart and Company Are Transforming Progressive Politics

Getting the assignment for this particular Book Salon was funny, because when I think of guys named Theodore Hamm, I think of local 19th century beer magnates. But the Theodore Hamm whose book we’re discussing today is not a beer magnate (as far as I know, anyway), but a very good author with a lot to say.

Theodore Hamm is the founding editor of The Brooklyn Rail, and his latest book is entitled The New Blue Media: How Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, Jon Stewart and Company Are Transforming Progressive Politics. It examines, in a fast-reading style appropriate for its subject matter, the rise during the Bush years of new media stars that use the cloak of comedy to smuggle the news to us, news that the mainstream press doesn’t want to give us. Yup, we’re talking about entities like The Onion, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. We’re also talking about Michael Moore and Air America, and MoveOn, Daily Kos, and the netroots in general. With the exception of Air America, all of these new media outlets have found commercial success—marking, says Hamm, a new era in liberal politics. Let’s give a hearty FDL welcome to Theodore Hamm!

Related posts:

1. FDL Book Salon Welcomes Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman, 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America
2. FDL Book Salon Welcomes, Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler, Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics
3. FDL Book Salon Welcomes Matthew Kerbel, Netroots: Online Progressives and the Transformation of American Politics
4. FDL Book Salon Welcomes Eric Boehlert, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press
5. Can Religion Enhance Progressive Politics?