REVIEW: Truly critical and honest appraisals of The Guardian’s record as a guardian of power still needed

Review of Capitalism’s Conscience: 200 Years of the Guardian, edited by Des Freedman

Abstract

Capitalism’s Conscience: 200 Years of the Guardian, edited by Des Freedman. London: Pluto Press. 2021, 320 pages. ISBN 9780745343341; 9780745343358

A collection of essays, Capitalism’s Conscience—200 Years of the Guardian, has been recently published. Edited by Des Freedman, professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, the volume notes that Guardian editor Kath Viner promised that her newspaper would ‘challenge the economic assumptions of the last three decades’, ‘challenge the powerful’ and ‘use clarity and imagination to build hope’. Freedman says the book ‘seeks to examine these claims’ (Freedman, 2021, x). The collection of essays, mostly contributed by media academics, is published by Pluto Press, which has published all three Media Lens books; most recently, Propaganda Blitz, in 2018. Several good reasons for not criticising a book published by one’s own publisher can be found in Tolstoy’s list, but the academic filtering of truth is a key issue that cries out for honest discussion. This essay by three prominent journalists critiques Capitalism’s Conscience and concludes there is a pressing need for truly critical and honest appraisals of The Guardian’s record as a guardian of power