Miller, Mark Crispin

Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media, culture, and communication (sometimes referred to as media ecology) at New York University (NYU) and a widely quoted and published media critic, political commentator, and blogger. He earned a B.A. from Northwestern University in 1971 and then went to The Johns Hopkins University, where he spent several years earning a master's degree in 1973 and a Ph.D. in English, with a focus on Renaissance literature, in 1977. Miller also served as director of film studies at Johns Hopkins before leaving for his post at NYU.

Since the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Miller has been an outspoken critic of former President George W. Bush and the two elections that elevated him to the White House. He has published three related books: The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (2002), Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order (2005), and Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform (2007). Miller also edited Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000–2008 (2008).

Although Miller is widely known for his work on Bush policy and election mismanagement, he also teaches classes related to advertising and society as well as mass persuasion and propaganda. In 2011, Miller was at work on a new book, on the history and phenomenon of Marlboro cigarettes, The Marlboro Man: An American Success Story. Miller's research interests are also quite varied, ranging from the history and tactics of advertising to media ownership and sex education. In addition to writing books on these topics, he has edited two book series, Icons of America, published by Yale University Press, and Discovering America, published by the University of Texas Press.

Perhaps because he has such a variety of teaching and research interests, Miller has been a much sought-after interviewee for a number of documentaries, including Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11 (2004), Fear and the Selling of American Empire (2004), The Fall of America and the Western World (2009), and two Frontline documentaries for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) examining marketing, marketing research, and the industry known as trend spotting: The Persuaders (2004) and The Merchants of Cool (2001). Miller's credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) also include an appearance as himself on a January 2006 airing of the popular and highly rated The Daily Show With[Page 230]Jon Stewart. Other mainstream media appearances include The Newshour, FOXNews Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

In addition to appearing on mainstream television media, Miller has performed on the New York stage. In 2004, he developed and starred in Patriot Act: A Public Meditation. His performance was billed not as a work of theater but as “a provocative, funny, and scary exposé of threats to our American democracy and freedom.” During six weeks' worth of performances, Miller walked audience members through a multimedia presentation, with each performance slightly different from the previous one because it incorporated the newest information and media reports.

Miller's appearance on The Daily Show and his stint on the New York theater scene are two ways in which he has successfully integrated his academic and professional work into the mainstream. Another way in which Miller educates the mainstream is through his blog, “News From Underground.” The blog is a daily news feed and e-mail service that aims to keep readers up to date on issues affecting democracy and political life in the United States and abroad. Readers can also follow Miller on Twitter and Facebook, and the blog has a YouTube channel as well as an RSS feed to provide a multimedia view of the news.

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