Mark Crispin Miller (born 1949) is a professor of media studies at New York University. Background and career In the introduction to Seeing Through Movies, Miller argues that the nature of American films has been affected by the impact of advertising. He has said that the handful of multinational corporations in control of the American media have changed youth culture's focus away from values and toward commercial interests and personal vanity. In a June 2001 profile by Chris Hedges for The New York Times, Miller described himself a "public intellectual" and criticized television news "that is astonishingly empty and distorts reality". He has appeared on the Useful Idiots podcast and was praised by its host, Matt Taibbi. Conspiracy-theory and disinformation promotion In his social and political commentary, Miller frequently espouses conspiracy theories. On social media and in other statements, Miller has promoted conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks; anti-vaccine misinformation; the claim that Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election; the claim that the beheading of the journalist James Foley by ISIL was fake; and the claim that the Black Lives Matter movement is funded by the CIA. Miller is a signatory to the 9/11 Truth Statement and a member of the 9/11 Truth movement. He dislikes the term "conspiracy theory", calling the phrase a "meme" used to "discredit people engaged in really necessary kinds of investigation and inquiry." In a 2017 New York Observer interview, he said anyone using the term "in a pejorative sense" is "a witting or unwitting CIA asset". Election fraud conspiracy theories In his book Fooled Again, Miller claims that the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections were stolen. He has since claimed that the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was stolen. 9/11 hoax conspiracy theory In 2016, Miller gave a speech to the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. After a "truthers" symposium on 9/11, Miller told Vice that the official explanations for 9/11 and John F. Kennedy's assassination "are just as unscientific as the ones that everybody feels comfortable ridiculing". Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre hoax conspiracy theory In a blog post, Miller suggested that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax; in a subsequent interview, he denied that any children died in the shooting and voiced "suspicion" that "it was staged" or was "some kind of an exercise." Miller praised a Sandy Hook denial book by James Fetzer as "compelling"