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 | | Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush by Eric Boehlert ISBN-10: 9780743289313 ISBN-10: 0-7432-8931-5 ISBN-13: 9780743289313 ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-8931-3 Hardcover 2006-05-09 Free Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description "Lapdogs is the first book to demonstrate that, for the entire George W. Bush presidency, the news media have utterly failed in their duty as watchdog for the public. In blistering prose, Eric Boehlert reveals how, time after time, the press chose a soft approach to covering the government, and as a result reported and analyzed crucial events incompletely and even inaccurately. From WMDs to Valerie Plame to the NSA's domestic spying, mainstream fixtures such as The New York Times, CBS, CNN, and Time magazine too often ignored the administration's missteps and misleading words, and did not call out the public officials who betrayed the country's trust. Throughout both presidential campaigns and the entire Iraq war to date, the media acted as a virtual mouthpiece for the White House, giving watered-down coverage of major policy decisions, wartime abuses of power, and egregious mistakes -- and sometimes these events never made it into the news at all. Finally, in Lapdogs, the press is being held accountable by one of its own. Boehlert homes in on the reasons the press did not do its job: a personal affinity for Bush that journalists rarely displayed toward his predecessor, Bill Clinton; a Republican White House that threatened to deny access to members of the media who asked challenging questions or voiced criticism; and a press that feared being tainted by accusations of liberal bias. Moreover, journalists -- who may have wanted to report accurately on the important stories -- often found themselves at cross-purposes with media executives, many of whom were increasingly driven by economic concerns. Cowed by all of these factors, the media abandoned their traditional role of stirring up meaningful public debate. Boehlert asserts that the Bush White House never subscribed to the view -- commonly held by previous administrations -- that a relationship with the press is an important part of the democratic process. Instead, it saw the press as just another special interest group that needed to be either appeased or held at bay -- or, in some cases, squashed. The administration actively undermined the basic tenets of accurate and fair journalism, and reporters and editors accepted their reduced roles without a whimper. To an unprecedented degree, journalists too often stopped asking uncomfortable questions of people in power. In essence, the entire purpose and pursuit of journalism was sacrificed. Riveting in its sharp denouncement, supported by dozens of glaring and troubling examples of journalistic malpractice, Lapdogs thoroughly dissects the press's misconduct during Bush's presidency and gives voice to the growing public dismay with the mainstream media. " | ||
Reviews | ||
Well-written I have to confess. I had to put this book down several times because I was so disgusted with what Boehlert was writing. As a former newsroom designer, I saw this censorship by the media firsthand before 9/11, and watched how it got worse after 9/11. I have to admit that everything in this book is not news to me. I don't know whether to cry in disgust or throw the book across the room to the television set (I am not a fan of TV news shows. I have never been one since how can you get your news in thirty seconds or less? To me, it has never been an accurate medium of getting your news.). It is disgusting at how the media literally has rolled over for the current administration and worse. My favorite quote out of this book is on page 271 of the hardback edition: "In an American culture increasingly drenched in violence, it seemd odd that war imagery, of all things, was treated so timidly." And a quote from the author of "Shooting Under Fire: The World of the War Photographer," Peter Howe: "If war is divorced from daily life as a video game is, we can't make judgments and we find ourselves mired in something we did not expect." If you are a serious reader wondering why the mainstream media is not accurately doing its job of reporting unbiasedly of all news, good or bad, then you should read this book. Even if you disagree with the author, this is a good book which will definitely make you think about the affairs of this country and how the MSM is failing the American public. It is not doing its job of reporting the facts, it is not doing its job of being neutral; and it is not doing its job of informing the public on which to make educated decisions. This book really is a must-read for all serious students of journalism and communication majors, in college and after. 7/5/08 | ||
Excellent Synopsis of Press Melt-down; Editor Needed I'm glad I did not see the WaPost review before reading Lapdogs. I felt Boehlert did a great job of placing his punches and making the vivid and very depressing case that the former Mainstream Media have foresaken their role as contrarians, fact-finders, and authority-defiers. As most thinking people, and especially those who no longer settle for the MSM as their news source know full well, almost all of these folks at best are sycophants to the Bush administration these days. The arguably provable fact is that there is a very strong bias for the present administration, yet the outdated and disproven meme of "liberal press bias" still echoes in not a few apparently unoccupied skulls. So, from me, high marks. The dramatic contrast between the mainstream media handling of "pro-administration" issues like Schiavo and "anti-administration" (okay, more accurately, administration venality) issues as exemplified by the Downing Street Memo is well-documented. This is one of the better summaries and encapsulations of our sorry journalistic meltdown that I have read. However. I've been accused (okay, praised as part of my job) of being a careful reader. Boehlert's fine intent here is greatly harmed for those of us still hung up on the niceties by truly sorrowful, at least mediocre if not absent, editing and proofreading. I finally came to underlining in annoyance and grief at the remarkably frequent occurrences of a multitude of errors - missing words, wrong words, extra words seemingly left from waffling as to best choice, etc., etc. Beyond distracting. I have tried to find a straightforward means of sharing my annoyance over D- editing with Simon & Schuster, but as is so often the case, their direct maildrop seems to be closely guarded. But in the interests of promoting important polemic regarding press meltdown, I will get over it - and you should too. Track this down and read it. With any luck it will empower and help gird you for the upcoming election storm, which will doubtless feature appalling media nonsense, as they are by now so in the habit. | ||
Mountain out of a Molehill Where is it written that the media has to play watchdog for the public good??? I thought the media is there to REPORT THE NEWS, not take positions on matters! I have to agree that coverage online is much, much better than what you get on television. Let's face it, the networks and cable are pretty much superfluous at this point, and have been since the 2000 election. Dan Rather and his ilk should have been gone years ago. However, to say that the news rolled over for Bush is wrong, I think if you inserted the name Bill Clinton instead of Bush you would be on target. (The world was burning down around us, and all we got was Monica L.) I also get the feeling that if Bush were a Demoncrat there wouldn't be all this hand wringing among the chattering media types. Nevertheless, it is a new day for electioneering; but you would think because of this we could produce better candidates than Obama, Clinton and McCain. I feel that due to this hyper-media environment you get these type of candidates: empty suit Obama, harridan Hillary, and nutjob McCain. | ||
Excellent After reading this book I'm convinced the press is another arm of the Republican Party. Boehlert does a wonderful job exposing the media cover-up of the Jeff "Gannon" Guckert scandal and others. But it. | ||
Russert Revealed! Just as I always suspected, the Washington press is more interested in the cocktail circuit than breaking the news. Tim Russert is indeed the blowhard he appears to be. | ||