Book Description
In the course of more than sixty years spent covering Washington politics, Helen Thomas has witnessed a raft of fundamental changes in the way news is gathered and reported. Gone are the days of frequent firsthand contact with the president. Now, the press sees the president only at tightly controlled and orchestrated press conferences. In addition, Thomas sees a growing -- and alarming -- reluctance among reporters to question government spokesmen and probe for the truth. The result has been a wholesale failure by journalists to fulfill what is arguably their most vital role in contemporary American life -- to be the watchdogs of democracy. Today's journalists, according to Thomas, have become subdued, compromised lapdogs.
Here, the legendary journalist and bestselling author delivers a hard-hitting manifesto on the precipitous decline in the quality and ethics of political reportage -- and issues a clarion call for change. Thomas confronts some of the most significant issues of the day, including the jailing of reporters, the conservative swing in television news coverage, and the administration's increased insistence on "managed" news. But she is most emphatic about reporters' failure to adequately question President George W. Bush and White House spokesmen about the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and on subjects ranging from homeland security to the economy. This, she insists, was a dire lapse.
Drawing on her peerless knowledge of journalism, Washington politics, and nine presidential administrations, as well as frank interviews with leading journalists past and present, Thomas provides readers with a rich historical perspective on the roots of American journalism, the circumstances attending the rise and fall of its golden age, and the nature and consequences of its current shortcomings. The result is a powerful, eye-opening discourse on the state of political reportage -- as well as a welcome and inspiring demand for meaningful and lasting reform.
Customer Reviews:
VERY INTERESTING BOOK.......2007-08-23
Helen Thomas has covered the White House since JFK and her insight into how the media has failed in the recent years to cover the White House and be the Watchdogs of Democracy is "Right on Point." There are very few "Real" Journalists like hardworking Helen Thomas around anymore!!
What's going on in Washington DC?.......2007-05-13
The lady in the red suit scores again with this cogent comment on the Washington press corps. Ms. Thomas, who pitches hardball questions during press conferences if she is allowed to do so, has very coherently and successfully produced a well-reasoned text about why the press corps failed the American people by not investigating the shenanigans surrounding the present administration. This is a necessary read for journalism students and probably for those interested history and political science.
A misleading title on a journalistic memoir.......2007-04-26
This book sorely disappointed me for two reasons. I strongly agree with the thesis of the title, that the media largely abandoned their important duty as watchdogs of democracy in the run-up to the War in Iraq, HOWEVER, this issue amounts to a grand total of ONE chapter in her entire book. The rest is a bunch of anecdotes tied loosely together. In fact, it reads more like an anthology than a unified work.
The second thing that disappointed me was also something of a shock: Helen Thomas, Grand Dame, Dean of the Washington Press Corps, is a lousy writer! I am serious. I read on average one or two political/nonfiction books a month, and this is one of the most poorly written I have read yet. Some of the books I have read are by "regular" people, some by pundits, and some by politicians. Nearly all of them write in a more interesting and engaging style than Mrs. Thomas. Her tone is often conversational at best, and her stories seem to be told as much to discuss presidents' interactions with the media as to tell you what an interesting career she has had.
I could not in good faith give it one star. It isn't horrible. It is just extremely disappointing.
rambling, disjointed, biasd, personal, fun.......2007-02-08
This is a rambling, disjointed, biased, personal account
of what should be an important public issue. The title
has a question mark, and the subtitle identifies the
culprit and makes an accusation. So how does "Watchdogs
of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How
It Has Failed the Public" measure up? Not very well on
the subject, but better as a collection of snippets.
The foreword drones on and on for ten pages. Chapter 1
tells us Journalism is an honorable profession in
spite of Jayson Blair and a few others.
Chapter 2 mentions several scandals uncovered by the
press. Chapter 3 has anecdotes about presidents with
the press. Chapter 4 is about press secretaries.
Chapter 5 is about spinning the news.
Chapter 6 is about leakers and whistle blowers.
Chapter 7 admits that the news business is a business.
Chapter 8 complains about the FCC. Chapter 9 is
the subject of the book, the press as lapdogs.
Chapter 10 covers war correspondents, Iraq wars,
and Vietnam. Chapter 11 covers her choice of the
greatest American journalists. There is over 11
pages of closely spaced, double column index,
but no references.
Thomas seems to think there is little in Washington
except the White House. The other branches, and the
bureaus and departments are seldom mentioned.
Some Republicans will be bothered by some of her
attacks, and some Democrats will be delighted.
There are attacks, and both Democrats and Republicans
are the targets, perhaps in equal numbers, but they
are treated differently. Democrats tend to get the
passive voice and quirky little adjectives.
Republicans tend to get the active voice and
malicious adjectives. Bush 43 gets the worst
treatment.
Still, it is an entertaining book. The only time
I was tempted to put it down was Thomas quoting
herself giving a speech disguised as a question at
a White House Press Conference.
Neither focused nor organized.......2007-01-14
This book was clearly written for profit. Many sections of the book are only weakly connected back to the main theme and nowhere does Helen Thomas make her case-in-chief directly. Instead, the reader is treated to a series of vignettes which all too frequently bear only a tenuous relationship to one another and which make no effort to maintain continuity. While each chapter has a reasonably strong cohesion (though those boundaries frequently intersect in a way which would make any Venn diagram lover proud), they work together not as a fine Swiss watch, but instead more like a Rube Goldberg machine.
There is one theme which appears time-and-again: the idea that an objective and vigorous free press is a necessary part of democracy. This point is made consistently throughout the book from a cornucopia of different, albeit predicable, angles, and is artfully shown both implicitly and explicitly through excellent and enjoyable anecdotes accumulated during the author's sixty years as a White House correspondent. Unfortunately for the reader, her anecdotes frequently seem to be included for their value as self-platitudes rather than for intrinsic value or thematic attenuation. Also unfortunate is the inconvenient truth that Helen Thomas is no longer the type of reporter she praises, but the type she opines against: an opinion columnist.
There are certainly gems in the rough scattered throughout the 201 pages, but the author's tendency both to ramble and babble makes them difficult to find and detracts from their value. With regard to Thomas' periodic attempts a historical organization, her comments at the conclusion of chapter four are revealing: "There were other press secretaries and other spokespersons. I have mentioned only a few who stand out in my mind, for better or worse." Indeed, it seems she deemed fit to simply write down a train of thought as it occurred to her in the shower; that is to say, while not devoid of organization, the linking up of subjects is tenuous at best. Perhaps the most interesting and enjoyable aspect of Helen Thomas' writing style in this book is her robust use of vocabulary, which includes a scattering of excellent words on every page (some of which I even had to look up).
Book Description
One hundred political cartoons you wanted to see, but weren't allowed to: all were banned for being too hot to handle.
Think you live in a society with a free press? These celebrated cartoonists and illustrators found out otherwise. Whether blasting Bush for his "Bring 'em on!" speech, spanking pedophile priests, questioning capital punishment, debating the disputed 2000 election, or just mocking baseball mascots, they learned that newspapers and magazines increasingly play it safe by suppressing satire.
With censored cartoons, many unpublished, by the likes of Garry Trudeau, Doug Marlette, Paul Conrad, Mike Luckovich, Matt Davies, and Ted Rall (all Pulitzer Prize winners or finalists), as well as unearthed editorial illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Edward Sorel, Anita Kunz, Marshall Arisman, and Steve Brodner, you will find yourself surprised and often shocked by the images themselves—and outraged by the fact that a fearful editor kept you from seeing them. Needed now more than ever because of a neutered press that's more lapdog than watchdog, Killed Cartoons will make you laugh, make you angry, and make you think. 100 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
editorial cartoon hell.......2007-10-16
Wherein you find examples that the press within the USA is timid and still serves the whims of people who pay the advestisements and those who own the papers and whose leaning in the political spectrum often rule over sensibilities.
A previous complain that there is too much text is irrelevant. The substance is in the illustrations and the text. They go hand in hand.
As a sidebar to this book I'd recommend the combined collections of Stephan Pastis PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, where he has written of censorship on his own little morbid strip, showing that the fears of offending any audience still rides high.
As this book is pretty good. It's funny, the land of the free still cowers at offending the guys who advertise, when a little bit of truth pokes its ugly head upright.
And the Philadelphia Inquirer was the only place USA wise that printed some of those "Muhammed" political cartoons that caused an uproar in Europe.
Boo!
None of those here though.
Antidote to editorial timidity .......2007-05-30
If you're disheartened by pusillanimous publishers who lack the sand to back up their writers and cartoonists when they come up with controversial material, David Wallis is your man. In his previous work, "Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot To Print," he championed journalists whose articles were decommissioned by their fearful overseers; now in KILLED CARTOONS he's back with a book that does the same for editorial cartoonists. Clever, thoughtful, and brave.
Kartoons that did not see print.......2007-05-13
What a shame these weren't printed. All were to the point, and pertinant.
Wrong choice.......2007-05-13
The Book was good enough it just wasnt quit what I was looking foward to
Funny, but you don't want to laugh.......2007-04-28
I enjoyed KILLED CARTOONS immensely. The work illustrates beautifully why political cartoons are important. (And why they're capable of generating real controversy.) What Wallis understands is that cartoons have a contradictory function. One the one hand they have to amuse the reader, and on the other, they have to upset his/her equilibrium--ideally to the boiling point. Cartoons reach us on a visceral level, which is why I found Wallis' commentary (captions, if you will) a perfect complement to them. Wallis is a witty intelligent and apparently well-informed writer. This book came to me as a gift, I just bought his KILLED: Journalism To Hot to Print, with my own money.
Book Description
Oriana Fallaci is back with her much-anticipated follow up to The Rage and the Pride, her powerful post-September 11 manifesto. The genesis for The Force of Reason was a postscript entitled Due Anni Dopo (Two Years Later), which was intended as a brief appendix to the thirtieth edition of The Rage and the Pride (2002). Once Ms. Fallaci completed the postscript, she chose to expand it into a book, a continuation of her ideas set in motion in The Rage and the Pride.In The Force of Reason Fallaci takes aim at the many attacks and death threats she received after the publication of The Rage and the Pride. Ms. Fallaci begins by identifying herself with one Master Cecco, the author of a heretical book who was burnt at the stake during the Inquisition seven centuries ago on account of his beliefs, and proceeds with a rigorous analysis of the burning of Troy and the creation of a Europe that, to her judgment, is no longer her familiar homeland but rather a place best called Eurabia, a soon-to-be colony of Islam (with Italy as its stronghold). Ms. Fallaci explores her ideas in historical, philosophical, moral, and political terms, courageously addressing taboo topics with sharp logic.
Customer Reviews:
A Reasonable Polemic.......2007-07-24
I think that Oriana Fallaci and similar minded people need to be heard. Basically she is tired of the debasement of Western Civilization and the unfounded extoling of alternative cultures. Much of her rhetoric is passionate and funny. In the end we are all human and it is our thinking and culture which set us apart. Western Civilization has done much bad throughout history; however, it has also done much that is good. To naively dream that all thinking or ideas are equally valid is utter nonsense. People should be respected but not dysfunctional behaviors. This is one of the major points that Fallaci makes. In addition, it is sad to hear some of her stories about the defacing of important historical buildings in Florence and other parts of Europe. She providies a number of interesting vignettes.
What is needed, is a new Renaissance and Age of Reason. I only wish that Ms. Fallaci had lived to translate her third book in this series.
A must read for all who believe that Islam is not the religion of peace.......2007-05-14
To get a true grip on whats' happening in the world today because of Islam , you must know its' history and motives . Fallaci was quite well read and a very passionate writer. You should read the rage and the pride before starting this book .
I love it.......2007-04-11
One of the best books without political correctness and leftist liberalism twists.
Oriana's overview of Radical Islam.......2007-02-02
Quite a book! A lot of information not read in the daily media. Oriana brings her lifes work and experiences to bear on a topic that she is very agitated about, Radical Islam.
I found her final chapter interesting, worth thinking about at length, comparing the Inquisition to Radical Islam. RIP
The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci.......2007-01-11
This is a book which should be read by all. Fallaci is a major intellect; clear-thinking, a powerful writer and backs up her statements with verifiable proof. The free world is in great danger but by many insidious methods we don't notice, just as she says she did not notice for twenty years because she was so involved in fighting other wars.
I highly recommend her previous book The Rage and the Pride as well. The world lost a priceless treasure when she died.
Book Description
In Disinformation, a veteran investigative reporter and bestselling author Richard Miniter debunks the myths of the left (and the right) with hard evidence, high-level interviews and on-the-ground reporting in more than a dozen countries.
Customer Reviews:
How much to believe?.......2007-08-27
Miniter sets out to debunk 22 Medial Myths, and presents compelling facts for each myth. Is he correct?
I only have the expertise to evaluate his treatment of the 17th Myth: Suitcase nukes are a real threat. Miniter, like most authors, is not a nuclear physicists or engineer. He must take the representations of others as factual. Herein lies the problem. He has been trapped by using incorrect (not necessarily disinformation) to support his position. I will constrain my comments to Myth 17.
LG Alexander Lebed is referenced and ridiculed. On page 138 Miniter says, "He [Lebed] said the bombs would fit `in a 60-by-40-by-20 centimeter case' [23.6 in x 15.75 in x 7.9 in] and would be `an ideal weapon for nuclear terror. The warhead is activated by one person and easy to transport.' It would later emerge that none of these statements were true." Miniter shot himself in the foot with this statement. A small gun-type nuclear device, weighing less than 100 pounds is possible. A mock up of such a device was presented to a Congressional committee. Such devices are Special Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADMs), something Miniter acknowledges on pages 141 and 143. The U.S. SADM used an implosion warhead, not a gun-type one, which accounts for the larger size reported on page 141.
Miniter, and most other authors, suffer from a lack of understanding definitions and terms. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is a good place to start. Weapons graded HEU is 90% or more of the isotope U-235. Reactor grade HEU is between 5% - 20% U-235. The dual definition creates problems because most authors do not specify which HEU they are writing about.
Suitcase nuke is also a vague and improper term. It is used to describe items varying is size from a briefcase to multiple trunks. Unless the KGB produced a small SADM disguised as a small suitcase, there is no such thing. There are SADMs weighing less than 100 pounds that can be carried in a knapsack. The U.S. had them, and I have no reason to doubt that the Soviet's developed them too.
Proper terminology. SADM is a man portable nuclear device with a yield of less than 1 KT (probably less than .5 KT). ADM, atomic demolition munition, is a nuclear warhead, weighing hundreds of pounds, with yields as high as several hundred KTs. ADMs could be used as mines. Their main purpose was a welcoming device for Soviet troops who had captured U.S. or NATO positions--sort of a surprise party favor.
Mr. Miniter makes my point on page 140 when he presents Rose Gottemoeller as seeing a "suitcase-sized nuclear device" that "actually required three footlockers and a team of several people to detonate." What Ms. Gottemoller saw was an ADM. She did not see a SADM, which one person can cause to detonate. Miniter continues with the assumption that because Ms. Gottemoller did not see a SADM, there were none. He concludes his argument by saying (page 148), "For now, suitcase-sized nuclear bombs remain in the realm of James Bond movies." Really? The last above ground nuclear detonation at the Nevada Test Site was a Davie Crocket nuclear warhead, the same warhead used in our SADMs.
I have no specific knowledge of Soviet SADMs, but it is reasonable to assume the early ones did not have safeties. I helped fit a prototype PAL (prescribed action link) safety device on the Davie Crocket warhead.
Miniter's worst error (page 140) is his perpetuation of another myth which begs debunking: nuclear material has to be replaced every six to nine months. Miniter refers to LG Igor Valynkin who denied [Soviet] nuclear suitcase nukes were ever produced (note he did not say SADMs), then mentions that they are technically feasible, and acknowledges that such weapons would have "a life span of only several months." At this point Miniter jumps to faulty conclusions. "Radioactive weapons require a lot of shielding," [not so] and "The half-life of the most likely materials in the infinitesimal weighs necessary to fit in a suitcase is a few months. So as a mater of physics and engineering, the nuclear suitcase is an impractical weapon. It would have to be rebuilt every few months." The half-life of pulotonium-239 is over 24,000 years. Uranium-235 is 700 million years. What LG Valynkin was referring to was the polonium-210 half of the neutron source (nuclear trigger)--a tiny gold foil packet much smaller than the blue or red sweetener found on a restaurant table. Makes one wonder what Litvinenko and his pals were doing with Po-210.
My novel, The Rings of Allah, presents a technically accurate description of how simple nuclear weapons work, and how a terrorist can plant one in a U.S. city. The Po-210 nuclear trigger is discussed on pages 58-59.
I found the rest of Miniter's book interesting. Except for Myth 17, I would have given the book four stars.
A Must Read for those regular honest folks seeking the Truth In this War Against Al-Qaeda.......2007-07-29
This book is a must for all those regular, hard working, honest people out there who need the truth (raw facts) on the war on terrorism (Al-Qaeda).
What we have here is a fine straight forward documentary on what is real, and what is a mythology or straight lies fed to us through the mass "drive by" media on the war, Osama Bin Laden, and many others things including the Iraq conflict.
I really like this author's work and have found his other books just as insightful.
WOW.......2007-02-07
Show this to your University Prof's and it'll make their heads spin! It's brilliant!
MrCajunBoy.......2006-10-25
Great book. A "must-read" for anyone surrounded by libs. I love the footnotes and research available.
Great Book! Must Read!.......2006-07-27
Nevermind the inebriated folks who can't get over the fact that Haliburton stock has climbed since 2003 because they're solely focused on one stock and blinded by their previously installed hate for anything Republican or conservative.
If they had an objective eye towards anything (let alone the stock price of Haliburton [ticker symbol: HAL]) they would never have written anything about Haliburton seeing growth in their company over the past three years. The fact is that almost EVERY company has seen enormous growth over the past three years (thanks in large part to the economic stimulus of our current administration and management of the FOMC) and the stock market has been going STRAIGHT UP since 2003! Haliburton was losing money hand over fist for the three years prior to 2003, but along with the rest of the economy and business ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan they made a turn around, but STILL are not doing any better than they were in the 1990's!
One guy said that he "would have loved to have invested some money into Haliburton in 2003", when all he had to do was invest some money into ANY company in 2003 and he would be sitting pretty! The economic growth that our country has seen in the past several years can only be rivaled by the the growth we saw in the late 90's! What about Google? They had an IPO at $80 and now they're trading upwards of $400 per share!!! Are they conspiring along with Haliburton? C'mon!
Anyone who uses the stock price of Haliburton to debunk this book clearly doesn't have an understanding of modern economic movements and they clearly don't understand how ALL oil companies have seen growth year after year for the past decade!
This is a must read for anyone who wants a different point of view other than what nearly ALL of the media outlets are spewing these days. You will at least have something to debate in your mind instead of listening to the mind numbing crud that comes from Anderson Cooper or Wolf Blitzer's pie hole!
Book Description
In 1996, veteran CBS News reporter and producer Bernie Goldberg committed the unpardonable sin of publicly mentioning the issue of liberal bias in the media. For that he became persona non grata at CBS. Goldberg tells how friends and colleagues turned on him, from junior CBS reporters all the way to Dan Rather. But much more than that, he exposes a bias so uniform and overwhelming that it permeates every news story we hear and read- and so entrenched and deep rooted that the networks themselves don't even recognize it.
Customer Reviews:
Enough with the "liberal media" scam.......2007-09-10
The right-wing establishment has milked this cow dry. [yawn] You want bias? Fox News and its minions should keep you busy for days.
An awesome book.......2007-08-22
A great book that verified much of what I had learned through my own dealings with the media. A real eye-opener if you want to see how things really work.
Goldberg's Golden Hour.......2007-08-19
"Bias" is Bernard Goldberg's best book. Once a CBS insider, Goldberg violated CBS' internal politics and chose to grind his axe in these pages. I'm glad he did. Goldberg chooses several key news stories from the 1990s and demonstrates how they were given a slanted portrayal by the television media. He never claims that anyone intentionally chose to distort the news. Rather, he claims that due to similar educational backgrounds and political affiliations most marquee-level TV reporters automatically view the world through a certain perspective which cannot help but influence their choice of words. This is the meaning of the word "bias" in the broadest sense, and this is what Goldberg addresses in his book.
As such, this is essential reading for anyone who cares about politics, journalism, or both. I've read it multiple times and find something new to enjoy in it each time. Back before the internet was in every home, this sort of bias went almost undetected and Goldberg deserves a lot of credit for writing this book and making a clear and unemotional case.
I don't know if it pays to dig deeper into Goldberg's canon, sadly. Despite his claims that he was in strong agreement with the liberal values of CBS, his post-"Bias" career has been staunchly in step with the equally biased Fox News and AM Talk Radio. As such, there's a sameness to his later writing (as well as the feeling that he is preaching toward the choir) that can't be found here. This doesn't diminish the power of this book at all; I mention it only as a caveat.
This book is a quick, worthwhile, and fun read. You'll also come back to it in the future, and it holds up very well to subsequent re-readings.
Biased Rant.......2007-07-23
Bernard Goldberg should have learned in childhood that when one points a finger, three fingers point back at oneself. From the very start of this rant, it is obvious that Goldberg's ego suffered from being in the shadow of other news anchors. The more he complains about others, the more one learns about Goldberg. He goes ad nauseum into recounting how he complained time after time about liberal bias, but the powers that be wouldn't listen to him. Perhaps that was due to the higher-ups' recognition of Goldberg's envious manipulation and whining. In reality, perhaps he was shunned in the end because of his own lack of professionalism.
There is very little of actual journalism presented by this so-called journalist. Somehow I am not surprised at all to find that Bernard Goldberg landed at Fox News. His style must fit right in. What is so laughable is that he wrote this entire book deploring bias and then went to work at the most blatantly biased news network.
He calls himself a liberal and from reading through the reviews here on Amazon, a number of readers bought Goldberg's assertion. What ever gave them the impression he was telling the truth about being a liberal? He gives himself away regularly as anything but a liberal. His social conscience is asserted, but not proven. I'm old enough to remember the emptying of the mental hospitals in California, the VietNam war and the increased numbers of homeless. If one actually goes back and looks at research on the economic and social effects of stripping first state and then federal funding for mental health in the 1970s-1980s, one will find that Reagan's policies started in California and moved across the states. There are very comprehensive discussions available on the internet of the complex economic and social pressures that have left countless mentally ill without care. Do some research, don't just accept Goldberg's opinions. Homelessness continued to be a problem discussed in the media under Clinton, although Goldberg denies that was the case.
Somehow, I don't think viewers are as stupid as Goldberg thinks they are. Most of us can pick up on slant. Goldberg never got to be the star he thought he deserved at CBS, so maybe the viewers will love him on Fox News, maybe not. At least he's free to be as biased as he wants to be now.
It Had To Be Done!.......2007-07-20
Five stars to Bernard Goldberg for blowing the whistle on the Media for the monopolistic power group that it is and for revealing what it is. His story stems from the article that he wrote in the Wall Street Journal about bias in the news and reactions that came from it.
I am a former journalist and the son of a network executive and what Goldberg reveals is exactly the atmosphere and thinking in the Media culture, even within little papers in the "conservative" Midwest.
His comments about what happened at CBS are telling and his sections that give evidence about stories and comments that have been made in the press about race, feminist power and aids are important. He confirms it from within. Also telling are the anti-Christian and anti-conservative hate comments that are frequently made in the industry with no repercussions. Believe me the media culture are one of the most conformist in the world and they will destroy you if you counter their orthodoxy and social prejudices.
Goldberg reveals much of his worldview location as a liberal in which the meaning of the world liberal has changed.
Peoples lives have been destroyed by this power culture!
It must change and will change.
This is one of the most important whistle blower books of our time.
Product Description
As news organizations adapt to a changing media landscape, strategic learning is critical for organizations that want to increase their audiences and maintain journalistic quality. News, Improved: How America's Newsrooms Are Learning to Change shows how leadership, goal-setting and staff development improve the culture of the newsroom and the content of the news product both key drivers of audience appeal. Learn how American newsrooms are becoming more adaptive and creative, fueled by continuous, strategic training. News, Improved focuses on the lessons learned from $10 million in training and research projects funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, including Tomorrow s Workforce, a partnership of major news corporations, more than 50 national journalism professional and mid-career teaching organizations, and one of the nation's most prestigious schools of journalism. The four-year project was conceived to show how strategic investments in newsroom training and professional development can improve the appeal and value of quality journalism. It is based at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. McLellan and Porter s work in newsrooms and their interviews with hundreds of newsroom executives and working journalists found that even in the newsrooms most committed to professional development, training had little impact on the content. It was often opportunistic and not aligned with goals. It was, in short, non-strategic. News, Improved reports on how news organizations are learning to change by setting clear editorial goals and priorities, developing training at all levels to achieve those goals, and using professional growth as a way to strengthen readership.
Book Description
Four days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Pulitzer Prize--winning cartoonist Joel Pett of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader chided President George W. Bush for having declared that America would "punish any state that harbored or trained terrorists." In one of his cartoons, Pett asked if this included the state of Florida, where the terrorists had lived and taken flying lessons. When Pett followed with other criticisms of Bush, readers canceled subscriptions, demanded that Pett be fired, and left profane messages on his voice mail. "One elderly woman spat into the phone that I 'should have been in the World Trade Center,'Pett said. "Such is the power of the cartoon when it is unleashed."
Unrestricted by journalistic standards of objectivity, editorial cartoonists wield ire and irony to reveal the naked truths about presidents, business leaders, and other public figures. Indeed, since the founding of the republic, cartoonists have both made an important contribution to and offered a critical commentary on our society.
This book demonstrates the limits of cartooning from the courtroom to the newsroom. Chris Lamb examines the reasons for the declining state of the art and the implications for all of us. Most newspapers today publish relatively generic, gag-related, syndicated cartoons. They are cheaper and generate fewer phone calls than hard-hitting cartoons. Lamb charges that they are symptomatic of the foundering newspaper industry and reflect a weakness in the newspaper's traditional watchdog function. If a newspaper wants to fulfill its function in society, maybe it should find ways to make the phone ring more -- not less!
Customer Reviews:
One Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words........2006-01-14
As newspaper readership stagnates, publishers are reducing staff. As a result of the deteriorating newspaper industry, cartoonists are losing jobs and few are finding new ones. At the 2003 Pittsburgh convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Rob Rogres, the conference's organizer, observed "that the shrinking number of cartoonists reflects the economics and priorities of the newspaper industry. He's one of the lucky ones, as staff cartoonist for Pittsburgh's 'Post-Gazette.'
This book is full of editorial cartoons plus a few comic strips, some old but still relevant, some of more recent vintage. "If things continue as they have [been]," one frustrated cartoonist said, "they may be forced to do as they did in colonial days: sell their work on the streets." Kevin Kallangher, a former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, "predicted that editorial cartooning would rise and fall with daily newspapers. The future of cartooning is inextricably bound to the future of newspapers."
At the Pittsburgh gathering in 2003, the fact that "the number of editorial cartoonists working full time for daily newspapers had dropped to a 30-yr. low. These annual conventions have become more and more like reunions of WWII veterans," fewer return and those who do "wonder which of them will be the next one to go." The profession has compromised itself by using subs instead of the real thing. "Paul Conrad [of the 'Los Angeles times'] once told a gathering of cartoonists that they had shrunk from their responsibilities because they were ill informed on either the issues of the day or the classics of antiquity."
This is an important form of American journalism, using pictures to show social criticism in this country's tradition of a free press. "As artists, satirists, and commentators, editorial cartoonists make a unique and invaluable contribution to society. My local daily newspaer has an excellent, long-time staff cartoonist on the editorial page. "Journalism ought to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable; there's no better way to afflict the comfortable than with editorial cartoons." And Charlie Daniel at the 'Knoxville News Sentinel' is one of the best.
By having too many editorial columnists and writers, but no full time editorial cartoonist, journalism is reflected in "the decling readership and declinging influence of American newspapers." Chris Lamb is professor of communications at the College of Charleston.
Amazon.com
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the ne plus ultra of Hunter S. Thompson and the whole gonzo clan he spawned. Written in the lurid afterglow of the 1960s, Fear and Loathing is a loosely connected series of mad dashes across the desert, trashed hotel rooms, and goofs on the brutish, naïve, or merely unhip, perpetrated by Thompson and his mammoth Samoan attorney. The pair start out high on a medicine cabinet's worth of elixirs, powders, and pills, and stay that way for 200 pages. They careen through an unsettling landscape of paranoia and alienation, but that doesn't mean the book isn't a riot. Here's a small taste: "By this time, the drink was beginning to cut the acid and my hallucinations were down to a tolerable level. The room service waiter had a vaguely reptilian cast to his features, but I was no longer seeing huge pterodactyls lumbering around the corridors in pools of fresh blood."
Though somewhat dated (it appeared serially in Rolling Stone throughout November 1971), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book of real vitality and Rabelaisian wit. A document of the counterculture after it was well past ripe and deep into rot, the book is a wild ride, a paranoid ramble that is thoroughly exhilarating and worth the trip. No pun intended.
Book Description
A book about the world of drugs in Las Vegas. "The best book on the dope decade." - NYT Book Review
Customer Reviews:
HORRIBLE BOOK!.......2007-10-21
I could find absolutely nothing of "redemptive value" to this story. I thought there might be a some kind of "lesson" to be learned at the end, but that wasn't the case. No consequence for illegal, immoral choices and actions. A tale of debachery, disrepect, drug use promotion, vandalism and total hedonism. I'm not a right-wing, Bible-thumping, ultra-conservative, but I could not, would not recommend this book to anyone!
I know, I know..........2007-09-30
I know, it's THE Hunter S. Thompson book. It would be like having the gall to write a review for the Grapes of Wrath or Slaughterhouse Five and think you'd be doing anything other than blabbing just to see your own words on a computer screen.
That said, read this book this instant. Whatever good anyone's ever said about this book, it's twenty times better. I read it in two sittings and only stopped myself from reading it again because it was a library book and had to be returned.
The late HST's gift for gonzo, that strange mix of fiction and nonfiction, is ultimately realized in this book. Reality is seamlessly mixed with a bizarre fantasy world of sentient reptiles and split personality through the medium of hard drugs that serve to clarify (and sometimes amplify) a violent and twisted town in a strange time.
This book will have you laughing hysterically at parts, so don't read it around other people unless you're okay with passing it to them. This book will have you cringing at the brutality of human nature at points, so have your wits about you.
I really can't say anything else, other than that this book must be purchased and read this very instant if you haven't already done so.
A must read for anyone.......2007-09-21
Thompson's book helps create a vivid picture of the drug fueled 60's and early 70's a way no one else has before.
Good stuff, but less important than his other work.......2007-09-14
¨Fear and Loathing¨ is a great ride for sure. A drug-addled, hilarious, disturbing romp through Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. Thompson is definitely a skilled writer and an outlaw and this stuff comes through in this book. I don't want to shrug this work off by any means, but I definately prefer his other work, such as ¨The Great Shark Hunt,¨ because it truly brings out Thompson's outlook on the world, his hatred of wealth, power and greed, etc. This book is fun, but Thompson is definitely capable of more depth and thought. While this work might be what gave him his big break, he definitely went on to better things.
Buy the ticket...take the ride.......2007-08-23
A bizzare journey to the heart of the American Dream, funny, witty and full of memorable episodes. The illustrations by Ralph Steadman are also superb. Raul Duke says it clearly : "buy the ticket...take the ride"
Book Description
We can no longer trust that our journalists are reporting the news without underlying corporate or governmental agendas. The US government deregulates radio and right-wing Clear Channel gobbles up available frequencies. Journalists are embedded and the war in Iraq is a noble one. Whether the information is fabricated, one-sided, or illegally obtained, recent scandals like those involving Judy Miller and Robert Woodward only serve to underline the point that journalistic integrity is not what it used to be.
Enter Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, who have not only kept the tradition of muckraking alive, but have reinvented and reinvigorated it for our times. Their newest effort,
End Times, presents a detailed scrutiny of the "quality" print press and leading corporate media in the last decade, detailing a disastrous sequence of misrepresentation, suppression, ignorance, and willful embrace of the government's agenda. These essays trace the impending disintegration of what is now "old media"-the traditional and now potentially tainted sources of our daily news-and looks toward the emergence of an entirely new landscape of mass communications: one that includes a more populist approach to information dissemination.
Customer Reviews:
Essential reading for anyone interested in free speech and media democracy!.......2007-06-17
Recently, I obtained a copy of this excellent CounterPunch anthology by becoming a member of the Friends of AK Press, something you too should consider if you're interested in cutting-edge radical thought. Exposing the corporate media as a propaganda organ of the reactionary right, "End Games" is a passionate call to democratize the news. Whether they're discussing the war on Iraq, Rupert Murdoch, the pro-Israel lobby, Bill O'Reilly, or the attack on micro-radio, Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair will entertain and enlighten you. Smart, urgent, and at times wickedly funny, this is a book you need to read. And then after you read it, go on and make a movement documentary, start a punk band, publish a zine, organize a teach-in, post a story on Indymedia.org, or participate in a poetry slam. In short, become the media!
Average customer rating:
- Accurate and Heart-Rending Portrayal
- The Truth behind all the Pain ..
- A real achievement.
- If you want to understand it all you MUST read this one
- A lot of cliches, one lie and bias
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Palestine
Joe Sacco , and
Edward Said
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
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ASIN: 156097432X |
Book Description
Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present, for the first time, a single-volume collection of this 288-page landmark of journalism and the artform of comics. Interest in Sacoo has never been higher than with the release of his critically acclaimed book, Safe Area Gorazde.
Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, who has often been called the first comic book journalist.
Sacco's insightful reportage takes place at the front lines, where busy marketplaces are spoiled by shootings and tear gas, soldiers beat civilians with reckless abandon, and roadblocks go up before reporters can leave. Sacco interviewed and encountered prisoners, refugees, protesters, wounded children, farmers who had lost their land, and families who had been torn apart by the Palestinian conflict.
In 1996, the Before Columbus Foundation awarded Palestine the seventeenth annual American Book Award, stating that the author should be recognized for his "outstanding contribution to American literature," while his publisher, Fantagraphics, is "to be honored for their commitment to quality and their willingness to take risks that accompany publishing outstanding books and authors that may not prove 'cost-effective' in the short run."
This new edition of Palestine also features a new introduction from renowned author, critic, and historian Edward Said, author of Peace and Its Discontents and The Question of Palestine and one of the world's most respected authorities on the Middle Eastern conflict.
Customer Reviews:
Accurate and Heart-Rending Portrayal.......2007-06-22
Joe Sacco lived in Palestine for 2 months, living and conversing with Palestinians about the horrors of Israeli occupation. He shows visually what Human Rights reports can only give in statistics: the shame and inhumanity of arbitrary checkpoints, the immense grief of losing a son or daughter to blatant Israelis aggression and Chauvinism, the deadening effect of a life fully controlled by a racist occupying force in one's own country, and the stoic resolve with which innocent Palestinians (women, children, men) are tortured by Israeli Shin Bet.
Israeli apologists and closet bigots will ironically (and predictably) call this book "propaganda" and "lies". Unfortunately for them, truth does not conform to the subjective imaginings of a flawed and hypocritical ideology. Zionism is founded on the exploitation and suffering of the Palestinians, and no amount of prevarication, sophistry, and lies can change this fact.
Sacco's artwork is unique and eye-catching, meticulous and quirky. The images are worth the price alone. A must-read.
The Truth behind all the Pain .. .......2007-02-16
This is probably the best book out there that'll make you understand what you never understood before , A true Graphic novel that captured what other artists haven't .. 10\10 You can't live without reading this, Just give it a chance .. You wont be the same .
A real achievement........2007-01-15
I'd just like to echo what so many other reviewers have said - such as how people will gain a deeper understanding of the Palestinian's struggle, and that we should buy two copies of "Palestine" and give one away. I actually bought an additional copy that's in Spanish and sent it to a library in Mexico.
The way Joe Sacco describes life and his own experience in the Occupied Territories is captivating, and the drawings are fantastic.
When he came out with this graphic novel, there were very few voices who would dare to say something sympathetic toward Palestinians. Now, with books like Jimmy Carter's "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid" and the work of Noam Chomsky reaching a global audience, Sacco's compassion is more mainstream.
For analysis of how the Palestinian's struggle was mischaracterized for so long, I'd suggest the DVD "Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land."
And for people who are interested in the "graphic" novel format, I'd also highly recommend "Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World" edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman.
If you want to understand it all you MUST read this one.......2006-09-11
If you seek to understand the Middle East, this is one you MUST read. That's all I have to say. To say more would be superfluous. You really want to understand it all, you MUST read it. There, I"ve said it twice. NOw go read it. If you want to understand.....
A lot of cliches, one lie and bias.......2006-08-19
It is not suprising that the conflict in the middle east lends itself to distortion and hyperbole, after all not everyone can visit the region and few understand the size of things being fought over. If the region was as proportional to the world as presented in the media it would be the size of Asia rather than .001% of it.
This comic looks at a person travelling to Israel and subseuqently going to the Palestinian territories and seing the 'truth'. But there is one truth here. When in Israel he wears a skullkap or Yarmluke(Kippah) a sign of being Jewish, in the territories he does not. Why? Because he could die for it. This might be a worthwhile litmus test for tolerance, it clearly shows what 'tolerance' really means in Palestine. If you can die for being religious, that doesnt point to the liberal tolerance Edward Said claims to exist.
However there is one blatent lie in the drawings here. The Jewish houses in the settlements are accused of looking 'foreign' while the Arab ones are said to be 'indigenous'. Somehow this is hard to beleive given the fact that 95% of Arab homes in Palestine are constructed of concrete, and are two stories. THos 'native' houses the author refers to, and depicts, existed as mud huts in the 1800s, todays rich Palestinian elite have Mercedes and 3 story houses, ten times larger than the trailors and single bedroom homes of the 'bad' settlers. But distortion can be forgiven, it is a critical view of how Israel is bad and Palestine good.
Seth J. Frantzman
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