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Journalists and Their Shadows
Part memoir, part social history, Journalists and Their Shadows captures the deplorable state of the American media in our time―recording its deterioration, its moments of crisis and ultimately, its transformation as seen through the eyes of a journalist engaged at its very heart through all its phases. The press had a bad Cold War, Patrick Lawrence contends, and never recovered from it, having never acknowledged its errors and so unable to learn from them. Its dysfunctional relationship with the national security state today is strikingly reminiscent of how it was in the Cold War’s earliest days. With remarkable fidelity, all the old errors are being repeated.
As a result, the mainstream American media have entered into a period of profound transformation, in the course of which independent media are emerging as the profession’s most dynamic sector―and represent, indeed, the promise of a brilliant future.
A weave of three elements, Lawrence’s book offers a searing cultural and political critique, punctuated by the kind of piquant detail only insiders can provide. He also makes the case for a way forward―an optimistic case based on the vitality now apparent among independent media. Here, too, he is at home, providing the book’s most original coverage of this brave new world. He draws upon many years in the profession, a multitude of mainstream outlets ranging from his decades as foreign correspondent for the venerable International Herald Tribune to his work now as a columnist for a similar wide range of alternative news outlets such as Counterpunch, Consortium News et al.
Shadows probes the psychological dilemma that must be understood if we are to address the current crisis. Journalists in our time are divided within themselves―driven to meet thoroughly professional but ideologically conformist standards, but on the other, subliminally struggling to breach the barriers that preclude the truths they know should be conveyed. This latter, as Jung has put it, is the journalist’s shadow. Shadows’ case for the reintegration of the divided journalist is striking and original.
This record of the American media’s increasingly shabby betrayal of the public trust sheds light on why the American public thought and thinks the way it does, how it has become aware that the truth it seeks is absent, and where and how it may yet be able to ferret it out. Here is a guide to the future, in fact, of journalism itself
As a result, the mainstream American media have entered into a period of profound transformation, in the course of which independent media are emerging as the profession’s most dynamic sector―and represent, indeed, the promise of a brilliant future.
A weave of three elements, Lawrence’s book offers a searing cultural and political critique, punctuated by the kind of piquant detail only insiders can provide. He also makes the case for a way forward―an optimistic case based on the vitality now apparent among independent media. Here, too, he is at home, providing the book’s most original coverage of this brave new world. He draws upon many years in the profession, a multitude of mainstream outlets ranging from his decades as foreign correspondent for the venerable International Herald Tribune to his work now as a columnist for a similar wide range of alternative news outlets such as Counterpunch, Consortium News et al.
Shadows probes the psychological dilemma that must be understood if we are to address the current crisis. Journalists in our time are divided within themselves―driven to meet thoroughly professional but ideologically conformist standards, but on the other, subliminally struggling to breach the barriers that preclude the truths they know should be conveyed. This latter, as Jung has put it, is the journalist’s shadow. Shadows’ case for the reintegration of the divided journalist is striking and original.
This record of the American media’s increasingly shabby betrayal of the public trust sheds light on why the American public thought and thinks the way it does, how it has become aware that the truth it seeks is absent, and where and how it may yet be able to ferret it out. Here is a guide to the future, in fact, of journalism itself
160 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 7, 2023
I want to send a copy of this book to my friends, particularly those among them who depend on the mainstream lying media for all of their information about the world. Those familiar with Lawrence's pointed and acerbic style will get a kick out of his well-aimed zingers as he excavates the evolution of American journalism from 1945 until the present and how genuine independent journalists wrestle with the facts, society's inertia, and the criminal elements of the workings of empire. Lawrence nails the history, trajectory, and transformation of U.S. media since 1945 and especially since 9/11/2001. He pulls the ears and tweaks the noses of the pretentious and gives the mainstream media a failing grade, which is no more than they deserve. Principled and sharp, one of my favorite books I've read all year.
January 23, 2024
To be a Journalist in the days of Wilfred Burchett, John Pilger and Julian Assange
Chris Hedges, Aaron Maté, et al - and Patrick Lawrence - journalism of truth, honesty, integrity - of courage. This book is an absolute must read in these times of the gaoling and murder of Journalists - Gonzalo Lira in a Zelenskiy gaol - or of more than 110 Gaza journalists to date by the Zionist Israelis.
Chris Hedges, Aaron Maté, et al - and Patrick Lawrence - journalism of truth, honesty, integrity - of courage. This book is an absolute must read in these times of the gaoling and murder of Journalists - Gonzalo Lira in a Zelenskiy gaol - or of more than 110 Gaza journalists to date by the Zionist Israelis.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews