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Bad News: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the President
Prize-winning reporter Robert Shogan draws on the lessons of nine presidential elections to show where the press goes wrong in the making of the president. The media, Mr. Shogan argues, now play the role of enablers. Without fully realizing it, they allow and abet the abuse of the political process by the candidates and their handlers. Shogan has got it right....Bad News is a wake-up call for journalists everywhere. ―Sam Donaldson, ABC News. If there is such a thing as a good book about 'bad news,' this is it. ―David S. Broder, Washington Post
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2020
Had I read this book years ago, I could have predicted Donald Trump's presidency. That's quite something, since Bad Press was published 15 years before Trump won...
It wasn't Facebook. It wasn't Russia. Maybe those caused some ripples. But this methodical and chronological look at the relationship between politics and the press in the US is an eye-opener.
Why did Trump win? Blame the strange chemistry between US media and politics.
Robert Shogan is a veteran reporter and stakes his arguments from the Kennedy campaign through to that of George W Bush, around the time this book was published. He gives a non-partisan, warts-and-all account of each election campaign, providing analysis of the respective campaigns (primaries and presidential) in terms of their substance, strategy and the media's responses.
The result is a very insightful narrative that can't be compressed into a few words. But one of Shogan's quotes comes close:
"The pressure of daily deadlines forces journalism into exaggeration. Events that don't really matter are reported and published as if they did, distorting reality and confusing the public."
Sadly, little of his insight was taken to heart by the media or political class. With one exception: I wonder if Donald Trump or one of his strategists read this book? His campaign ended up exploiting a lot of the weaknesses and divisions revealed in it.
Bad News is pretty damning, yet sadly its lessons weren't absorbed at all. If anything, the weaknesses Shogan warns about have been amplified through the Internet.
If you're hoping for a definitive villain, you'll be disappointed. This is an indictment of the entire dance between politics and the media, illustrated by analysing nearly 40 years of presidential campaigns. I challenge anyone who has an opinion on the matter to find and read this book.
It wasn't Facebook. It wasn't Russia. Maybe those caused some ripples. But this methodical and chronological look at the relationship between politics and the press in the US is an eye-opener.
Why did Trump win? Blame the strange chemistry between US media and politics.
Robert Shogan is a veteran reporter and stakes his arguments from the Kennedy campaign through to that of George W Bush, around the time this book was published. He gives a non-partisan, warts-and-all account of each election campaign, providing analysis of the respective campaigns (primaries and presidential) in terms of their substance, strategy and the media's responses.
The result is a very insightful narrative that can't be compressed into a few words. But one of Shogan's quotes comes close:
"The pressure of daily deadlines forces journalism into exaggeration. Events that don't really matter are reported and published as if they did, distorting reality and confusing the public."
Sadly, little of his insight was taken to heart by the media or political class. With one exception: I wonder if Donald Trump or one of his strategists read this book? His campaign ended up exploiting a lot of the weaknesses and divisions revealed in it.
Bad News is pretty damning, yet sadly its lessons weren't absorbed at all. If anything, the weaknesses Shogan warns about have been amplified through the Internet.
If you're hoping for a definitive villain, you'll be disappointed. This is an indictment of the entire dance between politics and the media, illustrated by analysing nearly 40 years of presidential campaigns. I challenge anyone who has an opinion on the matter to find and read this book.
February 7, 2008
I picked this up in my excitement over Presidential Campaign '08, but now I'm convinced that PC'08 gave me the flu. Nevertheless, I finished the book.
Shogan has over 50 years of experience in covering presidential campaigns and in this book tracks what he sees as mass media's increasingly unfair and dangerously influential coverage of the American electoral process. Interestingly, although this was written in 2001, his disappointment in the reporting of style over substance and the disproportionate scrutiny that some candidates face can be seen in the 2004 elections, with, e.g., the dissemination of the dishonest Swift Boat Veterans allegations and in the current election cycle with the attention paid to Mormonism, crying, Oprah, and Chuck Norris, rather than substantial policy analysis.
Good lord, there's that influenza feeling again.
Shogan has over 50 years of experience in covering presidential campaigns and in this book tracks what he sees as mass media's increasingly unfair and dangerously influential coverage of the American electoral process. Interestingly, although this was written in 2001, his disappointment in the reporting of style over substance and the disproportionate scrutiny that some candidates face can be seen in the 2004 elections, with, e.g., the dissemination of the dishonest Swift Boat Veterans allegations and in the current election cycle with the attention paid to Mormonism, crying, Oprah, and Chuck Norris, rather than substantial policy analysis.
Good lord, there's that influenza feeling again.
October 10, 2015
educational read about how the media manipulate political outcomes
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews