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The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy
Why does the media always blow the big stories? From 9/11 to Iraq's WMDs, from Iran's nuclear program to the inevitable Hillary Clinton -- the divide between reality and the so-called news has never been more dramatic or dangerous.
In The Kingmakers , Senator Mike Gravel and Dr. David Eisenbach argue that the media's failure to present the public with an accurate view of the world poses a greater threat to American lives than terrorism. They also show how the greatest threat to our democracy is not money -- it's the media. Long before the majority of voters pay attention to presidential elections, the media Kingmakers filter the presidential field and anoint the leading candidates.
Gravel and Eisenbach propose a powerful antidote to the Kingmakers' poisonous influence on American participatory journalism. Blogs, chat rooms, virtual worlds, and Internet contributions have empowered ordinary citizens to change the course of American history and inaugurate a new wave of democratization that America hasn't seen since the Jacksonian era.
In The Kingmakers , Senator Mike Gravel and Dr. David Eisenbach argue that the media's failure to present the public with an accurate view of the world poses a greater threat to American lives than terrorism. They also show how the greatest threat to our democracy is not money -- it's the media. Long before the majority of voters pay attention to presidential elections, the media Kingmakers filter the presidential field and anoint the leading candidates.
Gravel and Eisenbach propose a powerful antidote to the Kingmakers' poisonous influence on American participatory journalism. Blogs, chat rooms, virtual worlds, and Internet contributions have empowered ordinary citizens to change the course of American history and inaugurate a new wave of democratization that America hasn't seen since the Jacksonian era.
- GenresNonfiction
204 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 28, 2017
I could say this book was an enlightenment but I already knew the Media doesn't help. This book however, did a little more in back of the scenes letting me know I was absolutely right.
May 16, 2014
Kingmaking Media
This review is from: The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy (HC) (Hardcover)
This is a competent and focused analysis of trends and patterns in the American public News Media. Specifically considering the coverage of political events and election campaigns, the Senator finds clear patterns of myth-making and myth-breaking, which often determines and drives the news.
Poor or non-existent background research is a major syndrome Gravel documents here. The media become simply a funnel for the story line and slogan emphases of the Administration or a particularly favoured personality. It should be no surprise that Gravel's excellent and readable presentation here documents the sensational celebrity-style portrayals and faddish hype in much of the supposed news of the popular media.
Despite ranting by one radical end of the spectrum or the other, Gravel's analysis shows that the American News Media do not, in fact, always favour Left over Right or vice versa. More commonly, he finds they actually serve as disseminators of the party line and propaganda of whatever administration is in power.
A grand example of all the media hype and repetition of the fear-mongering and international posturing of the Bush administration in whipping up fervour for the Iraq War, after an incredible non-response and indifference from the Bush White House in the early hours.
But don't think Gravel gives the Democrats a pass in his exposé of the neo-con hysteria and illogic. He is an equal-opportunity analyst, and I appreciated his objective and focused tone. He does not whine and complain, in the common tone we have come now to expect from the news "commentary" corps. He does not lambast and call people distracting, derogatory and degrading names to distract listeners or readers from the actual facts of the matter, a common approach of Rush Limbaugh.
He lays everything out, Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, moderate, neo-con, New Left, whatever. The Press are processing their own commercially-driven agenda, focusing on attracting attention and raising ratings. This leads them to look for sensation, glitter, gaffe, mis-statement, and other secondary trivia. Then they throw puff-ball questions to their favorite politicians and badger anyone handy on the fad topics of the day.
Gravel makes a credible case for created agendas, as well, where a trend or claim in national or international politics originates in their circles, then gets hyped through the "echo chamber: of the circular sourcing Media. Whatever your conclusion about the News Media, you will gain insights into recent American national cultural and political focuses.
This review is from: The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy (HC) (Hardcover)
This is a competent and focused analysis of trends and patterns in the American public News Media. Specifically considering the coverage of political events and election campaigns, the Senator finds clear patterns of myth-making and myth-breaking, which often determines and drives the news.
Poor or non-existent background research is a major syndrome Gravel documents here. The media become simply a funnel for the story line and slogan emphases of the Administration or a particularly favoured personality. It should be no surprise that Gravel's excellent and readable presentation here documents the sensational celebrity-style portrayals and faddish hype in much of the supposed news of the popular media.
Despite ranting by one radical end of the spectrum or the other, Gravel's analysis shows that the American News Media do not, in fact, always favour Left over Right or vice versa. More commonly, he finds they actually serve as disseminators of the party line and propaganda of whatever administration is in power.
A grand example of all the media hype and repetition of the fear-mongering and international posturing of the Bush administration in whipping up fervour for the Iraq War, after an incredible non-response and indifference from the Bush White House in the early hours.
But don't think Gravel gives the Democrats a pass in his exposé of the neo-con hysteria and illogic. He is an equal-opportunity analyst, and I appreciated his objective and focused tone. He does not whine and complain, in the common tone we have come now to expect from the news "commentary" corps. He does not lambast and call people distracting, derogatory and degrading names to distract listeners or readers from the actual facts of the matter, a common approach of Rush Limbaugh.
He lays everything out, Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, moderate, neo-con, New Left, whatever. The Press are processing their own commercially-driven agenda, focusing on attracting attention and raising ratings. This leads them to look for sensation, glitter, gaffe, mis-statement, and other secondary trivia. Then they throw puff-ball questions to their favorite politicians and badger anyone handy on the fad topics of the day.
Gravel makes a credible case for created agendas, as well, where a trend or claim in national or international politics originates in their circles, then gets hyped through the "echo chamber: of the circular sourcing Media. Whatever your conclusion about the News Media, you will gain insights into recent American national cultural and political focuses.
August 9, 2008
When America's news media fails to do its job, it becomes an enemy at least as lethal as the terrorists our country purports to be at war with. By allowing Bush and his cabal to control them, journalists allowed them to wage an illegal war in Iraq with impunity. In a very real way, the news media's malfeasance, neglect, sloth and incompetence caused hundreds and thousands of deaths.
December 2, 2015
This embodies all rational aspects of what mainstream media does in regards to our perceptions of news and reality vs bias. I recommend this to anybody who is interested in self examining how they perceive media and news as well as anybody with even a vague interest in political science.
June 19, 2009
Excellent critique of how the media functions as a tool of the government
November 5, 2009
A book on how the media comes up short in challenging politicians on their bullshit.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews