Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It

by Brian J Karem, Sam Donaldson (Foreword)

Blending his experiences as a veteran reporter with analysis of the erosion of trust between the press and the government during the past 40 years, in Free the Press, renowned journalist Brian J. Karem gives readers a unique perspective on the challenges facing journalism while asking the question, “How did we get here?” And perhaps more importantly, “How do we fix it?”. Since the Vietnam War, each and every president has overseen the withering of relations between the Executive Branch and the so-called Fourth Estate. Politicians are not solely to blame, however. Corporate media has us following the news of the day for clicks and views rather than pursuing long term stories of impact. Reporters have ceased to frame the narrative and failed to co-opt social media contributions until it was too late. Placed alongside a firsthand view of Karem’s own experience as a reporter and manager in television, print, and the online media industry, where he witnessed buyouts and the end of locally owned and operated newspapers; a behind-the-scenes look at his work as a member of the White House Press Corps; and his advocacy to protect the journalistic pillar of anonymity, readers will come away with a deeper understanding of journalism, and what happened to it, at the national and local level. Karem concludes with a three-step plan to save the free press, as well as a comprehensive method to reporting for reporters to regain level footing and work toward repairing the damage done to one of the most important and sacred institutional relationships of our country.

Genres: Journalism, Nonfiction, Politics, History

320 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2022

Reviews

[Jay W R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting that most of the lower reviews seem to offer nonsensical jargon filled attacks that do little to refute or add to what was masterfully written by the author. Mr. Karem is one of the great journalists of our time and this book does a lot to prescribe the issues with the American news media and then offer a solution. Great book.

[Penelope Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about the future and current state of journalism.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss+ for the DRC of this title.

"Free the Press" starts out with a thoroughly researched history of the decline of the free press and how journalism has chosen terrible bedfellows that inevitably led to its dependence on clickbait and corporate ownership to survive. And if the book would have ended there, I would have rated it much higher.

However, Brian Karem starts going off the rails, breaking his own rule, and making himself the story. The memoir-ish parts took me out of the book and even got to be a huge distraction from the central topic when the author ranted about covering the White House during the Trump Administration. Yes I get it, it was bad. However, I think he would have made his point better by sticking to the facts and not constantly referencing his yelling matches with Trump. Ones, he noted, never actually led to answers anyway.

Finally, the book subhead clearly states a plan for how to revive journalism. The only suggestions Karem makes are in the last chapter and they include extremely unrealistic ideas such as 1) have billionaires like Jeff Bezos buy all media companies, 2) make all media companies nonprofits, because we know they never struggle with funding or staying open, or 3) having the government turn back time and reenact antitrust laws and the fairness doctrine. While this last option sounds good on the surface, anyone who has ever tried to take away power from someone after giving it over, knows it won't happen.

Overall I would recommend the first half of this book as good background reading, but skip the last third. There are much better resources out there to actually help journalist get back to honoring the profession.

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. Instead of a really good polemic on the faults and destruction of the press and their causes, this book attempts to combine memoir and polemic by using the author's experience as an example with the press happenings as the backdrop. It doesn't work particularly well unless you're actually interested in the life of a journalist. It could have used some more macro level discussions. The author makes good points about the death of print and local news and how that has affected TV news's ability to broadcast complete stories and the news's overall ability to do investigation. These points, however, get consistently redrilled without new supporting evidence or much discussion. I couldn't finish the book to get past the Bush Sr. administration because it had gotten so repetitive at that point on the polemic front. Anyway, only really recommened for people interested in hearing about the career of one journalist.

a free e-copy of this book was received in exchange for a review through Netgalley

[T. Reubens · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a serious look at the past and present state of the American press, and an entertaining memoir, I find it a frighteningly enjoyable read. The subject matter has analogies across the spectrum of the multi-national corporate consolidation and takeover of America. From news and communications, to meat packing and food production, drugs and healthcare, energy and politicians, a handful of entities control the majority of business, and influences a disproportionate amount of the business of government relating to those businesses. Nietzsche said; "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." Were he alive today he'd say America as a free nation is likewise a post mortem concept.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just going to be real quick; I’m a journalism student believing that I’m working in a dying profession. This man, this book wow…. This is how journalism should be… finally someone is saying it how it should be and hopefully everyone who wants to be a journalist reads this book. It should be in every classroom. Thanks for this greatness!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good on recent history of demise of local newspapers, contentious relations between politicians and journalists, and economic challenges facing the news business. Mixes in his own story maybe more than i would have preferred. Margaret Sullivan in the Washington Post [regular media column] I think gets that balance a little better.

[Cynthia]

good snippet read by Thom Hartmann, post 2024 election