Title

Media circus : the trouble with America's newspapers

Description

Journalists may have been considered heroes in the days of Watergate, bringing down a president and upholding our country's ideals of truth and justice, but today reporters are seen as a petulant, sleazy, and haughty bunch. Politicians of all stripes routinely bash the media, and the public has endorsed limits on the press that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. One of the handful of reporters who gets any respect these days is Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post. Kurtz's beat is the press itself, and he never lacks for material. Covering one's peers is a perilous task, but Kurtz is universally acknowledged as a scrupulous reporter, as well as a dogged investigator and lucid writer who can get the bottom of any story - especially the story behind the story. His articles are considered required reading in political circles, especially because he is not afraid to take his own paper to task for its misjudgments. There are no sacred cows in Kurtz's world; in fact, the standing joke in the Post newsroom is that people get nervous when they see him approaching, pen and pad in hand. In Media Circus, Kurtz ventures into America's newsrooms and press galleries to show how newspapers have bungled so many of the important stories of recent years. What he sees is not pretty: editors missing the HUD and S&L scandals while showcasing media manipulators like Donald Trump and Al Sharpton; reporters seduced by power at the White House and during the Gulf war; newspaper coverage of William Kennedy Smith and Clarence Thomas sinking into the gutter; the press continuing to shoot itself in the foot, repeatedly sidetracked by trivia and sleaze during the 1992 presidential campaign. Kurtz pulls no punches in reporting how the press has sacrificed its credibility while failing to stem the tide of newspaper closings, and how racial tensions and ethical lapses have become staples of the new newsroom culture. Laying bare the yawning gaps in the information we receive from our daily papers, Kurtz casts a highly critical eye on the work of his ink-stained colleagues. In its depth, scope, and candor, Media Circus rivals the best books written about how newspapers really work, and testifies to Kurtz's skill in reporting from "the belly of the beast."

Identifier

463564

812920228

Creator

Kurtz, Howard

Format

1st ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1993

Program air date: June 20, 1993.

Publisher

Times Books

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front fly sheets: Janet Cooke--why haven't we seen a story on where she is? Anderson--52. Keating. Underlinings/notes: Indebted to parents for giving him newspaper habit. Embarrassing-gushed over Donald Trump, panting after stars, steamy gossip--highbrow newspapers followed tabloids into the gutter. 70s HUD. 1982 OK to be rich, press disconnected from downscale readers. Journalists uncovered scandals--no one cared. 1982 working with Bob Woodward's SWAT team. A lot of HUD is boring. Paul Thayer--Deputy Defense Secretary. TV. Only three papers have coast-to-coast circulations--NYT, Wall Street Journal, USA Today; cannot set national agenda unless reports bolstered by TV. Man at the top. When left HUD beat in 1985 to cover the Justice Department--no replacement. James Watt. Republicans lobbying HUD. Audits. Kemp no one evaluated his reforms. S&L never suffered from a lack of coverage. Cover-up--issues too complex. David Branson, libel lawyer for Jack Anderson. Did not break big story, represented by Keating's lawyer--feared Keating lawsuit. Saga of Charles Keating took years to penetrate national consciousness. Don Riegle. Dec. 19, 1991 major papers gave play to Alan Greenspan's congressional testimony--economy faltering. Philadelphia Inq. editorial about Norplant. Boston Globe--Howie Carr. Washington Post--Marion Barry, Richard Cohen, Juan Williams. 1991 report of a fire at a chicken plant killed 25, race deleted from Washington Post article. Juan Williams target challenging black leaders. Post--Janet Cooke fabricated story of 8 year-old heroin addict; Richard Cohen--white merchants barring young blacks from stores. Maitre story--NYT plagiarized from Globe story. Warren Harding owned newspaper when elected President in 1920. Washington Post owner, Philip Graham, helped get LBJ selected as VP. Phil Donahue changed names of nuns for a piece and fabricated an inscription when he could not locate original. Call-in shows--public believes press is biased. Real bias is bad news bias--love conflict/emotions. Cultural bias. Outing homosexuals; extramarital affairs. Most editors no policy on outing. Abe Rosenthal--homophobic. Gulf War--press got its butt kicked. Press not disciplined--would endanger safety of American troops. Stories buried included reality that cruise missiles/stealth fighters 50 percent hit rate as opposed to 85 to 90 percent claimed by the pentagon.; 24 female soldiers assaulted by American servicemen. Newspapers/TV stations lobbied Congress to help them get reporters into the gulf. Pete Williams. James LeMoyne. Senator Alan Simpson attacked Peter Arnett. Maureen Dowd vs. George Bush. White House beat--preoccupied by trivia, covering idiotic events. Character of President--Kennedy's womanizing, Johnson's megalomania, Nixon's paranoia, Carter's rigid moralizing, Reagan's story-telling, Bush's lack of ideology, Clinton's fudging more important than position on food stamps/energy conservation. WH press corps detested Sununu. Sununu disliked Ann Devroy. Cumo interesting, most politicos are not. Clinton winning invisible Media primary. Post, Will, Flowers, Kurtz. Ginnifer Flowers. Jules Witcover--with tape recorders/boom mikes--no candidates at ease. 30 second ads. Talk Show Campaign--New Media--passion, excitement, attitude. Press turned on Perot in a few weeks. Talk show campaign rejection of national press. Gore--FEMA leak. 1975--Dustin Hoffman. NYT 1975--$13 million--$266 million in 1989. Smell of death permeates newspaper business today. Editors now focus-group groupies. Reader-friendly. Detail--newspaper salvation in compelling reports on subjects not found elsewhere. Vietnam. USA Today. Bill Kovach. NYT--70s Abe Rosenthal. William Geist, Joyce Maynard, Leslie Bennetts, Howell Raines, Maureen Dowd, Anna Quindlen--Max Frankel took helm in 1986. Robin Toner, Gwen Ifill, Elizabeth Kolbert, Alessandra Stanley. 1967, 73 percent of American adults read newspapers daily, 1991 dropped to 51 percent. Lost local touch. Newspapers are no longer much fun--editors prefabricate story ideas. Dying business. Sunday circulation has jumped 25% over last two decades. Nexis/Lexis 55,000 stories/legal cases a day. Sports. Make us laugh/mad, Tell us what authorities do not want us to know. Break shackles of mindless objectivity. Turn writers loose. Set the agenda. Make it a picture medium. Satisfy the specialists. Liberate the op-ed pages. Connect with the community. Less than 20 years ago print reporters on top of the world, now obsolete, fighting for survival--time to reinvent.

Subject

"American newspapers--History--20th century."

"Reporters and reporting--United States--History--20th century."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Mason’s use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.