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Into The Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press

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Into The Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press

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Overview

WINNER: National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press CriticismLeading journalists from Fox News, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, newspapers, and other outlets-including Dan Rather, Ashleigh Banfield, Robert McChesney, Greg Palast, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy winners, and more-recount the press censorship they experienced in the wake of 9/11 security concerns. With a foreword by Gore Vidal and edited by former CBS and CNN producer Kristina Borjesson, this highly acclaimed anthology has been described as "fascinating and disturbing," "uplifting" and "infuriating," and a "penetrating collection of powerful essays." The original edition won the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the most extraordinary titles of 2002.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591022305
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	10/01/2004
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	462
Sales rank:	486,826
Product dimensions:	6.09(w) x 9.03(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

Kristina Borjesson is an Emmy and Murrow Award-winning investigative reporter, who has worked for CBS and CNN.

	Foreword	9
	Acknowledgments	13
	Editor's Introduction	15
Chapter 1	The Patriot and the Censor's Necklace: An Interview with BBC Culture Correspondent Madeleine Holt	35
Chapter 2	The Memo	43
Chapter 3	A Shot Messenger's Observations	47
Chapter 4	The War on Terror and the Great Game for Oil: How the Media Missed the Context	61
Chapter 5	The Price of Liberty	93
Chapter 6	Crimes and Silence: The CIA's Criminal Acts and the Media's Silence	115
Chapter 7	The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On	141
Chapter 8	Mainstream Media: The Drug War's Shills	157
Chapter 9	The Silence of the Lambs: An American in Journalistic Exile	195
Chapter 10	The Fox, the Hounds, and the Sacred Cows	207
Chapter 11	The Story No One Wanted to Hear	239
Chapter 12	Verdict First, Evidence Later: The Case for Bobby Garwood	253
Chapter 13	Into the Buzzsaw	283
Chapter 14	Coal Mine Canaries	331
Chapter 15	When Black Becomes White	363
Chapter 16	Stories We Love, Stories We Hate	377
Chapter 17	Shouting at the Crocodile	389
Chapter 18	What Happened to Good Old-Fashioned Muckraking?	417
Chapter 19	The Rise and Fall of Professional Journalism	435
	Index	455

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Editorial Reviews

""This book should be read by everyone who cares about the truth. The stories make for spellbinding reading as we learn about the trials of investigative reporting, but they also are a potent reminder that in times such as these, we need our "muckrakers" more than ever." --South Florida Sun Sentinel "Pertinent and timely. . . . Provides a vital perspective on the First Amendment right to a free press and its endangered status today." --School Library Journal "If members of the general public read this book, they will be appalled... timely and essential reading." --Publishers Weekly "All these pieces are interesting, and a couple are fascinating...some of this material is alarming." --New York Review of Books "Searing accounts of...personal battles with the pressures of censorship. The writing is, as might be expected, riveting. . .this book is recommended." --Quill & Scroll "The first edition of this book appeared during the early months of the Bush administrations' war on terror. Since then, the climate for investigative journalism has only become more repressive. This updated edition...adds about 80 pages of new material...Highly recommended." --Library Journal

From the Publisher

In this uneven yet illuminating anthology, editor Borjesson succinctly explains the journalist's predicament: "The buzzsaw is what can rip through you when you try to investigate or expose anything this country's large institutions be they corporate or government want kept under wraps." Indeed, if members of the general public read this book, or even portions of it, they will be appalled. To the uninitiated reader, the accounts of what goes on behind the scenes at major news organizations are shocking. Executives regularly squelch legitimate stories that will lower their ratings, upset their advertisers or miff their investors. Unfortunately, this dirt is unlikely to reach unknowing news audiences, as this volume's likely readership is already familiar with the current state of journalism. Here, Murrow Award-winning reporter Borjesson edits essays by journalists from the Associated Press to CBS News to the New York Times. Each tells of their difficulties with news higher-ups as they tried to publish or air controversial stories relating to everything from toxic dump sites and civilian casualties to police brutality and dangerous hospitals. Some, like BBC reporter Greg Palast's, are merely rants against "corporate" journalism, but others, like New York Observer columnist Philip Weiss's, will serve as meaningful lessons to nascent and veteran writers alike. Most of the sentiments here are especially relevant given the current reports of the war in Afghanistan and questions of their validity, making this timely and essential reading for students and scholars of journalism. (Mar.) Forecast: With Bernard Goldberg's Bias riding high on bestseller lists, Borjesson's offering on news media manipulation is bound to attract serious attention and sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The first edition of this book (LJ 3/1/02) appeared during the early months of the Bush administration's war on terror. Since then, the climate for investigative journalism has only become more repressive. This updated edition, which adds about 80 pages of new material, begins with a BBC interview in which Dan Rather admits that, to avoid appearing unpatriotic, he has refrained from questioning government policy. In the other new chapters, Charles Reina exposes the political pedigree of Fox News Channel, Ashleigh Banfield describes the obstacles to covering the Iraq war, and Charlotte Dennett reveals the "Great Game for Oil" underlying the war on terror. Borjesson, an award-winning investigative reporter, began collecting stories of government and corporate censorship after her own horrific experience while investigating the crash of TWA Flight 800. She hopes that journalists, policymakers, and the public will be sufficiently alarmed by these candid accounts to begin building "the nation's first independent mass media network." Highly recommended for all journalism collections but an optional purchase for public libraries that have the first edition.-Susan M. Colowick, Timberland Regional Lib., Tumwater, WA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-The buzzsaw, explains Borjesson, is what journalists encounter when they attempt to reveal information that the nation's "large institutions-be they corporate or government-" prefer to keep secret. She presents 18 firsthand accounts by authors and print and television producers and reporters who challenged the media structure, often with devastating results to their careers. While Borjesson's and David Hendrix's narratives on the 1996 TWA Flight 800 disaster alone are worth the price of the book, other contributors chronicle their experiences with everything from books suppressed by the publishing industry to drug-war "shills" (those hoping to convince an audience that the "game is honest") to Bobby Garwood, who spent 14 years as a POW in Vietnam. Self-censorship is rife, they say, forcing limits on what constitutes news and whose voice is being heard. This desperate state of modern journalism relates directly to the fact that while good investigative reporting demands time, money, and risk, news executives are more concerned with profitability. Suggested reforms include providing "news that matters" and a return to the First Amendment's promise of a "free press." Many of the essays are blunt; all are provocative, substantiated by examples and evidence. The issues each one raises should spark lively debates in journalism and government classes and stimulate the critical thinking of news consumers. A brief biography and photograph of the contributor prefaces each chapter.-Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

The buzzsaw is what reporters call the powerful system of censorship in the US that is revealed to those investigating extremely sensitive stories, usually having to do with high-level government or corporate malfeasance. Here a group of journalists, who usually avoid collaboration and the spotlight, risk the blade by describing their encounters with it. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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Into The Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press

Into The Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press

Paperback(REV)

Paperback(REV)

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Table of Contents

Customer Reviews

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Table of Contents

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Customer Reviews