Crouse (on page 322) describes the major innovation in news
coverage of Presidential campaigns: "Here in 1972, with the new law that obliged
contributors to make public their gifts, was a unique opportunity to follow the
big corporation rats as they stole out of their holes to deposit a large bag of
cash at the door of some candidate and -- almost invariably -- ask for some favor
in return."
One of the disadvantages of reading books more than forty years old is that some aspects of the text will leave the modern reader hanging in suspense. Treleaven's 1966 candidate won, but how the heck will we ever satisfy our curiosity and learn what happened to the guy who beat Briscoe 58 to 42 in a traditional Democratic stronghold? What ever happened to George H. W. Bush? (Maybe we'll get lucky and a reader in Texas can post an update in the comments section.)
On page 10, Crouse quotes newsman Karl Fleming: "So eventually a very subtle kind of thing takes over and the reporter says to himself, "All I gotta do to satisfy my editor and publisher is just get what the other guys are getting, so why should I bust my ass?'"
Does that mean that the World's Laziest Journalist didn't
have to dig out a copy of Crouse's book and track down a copy of McGinniss'
book, do some fast and furious reading, and then fire up the computer at 0600
on Monday morning? We couldda skipped
most of the work and just churned out a few words about Mitt making a bold
gamble by catering to the demands of the far right and then posting that anemic
effort. Whatever.
Either one of these two books will provide a reader with a better basis for evaluating this year's election process and taken together they provide conclusive evidence for proving the case for believing that America's freedom of the press is rapidly approaching the final chapter for the history of an institution experiencing a terminal illness. If the voters are not going to make their decisions based on a well informed evaluation of the issues, then America's free press is doomed to extinction.
Oscar Wilde said he wouldn't trust anyone who didn't judge
people solely on their appearance and Harry Treleaven believed (McGinniss book
page 44) "Most national issues today are so complicated, so difficult to
understand, and have opinions on that they either intimidate or, more often,
bore the average voter ."
Joe McGinniss quoted (page 131) Richard M. Nixon as saying: "Let us remember, the main purpose of American foreign aid is not to help other nations but to help ourselves."
Now the disk jockey will play the AC/DC song "Problem Child," the Rolling Stones' song "Sparks will fly," and the 1968 Nixon campaign song "Bring Our Country Back." We have to post this week's Week in Review column a few hours early and attend to some administrative matters. Have a "Hidden Persuaders" type week.
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