Review
"Cohen and Solomon are the sharpest media watchers in the business," --
Barbara Ehrenreich"Solomon and Cohen know media bias and blather like a rancher knows BS." --
Jim Hightower, commenting on the authors' previous work"The authors have a knack for articulating questions that lie dormant in the midst of headline news.... They have thousands of facts to back up their criticism of what they see as consistently sloppy, stupid, cowardly, corporate-run news coverage.... The charges are relentless, supported by facts and quotes, quite disturbing and uncomfortable--mighty welcome in these perilous merged-media times." --
Patricia Holt, Book Editor, San Francisco Chronicle, commenting on the authors' previous work"The bold, muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary journalism." --
Los Angeles Times, commenting on the authors' previous work
Book Description
Fortunately for our sanity and self-respect, there have always been the muckrakers; those few who have challenged the official truth, who have obstinately sought ought the hard truth.
In Upton Sinclair's time, there were Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell, among the contumacious troublemakers. Further along came the indomitable George Seldes and his "Lords of the Press" as well as his wondrous newsletter, "In Fact," that kept us from living in total darkness. And, of course, the north star of independent journalists, I.F. Stone and his revelatory weekly.
Today we are blessed with a couple of young investigative journalists, Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, who, along with their media watch colleagues at FAIR, are letting in the light. In FAIR's magazine, "Extra!," I am finding all the news that the Respectables find unfit to print. It is great therapy for me; it keeps my blood pressure down and my skull from going numb.
Now, Solomon and Cohen have gathered some of their columns into a lovely compendium, undressing the "liberal media." They call it WIZARDS OF MEDIA OZ: BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF MAINSTREAM NEWS. It is an eye-opener.
Don't leave home without it.
-From the Introduction by Studs Terkel