Media and Power -- Who Controls America (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: [US] David
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: The renowned journalist David Halberstam spent seven years observing and documenting the history of five major American media outlets—the Columbia Broadcasting System, Time magazine, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times—as well as their journalists, editors, and publishers, and their interactions with U.S. politicians, the government, and politics. His fluent writing style and genius in editing are admired by general readers, while his rigorous approach to historical facts and profound historical insights are recognized by scholars and experts, making this book one of the best-selling in the United States in the 1980s. Rich in content, it intersperses little-known anecdotes and insights, offering a fresh perspective and deeper understanding of the remote giants of 20th-century media. – The New York Times
Halberstam is a talented storyteller, captivating readers with his powerful and brilliant work that one cannot help but finish in one sitting. – The San Francisco Chronicle
Halberstam sets the stage with vast historical materials, dedicating extensive to describing the background, causes, development, and outcomes of a series of major political events in 20th-century American news and politics. He explores the reactions of the media, politics, and the public to these events, as well as the deep-rooted trust gaps they created between the President and the people, the President and the media, the media and the people, the elderly and the young, Black and white people, the white-collar and blue-collar classes. These events include the McCarthyism of the 1950s; the Bay of Pigs incident, the Berlin Wall, the hydrogen bomb, presidential assassinations, the Vietnam War, racial riots in major cities, campus unrest, the assassinations of Senator Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the broken promise of victory in Vietnam, the issue of long hair, the issue of sex, the use of vulgar language, drug abuse, the Kent State University incident, the My Lai massacre, the near depression, and the Watergate scandal, among others. Behind these events, some distrusted the government, others distrusted the news, while the government and the media encouraged people not to trust each other. The author dedicates significant space in the book to the presidents after Hoover, allowing readers to witness a vivid and contemporary history of American news and politics. Throughout, the media became a central thread in politics, to some extent altering the political structure, while politics, in turn, influenced the formation of the media. The media, to some extent, determined the selection of political figures, and political leaders, in certain cases, affected the rise and fall of media figures. The relationship between media giants and political leaders was one of mutual intimidation—“the bigger the dog, the bigger the bite.” Yet, they were also interdependent and inseparable. Without political involvement, media giants could not sustain their newspapers; without the media, political leaders could not function as such. The media became politics, generating power, and in itself, became political power. This history is grand in scale, ever-changing, astonishing, and compelling. At the same time, the author's analyses in the book are meticulous and incisive, magnifying the details of history and awakening readers to critical thinking.