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

Author: (USA) Halberstam
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Renowned journalist 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 during the 1980s. Rich in content, it intersperses little-known anecdotes and insights, offering fresh perspectives. Its analysis provides a deeper understanding of the remote giants of 20th-century media.
—The New York Times
Halberstam is a gifted storyteller, captivating readers with his powerful and brilliant work that one cannot put down.
—The San Francisco Chronicle
Halberstam set 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 new politics. He explored 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, African Americans and whites, the white-collar class and the blue-collar class. These events primarily 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 failure of the promise to win in Vietnam, the issue of long hair, the issue of sex, the issue of using vulgar language, drug abuse, the Kent State University incident, the My Lai incident, the near-recession, and the Watergate scandal, among others. Behind these events, some distrusted the U.S. government, others distrusted the media, while the government and the media both encouraged people not to trust the other. The author dedicates significant space in the book to of presidents after Hoover, allowing readers to witness a vivid contemporary history of American new 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 to some extent. The media, to some extent, determined the selection of political figures, while political leaders, in certain cases, influenced the rise and fall of media figures. The relationship between media giants and political leaders was one of mutual intimidation—big fish eating small fish, small fish eating big fish—sometimes even leading to a stalemate. On the other hand, they were interdependent and inseparable. Without the media, media giants could not survive in politics; without the media, political leaders could not truly be political leaders. 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 analysis in the book is meticulous and incisive, magnifying the details of history, awakening people to critical thinking.