On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency - Hardcover

Hertsgaard, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374251975 ISBN 13: 9780374251970

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1988

Synopsis

Chronicles the relationship between Ronald Reagan and the press argues that his blunders and shirking of responsibility on the part of the news media has seriously impaired the nation's ability to recognize and react to presidential faults

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Based on some 175 interviews with top administration officials, senior journalists and news executives, plus analyses of newspaper articles and television stories, Hertsgaard ( Nuclear Inc. ) argues that the Reagan White House not only tamed the media but transformed it into "a willing mouthpiece of the government" in its coverage of issues ranging from economic policy to arms control. In addition to providing examples of the media's "accommodating passivity" on major issues, he contends that the Reagan propaganda apparatus (or "Deaver & Co.," as he also calls it, referring to the president's former image wizard) chose the First Lady's pet project (i.e., the dangers of drugs) for her to draw attention away from her lavish lifestyle, which the public was beginning to notice and resent. Hertsgaard also claims that evidence suggests a 1980 deal with Iran to delay the hostage release until inauguration day, and that this alleged deal was the genesis of the Iran-contra affair. But these are mere sidelights in this charge-packed attack on the media's "subservience to state authority" and the "witless malevolence" of recent presidential image-making. Hertsgaard's most controversial indictment is that the nation's press lords deliberately reined in their troops.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

During the Reagan years, the White House Press Corps has "functioned less as an independent than as a palace court press," according to Hertsgaard. Basing his arguments on hundreds of interviews with important administration leaders and reporters, Hertsgaard convincingly portrays the White House press as noncritical and sycophantic. As members of the same power elite that they write about, White House reporters more often than not agree with the President's policies. In addition, they have been reluctant to strongly criticize Reagan for fear of being cut off from the flow of information and of losing their privileged status. Recommended for media and current affairs collections. Karl Helicher, Wolfsohn, Memorial Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0374251975
• ISBN 13: 9780374251970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408