Enemy of the People: Trump's War on the Press, the New McCarthyism, and the Threat to American Democracy - Hardcover

Kalb Harvard Professor Emeritus; Now Senior Adviser To Pulitzer Center; Former N, Marvin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815735308 ISBN 13: 9780815735304

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2018

Synopsis

Shortly after assuming office in January 2017, President Donald Trump accused the press of being an “enemy of the American people.” Attacks on the media had been a hallmark of Trump’s presidential campaign, but this charge marked a dramatic turning point: language like this ventured into dangerous territory. Twentieth-century dictators―notably, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao―had all denounced their critics, especially the press, as “enemies of the people.” Their goal was to delegitimize the work of the press as “fake news” and create confusion in the public mind about what’s real and what isn’t; what can be trusted and what can’t be.

That, it seems, is also Trump’s goal. In Enemy of the People, Marvin Kalb, an award-winning American journalist with more than six decades of experience both as a journalist and media observer, writes with passion about why we should fear for the future of American democracy because of the unrelenting attacks by the Trump administration on the press.

As his new book shows, the press has been a bulwark in the defense of democracy. Kalb writes about Edward R. Murrow’s courageous reporting on Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “red scare” theatrics in the early 1950s, which led to McCarthy’s demise. He reminds us of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting in the early 1970s that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Today, because of revolutionary changes in journalism, no Murrow is ready at the battlements. Journalism has been severely weakened. Yet, without a virile, strong press, democracy is in peril.

Kalb’s book is a frightening indictment of President Trump’s efforts to delegitimize the American press―and put the future of our democracy in question.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

President Trump tweeted this declaration less than a month after his inauguration. Attacks on the media have been a hallmark of his presidential campaign and style of governance. This represents a dangerous and dramatic turning point. Twentieth-century dictators Stalin, Hitler, and Mao all denounced their critics, especially the press, as enemies of the people. Their goal was

to delegitimize the work of the press effectively calling it fake news, thereby creating confusion in the public’s mind about what’s real and what isn’t, what can be trusted and what can’t be.

This also appears to be Trump’s goal. In Enemy of the People, Marvin Kalb, an award-winning American journalist, writes with passion about his concerns for the future of American democracy. Can it withstand Trump’s unrelenting attacks on

the press?

As Kalb shows, the press has been a bulwark of American democracy. He writes about Edward R. Murrow’s courageous broadcasts that turned the cold light of reality on Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare threats in the early 1950s. He also vividly reminds us of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting during the Watergate scandal,

which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Without a fearless, robust press, democracy is in peril. Kalb’s book is an eye-opening indictment

of President Trump’s eff orts to debase and dehumanize the American media and put the future of America’s democracy in question.

About the Author

Marvin Kalb is senior adviser to the Pulitzer Center, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, Murrow Professor emeritus at Harvard, and former network correspondent at CBS and NBC News. He is the author, most recently, of The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956―Khrushchev, Stalin’s Ghost, and a Young American in Russia and Imperial Gamble: Putin, Ukraine, and the New Cold War.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0815735308
• ISBN 13: 9780815735304
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 200