The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them - Hardcover

Goodman, Amy; Goodman, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401301312 ISBN 13: 9781401301316

Publisher: Hyperion, 2004

Synopsis

Her comments turned Charlie Rose red in the face. Bill Clinton called her 'hostile, combative, and even disrespectful.' Newt Gingrich said to her, 'You're the kind of reporter I warned my mother about.' Meet Amy Goodman, award-winning journalist and host of the daily hour-long talk show that is a beacon for passionate, critical, and hard-hitting news. On subjects ranging from the deceptions of the George H. W. Bush administration to the corruption of media monopolies and corporate influence over the government, Amy Goodman attacks and exposes the lies and hypocrisy that put democracy at risk. Goodman has traveled the world reporting and speaking out in defense of human rights and offers no apologies for her advocacy. At lectures, rallies, and other public appearances, thousands turn out to hear her speak the truth. Now, in her first book, she offers her no-holds-barred perspective on world events.

About this title

About the Author

Amy Goodman is an internationally acclaimed journalist and a media phenomenon who has received several top journalism awards. In addition to hosting her daily radio show, Goodman speaks on the topic of media activism to audiences nationwide -- on university campuses and before human rights, church, and community groups. She lives in New York City. David Goodman is an independent journalist and author, most recently of the critically acclaimed Fault Lines: Journeys in the New South Africa. He lives with his wife and two children in Vermont.

Reviews

Journalist and radio host Goodman brings her hard-hitting, no-holds-barred brand of reporting to an array of human rights, government accountability and media responsibility issues, and the result is bracing and timely. Goodman isn't about to let anyone slide by with easy explanations, not even then President Clinton when he called in on her daily Pacifica news show. And she is fierce and tireless in her commitment to dig behind official versions of the facts to get to very different stories. Her analysis of Iraq War contracts won by certain key Bush campaign donors will open many eyes, not only with its neat comparison of donation amount with contract value but also with its bold presentation of "Crony Connections." A gadfly's life in these turbulent times is neither restful nor boring, and Goodman's perspective on events like genocidal massacres in East Timor and mainstream coverage of the Jessica Lynch rescue is both important and alarming. Instances in which newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post have published stories based on leaked reports from unnamed government sources only to have to retract the stories later as being unfounded allow Goodman to argue that sophisticated news management techniques of spin, disinformation and controlled access to sources are undermining the reliability of media reporting. How, she asks, could journalists "embedded" with U.S. troops in Iraq be objective reporters of all that was occurring there, and whose interests were being served? These and other provocative questions power Goodman's stirring call for a democratic media serving a democratic society.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Goodman's high-octane blend of investigative journalism and political activism has been the force behind Pacifica radio's Democracy Now!, earning her praise and vitriol alike (not to mention nearly getting her killed by Indonesians in East Timor). Her first book, coauthored with her brother, David, recounts some of her most hard-hitting confrontations with corporate types and politicos of all persuasions, covering much of the same territory as other anti-Bush books and then some, at a compelling, breathless pace. Her real target, however, is not the oil-defense-politics Establishment, but their enablers, the media, which are cowed less by their corporate owners than by their own capacity for self-censorship in the guise of patriotism. NPR listeners, New York Times readers, you're not off the hook; Goodman is just as frustrated with your news outlets' silence when it comes to dead Iraqi civilians and antiwar viewpoints. Although her suggestions for how, exactly, to infuse media with integrity are perhaps quieter than her condemnations of hypocrisy, Goodman's vision for media's role in society is as vigorous as her confidence in the power of motivated communities. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401301312
• ISBN 13: 9781401301316
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352