Description
Book SynopsisMany of American journalism's best-known and most cherished stories are exaggerated, dubious, or apocryphal. They are media-driven myths. In this book, the author confronts and dismantles prominent media-driven myths, describing how they can feed stereotypes, distort understanding about the news media, and deflect blame from policymakers.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface to the Second Edition Acknowledgments Introduction 1. "I'll Furnish the War": The Making of a Media Myth 2. Fright beyond Measure? The Myth of The War of the Worlds 3. Murrow vs. McCarthy: Timing Makes the Myth 4. TV Viewers, Radio Listeners, and the Myth of the First Kennedy-Nixon Debate 5. The Bay of Pigs-New York Times Suppression Myth 6. Debunking the "Cronkite Moment" 7. The Nuanced Myth: Bra Burning at Atlantic City 8. Picture Power? Confronting the Myths of the Napalm Girl Photograph 9. It's All about the Media: Watergate's Heroic-Journalist Myth 10. The "Fantasy Panic": The News Media and the "Crack-Baby" Myth 11. "She Was Fighting to the Death": Mythmaking in Iraq 12. Hurricane Katrina and the Myth of Superlative Reporting 13. Counterfeit Quotations: Swelling with a Digital Tide Conclusion Notes Select Bibliography Index
