Scandal and Silence Media Responses to Presidential Misconduct

by Entman, Robert M.

• ISBN13: 9780745647630
• ISBN10: 0745647634
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-14
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

This timely and engaging book challenges the conventional wisdom on media and scandal in the United States. The common view holds that media crave and actively pursue scandals whenever they sense corruption. Scandals of Politics and Media argues for a different perspective. Using case studies from the period 1988-2008, it shows that: Media neglect most corruption, providing too little, not too much scandal covera≥ Scandals arise from rational, controlled processes, not emotional frenzies - and when scandals happen, it’s not the media but governments and political parties that drive the process and any excesses that might occur; Significant scandals are indeed difficult for news organizations to initiate and harder for them to maintain and bring to appropriate closure; For these reasons cover-ups and lying often work, and truth remains essentially unrecorded, unremembered. Sometimes, bad behavior stimulates an avalanche of media attention with demonstrable political consequences, yet other times, equally shoddy activity receives little notice. This book advances a theoretical model to explain these differences, revealing an underlying logic to what might seem arbitrary and capricious journalism. Through case studies of the draft and military scandals involving Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and John Kerry; alleged sexual misconduct of politicians including but not limited to Clinton; and questionable financial dealings of Clinton and George W Bush, the book builds a new understanding of media scandals which will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the relationship between media and democracy today.

Author Biography

Robert M. Entman is J.B. and M.C. Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Dedication

High Crimes or Misdemeanors?

Analyzing Media and Presidential Scandal

Private Lives in the Public Sphere

What Do Journalists Know, and When Do They Tell It?

Secret Sins of 2008: The McCain, Edwards and Clinton Families’ Values

Dodging Scandals - and the Draft

Rathergate: From a Scandal of Politics to a Scandal of Journalism

Harkening to Other Matters: What News Looks like When a Scandal is Silenced

Appendix to Chapter 7: Harken Data Tables

Silenced Scandals of Grave Misconduct

Recalibrating Scandal and Silence

References

Notes

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.