No questions asked : news coverage since 9/11

http://www.noquestionsasked.org

Endorsement From Danny Schechter
News Dissector
Editor, Mediachannel.org:

We all tend to trust the news sources we know until we are exposed to others that often have different takes and better reporting. That's why "comparative" shopping is as important in following news as in buying toasters. We should all be in debt to Lisa Finnegan who skillfully shows how and why our media is falling down on the job. Her book No Questions Asked poses questions we need to answer.

Endorsement From Harold Takooshian, PhD
President, Society for General Psychology
American Psychological Association:

What is the optimal role of U.S. news media in a democratic society under external attack? Veteran journalist Lisa Finnegan combines her sharp eye and crisp pen to offer her insights on dramatic accommodations by journalists following the evil of 9-11-01. Her analysis of media malaise is meticulously documented with primary sources, and unusually well-grounded in behavioral research on concepts relevant to journalist's current behavior conformity, obedience, and group dynamics. A powerful book for anyone seeking to better understand the dynamics behind journalism in this stressful time.
Endorsement From Dr. John M. Hamilton
Dean, Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University:
Finnegan's thought-provoking book of cases questions if the press lives up to its mission to provide the U.S. public with factual, objective, and unbiased reporting. She calls for reporting that would better educate the public of the true state of affairs--both domestically and internationally--without being skewed and manipulated by politicians to further their agenda. The issues she raises are ones Americans need to think about urgently.

Endorsement From Robert Dreyfuss, Author, Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam:

For every reporter who challenged the lies, half-truths, and exaggerations that fueled the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq and its so--called war on terrorism, a dozen others drank the Kool-Aid. Lisa Finnegan has assembled, in chapter after sobering chapter, the sorry record of how big chunks of the U.S. media establishment abandoned skepticism and acted as virtual wartime propagandists for the White House and the Pentagon after 9/11. No Questions Asked makes the case that if Americans are in the dark about how we got into this mess, it was our newspapers and our television networks who turned out the lights.

Description:

The Fourth Estate's most important job is to present unbiased, accurate information about events, issues, and policies to the public. Without public scrutiny, administrations can become a breeding ground for bad and dangerous ideas.
In recent years, for several reasons--including the brilliant psychological manipulation of the nation after the September 11, 2001, attacks--the American media have allowed administration officials to present information to the public without having to worry much about answering uncomfortable questions or having their policies deconstructed for public consumption. Relevant information is buried deep inside newspapers, and gaping holes can be found in many stories; in short, obvious and important questions remain unasked.

The lack of questions from reporters led to a misunderstanding of the facts by the American public and, consequently, to their support of policies based on misinformation. Polls have revealed that more than half of Americans believe mistruths about the war in Iraq and world terrorism. Many, including members of the media, say the press has failed to do its job. Very few news reports filled in the basic blanks--the who, what, where, when, and whys--about U.S. foreign policy, the USA Patriot Act, the administration's insistence on the need for secrecy and more power, the truth about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the necessity of sending our soldiers to topple another country's dictator, throwing an already tenuous region into dangerous imbalance. Very few reports are filling in those blanks now.
No Questions Asked takes an overarching view of media coverage from the day of the 9/11 attacks through the war in Iraq. It also compares and contrasts how the U.S. vs. international media covered key events during this period. Fact-based rather than polemical, it explains why journalists responded the way they did during wartime and explores the ramifications for democracy of a weak press.