Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, And Destroy Democracy

How American media are failing our democracy, by the authors Bill Moyers calls "the Paul Revere and Tom Paine of our time."

"As this book makes clear, the problem is deeper than the administration or the right-wing echo chamber the very structure of our conglomerated media system conspires against real journalism and, hence, against truth."Tim Robbins, from the Foreword

Thomas Frank called Tragedy and Farce "an appeal to reason in a dark time. " Including the sharpest analysis of 2004 election coverage yet and the first detailed look at the burgeoning media reform movement, this book is both an expose and a call to action. In it John Nichols and Robert McChesneytwo of the country's leading media analystsargue that during the 2004 election and throughout the Iraq war and occupation, Americans have been starved of democracy's oxygen: accurate information. More than anything John Kerry, George Bush, or even Karl Rove did, the media's mis-coverage of the campaign and war decided the election. Most disturbingly, the flawed coverage reflects new, structural problems within U.S. journalism.

Tragedy and Farce dissects the media failures of recent years and show how they expose the decline in resources and standards for political journalismas well as the methodical campaign by the political right to control the news cycle. In our highly concentrated media system it has become commercially and politically irrational to do the kind of journalism a self-governing society requires. 10 b/w illustrations.