Research Catalog

Enemy of the people : Trump's war on the press, the new McCarthyism, and the threat to American democracy

Title
Enemy of the people : Trump's war on the press, the new McCarthyism, and the threat to American democracy / Marvin Kalb.
Author
Kalb, Marvin L.
Publication
  • Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [2018]
  • ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFD 18-5604Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Additional Authors
Brookings Institution, issuer.
Description
xxiv, 174 pages; 21 cm
Summary
  • Shortly after assuming office in January 2017, President Donald Trump accused the press of being an "enemy of the American people." Attacks on the media had been a hallmark of Trump's presidential campaign, but this charge marked a dramatic turning point: language like this ventured into dangerous territory. Twentieth-century dictators--notably, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao--had all denounced their critics, especially the press, as "enemies of the people." Their goal was to delegitimize the work of the press as "fake news" and create confusion in the public mind about what's real and what isn't; what can be trusted and what can't be. That, it seems, is also Trump's goal. In Enemy of the People, Marvin Kalb, an award-winning American journalist with more than six decades of experience both as a journalist and media observer, writes with passion about why we should fear for the future of American democracy because of the unrelenting attacks by the Trump administration on the press. As his new book shows, the press has been a bulwark in the defense of democracy. Kalb writes about Edward R. Murrow's courageous reporting on Senator Joseph McCarthy's "red scare" theatrics in the early 1950s, which led to McCarthy's demise. He reminds us of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's reporting in the early 1970s that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. Today, because of revolutionary changes in journalism, no Murrow is ready at the battlements. Journalism has been severely weakened. Yet, without a virile, strong press, democracy is in peril. Kalb's book is a frightening indictment of President Trump's efforts to delegitimize the American press--and put the future of our democracy in question.
  • Shortly after assuming office in January 2017, President Donald Trump accused the press of being an "enemy of the American people." Attacks on the media had been a hallmark of Trump's presidential campaign, but language like this ventured into dangerous territory. Kalb writes about why we should fear for the future of American democracy. In reminding us of Edward R. Murrow's courageous reporting on Senator Joseph McCarthy's "red scare" theatrics in the early 1950s, and of Woodward and Bernstein's reporting during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, Kalb shows that the press has been a bulwark in the defense of democracy. -- adapted from jacket
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-162) and index.
Contents
Crossing a flashing red line -- From Nero to Trump -- "The appalling becomes excusable" -- The comparison is unmistakable -- "He had a certain raw wit and charm" -- Ike vs. McCarthy -- Senator, meet Edward R. Murrow -- From the war in Europe to the war in America -- "Otherwise, it is not America" -- A free press, now more than ever.
Call Number
JFD 18-5604
ISBN
  • 9780815735304
  • 0815735308
OCLC
1022077149
Author
Kalb, Marvin L., author.
Title
Enemy of the people : Trump's war on the press, the new McCarthyism, and the threat to American democracy / Marvin Kalb.
Publisher
Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [2018]
Copyright Date
©2018
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-162) and index.
Added Author
Brookings Institution, issuer.
Research Call Number
JFD 18-5604
View in Legacy Catalog