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by Bob Somerby
bobsomerby@hotmail.com
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Caveat lector
7 December 2001
Our current howler: Buy this!
Synopsis: Bill Press new book really starts to crackleright around page 48.
Spin This!
Bill Press, Pocket Books, 2001
Weve always had a thing for Bill Press, the insightful co-host of CNNs Crossfireeven if Novak drove him into the ditch with a little demagogic car talk (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 5/24/99). Despite that small mishap, weve always seen Bill as the class of what weve long called the "Press" corps. Perhaps it was his ready wit. Perhaps it was his unblurred vision. Finally, were able to articulate the Bill Press Difference. For us, it all came clear as we perused his essential new book, Spin This!
Press argument is a bit slow to develop. But we felt he really hit his stride when he wrote this, on page 48:
PRESS: Fortunately, for those who have the time, theres an excellent guide to journalistic spin. Its called the Daily Howler (dailyhowler.com). Every day, editor Bob Somerby mercilessly punctures the spin of reporters, both print and broadcast. Nobody escapes. Its an invaluable tool. If we could all read the Daily Howler every day after we read the morning paper or watch the evening news, wed be a hell of a lot better informedand a hell of a lot less confused.
After that, Spin This! peters outbut its nugget statement deserves repeating. Few have offered so trenchant a "take" on the state of our troubled western letters.
Press calls himself a "true American." To us, he lights a wider world. But whatever your views on Press may be, youll want to read and reread his page 48a presentation the critics will poke at and ponder as long as the sophists rule Washington.
Note on our current intentions: Weve been hard at work on our current effortThe Spinning of the President, Year 2000, in which we chronicle press coverage of the 2000 election. (And yes, its a jaw-dropping story.) In the process of that extensive labor, weve neglected the incomparable DAILY HOWLER. But a few silly stories have been piling up, ones well look at in the next week. Continue to check this incomparable space. We think we owe it to one manBill Press.
The Daily update (12/7/01)
All of a sudden, we agree with his thesis: Howard Mortman found a problem with Press fine book. You know what to do. Just click here.
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