The News Shapers: The Sources Who Explain the News

Analysts, political scientists, scholars and consultants - this book describes the elite club of individuals that the media approach for inside information , background or predictions concerning the outcome of still-unfolding stories. Although they are presented as detached experts, this book uncovers their long histories of partisanship as former government officials or politicians, and charges that most of the shapers have no better credentials than the millions of people to whom the news media never turn. This book’s findings, which are based on an examination of three major networks’ evening broadcasts between 1987 and 1988, reveal that a small number of white, politically conservative men associated with Washington-based think tanks , former Republican administrations, and private, East Coast universities virtually monopolise political discourse in the mass media. Dispelling the myth of the media’s liberal bias, this book discusses the shortcomings of both print and broadcast journalism which lead to selection of partisan news analysts, and the effects of their commentaries on foreign and domestic affairs. Special attention is given to Henry Kissinger, Washington’s think tanks and the media’s handling of the conflict with Iraq.