Review: Don't Shoot the Messenger

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Don't Shoot the Messenger: How our Growing Hatred for the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us
by Bruce W. Sanford

Publisher: The Free Press (Simon & Schuster)
ISBN: 0684828138

Chances are you wouldn't be reading this review if you weren't already unhappy with the state of the American media.  That distaste and distrust for the media isn't new - but it is reaching new heights, and First Amendment lawyer Bruce Sanford warns that if current levels of anti-media sentiment are maintained, we'll all get hurt in the end.

Don't Shoot the Messenger isn't meant as an apology for the behavior of the mainstream media in the late 20th century; on the contrary, Sanford wastes no time and takes no prisoners when it comes to criticizing shoddy journalism and the overreaching drive for profits over public information.

But Sanford says WE are also to blame for the decline in the state of our media; sensationalism, he points out, isn't new to the TV news: Newspapers milked the sensational teat to an excessive degree in the early 1900s, and we survived that.  And the increasing amount of 'schlock' that's pumped out on the airwaves is also partly the fault of the people - too many people watch that crap NOT to put it on the air.

Part of the problem is that most of the American public is too disengaged from the process of newsmaking to provide meaningful input; while there's been a growing sentiment through the 1990s that journalism in America has reached new lows, ratings show that schlock sells.  Where did the disconnect happen?  Sanford doesn't answer that question, and it's one facet of the book that's lacking.

However, the real meat comes in Sanford's tracking of court cases involving damages handed down against media organizations for the stories they do; here, the author provides copious examples that show judges and juries are becoming more vindictive against the media, issuing larger penalties and harboring in restrictions that are beginning to curtail the ability of the press to do its job.

Ultimately, if the hatred of the media continues to grow, those restrictions will simply intensify - and in the long run, if the press gets muzzled, then we all suffer.

The mainstream media is well aware of the problem: Sanford devotes plenty of space to the efforts of professional organizations who've held numerous panel discussions and produced several studies chronicling the increasing public distrust in their work.  But journalists are some of the most self-critical people you'll ever meet, and change simply won't come from within.

While he doesn't provide all the answers, Bruce Sanford lays out a compelling argument for the state of the media industry today, and places blame for that state at many feet - including ours.  Don't Shoot the Messenger is food for thought - and while it might not always taste good going down, it's definitely good for you.