Fooling America : how Washington insiders twist the truth and manufacture the conventional wisdom

A behind-the-scenes look at how government seduces the free press into abandoning hard investigation and insight. Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter Parry calls on the public, press, and Congress to reassume their bipartisan responsibility to challenge Conventional Wisdom and uncover the truth. Conventional Wisdom is the unwritten polite term used to refer to the limits of what the public is allowed to read. History through the eyes of the reporter who knew his insights and truths would never be printed in his coverage. “By 1986, the aims of the magazine and the aims of the policymakers were identical. Nothing would get in their way—not international law, not any notion of journalist distance or independence.” Fooling America Looks At The Trivializing Of U.s. Decision-making And Its Disastrous Impact On The Nation. Focusing On How Washington's Conventional Wisdom Distorts The Public Debate, The Book Explains Why The National Government And News Media Have Failed To Address The Country's Deepening Problems. The Crisis, The Book Argues, Rests With A Political-social Elite That Has Lost Touch With Reality. Today's Washington Insiders--the Image-conscious Politicians, The Smug Tv Pundits, The Hip Journalists And The Socially Agile Cocktail Party Set--are More Interested In Who's In And Who's Out, What's Hot And What's Not, Than In What's Happening To The Country. This Fascination With Superficial Trends And The Endless Pronouncements Of Politically Safe Insights Lie At The Heart Of The Conventional Wisdom, Known As Cw To The Capital's Aficionados.^ Guided By The Cw's Judgment On What Is News, The Well-paid Washington Press Corps Managed To Miss--or Severely Underplay--every Major Scandal Of The Past Decade. These Include Such Catastrophes As The S & L Debacle, The Iran-contra Affair, The Plundering Of Wall Street, And Saddam Hussein's Military Buildup (arranged With Secret White House Help). In The Hands Of Government Public-relations Experts, The Conventional Wisdom Even Functioned As An Enforcement Mechanism To Punish The Few Independent-minded Souls Left In Washington. During The 1980's, Out-of-step Journalists And Politicians Discovered That To Wander Past The Cw's Boundary Cast Them As Outsiders In A City That Values, Above All Else, Insiderdom And Access. In The Final Chapter, Robert Parry Offers A Set Of Proposals For The Country To Escape This Tyranny Of The Conventional Wisdom. But There Are No Easy Answers.^ Most Important, The Public Must Demand That Journalists Get Serious About Their Constitutional Responsibility To Inform The Nation. Voters Must Keep Focused On The Pressing Issues Before The Country, Rather Than Be Diverted By Symbols And Trivia. Overall, The American People Must Make Clear They Won't Be Fooled Again. The Cw Runs For President -- The Cw Takes The White House -- The Governing Cw -- The Cw Goes To War -- Cw, Noriega, Contras And Drugs -- The Cw Fights A Middle East Bad Guy -- The Cw, The Al-sabahs And The Cia -- Cw And Peace -- Cw Versus The Vietnam Syndrome -- Cw And The Cia Director -- Cw, The Sandinistas And Buzz Words -- Cw And The Might Wurlitzer -- Cw And Contra-dictions -- Cw And A Man Named North -- Cw And The Cover-up -- Cw, Breakthrough And Cover-up Redux -- The Cw And America's Future. Robert Parry. Includes Bibiliographical References (p. [317]-328) And Index. PART 1 1 The CW Runs for President 2 The CW Takes the White House 3 The Governing CW 4 The CW Goes to War 5 CW, Noriega, Contras and Drugs 6 The CW Fights a Middle East Bad Guy 7 The CW, the al-Sabahs and the CIA 8 CW and Peace 9 CW Versus the Vietnam Syndrome PART 2 10 CW and the CIA Director 11 CW, the Sandinistas and Buzz Words 12 CW and the Mighty Wurlitzer 13 CW and Contra-dictions 14 CW and a Man Named North 15 CW and the Cover-up 16 CW, Breakthrough and Cover-up Redux 17 The CW and America’s Future Notes Investigative reporter Parry details how CW (conventional wisdom) regarding national and international issues is deliberately manipulated, and how journalists find themselves in trouble when they try to go beyond. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.