This timely and engaging book challenges the conventional wisdom on
media and scandal in the United States. The common view holds that
media crave and actively pursue scandals whenever they sense
corruption. Scandal and Silence argues for a different
perspective. Using case studies from the period 1988-2008, it shows
that:
* Media neglect most corruption, providing too little, not too
much scandal coverage;
* Scandals arise from rational, controlled processes, not
emotional frenzies - and when scandals happen, it's not the
media but governments and political parties that drive the process
and any excesses that might occur;
* Significant scandals are indeed difficult for news
organizations to initiate and harder for them to maintain and bring
to appropriate closure;
* For these reasons cover-ups and lying often work, and truth
remains essentially unrecorded, unremembered.
Sometimes, bad behavior stimulates an avalanche of media attention
with demonstrable political consequences, yet other times, equally
shoddy activity receives little notice. This book advances a
theoretical model to explain these differences, revealing an
underlying logic to what might seem arbitrary and capricious
journalism. Through case studies of the draft and military scandals
involving Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and John Kerry;
alleged sexual misconduct of politicians including but not limited
to Clinton; and questionable financial dealings of Clinton and
George W Bush, the book builds a new understanding of media
scandals which will be essential reading for anyone concerned with
the relationship between media and democracy today.
