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Gatekeepers, Then and Now

August 10, 2006 Posted by John at 10:48 PM

We spent most of the second hour of our radio show last Saturday interviewing Eric Burns, author of Infamous Scribblers, a history of journalism--so to speak--in the Revolutionary War era. Eric was a delightful guest, and the book sounds terrific. It covers the highlights (Benjamin Franklin, for example) and the lowlights (Sam Adams, indisputably) of early American journalism. And the impression I came away with is, if we could survive that, we can probably survive anything. I'd highly recommend Burns's book; click on the image below to go to Amazon, where you can buy it.

Scribblers735.jpg

In our last segment, the rusty gate swung shut on a perennial contender for This Week In Gatekeeping honors--the New York Times. Someday, we might have to go to New York to permanently retire the trophy and present it to Pinch Sulzburger, a worthy heir to the worst traditions in American journalism.

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