By: Tom Mascaro
When Donald Trump supercharged his campaign against journalism, I immediately thought of Bill Porter’s class, Assault on the Media: The Nixon Years (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1976). Porter was my professor at Michigan in the mid-1980s. I wrote to the press and suggested they reissue and update the book to address 21st century threats to democracy.
I am happy to report that book is coming out this month (June 2024), and I’m honored to appear as Porter’s co-author. Porter, who died in 1999, was an old hand at covering the “awkward dance” of presidents and reporters. But he was adamant in his defense of journalism as an institution of democracy. Using that thesis, I revisited his book, analyzed his findings and concerns from a half century ago, added new history, and expanded the original “Documents of Significance” to include memos of Patrick Buchanan and H. R. Haldeman, primary sources revealing Nixon’s illegal mission to scuttle LBJ’s peace initiative in October 1968, the GOP’s plan to create a television network in the White House, and excerpts from academic papers and court cases. I curated Haldeman’s diary entries to reveal the gatekeeping, framing, and agenda setting practices of the Nixon administration, hoping to prod some new scholarship that pairs media studies with presidential/government studies employing the same theories.
Assault on the Media can be purchased from the University of Michigan Press website and the publisher is offering a 30% discount when code UMS24 is used at checkout. Exam copies or copies for media reviews are also available.
Tom Mascaro is professor emeritus in the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. He currently serves on the board of directors for the AJHA.
