Covering McCarthyism: How the Christian Science Monitor Handled Joseph R. McCarthy, 1950-1954

(Hardback)

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Description

Strout examines how the Christian Science Monitor, a highly influential newspaper of the era, covered Joseph R. McCarthy and McCarthyism from the Senator's Lincoln Day speech in February 1950 through his censure in December 1954. Through his in-depth examination of the Monitor's interoffice communications, Strout examines how the Monitor's coverage compared with other elite and popular press newspapers and how the pressures associated with McCarthyism affected individuals at the Monitor. An extensive review of the Monitor's editorials and news articles suggests that it was remarkably thorough and fair in its reporting, while still being outspoken, but responsible in its criticism. While many newspapers attacked McCarthy personally, the Monitor concentrated on the actions of the junior senator and the negative effects they were having at home and abroad. As Strout sees it, the Monitor served as a voice of moderation, while simultaneously being a persistent critic of McCarthy's tactics.

Reviews

[F]or readers who wonder how journalists ought--and ought not--to balance truth and lies from any significant source, this book is as fresh as today's news.-Christian Science Monitor
[This is a book that should appear on each and every high school and university desk. It will do no less than to introduce them to one of the most frightening periods in the world's most powerful and infuential nation state.-American Journalism
[T]his is a readable, well-researched account of how newspapers attempt to make a difference in times of national moral crisis.-Journalism History
This is a definitive work--detailed research from a researcher--beyond what one would need or want to know, yet establishing for the record the Monitor's important role in the era that was McCarthyism.'-Journal of Political and Military Sociology
"For readers who wonder how journalists ought--and ought not--to balance truth and lies from any significant source, this book is as fresh as today's news."-Christian Science Monitor
"This is a book that should appear on each and every high school and university desk. It will do no less than to introduce them to one of the most frightening periods in the world's most powerful and infuential nation state."-American Journalism
"This is a readable, well-researched account of how newspapers attempt to make a difference in times of national moral crisis."-Journalism History
"[F]or readers who wonder how journalists ought--and ought not--to balance truth and lies from any significant source, this book is as fresh as today's news."-Christian Science Monitor
"[This is a book that should appear on each and every high school and university desk. It will do no less than to introduce them to one of the most frightening periods in the world's most powerful and infuential nation state."-American Journalism
"[T]his is a readable, well-researched account of how newspapers attempt to make a difference in times of national moral crisis."-Journalism History
"This is a definitive work--detailed research from a researcher--beyond what one would need or want to know, yet establishing for the record the Monitor's important role in the era that was McCarthyism.'"-Journal of Political and Military Sociology

Author Bio

LAWRENCE N. STROUT is Gibbons Distinguished Professor of Journalism at Mississippi University for Women. Professor Strout was a broadcast journalist, 1975-1989, prior to his career as a teacher and researcher concentrating on broadcast and print journalism. His essays on American journalism history have appeared as book chapters as well as articles in Journal of American Culture and Media History Digest.