W. Joseph Campbell

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Media myths: FAQs, Part Two

In Media myths on November 8, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Q: Which media myths has been around the longest?

A: The anecdote of Hearst’s vowing to “furnish the war” with Spain dates back almost 120 years. It was first recounted in a book of reminiscences by James Creelman, a bluff, cigar-chomping journalist who admired Hearst’s style of aggressive, activist journalism. In his book, Creelman recounted the vow in an admiring way, saying it demonstrated how Hearst’s “yellow journalism” had an eye toward the future and was good at anticipating events. But over the years, the vow took on far more sinister overtones. And that’s how it’s usually told today—as an example of media power run amok. It’s also the statement most often attributed to Hearst. But he denied ever having made such a vow.

Q: So why is it important to take time and energy to debunk media-driven myths?

A: Because they aren’t trivial, and they aren’t innocuous. Media-driven myths can and do have adverse consequences. They tend to distort understanding about the role and function of journalism in American society. They often confer on the news media far more power and influence than they really possess. Media myths tend to minimize the complexity of historical events in favor of simplistic and misleading interpretations. And media myths can deflect blame away from the makers and sponsors of flawed public policy.

Media myths can feed stereotypes, too. The highly exaggerated news reports of nightmarish violence in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in 2005 essentially defamed the battered city and impugned its residents at a time of their deep despair.

Media myths also invite indulgence in the “golden age fallacy”—a flawed but appealing belief that there really was a time when journalists were inspiring and respected heroic figures.

So media-driven myths can be deceiving and illusory. Trivial and innocuous, they aren’t.

Q: What fresh insights does this book offer?

A: There are many. The chapter in Getting It Wrong on the War of the Worlds radio dramatization of 1938 calls attention to how second- and third-hand accounts spread rapidly as the broadcast unfolded and became significant and but little-recognized sources of fright that October night. A false-alarm contagion took hold in many places in the country, sowing fear and confusion among many people who had heard not a single word of the program.

The chapter about the media-driven myth of the New York Times’ bowing to White House pressure and suppressing its reporting in the run-up to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 offers new evidence, too. The chapter demonstrates how President John F. Kennedy had almost no opportunity to call the Times and bring pressure to bear when a crucial news report about the pending invasion was edited and prepared for publication.

Getting It Wrong also demonstrates how the erroneous media reports about the supposed heroism of Private Jessica Lynch during the first days of the Iraq War in 2003 obscured the truly heroic deeds of another U.S. soldier, Sergeant Donald Walters. It’s pretty clear that Lynch initially received credit in the media for the actions of Donald Walters, who was captured and executed by Iraqi irregulars. But Walters’ heroics have received only scant and passing attention from the news media.

Q: In short, what are this book’s most important contributions?

Getting It Wrong challenges media-centric interpretations of history, offers perspective about media power and influence, and endeavors to set the record straight on some of the most cherished stories American journalism tells about itself. It’s also offers a cautionary tale about the capacity of the news media to present misleading or distorted interpretations of important events.

It should be noted, too, that no other book has addressed and examined prominent media-driven myths the way Getting It Wrong does.

WJC

  1. […] FAQs about the book are available here and here. […]

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  2. […] By the way, I quote Salisbury’s Without Fear or Favor in Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book about media-driven myths. […]

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  3. […] if roughly translated, that’s a pretty fair summary of the “Cronkite Moment,” a media-driven myth that I address and debunk in my forthcoming book, Getting It […]

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  4. […] I write in Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book about media-driven myths, “The Post’s erroneous hero-warrior tale thrust Lynch into an international spotlight that has […]

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  5. […] since 1901, and it lives on despite repeated and thorough debunking. It’s one of the ten media-driven myths examined in my forthcoming book, Getting It […]

    ‘War means profits’? It didn’t for Hearst’s papers « Media Myth Alert 3 April 2010 at 9am

  6. […] the entertainment industry–factors akin to those that contribute to the rise and tenacity of media-driven myths, which are stories about and/or by the news media that are widely believed and often retold but […]

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  7. […] role in solidifying media-driven myths is discussed in Getting It Wrong, my next book, which will be out in the […]

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  8. […] also note in Getting It Wrong that motion pictures have a way of solidifying media-driven myths in the public’s […]

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  9. […] the media-driven myth of the crack baby is important, I write in Getting It Wrong, because doing so “allows […]

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  10. […] three media-driven myths are addressed, and debunked, in my book, Getting It Wrong, to be published in summer by the […]

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  11. […] 1979 study of the news media, The Powers That Be, encouraged the rise of two prominent media-driven myths and endorsed a […]

    Halberstam the ‘unimpeachable’? Try myth-promoter « Media Myth Alert 24 April 2010 at 9am

  12. […] The anecdote’s evolution over the past 110 years is discussed in Chapter One of Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book on media-driven myths. […]

    ‘War Lovers’: A myth-indulging disappointment « Media Myth Alert 2 May 2010 at 3pm

  13. […] an embryonic media-driven myth had begun to […]

    ‘Bra-burning feminists’: Who were they? « Media Myth Alert 3 May 2010 at 1pm

  14. […] I point out in Getting It Wrong, the story of Lynch’s heroics was a media-driven myth. The U.S. military was loath to promote the case. In fact, one of the Post reporters who worked on […]

    Turning a spotlight again on Jessica Lynch « Media Myth Alert 6 May 2010 at 3pm

  15. […] “Outlook” section carried a short writeup about last month about three myths the book […]

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  16. […] many media-driven myths, the notion that the Pentagon pushed the phony hero-warrior story of Jessica Lynch has proven […]

    Too good to be disbelieved: The military, myth, and Jessica Lynch « Media Myth Alert 10 May 2010 at 2pm

  17. […] I discuss in Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book about media-driven myths, it is widely believed that President Lyndon Johnson essentially threw up his hands in dismay upon […]

    Johnson was ‘panicked’ by Cronkite show on Vietnam? « Media Myth Alert 11 May 2010 at 1pm

  18. […] CJR reviews ‘Getting It Wrong’ In Debunking, Media myths, Reviews on May 12, 2010 at 3:34 pm The May/June number of Columbia Journalism Review contains a fine and insightful review of Getting It Wrong my forthcoming book that addresses, and debunks, 10 prominent media-driven myths. […]

    CJR reviews ‘Getting It Wrong’ « Media Myth Alert 12 May 2010 at 3pm

  19. […] address, and debunk, 10 prominent media-driven myths in my forthcoming book, Getting It Wrong. Among them is what I call the heroic-journalist myth of […]

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  20. […] thoughtfully considers the tenacity of media-driven myths, […]

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  21. […] I discuss the book, which will be published soon by University of California Press, and address reasons that help explain the tenacity and enduring appeal of media-driven myths. […]

    At HuffPo books « Media Myth Alert 22 May 2010 at 8am

  22. […] overstated phenomenon, as I discuss in a chapter in Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book about media-driven myths–well-known and often-told stories about the news media that are dubious, apocryphal, or […]

    Bra-burning and home luxuries lost: Whoa « Media Myth Alert 23 May 2010 at 11am

  23. […] in the first chapter of my soon-to-be-published book, Getting It Wrong, which debunks 10 prominent media-driven myths—false, dubious, or improbable stories about the news media that masquerade as […]

    ‘Good narrative trumps good history’ « Media Myth Alert 28 May 2010 at 1pm

  24. […] Even so, it is intriguing how wartime can and does give rise to media-driven myths. […]

    War, the ‘apex of yellow journalism’? Not so « Media Myth Alert 10 June 2010 at 11am

  25. […] Here is a brief description about each of the 10 myths: […]

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  26. […] John Maynard moderated a brisk “Inside Media” talk, during which I reviewed the myths of William Randolph Hearst’s purported vow to “furnish the war” with Spain, of […]

    ‘Getting It Wrong’ launched at Newseum « Media Myth Alert 20 June 2010 at 2pm

  28. […] I said, helps explain the tenacity of the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate: Like many media myths, the heroic-journalist meme minimizes the intricacy of historical events in favor of simplistic, […]

    Myth-busting at Busboys and Poets « Media Myth Alert 8 July 2010 at 9pm

  29. […] I discuss in Getting It Wrong, my new book debunking 10 media-driven myths, the reasons for doubting the anecdote are many and include the fact that the purported telegram […]

    Hearst, war, and the international appeal of media myths « Media Myth Alert 18 July 2010 at 3pm

  30. […] One in Getting It Wrong, my new book debunking 10 prominent media-driven myths, takes up and dismantles the Hearstian vow, and that chapter is readily accessible […]

    ‘Famously rumored’: Hearst and his reputed vow « Media Myth Alert 22 July 2010 at 9am

  31. […] The pithy “furnish the war” vow is almost certainly apocryphal, as I discuss in Getting It Wrong, my new book debunking 10 media-driven myths. […]

    Invoking media myths to score points « Media Myth Alert 23 July 2010 at 8am

  32. […] I note in Getting It Wrong, my new book debunking prominent media-driven myths, by October 1967, a plurality of Americans (47 percent) maintained that sending U.S. forces to […]

    Mangling the ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 26 July 2010 at 6pm

  33. […] I proceeded to explain why all of them are media-driven myths–dubious and improbable tales about the news media that masquerade as factual. “They can […]

    ‘Getting It Wrong’ plays the Tattered Cover « Media Myth Alert 7 August 2010 at 7pm

  34. […] the commentary noted–and as I discuss in my new book about media-driven myths, Getting It Wrong–the bra-burning trope stems from the women’s liberation protest of […]

    The wide appeal of the bra-burning meme « Media Myth Alert 10 August 2010 at 11am

  35. […] ample good reason to avoid the anecdote of the “Cronkite Moment,” one of 10 prominent media myths addressed, and debunked, in my new book, Getting It […]

    Reported, but unconfirmed: The columnist and the ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 2 September 2010 at 9am

  36. […] Moment” in my new book, Getting It Wrong, which addresses and debunks 10 prominent media-driven myths–apocryphal or improbable tales about the news media that masquerade as […]

    ‘Cronkite Moment’ makes ‘Best of the Web’ « Media Myth Alert 11 September 2010 at 8am

  37. […] myth–which is debunked in my new book, Getting It Wrong–lies in the purported reaction to […]

    Encore: Sighting the mythical ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 23 September 2010 at 5am

  38. […] But the first iteration of that experiment has become steeped in the intervening 50 years in a blithe, appealing yet terribly misleading media myth. […]

    Kennedy-Nixon debate myth emerges–as predicted « Media Myth Alert 24 September 2010 at 6am

  39. […] Media myths thus can be self-flattering; they offer heroes like Woodward and Bernstein to a profession that is more used to criticism than applause. […]

    Pew: Woodward, Bernstein ‘unraveled Watergate cover-up’ « Media Myth Alert 1 October 2010 at 8am

  40. […] this media myth is just too well-known, too entrenched in the American consciousness, ever to fall into […]

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  41. […] I discuss in Getting It Wrong, my new book debunking 10 prominent media-driven myths, the Pentagon was not the source for the Post‘s botched hero-warrior report. Vernon Loeb, one […]

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  42. […] Media-driven myths, I have noted, can and do travel far, and well.  Take, for example, the heroic-journalist myth of Watergate. […]

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  43. […] One in Getting It Wrong is devoted to the Hearstian tale, which I flatly describe as a media-driven myth, calling it “perhaps the hardiest myth in American […]

    Doing more than casting ‘doubt’ on Hearst’s famous vow « Media Myth Alert 9 October 2010 at 10am

  44. […] many media myths, Hearst-the-war-monger offers a simplistic explanation for a complex subject. It is far easier to […]

    Hearst, agenda-setting, and war « Media Myth Alert 12 October 2010 at 9am

  45. […] War of the Worlds program sent untold thousands of people into the streets in fear and panic, is a media-driven myth—one that offers a deceptive message about the influence of radio and about the media’s […]

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  46. […] believed and often retold but which, under scrutiny, dissolve as apocryphal or wildly exaggerated. Media myths can be thought of as the junk food of journalism–tasty and alluring, perhaps, but not […]

    Sniffing out media myths « Media Myth Alert 17 October 2010 at 8am

  47. […] Among those questions was whether media audiences bear any responsibility for the tenacity of media myths. […]

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  48. […] many media-driven myths, the “furnish the war” anecdote is succinct, savory, and easily remembered. It is […]

    IBD invokes Hearst myth of ‘furnish the war’ « Media Myth Alert 21 October 2010 at 5pm

  50. […] also offered a few suggestions about identifying and sidestepping media myths, suggestions that included being skeptical about turns of phrase that just sound too neat and […]

    Mythbusting at the Smithsonian « Media Myth Alert 19 November 2010 at 7pm

  51. […] who died 16 months ago. But the reviewer carries on about Cronkite at some length, and indulges in media myth in […]

    ‘When I lost Cronkite’–or ‘something to that effect’ « Media Myth Alert 20 November 2010 at 9am

  52. […] such a notion is more often the recipe for a media-driven myth than it is the foundation of historical […]

    Newsman tells ‘a simple truth,’ changes history « Media Myth Alert 21 November 2010 at 2pm

  53. […] to be sure, are quite unlike media-driven myths, the subject of my latest book, Getting It Wrong. Media-driven myths are false, dubious, improbable stories about and/or by the news media that masquerade as factual. I […]

    Thanksgiving and its permissible myths « Media Myth Alert 25 November 2010 at 7am

  54. […] I write in Getting It Wrong, “media-driven myths are neither trivial nor innocuous. They can and do have adverse consequences. Notably, they tend to […]

    That made-up Watergate line resonates abroad « Media Myth Alert 30 November 2010 at 9am

  55. […] CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and his half-hour television report on McCarthy in March 1954. The myth has it that Murrow confronted and single-handedly took down McCarthy, the Red-baiting Republican […]

    60 years on: Joe McCarthy assaults Drew Pearson « Media Myth Alert 9 December 2010 at 12am

  56. […] And it has become a particularly tenacious and defining media-driven myth. […]

    ‘You might bring down a government’: Sure, that happens « Media Myth Alert 11 December 2010 at 7am

  57. […] than Walter Cronkite swayed a president’s views about the war in Vietnam. Yet those and other media myths endure, because in part they are reductive: They offer unambiguous, easily remembered explanations […]

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  58. […] To explain Watergate through the lens of the heroic-journalist, I write in Getting It Wrong, is to short-change and “misunderstand the scandal and to indulge in a particularly beguiling media-driven myth.” […]

    Watergate and its hardy myths « Media Myth Alert 16 December 2010 at 1pm

  59. […] myth is solidly entrenched in popular culture. It is one of the heartiest of media-driven myths, those dubious, media-centric tales that masquerade as […]

    Mythmaking on Blu-ray? « Media Myth Alert 20 December 2010 at 11am

  60. […] media-driven myth even more tenacious than the Murrow-McCarthy tale is the legendary “Cronkite Moment” of […]

    Two myths and today’s New York Times « Media Myth Alert 27 December 2010 at 1am

  61. […] discussed from time to time at Media Myth Alert how media-driven myths about the U.S. news media have a way of traveling well and finding expression in news outlets […]

    Murrow, Cronkite myths cited in Poland’s top paper « Media Myth Alert 4 January 2011 at 10am

  62. […] than Walter Cronkite swayed a president’s views about the war in Vietnam. Yet those and other media myths endure, because in part they are reductive: They offer unambiguous, easily remembered explanations […]

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  63. […] presumptive “Cronkite Moment“–one of 10 media-driven myths I address and debunk in my latest book, Getting It Wrong–took place February 27, 1968, when […]

    Cronkite’s view on Vietnam ‘changed course of history’ But how? « Media Myth Alert 17 January 2011 at 7am

  64. […] I say in narrating the trailer, media-driven myths can be thought of as the “junk food of journalism“–delicious and appealing, […]

    Have a look: New trailer for ‘Getting It Wrong’ « Media Myth Alert 18 January 2011 at 7am

  65. […] don’t discuss the Welch-McCarthy encounter in Getting It Wrong, but barnacles of media myth seem to cling to that tale, […]

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  66. […] his way out, in announcing his abrupt departure, Olbermann indulged in media myth. He described as “exaggerated” the rescue of Army private Jessica Lynch in Iraq in […]

    On the contributions of media rabble-rousers « Media Myth Alert 26 January 2011 at 6am

  67. […] on the conflict with Spain — is just as hardy as “furnish the war.” Like many media myths, it offers a reductive, simplistic, and easy-to-remember version of a complex historical […]

    Media myth and Truthout « Media Myth Alert 3 February 2011 at 6am

  68. […] principal challenge to Getting It Wrong lies in my view that stripping away and debunking prominent media myths “enhances a case for limited news media influence. Media power tends to be modest, nuanced, […]

    JHistory: ‘Getting It Wrong’ deserves to be ‘required reading’ « Media Myth Alert 7 February 2011 at 9am

  69. […] protest certainly seems to pose a further challenge to claims that feminist bra-burning is a media myth. While the demonstrators in the photograph hardly look angry, their protest certainly seems […]

    Is this bra-burning photo authentic? « Media Myth Alert 15 February 2011 at 8am

  70. […] many media myths, the tale of the Hearstian vow is accessible, pithy, and easily recalled. It supposedly illuminates […]

    ‘Furnish the war’ finds a place in sports « Media Myth Alert 28 February 2011 at 8am

  71. […] The bra-burning in Toronto in 1979 further calls for revision of the notion that feminist bra-burning was a media myth. […]

    Enticing the media: More on bra-burning in Toronto, 1979 « Media Myth Alert 4 March 2011 at 7am

  72. […] The notion that Murrow and his television program brought down McCarthy is a delicious story of presumptive media power:  More accurately, it is a tenacious media-driven myth. […]

    57 years on: Was it really TV’s ‘finest half hour’? « Media Myth Alert 9 March 2011 at 12am

  73. […] I note in my latest book, Getting It Wrong, which debunks 10 prominent media-driven myths, rolling up a scandal of the dimension and complexity of Watergate “required the collective […]

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  74. […] also quoted me about some of the reasons media-driven myths are so tenacious and appealing — that they place the news media decisively at the center of […]

    ‘So to Speak’ about ‘Getting It Wrong’ « Media Myth Alert 18 March 2011 at 6am

  75. […] talk focused on three of the media myths debunked in my latest book, Getting It Wrong, which is dedicated to Verne E. Edwards Jr., my […]

    Talking media myths at the alma mater « Media Myth Alert 19 March 2011 at 9am

  76. […] was among the media myths I discussed last night in a book talk at Kensington Row Bookshop in Kensington, […]

    WaPo ‘played pivotal role’ in Watergate? Think again « Media Myth Alert 24 March 2011 at 7am

  77. […] a media myth hardly clinches the argument. Turning to the dubious line makes the argument appear a bit frivolous […]

    Searing insight that wasn’t: Fox Business and the ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 25 March 2011 at 8am

  78. […] media myth centers around the hoary notion, rejected by serious historians, that William Randolph […]

    Hearst and war: A newspaper misreads history « Media Myth Alert 28 March 2011 at 8am

  79. […] is, as I point out in Getting It Wrong, an important factor accounting for the emergence of media-driven myths, those dubious media-centric tales that masquerade as […]

    Watergate and revolutions: Indulging in media-power myths « Media Myth Alert 29 March 2011 at 11am

  80. […] It’s often called as the “Cronkite Moment” — and it’s also a media-driven myth, one of 10 I address and debunk in my latest book, Getting It […]

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  81. […] It didn’t kill, spike, or otherwise emasculate the news report published 50 years ago tomorrow that lies at the heart of this media myth. […]

    Busting the NYTimes suppression myth, 50 years on « Media Myth Alert 6 April 2011 at 7am

  82. […] variability of such magnitude can be a marker of a media-driven myth, as I point out in Getting It […]

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  83. […] I discuss in Getting It Wrong, my media-mythbusting book that came out last year, All the President’s Men placed the characters of Woodward and […]

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  84. […] attributed to Hearst. And as I discuss in my latest book, Getting It Wrong, it’s a durable media-driven myth that has survived “concerted attempts to discredit and dismantle […]

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  85. […] argue in Getting It Wrong that debunking media-driven myths “enhances a case for limited news media […]

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  86. […] Getting It Wrong, the tale about Hearst’s vow to “furnish the war” is a hardy media-driven myth that lives on despite concerted attempts to discredit and dismantle […]

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  87. […] Media myths, she suggested, also are akin to “comfort food of journalism.” […]

    Media myths, the ‘comfort food’ of journalism « Media Myth Alert 25 May 2011 at 4am

  88. […] accounts for such lapses by prominent journalists and their outlets? Why do these and other media-driven myths often find their way into news reports and […]

    Why they get it wrong « Media Myth Alert 3 June 2011 at 6am

  89. […] point out in Getting It Wrong how movies can solidify media-driven myths in the public’s consciousness. “High-quality cinematic treatments,” I write, “are powerful […]

    ‘Sneakily patriotic’ movies that promote media myths « Media Myth Alert 1 July 2011 at 7am

  90. […] as saviors: Like most media-driven myths, the notion is simply too good to be true, too simplistic to be […]

    The journos who saved us « Media Myth Alert 5 July 2011 at 12pm

  91. […] part because it’s simplistic tale that’s often taught in high schools and […]

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  92. […] the media myth, anyway. Like many media myths, it’s a good yarn but thinly documented. There’s scant evidence that the radio show […]

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  93. […] “But to explain Watergate through the lens of the heroic-journalist is,” I write, “to abridge and misunderstand the scandal and to indulge in a particularly beguiling media-driven myth.” […]

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  94. […] of the Worlds radio dramatization 73 years ago set off nationwide panic and mass hysteria — a media myth that lives on for an impressive variety of reasons. Welles and 'War of the […]

    Why the ‘panic broadcast’ myth lives on « Media Myth Alert 29 October 2011 at 9am

  95. […] No “debunking of the year” was designated in 2010, the year of publication of my latest book, Getting It Wrong, which punctures 10 prominent media-driven myths. […]

    The debunking of the year, 2011 « Media Myth Alert 29 December 2011 at 5am

  96. […] (Version variability of such magnitude, I write in Getting It Wrong, is a revealing marker of a media-driven myth.) […]

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  97. […] The display Remington’s sketches received in Hearst’s Journal, and the newspaper’s compliments about the artist, are two of several compelling reasons for doubting the anecdote and treating it as a media myth. […]

    Sketches published 115 years ago undercut a tenacious media myth « Media Myth Alert 24 January 2012 at 5am

  98. […] I write in my latest book, Getting It Wrong, more than a few media-driven myths have emerged “from an impulse to offer easy answers to complex issues, to abridge and […]

    Bill Clinton: Overstating media influence in regime change « Media Myth Alert 28 January 2012 at 12pm

  99. […] And such characteristics — easy to grasp, easy to understand — often are propellants. Propellants of media-driven myths. […]

    Assessing the propellant effect: Was Watergate a powerful stimulant to journalism? « Media Myth Alert 10 March 2012 at 4am

  100. […] as trivial and insignificant. As such, “bra-burning” underscores the potential of media myths to feed and promote […]

    How’s that? ‘Bra-burning’ influenced mid-1960s fashion? « Media Myth Alert 22 March 2012 at 4am

  101. […] Lyndon Johnson’s purported comment lies at the heart of this tenacious media myth — one of the 10 I address and debunk in my latest book, Getting It […]

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  102. […] Or something to that effect. Versions vary (and version variability of such magnitude is a signal of a media myth). […]

    Kurtz invokes ‘if I’ve lost Cronkite’ myth in reviewing new Cronkite biography « Media Myth Alert 21 May 2012 at 3pm

  103. […] also a media-driven myth — the heroic-journalist myth, as I call it in my 2010 book, Getting It […]

    The media myths of Watergate: Part One « Media Myth Alert 17 June 2012 at 6am

  104. […] And such characteristics — easy to grasp, easy to remember — often are propellants. Propellants of media-driven myths. […]

    The media myths of Watergate: Part Five « Media Myth Alert 21 June 2012 at 6am

  105. […] Media myths, I wrote in my 2010 book, Getting It Wrong, often seem “almost too good to be false.” […]

    USA Today invokes Kennedy-Nixon debate myth « Media Myth Alert 21 September 2012 at 9am

  106. […] encounter, between John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon, gave rise to the media myth of viewer-listener disagreement: Those who watched the debate on television supposedly thought […]

    In run-up to Obama-Romney encounter, myth of first presidential debate circulates anew « Media Myth Alert 30 September 2012 at 5am

  107. […] many media myths, the tale of the panic broadcast of 1938 is just too engrained, and too delicious, ever to be […]

    ‘Digital wildfires’ and the ‘War of the Worlds’ media myth « Media Myth Alert 9 January 2013 at 12pm

  108. […] It merits mentioning that there’s no small irony in Limbaugh’s giving voice to these media myths. […]

    If Obama loses AP: Rush Limbaugh embraces media myths two days running | Media Myth Alert 26 February 2013 at 6pm

  109. […] media myth has it that Murrow’s See It Now program of March 9, 1954, was so powerful that it abruptly […]

    On media myths and hallowed moments of exaggerated importance | Media Myth Alert 23 February 2014 at 7am

  110. […] a media myth, one that circulates every year, at the approach of […]

    Marking five years: The best of Media Myth Alert | Media Myth Alert 31 October 2014 at 12pm

  111. […] the war” anecdote is a delicious tale, easy to retell, and easy to believe. Like nearly all media myths, it resides on the cusp of plausibility; it corresponds well to the superficial and misleading […]

    Hearst, Garrison Keillor, and ‘furnish the war': Celebrities and media myths | Media Myth Alert 29 April 2015 at 8am

  112. […] Times article that rests at the heart of this media myth was neither suppressed, killed, nor […]

    NY Times ‘suppression myth’ makes appearance in ‘Freedom of Speech’ | Media Myth Alert 20 May 2015 at 5pm

  114. […] because “secret plan” seems so Nixonian in duplicity and deceit. It is, like many media myths, almost too good to be […]

    Trump, Nixon, and the ‘secret plan’ media myth | Media Myth Alert 20 July 2016 at 7pm

  115. […] this case, “conventional wisdom” is a media myth: The notion of viewer-listener disagreement is, I write, “a dubious bit of political […]

    Debate myth emerges anew; 2nd edition of ‘Getting It Wrong’ out soon | Media Myth Alert 24 September 2016 at 9am

  116. […] Johnson’s assertiveness at that time is little remembered, while the “Cronkite Moment” remains one of American journalism’s most enduring and appealing media myths. […]

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  117. […] prominent and tenacious media myths stem from 1968 — the presumptive “Cronkite Moment,” which is said to have […]

    Recalling 1968, year of media myths | Media Myth Alert 5 February 2018 at 9pm

  118. […] at best,” why would any news organization knowingly invoke the anecdote, especially as media myths undermine the normative, truth-telling objective of American journalism? Enlisting myth and […]

    ‘Fake news about fake news’: Enlisting media myth to condemn Trump’s national emergency | Media Myth Alert 17 February 2019 at 12pm

  119. […] if it’s “apocryphal at best,” why would any news organization invoke the anecdote, given that media myths inevitably impugn and undermine the truth-telling objective of American journalism? Enlisting myth […]

    Taking stock: Top mythbusting posts of 2019 | Media Myth Alert 28 December 2019 at 7am

  120. […] media myths about the presumptive “Cronkite Moment” of 1968, the exaggerated influence of the […]

    Even in a pandemic, media myths play on | Media Myth Alert 26 April 2020 at 10am

  121. […] photo op narrative shares central features of media myths in that it’s a prominent tale but yet simplistic, pithy, and easily […]

    Punctured tale of Trump’s photo op may live on as media myth | Media Myth Alert 15 June 2021 at 12pm

  122. […] purported anecdote bears hallmarks of other prominent media myths, in that it is (a) pithy, (b) easy to remember and retell, and (c) suggestive of the presumed vast […]

    ‘I’ll furnish the war’: 25 reasons why it’s a towering media myth | Media Myth Alert 10 January 2022 at 9am

  123. […] predictably, the essay turned for support to a related media myth, that of William Randolph Hearst’s purported pledge to “furnish” a war with […]

    News media foment wars? Debunking a superficial history lesson | Media Myth Alert 20 March 2022 at 10am

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