SPIN CYCLE: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine

Kurtz, Howard

ISBN 10: 067104320X ISBN 13: 9780671043209

Publisher: Audioworks, 1998

Synopsis

Bill Clinton is the most investigated president since Richard Nixon?facing inquiries into Whitewater, campaign fundraising abuses, and sexual misconduct?and yet he began 1998 with approval ratings as high as those of Ronald Reagan. But the new year has brought a barrage of new allegations, and the president and his advisers face once again the challenge of spinning the news to their advantage, a challenge they have mastered many times before.

In Spin Cycle, award-winning Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz reveals the inside workings of Clinton's well-oiled propaganda machine?arguably the most successful team of White House spin doctors in history. He pulls back the curtain on events and tactics that the administration would prefer to keep hidden, including:

• A tense, almost paranoid White house atmosphere in which the spinmeisters do not question the president about the various scandals because they don't want to learn information they might have to reveal to prosecutors or the press.
• Bill Clinton's success in reaping favorable publicity by secretly courting selected reporters and columnists in off-the-record White House Meetings.

Spin Cycle is an all-too-human drama in which political operatives wrestle with their consciences as they struggle to protect the boss. As the scandal drums beat louder and louder, Kurtz tells what it takes for the president and his people to survive, and what happens to the truth along the way.

About this title

Review:

With a slew of simultaneous scandals to his credit and numerous ongoing investigations pending, President Clinton has been bombarded by the media in a fashion not seen since the last days of the Nixon administration. Despite this unwanted attention, Clinton has managed to maintain lofty approval ratings and successfully deflect even the most ardent attacks. How does he do it? This question is answered in full in Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine, an engrossing, backroom look at how news is created and packaged in the White House and the methods used to distribute it to the public. In painting a detailed picture of the hand-to-hand combat known as a press conference, Kurtz shows how the use of controlled leaks, meticulously worded briefs, and the outright avoidance of certain questions allows the White House to control the scope and content of the stories that make it to the front page and the nightly network news. As Kurtz makes clear, the president and First Lady are convinced that the media are out to get them, while the journalists covering the White House are constantly frustrated at the stonewalling and the lack of cooperation they encounter while trying to do their jobs. In the middle is White House press secretary Mike McCurry, a master at defusing volatile situations and walking the fine line with the press. Though less paranoid and cynical of the media than Clinton, he often finds himself on both ends of personal attacks and vendettas that veer far outside the arena of objective reporting. The anecdotes and carefully buried information Kurtz has uncovered give Spin Cycle a brisk pace, along with ample invaluable information that cuts to the core of this age of media overkill. The author of Hot Air and Media Circus and a longtime media reporter for the Washington Post, Kurtz is uniquely qualified to report on the status of news dissemination in the United States.

About the Author:

Howard Kurtz, the longtime media reporter for The Washington Post, is the author of the award-winning books Hot Air: All Talk, All the Time and Media Circus: The Trouble with America's Newspapers. Named the nation's best media reporter by the American Journalism Review, Kurtz has also written for The New Republic, TV Guide, New York, and numerous other magazines. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Audioworks
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 067104320X
• ISBN 13: 9780671043209
• Binding: Audio Cassette