Fooling America: How Washington Insiders Twist the Truth and Manufacture the Conventional Wisdom

How could the Washington press corps miss, or report tardily on, the savings-and-loan debacle, Iran-Contra abuses, Saddam Hussein's Western-backed military buildup and nearly every other major scandal of the 1980s? Parry, a former reporter for Newsweek and the Associated Press, faults the major news media for cozying up to the political elite and suppressing stories that go beyond the conventional wisdom dictated by the Washington/New York government, business and journalistic establishments. Crucial reading for citizens who want to be informed of the news behind the news, this compelling report is replete with examples of media cowardice and kowtowing to power. Parry delivers a damning account of the media's selling of the CIA-funded Contra army to the American public, the demonization of longtime CIA employee Manuel Noreiga, the Reagan administration's propaganda apparatus (operating out of the National Security Council) to create a pro-interventionist mindset, President Bush's professed ignorance of Iran-Contra abuses, and the press's failure to cover CIA terrorist campaigns abroad under Bush, its former director. (July)