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5.0 out of 5 stars
Covering McCarthyism: Strout covers it well!, February 24, 2000
This review is from: Covering McCarthyism: How the Christian Science Monitor Handled Joseph R. McCarthy, 1950-1954 (Contributions to the Study of Mass Media and Communications) (Hardcover)
Strout, Lawrence N., Covering McCarthyism: How the Christian Science Monitor Handled Joseph R. McCarthy, 1950-1954, Greenwood Press, Westport, CN, 171 pp.
Lawrence Strout examines the content of the Christian Science Monitor from 1950 through 1954 analyzing the news stories and columns about Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. The controversial, junior Senator from Wisconsin became known for the draconian tactics he used in uncovering Communists in government and the media. The author begins with McCarthy's famous Lincoln Day Speech on February 9, 1950 and continues until the Senate censured McCarthy December 23, 1954. The Senator died in 1957.
Along the way Strout gives fascinating insights into the history of the editorial voice of the Monitor -- a conservative publication speaking in the low, moderate bass-notes of fairness. Founder Mary Baker Eddy declared that the Monitor would have as its object "to injure no man but to bless all mankind." Strout describes how a poll by the country's top newspaper editors consistently picked the Monitor as ranking among the nation's top three papers with the New York Times and Washington Post.
The author recounts a compelling tale about the conservative Monitor taking the ultra-right-wing Senator McCarthy to task in its pages. The drama is seen through the coverage of veteran Washington correspondent, Richard L. Strout. The reader witnesses the skirmishes between establishment and rougue Senator in the daily dispatches of journalist-protagonist. With meticulous fairness, Richard Strout moves to record on the pages of the Monitor the fast-paced epic about ruthless power run amok. He reports on the events that began in the late 40s with the "Red Scare" and proceeded to a national condition called McCarthyism. In case-by-case he documents McCarthy's loathsome penchant for character assassination.
During the ensuing saga, Richard Strout carefully represents both sides of each issue and conflict. In the spirit of the Monitor's editorial policy, Strout vigorously attacks the methods used by the renegade Senator without attacking McCarthy personally. He also suggests that less radical methods be used to ferret out Communists in government. By promptly printing the rebuttals of persons attacked by McCarthy, Richard Strout and the Monitor metculously maintain a professional poise not practiced by some other major papers of the time.
The author articulates a delicate sense of balance between the domain of scholars (who desire factual analyses), and the fans of documentary and memoir (who yearn for a fast-moving narrative that moves with the rush of a speeding train). The mainframe of this book consists of carefully researched content analyses and with statistics that are blessed with the virtue of clarity and brevity. The narrative is a masterfully told account about a dark and painful chapter in our nation's political history.
Communications and media scholars, history buffs and aspiring and practicing journalists should have this in their library. The book provides a consideration in how journalists may properly examine issues wihtout resorting to personal attack or invective. I recommend it highly and give it five (5) stars (*****).
The author, a distant cousin of columnist and correspondent, Richard L. Strout, is the Harriet Stark Gibbons Professor of Journalism at Mississippi University for Women. His credits include articles published in the 'Journal of American Culture', 'Media history Digest', 'The Encyclopedia of Communications and Information' and 'The Encyclopedia of U.S. Popular Culture.'
Lawrence Strout holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from Florida State Unviersity, an M.A. in Journalism from Ohio State University and a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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