The New York Times is the nation's recognized newspaper of record. Through its unparalleled status as the nation's journalistic "bible," and the frequent replication of its views and articles in other media, the Times is literally on our doorstep every day. However, what is not known is that the Times, far from being "objective," is subtly promulgating its own comprehensive worldview and value system, which runs counter to the personal beliefs of many Americans. In The Gospel According to the New York Times, author Bill Proctor exposes the Times' belief system unveiling the mechanism of "Culture Creep," which the Times uses to promote its views.
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About the Author
Bill Proctor is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and has worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News. He has written or co-authored more than 70 nonfiction books, including several national bestsellers. Leaders and celebrities he has interviewed or collaborated with include Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Billy Graham, Charles Colson, Art Linkletter, Willard Scott, Pat Boone, and George Gallup, Jr. Proctor is the author of the Broadman & Holman title The Resurrection Report, and also two novels. He currently lives in Vero Beach, Florida.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Gospel According to the New York Times: How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book as it provided good documentation on how the New York Times along with other media outlets tries to force their belief systems on us.The author does a great job with references and examples straight out of the paper. The book is a fast read but gives the reader a lot to ponder.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Are you a victim of Culture Creep? You bet.,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Gospel According to the New York Times: How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values (Paperback)
This book should be studied by every high-school civics class. It's among the most useful and incisive studies of the print media's "idea" (or intellectual) content. This book is not so much about familiar "liberal bias" claims; rather, it shows what the New York Times does goes beyond simple bias, to a conscious, deliberate, planned attack on opposing world-views with the goal of substituting its own set of absolute values. A decision to engage in propaganda often arises from a strong set of beliefs or vested interests. Since the average person today has shallow or non-existent personal philosophies (generally developed by cobbling together beliefs based on what gratifies preconceptions one isn't even aware of), true-believers with convictions can often convince non-believers easily. But if you understand the propagandists presuppositions -- those things he assumes are true, often without even realizing it -- and can identify and understand links to other organizations and philosophies, you will be in a better position to recognize the pattern, evaluate which assumptions are in play, and thus the correctness of the message. This book can therefore serve as an excellent guide to fostering critical thinking when it comes to modern media, through its examination of the most powerful news organization in the world, the New York Times. Nearly all journalists determine what is important and 'the angle' from the NYT, thus extending it's influence to the smallest town or largest cable network. The author shows how the beliefs of a handful of people are able to shape perceptions of reality in hundreds of millions by implanting assumptions in the public via decisions of what types of stories are important, headlines, picture selection, subtly slanted writing and the placement of opinion-shaping stories cloaked as news reports. Sheer persistent repetition is able to completely change the thinking and values of a public lacking intellectual foundations. 30 years ago, who could have even imagined the Boy Scouts would be banned from public schools that now dispense condoms? Or the country would be managing its own dissolution by allowing the importation of 3rd world populations exceeding the size of France in just 10 years? And that criticism of such things is called "controversial" (if not a "hate-crime"!) and can ruin people? Curious about how the complete inversion of right and wrong could be engineered within a single generation? Read this book. The author also looks at conflicts of interest, giving examples where organizations the New York TImes had a direct undisclosed financial interest in were at the center of its reporting and editorializing to its benefit; the link between the NYT and the Pulitzer Prize committee which returns so many awards to it; the many examples in which Culture Creep techniques were used to alter public morality by using "the opinion piece in disguise", "the editorial blast", "the op-ed hit piece", and "the bombardment". The author identifies the set of fundamentalist beliefs the New York Times promotes; "The Sin of Religious Certainty", "The Sin of Conservatism", "The Sin of Capital Punishment", "The Sin of Broken Public Trust", "The Second of the Second Amendment", the "Sin of Censorship", "The Sin of Limiting Abortion". The NYT also defines certain cultural spirits as being positive: globalism, multiculturalism, total sexual freedom, environmentalism, entitlement, scientism and humanism. The book analyzes coverage of stories ranging from the Columbine shooting to election coverage; both the coverage content, slanting, comparison of stories with the actual events, and statistical studies of the word usage and counts. The book is well-written. Afterward, one can hardly read the New York Times without laughing, assuming you took it seriously before. For example, two days ago I read in the NYT that public belief in the existence of absolute right and wrong, jumping to 38% after the Sep 11 attack, had now declined to "normal"; 22%. The message was "religion back to normal". Apparently, this was thought by the NYT a matter needing polling. Those religious leaders who had earlier remarked about the rebirth of religion in America could now be shown as wrong while simultaneously emphasizing how "religious certainty" was once again a declining minority. The effect of the attack, which reawakened patriotic sentiments and threatened the Times belief system, was now waning. Back to business as usual. Of course, if you read the polling question, results would actually have to be 100% of the public believe in absolutes. If you think there is no absolute right or wrong, that belief itself is a claim to an absolute truth; a claim to be right. But, two days later, USA Today picked up on the NYT priority, incoherent as it is, and ran it's own piece on the same subject, echoing the marching orders, as did countless other papers around the country and world. In this way, opinions are remolded in a specific direction without regard to reality.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read all about it!,
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This review is from: The Gospel According to the New York Times: How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values (Paperback)
The New York Times, unarguably the most influential news media in the world, has a way of shaping your way of thinking and beliefs. Such is the topic of "The Gospel According to The New York Times," by William Proctor. "The Gospel" awakens your sense of inquiry as you read newspapers and pay attention to other forms of media releases. In the book, you'll find suggestions on ways you can read or listen to the news in an active manner, as opposed to a passive one. I like the author's writing style of breaking down the subject matter in a simple way. "The Gospel" is easy to read and gives you a lot of food for thought. Anyone who gets news information from the radio, television, Internet, a magazine or newspaper, not only The New York Times, will be interested in picking up a copy of this book. Fafa Demasio
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