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Norman Solomon
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The Wizards of Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream News Paperback – July 1, 2002

by Norman Solomon (Author), Jeff Cohen (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
See all formats and editions
Two journalists offer their views on the forces behind the mainstream news sources in the United States.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Common Courage Press
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    156751118X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1567511185
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cohen and Solomon are the sharpest media watchers in the business," -- Barbara Ehrenreich

"Solomon and Cohen know media bias and blather like a rancher knows BS." -- Jim Hightower, commenting on the authors' previous work

"The authors have a knack for articulating questions that lie dormant in the midst of headline news.... They have thousands of facts to back up their criticism of what they see as consistently sloppy, stupid, cowardly, corporate-run news coverage.... The charges are relentless, supported by facts and quotes, quite disturbing and uncomfortable--mighty welcome in these perilous merged-media times." -- Patricia Holt, Book Editor, San Francisco Chronicle, commenting on the authors' previous work

"The bold, muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary journalism." -- Los Angeles Times, commenting on the authors' previous work

About the Author

Norman Solomon's books include "False Hope: The Politics of Illusion in the Clinton Era," "Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in the News Media" and "The Power of Babble." He writes a nationally syndicated column called "Media Beat."

Jeff Cohen is the founder and executive director of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), the media watch organization.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Common Courage Press (July 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 156751118X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1567511185
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Norman Solomon

Norman Solomon

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Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, author and activist. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in June 2023. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book “a powerful, necessary indictment of efforts to disguise the human toll of American foreign policy.”

Solomon's dozen other books include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. The Los Angeles Times called it “brutally persuasive” and “a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come.” The newspaper's reviewer added: “Solomon is a formidable thinker and activist.”

Solomon wrote the nationally syndicated "Media Beat" weekly column from 1992 to 2009. His book Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You (co-authored with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich) was published in January 2003, two months before the invasion of Iraq.

A collection of Solomon’s columns won the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J. Davis
3.0 out of 5 stars The authors make some good points,but are too biased
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 1998
The book is a series of critiques of the news media from an unabashed leftist perspective. Cohen and Solomon are scathing in their criticisms of the news media. They consider most journalists timekeepers for their corporate bosses, and a good deal of their analysis is correct. Unfortunately, being extremely liberal, they do not discuss the vice versa, media unfairness toward conservatives and conservative viewpoints; I don't know if this is an oversight or deliberate, but I would assume it's the latter. Still, this is well worth reading, so long as the reader takes it with a grain of salt.
9 people found this helpful
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Charles
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any news watcher
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 1999
Any conservative who bashed this book is clearly touched by what it reveals, and the b.s. of the corporate media this text points out. The only next question will be what corporation is going to buy amazon.com, there by controlling this medium. A wonderful text for any media critic
11 people found this helpful
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J. lira
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 1998
absolutely great book, necessary reading for anyone who thinks this country is "free" for anyone but the wealthy
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

ogilvie
3.0 out of 5 stars worth a quick read
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book starts out very badly, but then get better. The level of the writing is at about the sixth or even the fourth-grade level. As such, reading it is rather like listening to a five-year old read the most important news story of the year. Each of the early short editorials contains one or two sentences of content, numerous generalizations and ample empty rhetoric, and usually a "what if" scenario reversing right- and left-wing roles. If there had been a functional fireplace nearby, I would have thrown this book in it while reading these sections out of exasperation. The good parts in the second half of the book are about current events in the 1990s and exercises in "outsider" journalism in general, but these events and issues have many contemporary parallels. Some of the highlights include: coverage of domestic terrorism; corporate and political propaganda in the mainstream media in general; the "centrism" of the Democratic Party; and the moral perversity of Republican politicians.
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