City of Newsmen: Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 12 January 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

In the mid-twentieth century, the American press corps was a seemingly venerable and monolithic institution that conveyed the official line from Washington with nary a glint of anti-patriotic cynicism. However, as Kathryn McGarr's book City of Newsmen reveals, the real story of what Cold War-era journalists did and how they did it was not exactly the one you'd find in the morning papers.

City of Newsmen explores foreign policy journalism in Washington during and after World War II, a time supposedly defined by the press's blind patriotism and groupthink. McGarr reveals that DC reporters then were deeply cynical about government sources and their motives, but kept their doubts to themselves for professional, social, and ideological reasons. The alliance and rivalries among these reporters constituted a world of debts and loyalties: shared memories of harrowing wartime experiences, shared frustrations with government censorship and information programs, shared antagonisms, and shared mentors.

McGarr ventures into the back hallways and private clubs of the 1940s and 1950s to show how white male reporters suppressed their skepticism to build one of the most powerful and enduring constructed realities in recent US history—the Washington Cold War consensus. Though by the 1960s, this set of reporters was seen as unduly complicit with the government—failing to openly critique the decisions and worldviews that led to disasters like the Vietnam War—McGarr shows how self-censorship and self-deception played a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of the Cold War.

The book also sheds light on the ways in which the press was influenced by political and social forces outside of Washington. For example, the rise of television and the decline of print media led to a shift in the way that news was reported and consumed, which in turn had an impact on the way that journalists approached their work. The book also explores the ways in which gender, race, and class played a role in shaping the careers of journalists during this period.

City of Newsmen is a valuable contribution to the study of journalism and history, providing a nuanced and complex account of a critical period in American history. It challenges the notion that the press was a blindly patriotic institution and shows how journalists were able to manipulate public perceptions of the Cold War for their own purposes. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the role of the press in shaping public opinion and the consequences of its actions.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226664040