American Muckraker
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Ratings1
Average rating4
This seminal work of nonfiction recounts the new journalistic mass movement of today. Compiled from over a decade of investigative reporting coupled with a vast reference of philosophical research, American Muckraker is the definitive guide of truth-telling in the video age. ON POWER They do have tremendous power. But in part it is because we give it to them. We are nothing, but we are not alone. Awe cannot live in fear. The moment you stop caring about what the media establishment thinks of you, is the moment you become truly free. ON INSIDERS The USPS whistleblower, a Marine Corp combat veteran said, “I would rather be back in Afghanistan, getting shot at by Afghans, honest to God,” than be interrogated by federal agent Russell Strasser—who coerced him by saying, “I am trying to twist you a little bit because your mind will kick in…. I am not scaring you, but I am scaring you.” ON PRIVACY The right to record is closely tied to the right to speak or even to take contemporaneous notes about what one sees and hears. As 60 Minutes producer Don Hewitt quipped, “People committing malfeasance don’t have any right to privacy…. What are we saying—that Upton Sinclair shouldn’t have smuggled his pencil in?” ON MEANS & ENDS Whereas the novelist Ernest Hemingway said, “What is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after,” Thomas B. Morgan of the 1960s New Journalism contends, “Morally defensible journalism is rarely what you feel good about afterward; it is only that which makes you feel better than you would otherwise.” ON LITIGATION “Polling does not decide the truth nor speak to evidence…. The New York Times have not met their burden to prove that Veritas is deceptive…claiming protections from an upstart competitor armed with a cell phone and a website. There is a substantial basis in law to proceed, to permit Project Veritas, to conduct discovery into The New York Times.” —Project Veritas v. New York Times Company; New York Supreme Court, March 18, 2021
Reviews with the most likes.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.”- William Butler Yeats
I used to be a fan of Project Veritas before they were torn apart from the inside. (Right after THAT exposé, how curious...) So of course I liked this book.
It's a decent dive into investigative journalism, specifically muckraking. Book goes through basic journalistic principles, compares them with reality and tries to motivate potential journalists and whistleblowers to not sell their souls and not to be afraid to expose the truth.
First half is drier, there's more theory. It's a defense of muckraking in today's media landscape. I did wish there was more history, though. For example story of briefly mentioned Mirage Tovern is amazing and I don't think anyone is aware of it. In the second half James goes through some of the biggest Veritas cases and the reactions of mainstream media to them. Exposing the lies and manipulation, the deep-rooted bias and willful blindness towards newsworthy revelations - Hunter Biden's laptop, voter fraud, social media manipulation and censorship.
It is beyond my comprehension when I hear that Veritas takes things out of context. They always release the full unedited video. There's one with highlights and then there are hours long recordings of everything. There is no proof more ultimate than unedited video recording of the person committing the act or admitting to it. But when the truth doesn't match the only allowed narrative it needs to be buried. Thankfully Veritas has made a name for itself. I think they never lost a litigation.
One weird thing that irked me a bit in this book is that James calls himself “this muckraker”, talks about himself in third person. I don't know if that is artistic choice imitating some older writings on this topic but in today's era it was weird. I could maybe see it working had it been written this way a century ago.
I have immense respect for what James and his undercover journalists do. James gets the spotlight but it's the incognito journalists who do the ground work, the toughest job. I know personally journalists who had been threatened, even at gunpoint, and also knew one that was murdered for his work. This is no game. It's serious business and not everyone is willing to do what these brave people do. Veritas's fame protects them from the most severe consequences, though they finally got them. There is no doubt that the ridiculous assault on James's person was orchestrated to destroy the Veritas from within. Eating pregnant woman's sandwich. For real?
Veritas is dead, long live OMG.
