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Nation Books :: Buy :: |
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O O K R E V I E W
“This is a provocative compilation for journalism students and fun reading for leftist intellectuals,” states the Publishers Weekly review of Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print. Surely journalism students will find the book’s worthy goal – the uncovering of the worthwhile remnants of faulty editorial decisions – to be extraordinarily interesting and relevant. “Leftist intellectuals” will, too, although other than Robert Fisk’s piece on Israel/Palestine, right-wingers (whether intellectuals or not) will find the book interesting to the same extent, as will anyone possessing insight on journalism, the media, or any of the subjects perused by the twenty-four articles/essays featured here. Including writings by conservative comedian PJ O’Rourke, and an article shedding doubt on leftist conspiracy theories about the death of Bush biographer James H. Hatfield, means that dubbing this a compilation for intellectual liberals is quite silly. The article on Hatfield, entitled ‘Unfortunate Con’ by Mark Schone, is an intriguing piece, which on its own shifted my own perspective from a Hatfield-murder conspiracy believer to one who can come to grips with the fact that Bush critics (and ones that negatively impact the man’s presidential aspirations) are in fact capable of suicide. Quite the journalistic piece here, logically and clearly putting the pieces together—so why didn’t Rolling Stone publish it? Too long and too depressing, apparently – and with that, a few more Bush-bashers still believe Karl Rove himself had a hand in murdering James H. Hatfield. Just another of the fascinating aspects of Killed. In addition to the pieces themselves, each is forwarded by “a precis, an admittedly subjective account of the killing of their article”, in which the article’s author describes to the reader why the piece was denied publishing – for instance, the expose on The Body Shop’s founder was scrapped due to possible libel lawsuits, with a newspaper editor informing the author that libel law is restrictive, with “truth in certain circumstances [being] an insufficient defense.” A dark Father’s Day piece by Ted Rall was killed because it, due to its not-so-happy nature, “made some influential people on West Forty-third Street feel ‘uncomfortable’.” Reading the reasons for scrapping a story is the perfect appetizer for the article about to be digested; all together, the book, as an idea and a final product, is a full meal deal. Still, there is a bit of false advertising involved: while the book’s subtitle is “Great Journalism Too Hot To Print”, some pieces were in fact published beforehand (albeit “subsequent to being spiked”), as the Editor’s Note states. As well, almost all of the included pieces were edited for inclusion in the book, which may help readability and presentation, but takes away from the raw excitement of reading untouched gems straight from an editor’s trash bin. Killed is a book created on the specific task of demonstrating what happens when outside influences – politics, money, biases, etcetera – prevent a worthwhile piece from getting published. As editor David Wallis writes in the introduction, “I trust Killed will provide a good read, but I hope that it will also provoke debate and outrage, as well as a realization that what is left unsaid, and unwritten, often has profound consequences.” Indeed, the book is capable of provoking debate and outrage, and it is a great journalistic project. But it is so much more than that: it is a superb read.
Robert Furs |
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© 2005 CounterBias.com
