Book: Press is Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

Thanks to the nice weather and a relatively clean apartment, we managed to get a lot of reading done this weekend.

Among the works we digested was the latest Ode to the Gipper, “Reagan’s Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign that Started It All,” by D.C. conservative P-R miester Craig Shirley. The book tells the story of the 1976 Republican primary where Reagan went head-to-head with incumbent-but-not-elected President Gerald Ford, arguing that the work done in that campaign laid the groundwork for Reagan in 1980 (an easy argument to make) and all of the success the Republicans have had since then (slightly more of a reach). While the book overall is not particularly insightful and the gem-worthy stories are few and far between, Shirley takes a unique tack in his discussion of the role of the press in the campaign: He’s nice to them.

It’s almost unnerving in this day and age repeatedly reading favorable mentions of such boogey monsters as the Washington Post and the New York Times. Shirley calls `76 the “golden era” for political reporters, citing the luminaries on the bus that year like David Broder, Jules Witcover, Jack Germond, Fred Barnes (who also happened to write the book’s forward), Johnny Apple, Tom Wicker, Evans & Novak, Bob Shogan, Walter Cronkite, Mary McGrory, Chris Wallace, Charlie Gibson, Brit Hume, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, and Sam Donaldson.

While offering very little in the way of criticism or insightful analysis of the press coverage, Shirley in half-a-dozen places praises the reporters’ hard work and diligence in reporting. Jules Witcover was “professional and unbiased” “throughout the campaign” (p. 83). While Reagan got “rough treatment” from the columnists, he “generally received fair treatment from reporters” (p. 93). At one point, Shirley even goes so far as to say “Reagan was actually getting a fair ride for the most part from the press” (p. 105).

By the end of the book, you almost have to wonder: what agenda could the head of a public relations firm possibly have in saying such nice things about the press?

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