U.S. Senator and Columbia professor publish groundbreaking book on how the mainstream media manipulates news into news stories

U.S. Senator Mike Gravel’s new book, The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy, starts with a simple question: Why does the media always get the big stories wrong? Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, 9/11, Iran’s nuclear program, the “inevitable” Hillary and then the “inevitable” Barack; the media has consistently botched the big stories. Gravel and his co-author Dr. David Eisenbach, a media specialist at Columbia University, make the revolutionary observation that the glaring discrepancy between reality and “news” occurs in its coverage. Journalists, editors, and news producers do not just collect and relay facts—they fit them into a storyline. Once a collective storyline has been adopted, the media becomes an echo chamber repeating the same inaccurate, dangerous claims over and over.

The media echoed Bush Administration charges about Iraqi and Iranian WMD programs that did not exist. It allowed a neo-con clique to push the United States into an unnecessary war with Iraq and almost with Iran. Gravel and Eisenbach argue that the failure of our media to present the public with accurate views of our world and its leaders poses a greater threat to American lives than terrorism.

The Kingmakers asserts that long before the majority of voters pay attention to presidential elections, the media filters the presidential field and chooses the “leading candidates.”

The Kingmakers examines and answers the following questions:

• Whose best interests does the media truly represent?

• How does the growing monopolization of the media into the hands of a few corporate owners shape the public’s opinion toward a particular issue or political candidate?

• What mediums are least prejudiced in reporting the news?

• If Americans do not know all of their options for candidates, are they really free to choose their next President?

• Who really decides the future of American politics?

Senator Mike Gravel and Dr. David Eisenbach address Americans’ distrust of the mainstream media today—and why that distrust is not only healthy, but should be required.

Dr. David Eisenbach teaches media and politics at Columbia University. His first book, Gay Power: An American Revolution, (2006) explains how the gay rights movement used the media to transform the nation’s political and social landscape. Dr. Eisenbach is the communications director for Senator Mike Gravel's 2008 presidential election campaign.

The Book is available on pre-order at www.amazon.com and other on-line retailers.
Look for The Kingmakers in bookstores starting June 17, 2008

For more information contact: Karen Ammond- Publicist- KBC Media - kbcmedia@att.net