The Princely Press Machiavelli on American Journalism

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ISBN: 9780761810353 | 0761810358
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 4/30/1998

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The Princely Press sets forth in an unusual manner some of the basic tenets of Machiavelli as they might apply to modern-day American journalism. The interview format permits Machiavelli (in 1520) to expound on such journalistic topics as journalists, journalistic power, press freedom and responsibility, self aggrandizement, objectivity, audiences, propaganda, ends and means, and ethics. Machiavelli's answers are based on his ideas about politics expressed especially in his two best-known works, The Prince and The Discourses.

Foreword

(4)

Machiavelli's Preface

xiii

Chapter 1: Prelude to Interviews

(8)

Chapter 2: A Preliminary Conversation

(8)

Chapter 3: Journalists appraisal; journalists and "mass man"; players with words; image; leadership; virtu and fortuna; the ideal journalist

(8)

Chapter 4: Mission importance of success; creating an image; primacy of social control; tragedy of powerlessness; need for leadership and strong will; egocentrism; self-enhancement; manipulation; fooling the people; wielding power and changing society.

(10)

Chapter 5: Power key to political philosophy; journalistic dedication to power; getting and keeping power; press and government; successful use of power; achieving desired ends; press's pride in power; reasoned pragmatism; press monopoly on information; journalism and the law; using power.

(6)

Chapter 6: Freedom relativity of concept; connection between freedom and power; need to make better use of freedom; freedom--good and bad; comments on Thrasymachus, Socrates, and Plato; freedom--key to power; freedom for all is anarchy; the fickle public; freedom and truth; antics with semantics.

(10)

Chapter 7: Responsibility definitions of responsibility; responsibility as obligation to succeed; norms of responsible journalism; use of people as a responsibility; low public taste; danger of altruistic action; responsibility begins at home; four uses of journalistic responsibility; egocentric pragmatics vs. social responsibility; conventional morality as danger to the press.

(8)

Chapter 8: Self-Aggrandizement importance of self-promotion; enlightened self-interest; Social Darwinism and the journalist; maximum autonomy; self-aggrandizement, basic journalistic assumptions; concern for self; motivation by anticipated success.

(6)

Chapter 9: The State relationship of press to state; constant struggle and ultimate state dominance; friction as socially useful; "using" one another; reason for state's fear of press; tendency to be timid; danger in playing by the rules; state's use of secrecy; comments on Thomas Jefferson.

(8)

Chapter 10: The People possession of little power; programmed to be led; people's voice no more than a "whine"; need for entertainment and hope-lifting; vagueness of public opinion; people have few expectations; people cannot be trusted; "best" and "worst" among people; selfishness in people; communitarian (public/civic) journalism; growth of public conformity; people's access to the press.

(14)

Chapter 11: Objectivity the myth of objectivity; subjectivity at base of all journalism; journalists a reality-strainers; basic desire to "grind axes"; the cloak of objectivity; reporting and personal biases; historians and journalists; problem of credibility; Press arrogance; a Press-created world.

(8)

Chapter 12: Propaganda importance of rhetoric and propaganda to the Press; conveying and originating propaganda; the purpose; connotations of the term; people-manipulation; tailor-made propaganda; appeal to emotions; assumed Press dedication to the truth; game-playing with the truth; helplessness of the public; types and prominence of press propaganda; natural inclination to propagandize; good and bad propaganda; need for persistance and craftiness; impact of propaganda.

(8)

Chapter 13: Ends and Means Kant's error on ends and means; journalist seeing self as "exception"; end as stimulus to action; justifying the means; desire to succeed as motivation; need to lie and distort; justification of means for success; use of illegal means in reporting; tendency to compromise; concept of virtu; need to use language loosely to reach goal and accomplish purpose.

103

(8)

Chapter 14: Ethics ethical consequentialism; pragmatism in lieu of ethics; public and private ethics; egoism enthroned; altruism "if it works"; too much worrying about ethics; ethics leads to indecision and timidity; importance of reputation; adapting when necessary; mystery of right and wrong; better to exploit than to be exploited; problem with the "Golden Rule."

111

(10)

Chapter 15: Postscript to the Interviews

121

(6)

Appendices

127

(6)

Select Bibliography

133

(2)

Index

135

(4)

About the Author

139

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The Princely Press Machiavelli on American Journalism

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