Press Critics Are the Fifth Estate

"Really a magisterial piece of work with the right mix of different types of critics and criticism thoughtfully placed within their historical contexts." -- Everette E. Dennis, Felix E. Larkin Professor of Communication and Media Instructor at Fordham's Graduate School of Business, Fordham University "Arthur S. Hayes' Press Critics Are the Fifth Estate is an excellent book for anyone who has ever felt the urge to tear up his copy of The New York Times and throw it across the room. His highly readable account shows how a swarm of bloggers and cyber-pundits, not to mention a TV satirist or two, have turned press criticism from a lonely, ill-paid profession into a jolly free-for-all in which anyone can take part, amateur or professional. Life has gotten distinctly uncomfortable for the big-time media, formerly as cosseted as the Big Three auto makers. But the rest of us are better informed as a consequence." -- Daniel Lazare, author of The Velvet Coup: The Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Decline of American Democracy. "To understand politics we need to understand political journalism, but then don't we also have to understand those who criticize that journalism? This is the important work in which Arthur S. Hayes is engaged. In this wise, thoughtful and balanced book he argues, with careful case studies, for the significance of press criticism--the significance of watchdogs on the watchdogs--and even offers criteria for analyzing that significance. In the process, Prof. Hayes, like a few others of the most interesting defenders of democracy, forces us to look anew at the rabble--in this case the mob of loud, self-appointed media monitors let loose by and on the Web. And he treats Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert with a welcome and overdue seriousness." -- Mitchell Stephens, Professor of Journalism, New York University, Author of A History of News "After reminding readers of the 300-year-old tradition of press criticism in America, Hayes champions the amateur press critics in today's blogosphere, arguing that their power to affect mainstream media comes from preaching to the masses, not the elites. Along the way he gives a shout-out to the most effective press-critic campaigns, such as the one that brought down Dan Rather." -- Cynthia Cotts, Former media columnist for The Village Voice

Reviews the historical development of press criticism since the 1880s in each of ten categories: muckrakers, journalism reviews, columnists and authors, television press critics, press councils, advocacy groups, scholars, ombudsmen, bloggers, and satirists. This book also provides nine case studies of press criticism campaigns.

Robust, uninhibited, provocative, and even scurrilous criticism of corporate media by the Fifth Estate—composed of private citizens and watchdog and partisan groups of all stripes—is vital to the functioning of the American democratic process. Hayes reviews the historical development of press criticism since the 1880s in each of ten categories: muckrakers, journalism reviews, columnists and authors, television press critics, press councils, advocacy groups, scholars, ombudsmen, bloggers, and satirists. The author provides nine case studies of recent press criticism campaigns that have, though widely vilified as uncivil or marginalized as kooky, contributed significantly to checking the pretensions of corporate media to an unwholesome monopoly on journalistic truth.

• Press Critics Are the Fifth Estate is the first serious book about the press to treat Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as important and effective watchdogs of corporate media. Hayes's other case studies include:

• Ben Bagdikian vs. media conglomerates
• bloggers vs. CBS, CNN, and the New York Times
• Steve Brill and Brill's Content
• Jeff Cohen and FAIR
• Reed Irvine and Accuracy in Media
• Carl Jensen and Project Censored
• Project for Excellence in Journalism
• Jay Rosen and Civic Journalism