Book Review: A Force for Good: How the American News Media Have Propelled Positive Change by Rodger Streitmatter

Abstract

A Force for Good: How the American News Media Have Propelled Positive Change . Rodger Streitmatter. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 246 pp. $90 hbk. $36 pbk. $35.99 ebk.Following up his previous book on the history of journalism, Mightier Than the Sword, now in its fourth edition, Rodger Streitmatter has written another set of case studies dealing with how the media has influenced American history. This time, though, Streitmatter focuses solely on instances when journalists have, as the subtitle indicates, propelled positive change. In his introduction, Streitmatter considers this usage appealingly vague, providing him with wonderful degree of latitude in the topics covered. While it's tempting to devote an inordinate amount of time assessing the problematic rhetoric of this cringe-worthy turn of phrase, the book's content and structure warrant attention on their own.The chapters range from the late 19th century, beginning with Nellie Bly's undercover expose of mental health facilities in New York City, to today's world, concluding with pieces on media coverage of the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal and Ellen DeGeneres's coming out. In between, we find accounts of how journalism, to select but a few examples, brought down Charles Ponzi's financial scam; caution against the dangers of smoking; celebrate the first Jewish Miss America; and popularize the availability and benefits of birth control. Chapters flow by in a relatively brisk pace as all 16 of them, plus the conclusion, clock in at 177 written pages, excluding notes, bibliography, and index.Meanwhile, no more than three pages elapse at any time throughout the book without extra spacing and a newly titled section break. Chapter 9, for instance, traces the media's praise for Jackie Robinson, who in 1947 broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, with the following subheadings on three consecutive pages: Portraying Jackie Robinson as Humble, Portraying Jackie Robinson as Congenial, and Portraying Jackie Robinson as Wholesome. Rather than providing a consistent, coherent synthesis in each essay by weaving through the primary news accounts of the day, Streitmatter distracts from the flow of each chapter, short as they are, with many section breaks. He effectively provides examples that prove the subhead titles, mind you, but the book sacrifices depth in such a discontinuous manner and, ultimately, fails to craft carefully constructed arguments.To his credit, Streitmatter, a professor of journalism at American University, focuses on events often neglected in history courses and case studies of journalistic practice that many readers, scholars included, might not be too familiar with. Some of the more novel work in the book include chapters devoted to how African American newspapers in the early 20th century helped spur the great migration of subjugated persons away from the South; the publicity arm of the Justice Department under J. Edgar Hoover, which recruited journalists to portray the heroics of G-Men in the 1930s; and the degree to which television news facilitated democratic changes to the presidential nomination process. …