Lisa Finnegan, an “independent, award-winning journalist,” begins her timely and important study by quoting a 2003 survey which showed that 69 percent of Americans believed that Iraq had played a role in the 11 September attacks, and that 22 percent believed that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. Finnegan's basic argument is that the American media have been largely responsible for such misperceptions because they have failed to maintain an independent, critical position in relation to 11 September, the “war on terror,” and the current Bush administration more generally. Her aim is thus to present examples of these failings, which she does to great effect by examining how various major American newspapers and television networks have covered news items ranging from the allied bombings in Afghanistan, to the effects of the USA Patriot Act (2001), to aspects of the war in Iraq (including the controversy of Abu Ghraib), and on to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

One particularly telling example that Finnegan explores is the growing dependence of American media networks on “prepackaged news segments” that have been produced by public-relations firms commissioned by the Bush administration. Featuring PR professionals posing as independent reporters “describing positive developments resulting from administration policy” (128), this “news” has been snapped up by major US media networks who also have agreements with the PR companies to distribute the packaged segments to affiliated local media groups world wide. The result is a serialized Faustian bargaining, with networks seemingly buying privileged access to news only to lose their own critical independence. A similar thing has happened, argues Finnegan, with the US and foreign journalists who were allowed to be “embedded” with a US army unit in Iraq on the condition that they sign a contract with the Pentagon which stipulated that they had to follow various “Government regulations” (86).

That Finnegan primarily gleans information on both the PR news packaging and journalist “embedding” from reports in the American media (most notably newspapers) is significant in two respects. On one hand, it shows the extent to which this remains a journalist's study. Apart from media sources, the bibliography contains only eight books, though Finnegan could certainly have benefited from roaming further afield to consider a wider range of scholarly, non-journalistic views. On the other hand, the fact that she is able to build such a convincing argument about the malaise of media freedoms in America by drawing on reports from the media itself is testament to her skill in closely probing and contrasting particular media reports. It also shows that there are still flashes of good, critical life in the American media yet.