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Article: Engaging `Infamous Scribblers' explores the raucous roots of our free press.
- Article from:
- The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
- Article date:
- May 24, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Dallas Morning News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jerome Weeks
``Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism'' by Eric Burns; PublicAffairs ($27.50)
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George Washington invented the government leak as a way to curry favorable press. Thomas Jefferson funded a newspaper to attack his political enemies; he put the editor on the government payroll. And Samuel Adams used his Boston newspaper not only to lie about the British but also to advocate violent protests against them.
And you thought today's media were too biased and unethical, too close to the establishment or too obsessed with secrets, leaks and scoops. Making the point ...