Stories by John Powers
A review of
Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold and two books on I.F. Stone show how media politics have become about repeating the same few things until they seem inevitable, especially if they aren't true.
Posted on Oct 28, 2006
Bush and Kerry weren't the night's only winners and losers. Here are some others.
Posted on Nov 5, 2004
The new 'Manchurian Candidate' takes place in an exaggerated version of today's security-mad America, with suicide bombs blasting Denver and corporations pulling the puppet strings of political life.
Posted on Aug 6, 2004
"Today's Winners don't simply win, they win badly: bragging, sneering, lording it over the Losers, and promoting themselves with a crassness that would leave Duddy Kravitz blushing."
Posted on Aug 6, 2004
Could Fahrenheit 9/11's big win at the Cannes Film Festival and dubious distribution controversy actually help re-elect Bush?
Posted on May 31, 2004
Even before opening day, Mel Gibson's 'Passion' was pumped up by a media out of touch with America's religious majority and a savvy PR team eager to help.
Posted on Feb 26, 2004
What did we celebrate on Independence Day? It is worth remembering Woodrow Wilson's words: "The history of liberty is a history of resistance."
Posted on Jul 7, 2003
The Bush administration's embrace of a philosophy we might dub Populist Social Darwinism creeps into American life and culture.
Posted on May 14, 2003
We live in a culture with a fetish of knowingness based on an extremely narrow idea of being smart.
Posted on Jan 23, 2003
Bush has never been so lionized as he is today, now that the conventional wisdom has him bestriding the narrow world like a colossus.
Posted on Nov 19, 2002
The Nation has impeccable politics and substantive analysis. Unfortunately, it is also a profoundly dreary and unappetizing magazine.
Posted on Sep 4, 2002
What made the Samantha Runnion case a media event was how neatly its storyline filled the needs of cable-TV news.
Posted on Aug 14, 2002
The recent "Is Mike Piazza Gay?" debacle threatened fans and sportswriters' attitudes toward masculinity and their sense of sports as a refuge from the messy emotional stuff of real life.
Posted on Jun 6, 2002
If there's anything more depressing than Bush calling Fidel Castro a "tyrant," it's lefties who cling to the Cuban leader as the last flickering flame of some enduring torch of freedom.
Posted on May 29, 2002
