The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them

by Amy Goodman and David Goodman

Book Overview

Now in paperback, the national bestseller that challenges the corporate and political hypocrisy that has silenced America n Exception to the Rulers, award-winning journalist Amy Goodman exposes the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401301312
• ISBN13: 9781401301316
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Disturbing Examination of American News Media

The Founding Fathers of the United States, well-versed in the principles of Athenian democracy, understood the relationship between democratic government and an educated, informed electorate. To choose just one from among those distinguished framers and implementers of our Constitution, James Madison wrote: "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy. A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives them." Amy Goodman, the tirelessly crusading host of radio and public access television's "Democracy Now!" program, brilliantly demonstrates in THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULERS just how far we have strayed from Madison's (and Jefferson's) ideals of an educated electorate. At a time when Americans have more news sources than ever - newspapers, magazines, radio, public television, cable television, books, 24-hour news channels, weblogs and Internet websites - we are less well-informed than ever. Rather, we are more ill-informed than ever, bathed every day in such news as the six major corporations who control over 75% of our media outlets choose to present. As Ms. Goodman aptly illustrates, these six companies are not only motivated by profit, they pander to government officials to preserve their all-important access to even more government propaganda. Ms. Goodman identifies their collective failings as sins of both commission (one-sided reporting, willingly adopting the official government viewpoints, and allowing themselves to be co-opted through such techniques as embedded reporting) and omission (failing drastically to present alternative viewpoints). The end result is a dramatic failure to inform the populace. Parroting official government pronouncements, limiting access to public airways to those who represent or side with government, suppressing or trivializing dissent, fearing government retaliation for too-critical reporting, refusing to demand meaningful answers, kowtowing to business interests - what sounds like the press in Communist China is now what constitutes the mass news media in the United States. If this sounds exaggerated, read Chapter 10 of this book, entitled "Killing the Messengers;" George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were right. EXCEPTION TO THE RULERS is a stunning indictment of modern news media. Amy Goodman offers numerous examples, ranging from the shameful, pre-war shilling of the New York Times's Judith Miller to the collective media failure to report on U.S. involvement in Indonesia's 15+-year genocide in East Timor. In addition to her own experiences in East Timor and with Bill Clinton and Sally Jesse Raphael, she describes the failings of post-9/11 reporting, the run-up to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Jessica Lynch propaganda fiasco, the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, domestic use of psyops (Psychological Operations) techniques during the current Iraq war, and Michael Powell's near-dismantli

Asking the questions that need to be asked.

I try to listen to "Democracy Now" 4 days a week on the radio or watch on public access TV. It takes a bit of courage to listen because Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez can be counted on to tell the story that hasn't been told about people who have no voice and that can shake up my soul. The "Exception to the Rulers" is most critical of the media, both written and over the airwaves and how they are all in the power and access game and play by the rules. Goodman, however, is fearless and takes advantage of any opportunity to stop power in its tracks with the deer in the headlights look and possibly answer a real question while their guard is down. I learned to enjoy the anticipation of what Amy Goodman would ask as she described being handed opportunites to question Bill Clinton over the phone and appear on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. If you have noticed you haven't heard "Imagine" or "Peace Train" or "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on Clear Channel radio stations lately, there is a reason. (150 songs) "Shortly after 9/11, filmmaker Michael Moore wrote about an e-mail he had received from a radio station manager in Michigan. The manager forwarded Moore a confidential memo from the radio conglomerate that owns his station: Clear Channel. 'The company, Moore wrote,'has ordered its stations not to play a list of 150 songs during this national emergency..... Rah-rah war songs, though, are OK."... "And then there was this troubling instruction: No songs by Rage Against the Machine should be aired. The entire works of a band are banned? Is this the freedom we fight for? Or does this sound like one of those repressive dictatorships we are told is our new enemy?'" That is just music, there is so much more we are not allowed to hear or see as we head into another 4 years. Shake off the fog and listen to, watch and read Amy Goodman as she uncovers the lies of the rulers and gives voice to the people.

excellent but frightening

If a reader has to choose one exposé book on the Bush Administration amongst those of Woodward, Clark, Dean, etc. the Goodman siblings is the one to select. One just needs to read the authors' logical argument on the Bush "oilopoly" to understand why especially in light of the alleged oil deal with the Saudis and the oily résumés of much of the leadership.The Goodmans' analysis of the Iraq War ignores the pronounced ever changing root reasons for armed combat, but instead follows the money of who gained (via contracts); the authors make a powerful case that major Bush campaign donors are the winners while soldiers and their family members, and the American tax payer pay the price. Underlying this and other arguments is their basic tenet that professional gurus manipulate the media using incredible spins and leaks of "dis and misinformation" that Spielberg would envy, and the worst gimmick to date is the in your pocket access that rigs the journalist's feelings. Can one really say something negative about the troops who feed a reporter, keep them safe, and share stories about home? Though readers will wonder why Amy has not been declared an enemy combatant, this insightful cautionary tome condemns the loss of truth, justice and the American way of freedom under the pretext of spreading democracy to oil slicks.Harriet Klausner

Shattering lame-press expectations

Amy Goodman effectively expresses a rare and necessary voice in The Exception to the Rulers. Few, if any, journalists have so tirelessly investigated, analyzed and articulated to the public the innumerable, disheartening examples of failed policies of US power politicians and profiteers and the resulting dire consequences. This awesome work has the potential to slice through the media cloud that typically veils these people and issues for what they really are. Congratulations to the Goodman's, Pacifica and the Democracy Now team.

A Brilliant Overview of The US Quagmire

Amy Goodman, more than any other U.S. journalist, has had the opportunity to assess the situation in the world today. With her daily radio/TV/internet program she has interrogated key players, investigated tragedies, uncovered scandals and chased down whistle blowers. This overview is particularly timely-- an essential read for everyone interested in finding out what's REALLY going on.