Download Truth in Our Times Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts Audible Audio Edition David E McCraw Stephen Graybill David E McCraw introduction Macmillan Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 10 hours and 2 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Macmillan Audio Audible.com Release Date March 12, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07P9Z5X9R

Truth in Our Times Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts Audible Audio Edition David E McCraw Stephen Graybill David E McCraw introduction Macmillan Audio Books Reviews

• Considering that McCraw became known to most of us after writing a "lawyer letter" to Trump's attorneys that went viral, it's tempting to chalk this up as another anti-Trump screed that can be easily ignored by his supporters and trumpeted (if not read) by his detractors.
  
  That would be a mistake.
  
  What McCraw has written instead is an informative, enlightening, nuanced, and entertaining description of the role of the First Amendment in our government and culture. As an attorney, McCraw recognizes the difference between legal writing and narrative writing, and he pokes fun at himself and the legal profession in making this point while ensuring that his narrative is clear, direct, and easy to read. His focus is on telling stories that highlight his points, and given his work with the NYT there are lots of stories to share. He reviews not only many of the challenges with Trump's attacks on the press, but also the role and importance of "leakers," his frustration with Obama's crackdown on these leakers (in this sense, Obama comes across almost as poorly as Trump), the story behind the Harvey Weinstein reporting, kidnappings in foreign countries, challenges with the Freedom of Information Act, and more. Concepts that are likely dry and tedious in law school are brought to life in real-world situations where the First Amendment matters, sometimes to the point of literal life and death.
  
  At the book's heart, as McCraw affirms, is a passion for the First Amendment and the need for it to exist in a democracy. Throughout the book, the real heroes are the journalists who risk their lives in standing up to authoritarian governments and placing themselves in war zones to report their stories. These individuals demonstrate that the First Amendment is worth dying for.
  
  McCraw closes the book by noting that it's not enough to support the First Amendment, but that we must all search for the truth so we can make informed decisions. The founding fathers developed their constitutional system through the belief that it would succeed only if citizens could distinguish truth from lies. This is why Trump's attacks on "fake news" and calling the media "the enemy of the people" is particularly alarming. As McCraw states, "The First Amendment story is, in the end, now about law but about hearts and minds. It doesn't really matter how much freedom journalists have if no one believes them. A discredited press plays no role in shaping democracy and holding power accountable." This is a role the Founding Fathers recognized as imperative, and we should as well. McCraw shows us why.
• it would be nice if the Times could deign to say Trump lies every damned day.
  
  No matter how fast you are you cannot outrun the truth
  Walter Oberer
  
  Trump's word is worthless. Would be nice if times said that
  
  The news is real; Trump is the fake
• David McGraw, the lawyer for the New York Times, has written an important book about a newspaper’s right to report the truth at a time that Trump rants about “fake news” and “ the failing New York Times.” It’s a good complement to “Breaking News The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters” by Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian. Like so many others, I am a life long reader of the New York Times and it has become especially important to me during the Trump presidency for its news coverage and opinion columns. It provides me with a sense of community at this time of great polarization in our country.
• Incredible insight into the way the NYT operates and with the integrity and honest-to-goodness effort that goes into each article that we need to know about and understand. Thank you so much, Mr. McCraw, for undertaking the effort to give us the real facts and the meanings behind them, and also a glympse of the values that underlie the stories and must also lie within you and the NYT writers, editors, and publishers. You are number one in my book and in my iMac too.
• David McCraw has worked at the New York Times (NYT) since 2002. With a background in journalism, he's also a lawyer employed as Deputy General Counsel of the New York Times.
  
  McCraw recalls lawsuits faced by the NYT since his employment, but the focus is on the last two years under the Trump administration. This book is not to slam Trump. McCraw is a self-described "raving Moderate." He slams Democrats as well. He describes Hillary Clinton as someone who "had hostility to openness" (89) and Barack Obama's administration as one that was "more aggressive than any prior administration in prosecuting government workers accused of unauthorized disclosures" (111), perhaps because of the 2013 Edward Snowden scandal.
  
  What McCraw does describe are the many threatened lawsuits from Trump since his presidency, almost all of them accusing the NYT of libel when it's nothing more than Trump not liking the criticisms in the articles. Libel must be proven as made in malice and be untrue facts, not opinions. What Trump doesn't like about him in the media, he immediately labels as "fake news." McCraw claims the NYT may make mistakes in its reporting, and then publish an apology, but it will not intentionally publish false stories and disinformation.
  
  McCraw writes well and I find the narrative flows easily. Perhaps McCraw wrote this book (which, I'm sure, Trump will not like and sue him for libel, again) to justify why the NYT does not write positively of Trump. Compared to Bush43 and Obama before him, no other 21st century American president has disparaged the press as much s Trump has, and often because he doesn't like anything bad or negative published about him. He cites too many incidents in this book, including the repeated tactic of using secret service employees to force certain journalists out of press briefings, and Trump rallying his supporters to attack reporters as enemy of the people. The Trump administrations thrives on secrecy, and the more the government withholds, the more journalists and the public will want to pry out the truth to the public.
  
  McCraw's exacerbated tone is evident in Chapter 6, "Us vs Us" and continues in subsequent chapters as the proliferation of fakes news is making its way around social media and people don't always know that the stories they are reading are fake. His exacerbation often turns to dry sarcasm, and he cites Facebook's lax search for the truth as part of the problem.
  
  The book is timely, as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has recently mentioned reconsidering the 1964 Supreme Court NYT vs Sullivan decision, in which a defendant must prove malice when suing for defamation. If this decision is overturned, Trump and his administration could sue more easily and win. This is something to ponder.