@maggieNYT Let’s use Vietnam as an example. View during Vietnam was that the press was expected to carry the party line & report WH propaganda. WH then blamed press for inciting young people. Pentagon Papers & WaPo told the “truth.” It upset the WH - LBJ & Nixon & older voters. 1/
@maggieNYT When we go back to WWII, WWI & Korea - once we were in a war the Press & Hollywood supported the war 100%. If we were in it - everyone supported it. The Sedition Act was in place during WWI making it a crime to speak against the war. Vietnam vets admit protesters were right. 2/
@maggieNYT GOP & conservative voters can blame Mark Fowler who in 1987 (I was in law school) was Reagan’s cabinet (Communications Director). He was a Libertarian who got The Fairness Act repealed. Goldwater’s GOP staff pal in AZ told me that ONLY thing protecting Reagan from press ...3/
@maggieNYT ... was The Fairness Doctrine because it was known that the press was more liberal than GOP & distrust of govt post-Watergate was infecting Public & journalists were seeking the “truth” & not WH propaganda. Reagan remembered days when he did Hollywood pro-war films & ...4/
@maggieNYT ...not movies like “Easy Rider” or “Coming Home” etc. Then we had 24 hour cable news. So why is GOP upset? It’s some of same people who get upset if reporting criticize police who shoot unarmed people due to lack of training & education & other societal issues. 5/
@maggieNYT This is my view as a lawyer nerd who volunteered in politics in high school, college & law school AND was a Democrat in Arizona. And I saw the change after 1987 when I was paying rapt attention as a law student since I wrote a paper on it. 6/
@maggieNYT This is not just CNN fault for having the talking yelling heads. It’s a development over the last 30 years. Patterns are not obvious till later ... Historians & journalism experts who’ve got more grey hair than I probably can explain deeper. Peace ✌️
