Twenty-one distinguished American journalists, beginning with Ted Koppel and concluding with Knight Ridder's war correspondent Tom Lasseter, talk candidly about the current state of American journalism and consider the trend toward junk information and misinformation.

Collects essays by leading journalists on such topics as fighting in court in order to make news public, censorship surrounding the war on terror, and the threat that distortion of the news imposes on a free society.

Featuring a foreword by Gore Vidal, a penetrating collection of powerful essays, from award-winning print and TV journalists, details the perilous state of American journalism in today's world by revealing their own personal experiences with censorship and concerted corporate and/or government efforts to destroy their controversial stories and their careers. (view table of contents)