Eric Boehlert: The Media's Assult on Reason

[illinoisprogressive]

Boehlert did a great book called Lapdogs of the Press last year. it was so spot on and well written. Not much said about it: surprise! Guess he made the media mad.
In his column on Media Matters he takes down the press and their attack on who else: Al Gore and his new book.

How hard is it to figure out if a book has footnotes? When it comes to Al Gore's new, national bestseller, The Assault on Reason (Penguin Press, May 2007), it's trickier than you think for some disdainful members of the Beltway press corps.

On June 10, The Washington Post published an opinion column by Andrew Ferguson about Gore's new book. Personally, I give The Assault on Reason high marks as a spot-on, truth-telling critique of the Bush administration, as well as for the insightful concern Gore expresses about the fragile state of American democracy. Or, "what passes for a national conversation," as Gore puts it.

Not surprisingly though, Ferguson, an editor at the Rupert Murdoch-owned Weekly Standard, disliked the book, waving it off as "a sprawling, untidy blast of indignation."

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200706120005?f=h_column

[MH1]

1. Seriously, when did that style of footnoting become popular?

I noticed the same thing with Kerry's new book (This Moment on Earth), where I initially made the mistake of thinking he hadn't footnoted (which made no sense, so I looked in the back and there they were).

So now I see the same thing with Assault on Reason and I am just wondering when this style started?

[IndyOp]

2. I hate to say it, but I think it is "dumbed down" printing style...

Publishers have discovered that most people don't want the clutter of seeing little numbers on the page and/or they don't want to guilty that they don't want flip back to read the footnotes...

I don't think it was Al's choice, I presume that the publisher strongly recommended it so that the "public" would be more likely to read the book.

Anyone who insists on thinking critically - and who wants footnotes so they can check the sources - will just have to know to look at the back of the book.