The defining issue of our time is the media. Whatever issue you care most about, media coverage of that issue is likely a key stumbling block to real, progressive change.

In his book Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush (Free Press, May 2006), Eric Boehlert details how the news media have too often been afraid of the facts and the consequences of reporting them, instead rolling over like lapdogs for President Bush, his administration, and conservative pundits.

Some examples:

• When The Washington Post falsely reported that disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff had given money to Democrats, that's rolling over for Bush.
• When White House press secretary Scott McClellan fielded more than 700 questions at press briefings in May 2005, and just two were about the recently published Downing Street memo, that's rolling over for Bush.
• When Time magazine reported in January that Bush had suddenly "found his voice" and that relieved White House aides "were smiling again," just weeks before Bush began his sharp decline in the polls, that's rolling over for Bush.
• When CNN reported last year that war protester Cindy Sheehan had been arrested outside the White House along with "several others," when in fact she was arrested along with nearly 400 people, that's rolling over for Bush.
• When Time and Newsweek last summer simultaneously published glowing profiles of Bush's Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- profiles that quoted 24 different people, not one of whom even politely questioned the nomination -- that's rolling over for Bush.

That's why conservative misinformation in the media is the most significant issue of our time: Because the media shape our understanding of every other issue.

Lapdogs is the first book to demonstrate that, during George W. Bush's entire presidency, the news media have utterly failed in their duty as watchdogs for the public. In blistering prose, Boehlert reveals how, time after time, the press chose a soft approach to covering the government and, as a result, reported and analyzed crucial events incompletely and even inaccurately.

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