William McGowan |
Books

Only Man Is Vile

The Tragedy of Sri Lanka (FSG Books)

Sri Lanka has long fascinated Western travellers with its tropical languor, spiritual traditions, and Raj Era allure. But beneath the superficial gentleness of the landscape and people, a complex struggle over questions of ethnicity and nationalism has turned the 'Island of Dharma' into another Lebanon.

William McGowan has lived and travelled in Sri Lanka extensively over the years that span many different phases of the conflict there, and the result is this compelling account of a society consumed by the implacable hatreds of race and class, the brutalities of political violence, and the quest for national identity.

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"It is one of the best books ever written on nationalistic, racial and religious conflict. With his deep and harrowing portrait of this Asian drama, William McGowan introduces us to the world we will live in if common sense, rationality and high human values do not prevail. A great, impressive and sound book."
- Ryszard Kapunscinski, author of Shah of Shahs, The Emperor, Another Day of Life

"McGowan has "a shrewd eye for details and a quick understanding of complexities..... In an era when many outsiders have been taken in by simplistic explanations of right and wrong, Mr. McGowan is anything but naive."
- New York Times Book Review, Notable Books of the Year 1992

"An important book, full of lively reporting and insightful observations. As a study of how politically inflamed ethnic tensions can destroy a nation, it ranks with the best."
- Newsday

"A gripping, first-rate mixture of travelogue, history and hard-edged reporting. ...McGowan's memorable prose captures the noise, passions and violence of a country that seems bent on destroying itself."
- Publishers Weekly*

"McGowan warns that 'identity politics' can be extraordinary divisive… The United States is a long way from Sri Lanka, but may be on the same road. All the evil effects of 'identity politics' are already apparent."
- Michael Barone, US News & World Report

"Mr. McGowan has a gift for literary travel writing in the Graham Greene tradition"
- Wall Street Journal

Coloring the News

How Crusading For Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism (Encounter Books)

America is at a demographic and public policy crossroads. But just when information about its changing national identity needs to be robust, knowledgeable and honest, the ongoing media crusade for diversity has made American journalism weaker, particularly on complex stories involving race, gay rights, feminism, affirmative action and immigration. Encouraging a narrow orthodoxy that restricts debate and affirms identity politics, this crusade has fostered a journalistic climate in which important reporting is often skewed; facts that call into question a preconceived, pro-diversity script get short shrift; and double standards that favor “oppressed” groups over others become the norm.

This is the provocative argument that drives William McGowan’s Coloring the News, a brave, searching work that examines journalism’s most controversial issue. Depicting how a well-intentioned attempt to accommodate minorities and minority views has been infected by political correctness, McGowan gives a fascinating insider’s analysis of what stories get reported in the “elite” media and how. Along the way he dissects how the press “mistold” California’s Proposition 209 vote, the alleged “racist” burnings of black churches in the south, the military’s ongoing problems with the integration of women and gays, the consequences of a chaotic immigration policy, and other key stories.

McGowan subjects the journalism of the New York Times, the Washington Post and other prestigious news organizations to careful analysis in showing how the quest for “diversity” has influenced not only editorial policy but news gathering itself. The diversity that has seized hold of the nation’s newsrooms does not value true diversity of opinion, he maintains, but instead promotes one-sided reporting-bythe- numbers.

Ironically, McGowan points out, the crusade has had unintended consequences for the very constituent groups and progressive political causes that diversity was supposed to help. Chief among the casualties are the intellectual and electoral viability of liberalism, as well as the credibility and financial health of the media itself, which have been repeatedly embarrassed by biased reporting and out-of-touch editorializing rooted in unexamined, pro-diversity assumptions. He also shows how the perception of bias in the "mainstream" media has fueled the rise of alternatives such as talk radio and Fox News.

McGowan raises questions that the journalistic establishment is reluctant to engage but which any thinking person—liberal or conservative—should take seriously. Coloring the News is a book that will be as fiercely debated among the media elite as it will be satisfying to millions of ordinary news consumers perplexed by the way the press has misreported the most significant stories of the last decade.

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National Press Club Award for Media Criticism 2002

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Wall Street Journal review, Los Angeles Times review and Washington Post review

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Gray Lady Down

What the Decline and Fall of the New York Times Means for America (Encounter Books)

The New York Times was once considered the gold standard in American journalism and the most trusted news organization in America. Today, it is generally understood to be a vehicle for politically correct ideologies, tattered liberal pieties, and a repeated victim of journalistic scandal and institutional embarrassment.

In Gray Lady Down, the hard-hitting follow up to Coloring the News, William McGowan asks who is responsible for squandering the finest legacy in American journalism. Combining original reporting, critical assessment and analysis, McGowan exposes the Times’ obsessions with diversity, “soft” pop cultural news, and countercultural Vietnam-era attitudinizing, and reveals how these trends have set America’s most important news icon at odds with its journalistic mission—and with the values and perspectives of much of mainstream America.

Gray Lady Down considers the consequences — for the Times, for the media, and, most important, for American society and its political processes at this fraught moment in our nation’s history. In this highly volatile media environment, the fate of the Times may portend the future of the fourth estate.

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"McGowan succeeds in reminding us that arrogance and a limited worldview are also to blame for the troubles of even our most celebrated newspapers"
- Juan Williams, NPR and Fow News

"William McGowan shows us that things at the Times aren't as bad as we'd thought. They're worse! If he had common sense, Pinch Sulzberger would read this book and promptly resign."
- Mickey Kaus, Newsweek

"The goal of Gray Lady Down is not schadenfreude. The goal is to help her recover from what ails her."
- Clifford D. May, President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

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