The Gospel According to the New York Times: How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values

by William Proctor

The New York Times is the nation's recognized newspaper of record. Through its unparalleled status as the nation's journalistic "bible," and the frequent replication of its views and articles in other media, the Times is literally on our doorstep every day. However, what is not known is that the Times, far from being "objective," is subtly promulgating its own comprehensive worldview and value system, which runs counter to the personal beliefs of many Americans. In The Gospel According to the New York Times, author Bill Proctor exposes the Times' belief system unveiling the mechanism of "Culture Creep," which the Times uses to promote its views.

308 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a Harvard graduate and lawyer, who worked for decades in NY and often wrote for the other NYC papers. Proctor both admires the NYT and is critical of their writing and editorial bias. Being both lawyer and a former journalist, Proctor has some particularly sharp insight into journalism as practiced by the NYT. He helps the reader understand how a newspaper develops and present news stories and how the Times presented a particularly slanted view of politics, culture, and the world. He recognizes the impact of the Times and is critical of its world view and use of editorial prose in most of its stories, not just editorials. Definitely from a moderate to a conservative point of view, he admired the Times, and is an avid reader of it, but is also concerned of the power of this one paper to direct governmental and public opinion.