Drawing on the stories of editors, reporters, media executives, and media "victims, " Sanford offers a startling look at the disturbing standoff that has developed between the media and the public.

Selected by Brill's Content as one of its 16 all-time media classics, this lively and richly storied work documents the dangerous consequences of the disintegration of trust between the public and the news media. In a masterful twenty-year retrospective, First Amendment attorney Bruce Sanford explores the root causes of our growing hostility toward the media and warns that we are killing one of our most treasured natural resources -- the Fourth Estate.