The Unilateral Presidency and the News Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Unitary Executive and the News Media

   • Mark Major

   Pages 1-17

3. Headlining Presidential Power: New York Times Front-Page Coverage of Executive Orders from Truman through Clinton

   • Mark Major

   Pages 19-38

4. Torturing Unilateralism: The Case of Abu Ghraib, the News Media, and a Broken Political System

   • Mark Major

   Pages 39-69

5. Unilateralism Tortured: Critical Press Coverage of the McCain Amendment and Signing Statements

   • Mark Major

   Pages 71-91

6. Predator in Chief: Framing Obama’s Drone Warfare

   • Mark Major

   Pages 93-111

7. Going It E-Lone in the 2012 Election: Covering Obama’s We Can’t Wait in the Traditional and Online Public Spheres

   • Mark Major

   Pages 113-136

8. Conclusion: The Unilateral Presidency, the News Media, and the Politics of Hiding in Plain Sight

   • Mark Major

   Pages 137-146

9. Back Matter

   Pages 147-191

   PDF

Media coverage of presidential actions can not only serve journalistic purposes, but can also act as a check against unilateral decision making. The book seeks to uncover how the news media has worked to curtail overreaching power within the executive branch, demonstrating how the fourth estate keeps presidential overreach at bay.

• decision-making
• executive
• Framing
• media
• Online

Mark Major is the Associate Director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is the editor of Where Do We Go from Here? American Democracy and the Renewal of the Radical Imagination.

Policies and ethics