Fayke Newes

The 500 year history of the cruel war between those in power and news media.

'Fake news'. 'Psycho'. 'Enemy of the people'. The insults President Donald Trump and the American media hurl at each other are, in fact, nothing new. Over many centuries, journalists have accused governments of being 'horrible monsters', with 'guilty consciences', while reporters have been branded 'poisoners of the people' putting out 'false fables'. Ever since the invention of the printing press, those in positions of power have seen mass communication as a dangerous threat, usurping their ability to tell people what to think, and capable of stirring up discontent and even rebellion.

In The Media vs the Mighty , historian and international journalist Derek J. Taylor tracks the story of what's been a long, bloody and messy war, and discovers that neither side has always had clean hands. He takes us from Henry VIII's reign when writers and printers were executed, to the later struggles for the right to a free press, and, nearer our own time, the media's battles with the governments of President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Taylor ends with the social media revolution, which has put mass communication in the hands of ordinary people, as well as those of a certain US president.

About the Author

Derek J. Taylor studied law and history at Oxford, before joining ITN as an on-screen reporter. He reported five wars, and spent seven months in Iran during the Islamic revolution (a time and place portrayed in the film Argo). In his later career, he worked for the BBC, then The Associated Press of America as Chief Executive of their TV division, and now lives in the Cotswolds with his wife, Maggie. He is the author of Magna Carta in 20 Places (THP, 2015) and Who Do the English Think They Are? (THP, 2017).