Too Opinionated Interview: Dan Luzadder

Jul 26, 2024

Today on Too Opinionated, author and Pulitzer winning journalist Dan Luzadder stops in to discuss his two new books! 

The Manchurian Journalist: Lawrence Wright, the CIA, and the Corruption of American Journalism

Luzadder’s in-depth, extensively documented, and critical examination of the Fourth Estate is a tough look at what must be done to restore the independence and integrity of America’s watchdog of democracy, its independent journalists. “As the nation witnesses the collapse of fact-based, unbiased, democracy-supporting journalism, amid our current political dystopia, a truly free and independent press remains a democratic dream yet unrealized,” said Luzadder. “Rebuilding the dream of a functional media rooted in truth and integrity, committed to the fundamentals of democracy, is dependent on that truth being known.”

The Manchurian Journalist documents for readers that their concerns about American journalism are justified. It shows that as the watchdog of democracy journalism has, since the Cold War, been compromised by influences unseen and unheard by the public in deciding what people read, hear and subsequently believe. This cultural cold war, led by a CIA and State Department-tied political strategy, involved major news outlets, magazine and book publishers, and worked through a network of unsigned intelligence ‘agents' – and influential institutions, foundations and government agencies -- to propagandize the American public, challenge socialism and communism, and preserve an elite “ Establishment.”

Street Talk: The Great Flood and Other Stories from a River City     

Street Talk, (The Great Flood and Other Stories from a River City), is a collection of columns and stories written in the early 1980s by author and investigative journalist Dan Luzadder, a columnist for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Included are his reflections and reporting on life in the city, including columns he wrote for the newspaper's Pulitzer-winning coverage of The Great Flood. This natural disaster in the spring of 1982 drew national attention and an appearance by President Ronald Reagan as thousands of residents were driven from their homes at the heart of the city where three rivers converge - and the city plunged into a desperate battle against the flood-of-the-century.

 

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