© Columbia University Press
Spinning Intelligence: Why Intelligence Needs the Media, Why the Media Needs Intelligence
September, 2009
Cloth, 320 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-70114-3
$27.50
"Recommended " — Choice
"Spinning Intelligence explores the four-way relationship between the agencies, media, public and 'the other'—the enemy of the day. A very marketable book on a subject of great importance but on which there has been relatively little published academic reflection." — Peter Gill, University of Salford
"Not everything we learn about intelligence from the media is true, but some of it is. If you want to know why this is so and also where links between government, intelligence, and the press can potentially work against the public interest, you should read this book. Robert Dover and Michael S. Goodman's well-chosen team of academics, journalists, and government insiders provides an exceptionally stimulating commentary on a crucial and important relationship that bridges (as the editors put it) 'the gap between the unknown and the known.'" — Keith Jeffrey, Queen's University Belfast
"The fullest and most perceptive study I have read of the intelligence-media relationship and its significance for politicians, the public, and democracy itself." — Michael Herman, founder-director of the Oxford Intelligence Group
"The media's role as a check on the abuse of secret power is little understood but of enormous importance for those who value the safeguarding of civil liberties in the world's democratic cultures. This splendid volume does much to clarify the relationship between intelligence services and the journalists who report on their activities. A must read for all friends of an open society." — Loch K. Johnson, University of Georgia, and senior editor, Intelligence and National Security
"Spinning Intelligence is a timely, informative, and fascinating study that breaks new ground in its range and in the quality of its individual contributions." — Mark Phythian, University of Leicester