Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power - Paperback

by Mary Mapes (Author)

A riveting account of how the public's right to know is being attacked by an unholy alliance among politicians, news organizations and corporate America.

Truth and Duty was made into the 2015 film Truth, starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace and Elizabeth Moss.

For twenty five years, Mary Mapes has been an award-winning television producer and reporter -- the last fifteen of them for CBS News, principally for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 60 Minutes. She had the bedrock of respect of her peers -- in 2003 alone, she broke the story of the Abu Ghraib prison tortures (which won CBS The Peabody Award) and the existence of Strom Thurmond's illegitimate bi-racial daughter Essie Mae Washington.

But it was Dan Rather's lightning rod of a story on George W. Bush's National Guard Service that brought Mapes into an unwanted limelight. The firestorm that followed the broadcast led not only to Mapes' firing and Rather's stepping down from his anchor chair a year early, but to an unprecedented internal inquiry into the story -- chaired by former Reagan Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.

Peopled with an historic and colorful cast of characters--from Karl Rove to Summer Redstone to John Kerry to Col. Bobby Hodges -- this groundbreaking book about how the television news is made (and unmade) made headlines itself when first published. But this, it turns out, is only part of the story. Mapes talks for the first time about the riveting behind-the-scenes action at CBS during this frenzied period and exposes some of the largest political and social controversies that have broken in this new age of dissonance.

* Features a new chapter for the trade paper edition

Front Jacket

It was a great story. A true story. The kind of story any news producer would love to report, nail down and get on the air. And that's just what Mary Mapes and her producing and reporting team did in September, 2004, when Dan Rather anchored their report on President George W. Bush's dereliction of his National Guard duty for CBS News. The firestorm that followed their broadcast trashed Mapes' well-respected career, caused Rather to resign from his anchor chair a year early, and led to an unprecedented "internal inquiry" into the story--chaired by former Reagan Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.
TRUTH AND DUTY is Mapes' account of the often-surreal, always-harrowing fallout she experienced for raising questions about a powerful sitting president. It goes back to examine Bush's political roots as governor of Texas and answers questions about the solidity of the documents at the heart of the National Guard story as well as where they came from. Her book takes readers not just into the newsroom where coverage decisions are made, but out into the field where the real reporting is done. TRUTH AND DUTY is peopled with a colorful and vigorous cast of characters--from Karl Rove to Sumner Redstone, Bill Burkett to Dan Rather--and moves from small-town rural Texas to the deserts of Afghanistan, from hurricane season in Florida to CBS corporate headquarters Black Rock in New York City.
TRUTH AND DUTY is a riveting chronicle of how the public's right to know--or even to ask questions--is being attacked by an alliance of politicians, news organizations, bloggers and corporate America. It connects the dots between the emergence of a kind of digital McCarthyism, a corporation under fire fromthe federal government, and the decision about what kinds of stories a news network can cover (human interest: yes; political intrigue: no).
An answer to Bernard Goldberg and the thunder from the right, TRUTH AND DUTY is always fast, sometimes furious, and often unexpectedly funny about the collapse of one of America's great institutions.

Back Jacket

Mary Mapes succeeds in telling her story fearlessly, humorously and compellingly.--The Dallas Morning News

A riveting play-by-play of a reporter getting and defending a story that recalls All the President's Men, Truth and Duty puts readers in the center of the 60 Minutes II story on George W. Bush's shirking of his National Guard duty. The firestorm that followed that broadcast--a conflagration that was carefully sparked by the right and fanned by bloggers--trashed Mapes' well-respected twenty-five year producing career, caused newsman Dan Rather to resign from his anchor chair early and led to an unprecedented internal inquiry into the story...chaired by former Reagan attorney general Richard Thornburgh.

...trenchant...--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Truth and Duty examines Bush's political roots as governor of Texas, delves into what is known about his National Guard duty--or lack of service--and sheds light on the solidity of the documents that backed up the National Guard story, even including images of the actual documents in an appendix to the book. It is peopled with a colorful cast of characters--from Karl Rove to Sumner Redstone--and moves from small-town Texas to Black Rock--CBS corporate headquarters--in New York City.

...unflinching...--Vanity Fair

Truth and Duty connects the dots between a corporation under fire from the federal government and the decision about what kinds of stories a news network may cover. It draws a line from reporting in the trenches to the gutting of the great American tradition of a independent media and asks whether it's possible to break important stories on a powerful sitting president.

...illuminating...--The Buffalo News

www.truthandduty.com

Author Biography

Mary Mapes was an award-winning television news producer and reporter for twenty-five years, fifteen of them for CBS News, primarily for CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 60 Minutes II. She lives in Dallas, Texas.