News From the Capital: The Story of Washington Reporting

On January 17, 1969, Eric Sevareid referred to news as “the other industry” in Washington. On other broadcasts he has said that politics and news were the capital’s two businesses. His remarks reflect the fact that news and its related fields of public relations and lobbying have grown to mammoth proportions.

Mr. Marbut places this “other industry” in perspective in his historical survey of reporting from the nation’s capital. Of particular interest in this timely book is his analysis of the stresses and strains in reporting which have taken place in the last quarter-century, giving rise to such incidents as the U-2 and the Bay of Pigs news imbroglios.