New York Times FINALLY Notices Bugliosi's Book

[Joanne98]

By TIM ARANGO, New York Times

As a Los Angeles county prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi batted a thousand in murder cases: 21 trials, 21 convictions, including the Charles Manson case in 1971.

As an author, Mr. Bugliosi has written three No. 1 best sellers and won three Edgar Allan Poe awards, the top honor for crime writers. More than 30 years ago he co-wrote the best seller “Helter Skelter,” about the Manson case.

So Mr. Bugliosi could be forgiven for perhaps thinking that a new book would generate considerable interest, among reviewers and on the broadcast talk-show circuit.

But if he thought that, he would have been mistaken: his latest, a polemic with the provocative title “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,” has risen to best-seller status with nary a peep from the usual outlets that help sell books: cable television and book reviews in major daily newspapers.

Internet advertising has been abundant, but ABC Radio refused to accept an advertisement for the book during the Don Imus show, said Roger Cooper, the publisher of Vanguard Press, which put out the book.

ABC Radio did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Bugliosi, in a recent telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles, said he had expected some resistance from the mainstream media because of the subject matter — the book lays a legal case for holding President Bush “criminally responsible” for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq — but not a virtual blackout.

His publisher and publicist said they had expected that Mr. Bugliosi’s credentials would ensure coverage — he is, after all, fairly mainstream. His last book, a 1,612-page volume on the Kennedy assassination, “Reclaiming History,” which was published last year, sought to debunk the conspiracy theorists. It is being made into a 10-hour miniseries by HBO and the actor Tom Hanks.

Mr. Bugliosi said bookers for cable television, where he has made regular appearances to promote books, have ignored his latest offering. MSNBC and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” were two outlets Mr. Bugliosi had thought would show interest, but neither did.

“They are not responding at all,” he said. “I think it all goes back to fear. If the liberal media would put me on national television, I think they’d fear that they would be savaged by the right wing. The left wing fears the right, but the right does not fear the left.”

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34757

[wurzel]

1. What national television "liberal media" is he referring to?

[zbdent]

2. I think his point is that the "liberal media" is non-existent ...

because, if it did exist, it's kowtowing to the righties ...

[Synnical]

3. CNN did a small bit on it this morning

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/14/ltm.01.html

CHETRY: He's a best-selling crime author and former prosecutor but Vincent Bugliosi's new book which makes the case for charging President Bush with murder for the war in Iraq has faced a virtual media blackout. So how did the book become a best-seller?

Here's CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a true crime author, Vincent Bugliosi has tackled everything from JFK to O.J. It sold 7 million copies of the book that described how he prosecuted murderer Charles Manson.

VINCENT BUGLIOSI, AUTHOR: This one won Edgar Allan Poe Award. This one is number one in the "New York Times."

LAWRENCE: But L.A.'s former D.A. says no one in the mainstream media would review his new book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder," presents Bugliosi's legal case to hold the president criminally responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq.

BUGLIOSI: My book was completely rejected across the board by network and cable.

LAWRENCE: Enter the Internet. His publisher posted ads on liberal blogs and they started buzzing about the book.

BUGLIOSI: I'm very, very encourage and very grateful to them because without them the book would not be a "New York Times" best- seller.

LAWRENCE: In about six weeks, it sold 130,000 copies with no major TV exposure. ISABEL MACDONALD FAIRNESS & ACCURACY IN REPORTING: There was a decision that was made by the media that was actually really out of sync with the demand.

LAWRENCE: Isabel Macdonald works for the watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. She says TV appearances and book reviews used to be the main way authors promoted their work.

MACDONALD: But with the rise of the Internet and the blogosphere, we've really seen books take off without any reviews very rapidly.

LAWRENCE: Bugliosi claims he's the victim of a media blackout.

(on-camera): You don't choose that title without knowing that you're going for some shock value, and with that shock value, a lot of people will say, this is just a sensationalistic book that talks about something that will never happen.

BUGLIOSI: I've had national coverage for every one of my other books. This is the first time. People are extremely interested in this book, but they're terrified of it.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): But is it fear or fatigue? A long list of writers have done media tours while taking their own shots at the president. Most recently, former White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

But Bugliosi is the first mainstream author to publicly accuse President Bush of murder.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Pasadena.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Back in May, CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" was pitched on interviewing Bugliosi about his book. The show did pass on the offer.

[spanone]

4. but ABC Radio refused to accept an advertisement for the book-there's your liberal media