Journalists may have been considered heroes in the days of Watergate, bringing down a president and upholding our country's ideals of truth and justice, but today reporters are seen as a petulant, sleazy, and haughty bunch. Politicians of all stripes routinely bash the media, and the public has endorsed limits on the press that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. One of the handful of reporters who gets any respect these days is Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post. Kurtz's beat is the press itself, and he never lacks for material. Covering one's peers is a perilous task, but Kurtz is universally acknowledged as a scrupulous reporter, as well as a dogged investigator and lucid writer who can get the bottom of any story - especially the story behind the story.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-394) and index.

Introduction -- 1: Trump: the decade -- 2: Agency nobody covered -- 3: Bank job -- 4: Fire this time -- 5: House divided -- 6: Glass house gang -- 7: Fit to print? -- 8: Out of the closet -- 9: Question of harassment -- 10: Outflanked -- 11: Seductions of power -- 12: Media primary -- 13: Talk show campaign -- 14: Smell of death -- 15: Pink flamingo journalism -- 16: Reclaiming the franchise -- Sources -- Index.