This little book reads like a master's thesis dressed up with longer chapters and fatter bibliography to get past a sleepy doctoral committee. "Media" is something of an overstatement. Although the author does use other sources very sparingly, this book is supported essentially by material taken from the New York Times. As secondary source material for a study of the Times editorial policy, it might have considerable merit. As an adjunct to the study of public health policy it is less successful. The author can write, I hope the next subject is more fruitful.