If the present-day news media were around in the 1770s, the United States of America never could have won the Revolutionary War, author/historian David McCullough charged in a taped interview to plug his new book, 1776. Appearing on CNBC's Tim Russert aired Saturday night, McCullough asserted that if the Continental Army efforts led by George Washington "had been covered by the media, and the country had seen now horrible the conditions were, how badly things were being run by the officers, and what a very serious soup we were in, I think that would have been it" for the colonialists and the British would have won.

In the midst of a discussion of how if the wind had been blowing a different direction, the British fleet could have sailed up the Hudson River and trapped Washington's army, but that provident wind and fog allowed Washington and his men to escape to fight another day, McCullough added:
"I have to say too if that war had been covered -- this is the most important year in the most important conflict in our history -- if it had been covered by the media, and the country had seen now horrible the conditions were, how badly things were being run by the officers, and what a very serious soup we were in, I think that would have been it too."

Amazon.com's page for McCullough's book: www.amazon.com

Simon and Schuster's page for McCullough: www.simonsays.com

Biography of McCullough: www.simonsays.com

—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center