Anthony Collings found himself in his share of difficult situations in his thirty-four years as a newsman. Like being captured by AK-47–toting Syrians in Lebanon in 1981 while looking for missiles that threatened a new outbreak of hostilities with Israel, or being “detained” by the KGB in Moscow in 1967 during his first foreign posting for the Associated Press filing stories about Soviet dissidents. Name a hot spot, and Collings has likely been there. From AP correspondent to Newsweek bureau chief to CNN reporter, he covered the Middle East, Rome, Moscow, London, Paris, and Washington. Now he has gathered stories about his work in a book that is both a journalist’s memoir and a commentary on the current ethical crises in the news media and how to address them. Brimming with entertaining stories about journalism, especially the chaotic early years at CNN when he and his colleagues established the first major cable news network, Collings’s book reveals the dangers and pressures of covering the news and the difficulties of overcoming obstacles to the truth. He recalls smuggling tapes out of Poland after the Communists had imposed martial law; flying dangerously near Libya’s “Line of Death”; interviewing world figures from Brezhnev to Kaddafi and Arafat; and winning awards for covering Iran-Contra and the Oklahoma City bombing. Collings brings fresh insights to the Oliver North affair and examines how the press was suckered in its coverage of the Jessica Lynch prisoner-of-war story in 2003. He voices his concerns regarding oversimplified reporting of complex issues and poses provocative questions about covering terrorism. In this book, Collings presents an insider’s appraisal of the American news media’s failings and accomplishments. Easy to read, informative, and thoughtful, Capturing the News will enlighten general readers interested in how journalists cover current affairs, while offering newsmen food for thought about the craft and ethics of journalism.

The Voice of America (VOA) is the oldest and largest U.S. government-funded international media organization. In 2020, Donald Trump nominated Michael Pack, a right-wing documentarian and close friend of Steve Bannon, to lead the organization and curb what Trump saw as the network's overly negative reporting on the U.S. During the seven months that Pack oversaw the agency, more than 30 whistleblowers filed complaints against him, a judge ruled that he had infringed journalists' constitutional right to freedom of speech, and he refused to respond to a subpoena issued by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. How did such a major international public service media network become intensely politicized by government allies in such a short time, despite having its editorial independence protected by law? What were the effects on news output? And what can we learn from this situation about how to protect media freedom in the future? Capturing News, Capturing Democracy puts these events in historical and international context--and develops a new analytical framework for understanding government capture and its connection to broader processes of democratic backsliding. Drawing from in-depth interviews with network managers and journalists, and analysis of private correspondence and internal documents, Wright, Scott, and Bunce analyze how political appointees, White House officials, and right-wing media influenced VOA changing its reporting of the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidential election, and its contested aftermath. The authors stress that leaving the VOA unprotected opens it and other public media to targeting by authoritarian leadership and poses serious risks to US democracy. Further, they offer practical recommendations for how to protect the network and other international public service media better in the future.

This book tells the chilling story of what happened at Voice of America (VOA) when Trump appointees and their allies captured the public service network. It explains how different forms of politicization combined to change how VOA reported on important events from the Black Lives Matter movement to the presidential election, and its contested aftermath. It also demonstrates how the capture of VOA fed into broader forms of democratic backsliding within the US itself. The book develops a new analytical framework for understanding how media capture unfolds and recommends ways of safeguarding our media and our democracy from future attacks.

The New News offers an approachable, practical guide to the 21st-century newsroom, equipping journalists with the skills needed to work expertly, accurately, and efficiently across multiple media platforms. Emphasizing the importance of verification and authentication, the book shows how journalists adapt traditional practices of information-gathering, observation, interviewing, and newswriting for online publications. The text includes comprehensive coverage of key digital and multimedia competencies – capturing multimedia content, "doing" data journalism, mobile reporting, working in teams, participating with global audiences, and building a personal brand. Features developed exclusively for this book include innovative visuals showing the multimedia news structures and workflows used in modern newsrooms; interviews with prominent journalists about their experiences in contemporary journalism; a glossary of up-to-date terms relevant to online journalism; and practical exercises and activities for classroom use, as well as additional downloadable online instructor materials. The New News provides excellent resources to help journalism students and early-career professionals succeed in today’s digital networked news industry. The authors are donating all royalties to nonprofit LION's programs to support local online news publications.

News is to the mind what sugar is to the body. In 2013 Rolf Dobelli stood in front of a roomful of journalists and proclaimed that he did not read the news. It caused a riot. Now he finally sets down his philosophy in detail. And he practises what he preaches: he hasn't read the news for a decade. Stop Reading the News is Dobelli's manifesto about the dangers of the most toxic form of information - news. He shows the damage it does to our concentration and well-being, and how a misplaced sense of duty can misdirect our behaviour. From the author of the bestselling The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli's book offers the reader guidance about how to live without news, and the many potential gains to be had: less disruption, more time, less anxiety, more insights. In a world of increasing disruption and division, Stop Reading the News is a welcome voice of calm and wisdom.

Literary Nonfiction. THE NEWS WE DESERVE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF CANADA'S MEDIA LANDSCAPE documents the most under-reported story in Canadian news: the behind- the-scenes takeovers, mergers, share swaps, regulatory maneuvers, and private ambitions that have reshaped the content and business models of today's print and online newspapers to privilege corporate profits and political influence over the goal of informing citizens. A generation of laissez-faire government attitudes towards media ownership smoothed the way for the stealthy transformation of Canada's mainstream press from its old ideal as fearless expositor of truth, as epitomized by Woodward and Bernstein, to a partisan, activist press that openly advocates certain outcomes.

Changing News Use pulls from empirical research to introduce and describe how changing news user patterns and journalism practices have been mutually disruptive, exploring what journalists and the news media can learn from these changes. Based on 15 years of audience research, the authors provide an in-depth description of what people do with news and how this has diversified over time, from reading, watching, and listening to a broader spectrum of user practices including checking, scrolling, tagging, and avoiding. By emphasizing people’s own experience of journalism, this book also investigates what two prominent audience measurements – clicking and spending time – mean from a user perspective. The book outlines ways to overcome the dilemma of providing what people apparently want (attentiongrabbing news features) and delivering what people apparently need (what journalists see as important information), suggesting alternative ways to investigate and become sensitive to the practices, preferences, and pleasures of audiences and discussing what these research findings might mean for everyday journalism practice. The book is a valuable and timely resource for academics and researchers interested in the fields of journalism studies, sociology, digital media, and communication.