The Democratic Value of News
Title | The Democratic Value of News PDF eBook |
Author | Stephen Cushion |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Total Pages | 256 |
Release | 2017-09-16 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 1137272392 |
The ownership and funding of media organisations inevitably affects what news we receive everyday. But is public or private ownership better? Looking at how news is constructed in different contexts under public and commercial models, this book uses global comparative examples to give a topical insight into the world of broadcasting today.
Democracy's News
Title | Democracy's News PDF eBook |
Author | G. Michael Killenberg |
Publisher | University of Michigan Press |
Total Pages | 412 |
Release | 2023-02-20 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0472221078 |
Since the Founding, America’s faith in a democratic republic has depended on citizens who could be trusted to be communicators. Vigorous talk about equality, rights, and collaboration fueled the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution with its amendments. In a republic, the people set the terms for their lives not individually, but in community. The genius of keeping it alive exists in how everyday citizens talk and listen, write and read, for a common good. Dialogue and deliberation—rather than an accumulation of individual preferences—sustains a republic, yet a diminished and scarred institution of journalism jeopardizes citizens’ access to shared and truthful information. A disturbing “what’s in it for me?” attitude has taken over many citizens, and a creeping, autocratic sense of dismissive accusation too often characterizes the political style of elected officials. The basic fuel for democracy is the willingness of informed citizens to take each other seriously as they talk about political choices. Once we begin to clam up, build walls, and dismiss each other, we unravel the threads tying us to the Founders’ vision of a republic. A free press and free speech become meaningless if not supported by sustained listening to multiple positions. There are those who profit by dividing citizens into two camps: a comfortable “us” versus a scary “them.” They make their case with accusations and often with lies. They warp the very meaning of communication, hoping citizens never truly discover each other’s humanity. Democracy’s News discusses today’s problems of public communication in the context of history, law, and interpersonal life. News should not be something to dread, mistrust, or shun. Aided by reliable, factual journalism, citizens can develop a community-based knowledge to cope with social issues great and small. They come to treat neighbors and strangers as more than stereotypes or opponents. They become collaborators with whom to identify and sustain a working republic where news, citizenship, and public discourse merge.
Media Control
Title | Media Control PDF eBook |
Author | Robert E. Gutsche, Jr. |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Total Pages | 401 |
Release | 2015-10-22 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1628922966 |
Media Control: News as an Institution of Power and Social Control challenges traditional (and even some radical) perceptions of how the news works. While it's clear that journalists don't operate objectively ? reporters don't just cover news, but they make it ? Media Control goes a step further by arguing that the cultural institution of news approaches and presents everyday information from particular and dominant cultural positions that benefit the power elite. From analysing how the press operate as police agents by conducting surveillance and instituting social order through its coverage of crime and police action to bolstering private business and neoliberal principles by covering the news through notions of boosterism, Media Control presents the news through a cultural lens. Robert E. Gutsche, Jr. introduces or advances readers' applications of critical race theory and cultural studies scholarship to explore cultural meanings within news coverage of police action, the criminal justice system, and embedding into the news democratic values that are later used by the power elite to oppress and repress portions of the citizenry. Media Control helps the reader explicate how the power elite use the press and the veil of the Fourth Estate to further white ideologies and American Imperialism.
The People's News
Title | The People's News PDF eBook |
Author | Joseph E. Uscinski |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 187 |
Release | 2014 |
Genre | Electronic books |
ISBN | 9780814762868 |
"In an ideal world, journalists act selflessly and in the public interest regardless of the financial consequences. However, in reality, news outlets no longer provide the most important and consequential stories to audiences; instead, news producers adjust news content in response to ratings, audience demographics, and opinion polls. While such criticisms of the news media are widely shared, few can agree on the causes of poor news quality. The People's News argues that the incentives in the American free market drive news outlets to report news that meets audience demands, rather than democratic ideals.In short, audiences' opinions drive the content that so often passes off as "the news." The People's News looks at news not as a type of media but instead as a commodity bought and sold on the market, comparing unique measures of news content to survey data from a wide variety of sources. Joseph Uscinski's rigorous analysis shows news firms report certain issues over others - not because audiences need to know them, but rather, because of market demands. Uscinski also demonstrates that the influence of market demands also affects the business of news, prohibiting journalists from exercising independent judgment and determining the structure of entire news markets as well as firm branding. Ultimately, the results of this book indicate profit-motives often trump journalistic and democratic values.The findings also suggest that the media actively responds to audiences, thus giving the public control over their own information environment. Uniting the study of media effects and media content, The People's News presents a powerful challenge to our ideas of how free market media outlets meet our standards for impartiality and public service. Joseph Uscinski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami"--
Liberty and the News
Title | Liberty and the News PDF eBook |
Author | Walter Lippmann |
Publisher | Princeton University Press |
Total Pages | 119 |
Release | 2021-08-10 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1400824494 |
Liberty and the News is Walter Lippman's classic account of how the press threatens democracy whenever it has an agenda other than the free flow of ideas. Arguing that there is a necessary connection between liberty and truth, Lippman excoriates the press, claiming that it exists primarily for its own purposes and agendas and only incidentally to promote the honest interplay of facts and ideas. In response, Lippman sought to imagine a better way of cultivating the news. A brilliant essay on a persistent problem of American democracy, Liberty and the News is still powerfully relevant despite the development of countless news sources unimagined when Lippman first published it in 1920. The problems he identifies--the self-importance of the press, the corrosion of rumors and innuendo, and the spinning of the news by political powers--are still with us, and they still threaten liberty. By focusing on the direct and necessary connection between liberty and truth, Lippmann's work helps to clarify one of the most pressing predicaments of American democracy today.
Democracy Administered
Title | Democracy Administered PDF eBook |
Author | Anthony Michael Bertelli |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 265 |
Release | 2021-09-09 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1107169712 |
Those who implement policies have the discretion to shape democratic values. Public administration is not policy administered, but democracy administered.
Social Media and Democracy
Title | Social Media and Democracy PDF eBook |
Author | Nathaniel Persily |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 365 |
Release | 2020-09-03 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 1108835554 |
A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.