The Politics of News: The News of Politics

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Doris A. Graber, Denis McQuail, Pippa Norris
SAGE Publications, 2008 - Business & Economics - 294 pages

Books on journalists typically focus on the dynamics of the newsmaking process. The Politics of News: The News of Politics extends this examination to explore the struggle between journalists, political actors, and the public for control of the news in democratic countries. The book shows how the news media function as an intermediary between governments and citizens, as well as between political actors (such as parties and interest groups) and the public.

Essays present a diversity of views and are written by a distinguished group of authors that includes such luminaries as Jim Lehrer, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Robert Picard, and Andrew Kohut. The Politics of News is policy-oriented. By diagnosing problems faced by those whose influence affects newsmaking in both existing and emerging democracies, authors generate ideas about possible reforms. Several chapters offer comparative analysis that offer students insight into the impact of cultural factors on newsmaking.

Accessible yet sophisticated, this anticipated second edition covers significant issues surrounding political news, ranging from the limits of press freedom during times of war and the implications of media concentration for democratic participation, to the ingenious ways that governments and interest groups draw attention to their concerns.

From inside the book

Contents

The Politics of News in a Democracy
1
Political Roles of the Journalist
23
IconAnchors and Russian Television Viewers
40
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Doris A. Graber is professor emeritus of political science and communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has written and edited numerous articles and books on the news media, public opinion, and information-processing. They include Media Power in Politics, Sixth Edition (2010), The Power of Communication: Managing Information in Public Organizations (2003), a prize-winning book about Processing Politics: Learning from Television in the Internet Age (2001), and On Media and Making Sense of Politics (2012), a comparative study of learning about politics from entertainment broadcasts. Denis McQuail is emeritus professor of communication at the University of Amsterdam and visiting professor in the Department of Politics, University of Southampton. His books include Audience Analysis (1997) and McQuail's Mass Communication Theory (5th ed. 2005), a comprehensive introduction to the field that takes full account of new technologies and globalization issues. His most recent edited collection is Communication Theory and Research (2006), which presents outstanding studies in communications research published during the last decade. The selections are drawn from the European Journal of Communication, a leading international journal, founded by McQuail, Peter Golding and Els De Bens. Pippa Norris is Director of the Democratic Governance group in the United Nations Development Programme in New York and the Maguire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard University′s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Recent books include Sacred and Secular: Politics and Religion Worldwide (with Ronald Inglehart, 2004), Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior (2004), and Driving Democratization: What Works (2006). Norris, who is a political scientist, has served as an expert consultant for many international bodies including the UN, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, International IDEA, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the UK Electoral Commission.