Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy

by James Fallows

Paperback, 1997

Status

Available

Call number

302.23 Fal

Call number

302.23 Fal

Barcode

6630

Tags

journalism, media, United States

Genres

Collection

Dewey

Publication

Vintage (1997), Edition: 1st Vintage Books Ed, 352 pages

Description

"Why do Americans mistrust the news media? It may be because shows like The McLaughlin Group reduce participating journalists to so many shouting heads. Or because, increasingly, the profession treats issues as complex as health-care reform and foreign policy as exercises in political gamesmanship. Or because muckrakers have given way to "buckrakers" who command huge fees lecturing to the very interest groups they are supposed to cover." "These are just some of the arguments that have made Breaking the News so controversial and so widely acclaimed. Drawing on his own experience as a National Book Award-winning journalist - and on the gaffes of colleagues from George Will to Cokie Roberts - Fallows shows why the media have not only lost our respect but alienated us from our public life. Moving from rigorous analysis to concrete proposals, the result is a devastating critique that is indispensable for anyone who makes the news - and anyone who reads or watches it."--Jacket.… (more)

Subjects

Journalism Objectivity United States
Journalism United States Objectivity
Mass media Objectivity United States
Mass media United States Objectivity
Press and politics United States

User reviews

LibraryThing member lorin
his book is a devastating critique of American media. Fallows describe how and why the media fails to effectively c...onvey useful information to the public it is supposed to serve. Although the book is ten years old, it contains an extensive discussion on the media's role in Clinton's failed
Show More
 health reform effort in the 90s that is extremely relevant right now, including the role of Betsy McCaughey.
Show Less
2 more
LibraryThing member lingjun.shen
Completely infuriating if frustratingly true. I kept having to put this down and my copy is all torn up from where I threw it across the room, shouting and claiming that everybody loves using the media as a punching bag. Important; but hypertension-inducing.
LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
Almost accidentally, I started reading James Fallow's blog at the Atlantic a few months ago and found it to be one of the most refreshingly insightful blogs I've read. It's rare to read someone who, even if he may not always be correct, has obviously given a lot of thought to what he writes.So I
Show More
 decided to read this book by him. It was written in the 90's and thus is kind of dated, but that doesn't diminish the points it makes. I thought I wouldn't learn many new things about the press that I wouldn't have already known by watching the movie Network, but I was wrong. This book goes in depth and really clearly outlines what is wrong with the media today, where it went wrong, how it could be better, and what's stopping us from making it better. At times, the situation seems so absurd that it felt like something Kafka made up, and it is similarly amusing and funny in that way, and would be funnier if it weren't so depressing and so true at the same time. I won't sum up what the book says, as it isn't a long book and you should really read it for yourself. I do think a lot of the issues are still relevant today, and I wonder what Fallows would say about the media now, in the year 2009, with the advent of Fox News, the internet, the blogosphere, and a bunch of other developments.The only complaint I have is that the book gets a little repetitive at times. If it could have been cut by about 30 to 50 pages by a very good editor, it would be even more powerful.
Show Less

Rating

½ (25 ratings; 3.8)

Pages

352

More

Amazon.comLibraryThingMARC view
Page: 0.2789 seconds