Democracy and the News
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- $26.99
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- $26.99
Publisher Description
American democracy was founded on the belief that ultimate power rests in an informed citizenry. But that belief appears naive in an era when private corporations manipulate public policy and the individual citizen is dwarfed by agencies, special interest groups, and other organizations that have a firm grasp on real political and economic power.
In Democracy and the News, one of America's most astute social critics explores the crucial link between a weakened news media and weakened democracy. Building on his 1979 classic media critique Deciding What's News, Herbert Gans shows how, with the advent of cable news networks, the internet, and a proliferation of other sources, the role of contemporary journalists has shrunk, as the audience for news moves away from major print and electronic media to smaller and smaller outlets. Gans argues that journalism also suffers from assembly-line modes of production, with the major product being publicity for the president and other top political officials, the very people citizens most distrust. In such an environment, investigative journalism--which could offer citizens the information they need to make intelligent critical choices on a range of difficult issues--cannot flourish. But Gans offers incisive suggestions about what the news media can do to recapture its role in American society and what political and economic changes might move us closer to a true citizen's democracy.
Touching on questions of critical national importance, Democracy and the News sheds new light on the vital importance of a healthy news media for a healthy democracy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalism has plenty of failings, and while Columbia University sociology professor Gans is sure to point out many of them in this book, he also holds out hope for the profession's redemption. The esteemed social critic laments that disempowerment--both economic and political--has become"the normal state of the citizenry," with people thinking they have little control over much of anything these days. Journalism, says Gans, does little to help. Obsessed with profits and entertainment over the public-minded debate of issues, media outlets have sunk in Gans's esteem to where their reporters and anchors are seen as the moral equivalents of politicians and lawyers. Of course, these problems have been debated for decades; but Gans puts forward various suggestions for how both journalism and democracy in America may be improved, including increasing the diversity of newsrooms and strengthening the voice of citizen lobbies. It's a high-minded treatise and a welcome counterbalance to the constant cries of liberal bias in the media. It might be wishful thinking, though, to hope that Gans's prescriptions will have any effect on the behavior of today's media monoliths.
