Freedom of Information [Hardcover]

Herbert Brucker (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is far and away the best analysis of the modern American newspaper yet published. And it is more than a study of the modern American newspaper: it is, on the whole, quite the best survey of the press job--the rights, responsibilities and true functions of what we call journalism--ever offered to the general reader and the student, in my opinion.”–New York Herald Tribune

Product Details

• Hardcover: 307 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press Reprint (June 22, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313229562
• ISBN-13: 978-0313229565
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,350,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Early Omen, October 31, 2008

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Freedom of Information (Hardcover)

Back in mid-century, Herbert Brucker was a leading scholar on communications and journalism. This lost item, originally from 1949, is a valuable source for modern researchers in those fields, as well as those interested in the processes of political secrecy and transparency. The title of the book is a bit misleading in the present day, as Brucker did not see "Freedom of Information" in the modern sense of access to government documents. Instead he applied the term more universally to the democratic ideal of freely flowing information amongst the public. Note that most of Brucker's data was from World War II and many of the media trends he analyzed have since gone off in directions he couldn't have imagined. Many of this book's historical details are badly outdated, as it was big news in 1949 that a few cities actually had fewer than two daily newspapers, and some had recently increased in price from one cent to two cents per issue. Regardless, those interested in the current state of the media industries, and who think that concentration and consolidation are purely modern evils, will find that Brucker detected the early manifestations of this worrisome process way back in '49.

But beyond the historical angle, Brucker's main points in this book are timeless, digging deep into democratic theory to find why America would suffer if any party (domestic or foreign, governmental or popular) had too much control over the knowledge of the masses. Brucker's solution to this dilemma was strong and unencumbered journalism, but his points also deserve to be influential for any modern American who is concerned about secrecy and manipulation in any part of the political realm. This lost classic is highly recommended for concerned researchers in communications or a variety of other fields. [~doomsdayer520~]