From Publishers Weekly
How come your local paper didn't print your trenchant letter to the editor? Why did the reporter seem impatient and hurried? Could an advertiser have undue influence on what stories see the light of day? The answers to these questions go a long way toward revealing the foibles and strengths of America's newspapers, large and small. In neat sections, the authors (former journalists themselves) describe how a newspaper is put together, what sorts of people work behind its desks and printers and, ultimately, what limitations are imposed on them. Far from offering an academic lecture, Hamilton, dean of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University, and Krimsky, co-founder of the Center for Foreign Journalists, incorporate popular anecdotes from newspaper lore (the former dean of Columbia Journalism School tells his students to save enough money so they can take a hike when their paper steps over an ethical line), as well as hypothetical situations from small-town life, to demonstrate what makes a paper tick and what sorts of people are affected by it. But the authors have made a few, albeit minor, journalistic errors. The pair sometimes employ gossipy, blind quotes ("We know of a medium-sized southern newspaper where the editor..."). Still, this is an enjoyable book that dispels myths about how the press works and why occasionally it doesn't. Drawings not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
In our media-permeated society, a wise citizen knows a bit about the players who define what is and isn't news. This accessible overview of the newspaper business, by a former Milwaukee Journal and Christian Science Monitor reporter, now head of Louisiana State University's School of Mass Communication, and by a veteran Associated Press correspondent who cofounded and serves as president of the Center for Foreign Journalists, is a good introduction. The authors see newspapers as both "noble and plebeian," and they cover the waterfront on newspaper production: the nature of the business; why newspapers look (and read) the way they do; how print reporters and editors define news; journalists' "traits and foibles" and their relationships with sources--and with the public; and newspaper trends. This is middle-of-the-road analysis, e.g., the authors mention critiques of the media from both right and left but seem to share neither side's complaints. Hamilton and Krimsky do share interesting facts and anecdotes, and a clear picture of how newspapers work. Mary Carroll
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
