How to Watch TV News [Paperback]

Neil Postman (Author), Steve Powers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

A guide to watching television news discusses the calculated programming, the viewer manipulation, and the big business behind today's news networks and shows readers how to interpret what they are hearing and seeing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Academic Postman ( Amusing Ourselves to Death ) and television newsman Powers (of Fox Five in New York) offer a brief, helpful analysis of America's most popular news source. In a sober but accessible style, the authors address theoretical issues, such as the difficulty of portraying nonvisual abstractions (for example, a new scientific theory) on televison, and describe the selling of the news through techniques such as the "tease" and the formation of an on-air "pseudo-family." They reveal how stories originate--often from newspapers and press releases--and show how difficult it is for harried reporters to provide substantive news. The most provocative chapter analyzes the inherent biases and limitations in both language and pictures. The authors conclude with several none-too-radical pieces of advice, including the suggestion that parents seek ways to have schools train children in watching TV news. Regrettably, the authors don't discuss the role of TV criticism or what television news does well. Further, the book would have been much richer if Powers had included anecdotes from his career and reflected from his own experience on in-house decision-making.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile

This little manual undertakes to equip the user to watch broadcast news intelligently, if at all, and with realistic expectations. The authors aim to make activity out of what is too often passivity. Their approach is carefully reasoned, rather than emotional. This book is no more intended to be read aloud for dramatic effect than an automobile repair manual. On the other hand, being a model of clarity and not dependent on charts or graphics, it works perfectly well in audio. Jeff Riggenbach's reading is ideal: very clear, comfortably paced and objective in tone. This reviewer urges this book on every adult in America. J.N. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140132317
• ISBN-13: 978-0140132311
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neil Postman was chairman of the department of communication arts at New York University. He passed away in 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You cannot afford not to read it ..., March 14, 2002

By 

Stratos Safioleas (Maroussi, Athens Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Watch TV News (Audio Cassette)

After being almost 3 years in the business of dealing professionally with the press, both printed and electronic, I would say that most of the things that you read in this amazing book seem somehow 'obvious'. Yet, it is what's 'obvious' that passes unattended. It is because even the professionals in this business, (actually especially the professionals in this business) operate without questioning the very principals of the trade: 'What's 'news' really? Why choosing this particular form of presenting them on TV? What is it that we are aiming for? What's hidden behind?

I think that reading this book makes a better TV viewer, may be a better journalist, possibly a better citizen.

36 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Slap at the News Media Systems, November 6, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Watch TV News (Paperback)

This is a great effort on the part of Neil Postman and Steve Powers. Postman is a media scholar who has written numerous books, and Powers is a journalist who knows first hand how media works. These two authors have the guts to take on the news media, a system made up of the biggest pack of liars outside of the Democratic Party. This book is a no-holds barred look at how news is manufactored and presented to the public. The book begins by defining news and then presents detailed accounts of how news is created. The book also looks at how commercials work in the scheme of things. There are also sections on television in the court room and an examination of how language and pictures can be used to distort news.

I found three items of particular interest in this book. The first was how the authors looked at commercials. As most know, the main aim of television is to sell. As cigarettes are a delivery device for nicotine, so television is for commercials. Since most of us have seen thousands of commercials, we have stopped viewing them objectively. This book has examined commercials, and it delivers a stinging indictment of them. Most effective is the view, presented by the authors, that commercials are a form of religious parable. A parable teaches people how to live the good life. The commercial, like a parable, has a beginning, a definition of a problem in the middle, and then a solution to the problem at the end. Unlike real life, the commercial teaches us that the answers to all problems are fast and easy, and are readily available at the local store. Hard work and patience mean nothing in the advertising world.

Secondly, the book also looks at how corporations have taken over televison and turned news programs into a source of profit. This profit comes, of course, at the expense of truth and responsibility. What is of particular interest is how much some of the anchors and others involved in the news media make millions of dollars in salaries. The authors find this a problem. They quote former CBS News president Fred Friendly (great name, wouldn't you say?) who believed that no one in news should be making more money than members of Congress or the President of the United States. Friendly called it, "unhealthy, unacceptable, and unethical". What's more, the corporate attitude of making profit at the expense of all else has led to the pooling of various media outlets. The authors see this as extremely dangerous, as it limits the sources of news made available to the public.

Finally, I was floored by the examination of the actual news programs given in the book. The authors point out that news teams are made of people who are meant to ape the structure of a family. The role of Mom and Dad are played by the anchors, who usually are a man and woman. The sportscaster and weatherman usually play the role of the silly kids. And even more sickening, this "family" is always presented as being happy. They all get along with each other and everyone knows their place. Most people probably wouldn't have a problem with this kind of arrangement. But remember, this is supposed to be news. It is how we form opinions of the events that shape our lives, and ultimately are descendent's lives. This shouldn't be some role playing game. It's serious business, and all of the little games that the media play seriously degrade our ability to make important decisions.

There are always a few downfalls with any book, and this one is no different. There are some annoying errors in the text which an editor should have caught. This might be nitpicky, but it is noticeable. Also, the book is too short for such an important topic. Still, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about getting the truth.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to watch TV News and be informed at the same time., July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Watch TV News (Paperback)

An academic and a TV journalist combine forces to take on the most powerful and pervasive force in our daily lives and dissect its influence in a way no one's thought of before. Who'd think that a society so bombarded with information would be the least informed in the world? This book explains how-- and why. And it's quite prescient, having been written a few years ago, in showing how "news' and "entertainment" combine to form something that tastes great but is less filling. It's worth a read for anyone who suspects that "they" are not telling us what we need to know or want to know-- but what "they" decide" we should know. This is the Rosetta Stone of the Infotainment Age.