Losing the News: The Future of the News that Feeds Democracy (Institutions of American Democracy) [Hardcover]

Alex S. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0195181239 | ISBN-13: 978-0195181234 | Edition: 1ST

In Losing the News, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex S. Jones offers a probing look at the epochal changes sweeping the media, changes which are eroding the core news that has been the essential food supply of our democracy.
At a time of dazzling technological innovation, Jones says that what stands to be lost is the fact-based reporting that serves as a watchdog over government, holds the powerful accountable, and gives citizens what they need. In a tumultuous new media era, with cutthroat competition and panic over profits, the commitment of the traditional news media to serious news is fading. Indeed, as digital technology shatters the old economic model, the news media is making a painful passage that is taking a toll on journalistic values and standards. Journalistic objectivity and ethics are under assault, as is the bastion of the First Amendment. Jones characterizes himself not as a pessimist about news, but a realist. The breathtaking possibilities that the web offers are undeniable, but at what cost? Pundits and talk show hosts have persuaded Americans that the crisis in news is bias and partisanship. Not so, says Jones. The real crisis is the erosion of the iron core of news, something that hurts Republicans and Democrats alike.
Losing the News depicts an unsettling situation in which the American birthright of fact-based, reported news is in danger. But it is also a call to arms to fight to keep the core of news intact.

Praise for the hardcover:

"Thoughtful."
--New York Times Book Review

"An impassioned call to action to preserve the best of traditional newspaper journalism."
--The San Francisco Chronicle

"Must reading for all Americans who care about our country's present and future. Analysis, commentary, scholarship and excellent writing, with a strong, easy-to-follow narrative about why you should care, makes this a candidate for one of the best books of the year."
--Dan Rather

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize journalist Jones (coauthor of The Patriarch) argues that the demise of the newspaper industry is corroding the iron core of information that is at the center of a functioning democracy. Increasingly, he contends, what is passed off as news is actually entertainment; puff pieces have replaced the investigative reporting that allows citizens to make informed decisions. We seem poised to be a nation overfed but undernourished, a culture of people waddling around, swollen with media exposure, and headed toward an epidemic of social diabetes, he writes. Sifting through a history of the media that touches on such technological improvements as the Gutenberg press and the telegraph, Jones focuses on the Internet and the damage he believes it has wrought on print newspapers. Weaving in the story of his own family's small newspaper in Tennessee, Jones presents an insider's look at an industry in turmoil, calling plaintively for a serious examination of what a nation loses when its newspapers fold. Unfortunately, he offers few answers for saving print journalism, but his compelling narrative will incite some readers to drum up solutions of their own. (Aug.)
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Review

"Thoughtful."--New York Times Book Review

"An impassioned call to action to preserve the best of traditional newspaper journalism."--The San Francisco Chronicle

"Penetrating analysis of an industry in turmoil."--The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"In a style both compellingly personal and fully professional, Jones provides a concise social history of news, ethics and First Amendment issues. He then grapples with some fundamental questions. Is news, as presented by professional journalists, as essential to democracy as we tell ourselves? Can it survive on its own in a marketplace where the advertising subsidy is waning and the accompanying entertainment segments are being unbundled and peddled separately?" --American Journalism Review

"Alex Jones's Losing the News is an important book. It is insightful and highly readable, at a level only a great journalist and master storyteller such as Jones could achieve with this subject. This isn't a book for or about just journalists and their profession. It's must reading for all Americans who care about our country's present and future. Analysis, commentary, scholarship and excellent writing, with a strong, easy-to-follow narrative about why you should care, makes this a candidate for one of the best books of the year."--Dan Rather

"No one knows more about journalism than Alex Jones. No one watches it more scrupulously. No one cares more deeply for its future. Losing the News also proves that no one writes of the subject more persuasively or more beautifully. Journalism could have no surer champion."--Roger Rosenblatt

"Drawing on his unique experiences as a prize-winning reporter, director of the major center on politics and the press, and fourth generation of a newspaper-owning family, Alex Jones provides an authoritative account of why journalism is vital, how it has lost its bearings, and which can be done to reinvigorate this essential foundation of a democratic society."--Howard Gardner, Harvard University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1ST edition (September 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195181239
• ISBN-13: 978-0195181234
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Law > Media & the Law

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting At Times October 18, 2009

By To Be Simple VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

There is no question that Alex S. Jones has more than enough credentials to write a book such as "Losing the News." His vast experience at a variety of levels in the field of journalism, combined with his sense of thoughtfulness, make for an author who should excel at penning a book on the history and future of the news. "Losing the News," succeeds at times, but also falls short to some extent in giving an accurate analysis of the current newspaper crisis.

First off, this book will prove to be a valuable read for people who have little to no knowledge of the role of print media in America over the decades. Jones skillfully explains how print journalism has evolved over the years, and why it has been important for the survival of democracy. However, there is not any groundbreaking information presented for people already familiar with such areas.

The most interesting aspect of Jones' book is his discussion of the erosion of the iron core of "accountability" news. Jones is highly critical of the television news' propensity to offer up opinionated talking heads in place of solid news reporting. He also is critical of the increase, over the years, by media outlets to stray away from hard news, and instead do more reporting of personal interest and entertainment stories. His argument is that this phenomenon leaves people less informed, therefore weakening democracy on the whole.

Jones also discusses in detail the concept of "citizen journalism" brought on by the Internet. He obviously feels that the proliferation of blogs and nontraditional news web sites are a threat to traditional journalism. Jones strongly believes that in order to be called a journalist, one needs to be trained as a journalist. He states, "The concepts of citizen journalism and soliciting reader input are hot at newspapers, which are looking for ways to engage people as well as to capitalize on the expertise that is undeniably out there. But that is not journalism I see it." Additionally, he speaks on the subject of how to finance journalists in an age of declining newspaper revenues and increase in news on the Internet that is free to users.

There are a couple of problems I have with "Losing the News." First, Jones does not attribute nearly enough importance to the filtering of news by the corporate interests of the owners of media sources. Perhaps the reason for the large rise in citizen journalism is because the traditional news sources are indeed filled with fluff and are negligent in giving unbiased hard news and solid investigative journalism. This leads me to my second criticism -- how does Jones think the news can be saved? Jones' prescription for saving the news is, "Journalists must hold fast and persevere. Owners must do the right thing. And citizens and news consumers must notice and demand the news that they need." Well, that is a nice thought, but far from practical advice as to how to save the news as Jones desires. Anyone with a reasonable level of understanding of the economics and technological change in the news business can immediately see that Jones' prescription is fanciful at best.

In closing, "Losing the News" does serve as a good primer for learning a basic history of journalism in America. It also raises some good questions about the direction the news has taken over the decades, especially more recently with the rise of the Internet. Unfortunately, there is a glossing over of the magnitude of corporate control of the media, which in turn leads to some significant errors in diagnosing some of the pressing problems in the media, as well as the prescription to remedying these problems.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read July 23, 2009

By J. Soller

Format:Hardcover

Losing the News challenges the reader to assess the importance of news---its purpose, content, value, delivery and business mechanisms, and ethics. And, in that assessment, the reader reevaluates the importance of his or her responsibility as an `every day' American citizen and consumer of media information.

Who is this reader Alex S. Jones addresses? In keeping with major themes of the text---how news interacts with democracy, Jones writes this book for those who love to read print newspapers, for those who are connected to news electronically, for lovers of US history, government, ethics, and all social sciences, for newspaper people and journalists, elected officials, policy makers, and private citizens. The wise teacher or professor who wishes to deliver a dynamic, thought-provoking, provocative (and, probably, the most popular on campus) course will use this book as a text.

But, most of all, Losing the News is for people who love good books. Written by a master storyteller, the prose is gorgeous. Jones' style empowers the reader to enjoy the book from his or her unique experience.

I noticed the Amazon release date for Losing the News is August 19; a very fitting date as it is the birthday of the great 20th century British writer and fierce journalistic defender of freedom, Bernard Levin, CBE. Whether your purchase is print or Kindle (ironic chuckle), Losing the News by Alex S. Jones is a must read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jones documents a worrisome decline in objective hard news March 12, 2010

By Daniel Berger VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This book ought to be assigned in Journalism 101 classes. Alex Jones talks about the challenges facing journalism as budgets decline, and on the way lays in wonderful primer material on journalism and the history of the free press, which is not as clearcut as most people think.

His major premise is this: What constitutes hard news - what he calls "the iron core of news" as distinguished from many non-news elements such as celebrity information, opinion, ads and so on that appear in publications or in the broadcast media - is endangered by print journalism's decline and the rise of the Internet.

As newsrooms shrink, there are fewer reporters doing the painstaking, shoe-leather reporting that help establish the core facts that other people can then argue or opine about. This means getting records, asking hard questions of public figures, putting it all in perspective, doggedly following up and being sure enough of their story to risk publishing in the face of threatened libel suits.

Journalism was seen by the Founders as having a special role justifying First Amendment protections, in that a democratic electorate, and lawmakers as well, can't make intelligent choices without good information upon which to base them. Jones sees the amount of such accurate information actually shrinking.

I can't argue with him about that, but can only observe that the whole journalism model in the US is in such rapid flux that we haven't seen yet where it will lead. Someone may yet find a profitable Internet business model that generates ample hard news online, perhaps parlaying the savings to be had from eliminating the huge overhead that printing and distributing a physical newspaper entails.

I particularly enjoyed his tracing of free-press rights from the John Peter Zenger case of the 1730s to Times vs. Sullivan in 1964. For much of that time, freedom of the press was effectively hamstrung by state laws. The most significant case in extending it, in my mind, was Near v. Minnesota in 1931, which upheld the right of an anti-Semitic rabble rouser, who was sometimes right in some of his attacks on government corruption, to publish after the state tried to shut him down. (Interesting detail not mentioned by Jones: a Jewish Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, voted in Near's favor, while an anti-Semitic justice, James McReynolds, voted against him. I had a 1982 Washington Star editorial about this framed and hanging above my desk while I was a reporter.)

Times vs. Sullivan, a product of the civil rights era, is often hailed, but Jones accurately points out that it has created today's environment where not only public officials but public figures - celebrities of any sort - are routinely libelled because barriers to their suing successfully for same, as established in Times vs. Sullivan, are so great. If you have ever thought you'd never run for public office because you didn't want to be personally destroyed in the press by your enemies, this Supreme Court decision is a primary reason you think that.

I think Jones, like a lot of journalists, overestimates the value of investigative reporting. Many heads were turned by Woodward and Bernstein's success with Watergate, but this type of journalistic coup remains relatively rare. I saw too many wild goose chases, some involving entire news staffs, because some shaky tip coincided with some editor's desire to become the next Ben Bradlee. Countless reporters wasted countless hours combing public records for non-existent leads. It was my experience that big exposes actually come when someone with their own generally selfish motives ("destroy this guy so I can take his position") came to you with the information, and are prepared to show you public records supporting it. And they would start coming out of the woodwork if you portrayed yourself as a ballsy adversary of whatever establishment you were covering.

Jones, however, to his credit, doesn't see investigative reporting as the be-all and end-all, and enterprising amateur public citizens like James O'Keefe can actually do exposes on line. The real, unsung loss he's talking about is the decline in the other, less sexy categories, where reporters routinely document public proceedings and explain public life, creating a strong record of what actually happened - sometimes called "history's first draft." Without a strong hard news core, we get all the screaming and the slanting, but neither we nor our elected representatives get the facts we need to make up our own minds.