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The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril

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Leonard Downie and Robert Kaiser have written a book that describes what is wrong with American journalism. Those who have observed the media during the last 15 to 20 years have noted disturbing trends: 1. News that seems more like entertainment than real news; 2. A decline in the quality and quantity of real hard news stories in papers and t.v news.; 3. More stories about actors, sports figures, and celebrities; 4. News that seems more like a paid promotion by a corporation than news.

The authors tell us why this has occurred. Essentially, many newspapers, t.v. stations, and radio stations have been taken over by huge corporations like Gannett or AOL-Time Warner. These corporations are fixed upon obtaining a certain bottomline profit margin from each station year by year. To this end, they have limited space for hard news stories, laid off thousands of reporters, increased entertainment type features, and do little investigative reporting (which is expensive). They have also raised advertising rates and in some situations, involved themselves with inappropriate relationships with businesses who advertise in their mediums.

The authors point out through a number of examples, exactly why good journalism is important to a community. Solid news coverage on a state/national/international level has helped inform the American people of complex realities, enabling them to make sound decisions in the Representative Democracy in which we live. It has helped cracked scandals like Watergate wide open. It has helped states realize and rectify problems in their educational and social systems. It has explained much of the current problems with Muslims and Osama Bin Laden, so that we can understand what occurred on September 11, 2001 better.

The authors are wrong about some things. I noted that both Downie and Kaiser started in journalism in the sixties, before the advent of the computer age. Perhaps, this is what makes them hostile to presentation of news stories with fancy computer graphics, maps, and other audio/visual effects. I don't see this as a problem. I think an authoritative news cast could make use of both good reporting and the technologies of the information age that allow us to make better presentations and allow for more effective communication with an audience.

While I largely agree with the authors, I also note this problem. The term "news" and "newsworthy" is a very subjective term. Any two people may experience serious disagreement about what is a legitimate "news story" and what is not. For example, a president having sex with his intern may or not may not be a news story. Perhaps, the line is when you can show that his doing so is somehow interfering with his official duties. By arguing that the media needs to do a better job reporting news, and complaining about particular types of reporting,the authors in essence conclude that some matters are not "newsworthy". The authors opinion on this maybe no better or worse than our own.

What I found most discouraging about the book is that the solutions are going to be very difficult. Things have reached the point they have because of demands for profitability by huge multi-national corporations. Its a very involved process and will be difficult to rectify.

In the end, the authors simply make the point that if the American public wants good journalism it has the power to demand it, by refusing to watch or read poor journalism. That action will send the greatest message of all to those who are in charge.

If you read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch T.V. news, you MUST read this book. Kaiser and Downie, veterans journalists from the Washington Post, explain why our newspapers are the key to a vibrant, free press, and are the springboard for all other (read: electronic) types of journalism.

More importantly, the authors enlighten the readers to the deleterious effects of corporate ownership on newspapers. In an effort to maintain historically high profit margins - and therefore, stockholder equity - corporate influence causes newspapers large and small to trim news space, cut staff, and conform to cookie cutter reporting strategies. This book is a real eye-opener, and more than a little scary.

Downie and Kaiser's book is an excellently written and entertaining look at how the print and electronic news media operate today. The trouble is that the thesis is old news, even if the examples with which the authors illustrate it aren't. The general message the authors want to get across is, alas, all too well known: too few mega-bucked families own too many newspapers and TV stations, marketing is increasingly the tail that wags the news and editorial dog, politicians manipulatively lie to reporters whom they've cultivated, advertizers buy "info-mercials" that the media masquerade as documentaries. This is stuff that's common lore. Where Downie and Kaiser shine is in illustrating these points with behind-the-scenes anecdotes pulled from their joint years at the "Washington Post." Especially interesting is their discussion of the "Post's" greatest investigative reporting victory, the series on cops who killed civilians in Washington DC., and the "Post's" dropping of the ball on Irangate. There's a certain degree of self-congratulation in the book--the two authors clearly think that the "Washington Post" is unrivaled in the editorial integrity department--but it's difficult to deny that a good case can be made for the kudos they give their paper. A bit more reflection on how media became the mess it is today, as well as how to fix it, would've strengthened the book. Still, one does get the gratifying sense that Downie and Kaiser are two old-school journalists who can be trusted. Unhappily, one also gets the sense that they're members of a dying breed.

This book made me mad. It showed how truely twisted and money driven most of the newspaper and television companies are. It also made me mad because I can never watch network news on television again. I used to enjoy the 10:00 news. Stories of crime, killer bees, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were facinating, and I thought, valid uses of news time. Turns out these kinds of stories are meant to attract viewers, not inform them.

This book had to be written. As a young person, the only news my peers seem to be interested in is who is dating who in Hollywood. I understand that this information might be interesting, but it is not news! What I love about this book is that it is written by two people who know what they are talking about. The authors are both journalists for the Washington Post (one of the few newspapers that still has a high standard of news). They have both years of experience and numerous facts to back up their ideas.

More people should read this book to realize what to expect, and hopefully demand, from news.

Another book about how the quality of news is going down the tubes. Well-written and well researched, it blames the dumbing-down of news product on an ever-more-competitive scramble for high profits in the face of fragmenting readership.
Like other such books, it raises important questions that remain unanswered: Are people less interested in news because news is getting dumber... or is the news getting dumber because people have become less interested in news? Why don't news providers lose audience for dumbing down... and gain audience from raising the bar? Will we be empowered by new media and news-on-demand to demand (and get) good journalism, and avoid (and punish) bad journalism? Or will corporate consolidation continue to undermine standards for news in a race to the lowest common denominator? The authors detail the well-known condition of today's media. But what now?

I pretty much assumed this book would do what many media-oriented books do: focus excessively on one side of the story. "The News About the News" doesn't do that, however. It gives an expert, reasonable assessment of the problems of today's media, including the negative effects of corporate ownership of news organizations and how such ownership weakens coverage.

There's plenty of optimism, however. I was surprised to learn how profitable news CAN be while remaining informative and balanced. The authors also assess how technology has weakened news coverage but how it also holds the potential to make covering world events easier and better.

The book also gives an engaging look at how a newspaper reporter identifies, researches, and puts together a story in a way that reads like a novel.

Overall, it's informative, smoothly written, and thought-provoking.

Downie and Kaiser are veteran newspapermen with a very experienced perspective on the business of news, and they prove in this book that the current situation isn't so good. Journalism is in a sorry state due to modern trends of money grubbing and media fragmentation. Increasing absentee corporate ownership of newspapers and TV networks has led to an obsession with short-term profitability, with reporters and editors being forced to focus on lowest-common-denominator topics like entertainment and consumer news. This might help profit margins now, but damage journalistic quality so badly that the health of the news business is in a downward spiral. Another problem is inaccurate market research by consultants who know little about the business, leading to the unproven perception that the public wants less substance and more convenience. The real evidence proves otherwise, and media outlets think that giving people what they want is more useful than giving them what they need. The authors also prove the near uselessness of most local TV newscasts, which have become enslaved by pressure from advertisers, and are prone to "action" news that is photogenic but informationally useless.

The authors tend to heap an annoying amount of praise on their employer, the Washington Post, although that paper deserves its reputation as one of the nation's best. They also fail to look into non-establishment and alternative media outlets (sticking mostly to newspaper, TV, and a little bit of cyberspace), while the later chapters of the book become a repetitive summary of points that were proven long before. However, the insights into the poor health of the news business are very illuminating and even a little scary, because the most successful democratic society should be a well-informed one. But the recent decline in journalistic integrity is not necessarily a permanent trend and it can even be reversed. The best evidence is in the aftermath of 9/11, as the hunger for real in-depth knowledge awakened in the American public, and the news business finally realized that the public was smarter than they assumed all along. Time will tell if the downward trend in quality will reverse itself over the long term, but for the meantime Downie and Kaiser have created an expose that should lead to much self-examination in their field.

Two veteran reporters of the Washington Post have pooled their talents to produce "The News about the News". Leonard Downie, Jr. and Robert Kaiser provide a detailed analysis of the problems with news today and how it got into the current condition. They take the position that the news used to be about good journalism but today the emphasis is on making a profit. How does one make a profit in the media business? Well the surest way is to make it entertaining. Could this be why there is a minimum of international reporting in the news today and an expansive reporting of the social life of celebrities? Downie and Kaiser argue persuasively that it is. When the focus is on increasing shareholder value then the method is to increase subscriptions or viewer share. The way to do this is to provide information that the purchasers or viewers want to see.

The whole situation reminds me of a conversation with a history book publisher when he was asked about the fact that the history book for middle school students had so many errors he stated that they are in the business to sell books and not to supply correct history texts. School Boards generally have parents that help select the textbooks for the system to use and so they print history the way the parents want it portrayed. It does not matter if it is correct, what matters is that it is accepted by as many schools as possible. This seems to be somewhat the same attitude of today's news media. While what they state may or may not be correct, it is often highly biased and hard news is often left out in favor of news of minimal value. Apparently the current direction of news is to entertain more than it is to inform.

Downie and Kaiser make a point that unbiased, hard reporting will also sell papers and increase viewers. There are people who want a complete picture of the news and they will tune in to a news broadcast that is less entertainment and more informational. They note that fewer and fewer people are tuning into the news as the broadcasters scramble to try to increase their market share of a declining pool. What they don't note is the effect that things like cable television have had. I know many, many people who have come to tune into the BBC News Channels so that they can get a decent news broadcast and actually know what is going on in the world. Perhaps the pool of people who are watching the news is increasing, but the group of people who watch it for entertainment purposes is decreasing.

"The News about the News" is a recommended read for anyone interested in what goes on behind the scenes at the news or a brief survey of how news has changed over the last twenty years. Well written in a style that is easy to read it is sure to dismay those still naive enough to think that the news is reported in an unbiased and complete manner. But the authors hold out hope that as the media realizes that it can also make money with hard-hitting and informational news it may start the pendulum swing back to good journalism. We can all certainly hope so.

As an aspiring journalist, I'd have to say that this was an eye-opening look into how the news media is run today. Downie and Kaiser present a well-researched argument of their opinion that the "news values" of journalism have changed drastically within the past couple of decades. They talk in depth about newspapers and television news, and discuss the future impact of Internet news sites. This book is filled with facts and statistics from reliable sources (I know - I checked some of them out!) and uses anecdotes to give a more intimate perspective of the business. Their biggest point seems to be (to me) that the profit motive is driving the quality of journalism downhill as the owners of news businesses strive to keep costs down while keeping readership levels and/or ratings up; this inevitibly has led to the rise of sensationalist news stories (like crime and natural disasters) and increasing quantities of celebrity news. If you watch the nightly news today, you will probably get 6-9 stories (no more than a dozen for sure) repeated over and over again, mixed in with traffic, weather, and sports. The newspapers tend to over-emphasize crimes, especially murders, and other dramatic happenings. The fact of the matter is, none of these news stories are actually important in the long run, but since they draw in an audience, the news media will continue covering them. The saddest part is, America doesn't seem to be fighting against this proliferation of inconsequential news; we just accept it and stay tuned for more.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who monitors the news and to anyone interested in pursuing a career in the business of journalism. It gives a completely different (if slightly biased) perspective of journalism from the inside out. It's a relatively quick read, but one that you might want to go back over a few times to make sure you can truly understand the point that Downie and Kaiser are trying to get at.

This is a great book, and is "must" reading for anyone involved in the news business, print or television. It would be impossible to read this book and think that print is always the best or that television is always the worst in the reporting of important news, but the message clearly is that thorough, accurate, honest news reporting is essential for our society.
Budget cuts by both sides have harmed news reporting, yet in every case cited, these objective writers use facts to help the reader make his or her own judgments about "good" or "bad." Anyone who is offended by this book is offended by the facts.
What is clear after reading this book is that the news is too important to be left entirely to the control of comptrollers.