A collection of the author's essays and research articles previously published between 1982 and the present; the extensive introductory chapter is published here for the first time.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-256) and index.
Introduction, News as public knowledge -- Three hundred years of the American newspaper -- The politics of narrative form -- Question authority : a history of the news interview -- What is a reporter? -- Trout or hamburger : politics and telemythology -- The illusion of Ronald Reagan's popularity with Elliot King -- Watergate and the press -- National news culture and the informational citizen -- Was there ever a public sphere? -- The news media and the democratic process.
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Some say it's simply information, mirroring the world. Others believe it's propaganda, promoting a partisan view. But news, Michael Schudson tells us, is really both and neither; it is a form of culture, complete with its own literary and social conventions and powerful in ways far more subtle and complex than its many critics might suspect. A penetrating look into this culture, The Power of News offers a compelling view of the news media's emergence as a central institution of modern society, a key repository of common knowledge and cultural authority.