Journalism

Introduction: Hidden in Plain Sight: Journalism’s Critical Issues

PART 1: Journalism’s Histories

Intimately Intertwined in the Most Public Way: Celebrity and Journalism

Race, Ideology and Journalism: Black Power and Television News

The ‘Gender Matters’ Debate in Journalism: Lessons from the Front

Journalism Ethics: Towards an Orwellian Critique?

News on the Web: The Emerging Forms and Practices of Online Journalism

PART II: Journalism and Democracy

Is There a Democratic Deficit in US and UK Journalism?

Active Citizen or Coach Potato? Journalism and Public Opinion

In Defense of ‘Thick’ Journalism: Or How Television Journalism Can Be Good For Us

Fourth Estate or Fan Club? Sports Journalism Engages the Popular

McJournalism: The Local Press and the McDonaldization Thesis

The Emerging Chaos of Global News Culture

PART III: Journalism’s Realities Journalism Through the Camera’s Eye

Mighty Dread: Journalism and Moral Panics

Communication or Spin? Source - Media Relations in Science Journalism

Risk Reporting: Why Can’t They Ever Get it Right?

News Talk: Interaction in the Broadcast News Interview

‘A Fresh Peach is Easier to Bruise’: Children and Traumatic News

PART IV: Journalism and the Politics of Othering

Talking War: How Journalism Responded to the Events of 9/11

Banal Journalism: The Centrality of the ‘Us-Them’ Binary in News Discourse

Racialised ‘Othering’: The Representation of Asylum Seekers in the News Media

Women in the Boyzone: Gender, News and Herstory

Gendered News Practices: Examining Experiences of Women Journalists in Different National Contexts

PART V: Journalism and the Public Interest

Subterfuge as Public Service: Investigative Journalism as Idealized Journalism

Opportunity or Threat? The BBC, Investigative Journalism and the Hutton Report

Journalism, Media Conglomerates and the Federal Communications Commission

News in the Global Public Space

Journalism and the War in Iraq

"...this book can be recommended to journalism students as a useful entry point into many of the debates surrounding 21st century journalism, and as a way of encouraging thought about what, indeed, a journalist may be."
Tony Harcup, University of Sheffield

• What are the key issues confronting journalism today, and why?
• What are the important debates regarding the forms and practices of reporting?
• How can the quality of news be improved?

Journalism: Critical Issues explores essential themes in news and journalism studies. It bringstogether an exciting selection of original essays which engage with the most significant topics,debates and controversies in this fast-growing field.Using a wide range of case studies, topics include:

• Journalism’s role in a democracy
• Source dynamics in news production
• Journalism ethics
• Sexism and racism in the news
• Tabloidization, scandals and celebrity
• Reporting conflict, terrorism and war
• The future of investigative journalism

The book is written in a lively manner designed to invite discussion by identifying key questionsaround a critical issue. Each chapter assesses where journalism is today, its strengths and itschallenges, and highlights ways to improve upon it for tomorrow.

Journalism: Critical Issues is essential reading for students and researchers in the fields ofnews and journalism, media studies, cultural studies, sociology and communication studies.

Contributors: Stuart Allan, Alison Anderson, Olga Guedes Bailey, Steven Barnett,Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Michael Bromley, Cynthia Carter, Simon Cottle, Chas Critcher,Matthew David, Máire Messenger Davies, Bob Franklin, Robert A. Hackett, RamaswamiHarindranath, Ian Hutchby, Richard Keeble, Justin Lewis, Minelle Mahtani, P. David Marshall,Brian McNair, Martin Montgomery, Alan Petersen, Susanna Hornig Priest, Jane Rhodes,Karen Ross, David Rowe, Prasun Sonwalkar, Linda Steiner, Howard Tumber, Ingrid Volkmer,Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Barbie Zelizer.