News: The Politics of Illusion

By W. Lance Bennett

Book Overview

For over thirty years, News: The Politics of Illusion has not simply reflected the political communication field--it has played a major role in shaping it. Today, the familiar news organizations of the legacy press are operating in a fragmenting and expanding mediaverse that resembles a big bang of proliferating online competitors that are challenging the very definition of news itself. Audience-powered sites such as the Huffington Post and Vox blend conventional political reporting with opinion blogs, celebrity gossip, and other ephemera aimed at getting clicks and shares. At the same time, the rise of serious investigative organizations such as ProPublica presents yet a different challenge to legacy journalism. Lance Bennett's thoroughly revised tenth edition offers the most up-to-date guide to understanding how and why the media and news landscapes are being transformed. It explains the mix of old and new, and points to possible outcomes. Where areas of change are clearly established, key concepts from earlier editions have been revised. There are new case studies, updates on old favorites, and insightful analyses of how the new media system and novel kinds of information and engagement are affecting our politics. As always, News presents fresh evidence and arguments that invite new ways of thinking about the political information system and its place in democracy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 022634486X
• ISBN13: 9780226344867
• Release Date: September 2016
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Not for the queasy-stomached, but necessary reading!

In this book, W. Lance Bennett analyzes why "news" is reported the way it is, what the influences were and are, and how we came to have our current version as published by the American press. I found this book in a used book store while doing research for some writing. It scared the heck out of me. Mr. Bennett's analysis is thorough, very well documented, and specifically identifies the way that "news reporting" became an industry not for news at all, but for marketing. It identifies the significant impacts of image and television, and how they have come to define how "news" is presented. To understand why I have put "news" in parentheses every time, you must read this book. To understand how important it is that you read this book, you must read it. This book is one of the reasons that I quit watching television over five years ago. I have a brain, I can use it, and I don't need the marketing demographics to define the version of the "news" I receive. Mr. Bennett: Thank you. Very much.