Governing With The News

by Cook, Timothy E.

• ISBN13: 9780226115016
• ISBN10: 0226115011
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

The ideal of a neutral, objective press has proven in recent years to be just that--an ideal. In "Governing with the News, Timothy E. Cook goes far beyond the single claim that the press is not impartial to argue that the news media are in fact a political institution integral to the day-to-day operations of our government. This updated edition includes a new afterword by the author, which pays close attention to two key developments in the twenty-first century: the accelerating fragmentation of the mass media and the continuing decline of Americans' confidence in the press. "Provocative and often wise. . . . Cook, who has a complex understanding of the relationship between governing and the news, provides a fascinating account of the origins of this complicity."--James Bennet," Washington Monthly "["Governing with the News] addresses central issues of media impact and power in fresh, illuminating ways. . . . Cook mines a wealth of historical and organizational literature to assert that the news media are a distinct politicalinstitution in our democratic system."--Robert Schmuhl," Commonweal

Author Biography

Timothy Cook is professor of mass communication and political science and holds the Kevin P. Reilly, Sr., Chair of Political Communication at the Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University. He is coauthor of the award-winning Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Why Don't We Call Journalists Political Actors?	1	(16)
Part One The Political Development of the American News Media	17	(44)
The Decline of the Sponsored Press: American Newspapers in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries	20	(18)
The Subsidized News Media	38	(23)
Part Two The Media as a Political Institution	61	(56)
The Institutional News Media	63	(22)
The Political News Media	85	(32)
Part Three Government by Publicity	117	(76)
The Uses of News: Theory and (Presidential) Practice	120	(21)
Beyond the White House	141	(23)
Conclusion: The First Amendment and the Fourth Branch---Toward Redesigning a News Media Policy	164	(29)
Afterword	193	(18)
Notes	211	(80)
Index	291