How to Watch TV News

by Postman, Neil (Author); Powers, Steve (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143113775
• ISBN10: 0143113771
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-24
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

A scathing and prescient look at television news—now updated for the new tech-savvy generation Television news : genuine information or entertainment fodder? Fifteen years ago, Neil Postman, a pioneer in media education and author of the bestselling Amusing Ourselves to Death, and Steve Powers, an award-winning broadcast journalist, concluded that anyone who relies exclusively on their television for accurate world news is making a big mistake. A cash cow laden with money from advertisers, so-called news shows glut viewers with celebrity coverage at the cost of things they really should know. Today, this message is still appallingly true but the problems have multiplied— along with the power of the Internet and the abundance of cable channels. A must-read for anyone concerned with the way media is manipulating our worldview, this newly revised edition addresses the evolving technology and devolving quality of America’s television news programming.

Author Biography

Neil Postman was chairman of the department of communication arts at New York University. He passed away in 2003. Steve Powers is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with more than forty-five years experience in broadcast news.

Table of Contents

Are You Watching Television, or Is Television Watching You?	p. 1
What Is News?	p. 11
Getting Them into the Electronic Tent	p. 28
Donuts, Big Foot, Mules, and the Bird	p. 43
Behind the Scenes: Nuts and Bolts	p. 61
The News Director	p. 75
Reenactments and Docudramas, or No News Is Still News	p. 90
The Bias of Language, the Bias of Pictures	p. 101
The Commercial	p. 115
Television in the Courtroom	p. 127
What Does It All Mean?	p. 141
What Can You Do?	p. 154
Where Do We Go from Here?	p. 162
Index	p. 171
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.