Book Description

Explores how journalists think and talk about changes in the news environment, with a focus on the increase in opinion and commentary. From News to Talk examines what journalists think about the movement toward often opinionated, sometimes uncivil, talk in news. It provides an important intervention in debates about the future of news by investigating what journalists themselves perceive as the forces affecting this movement, the effects of this shift on audiences and political culture, and how the movement from news to talk affects their roles and authority in society. Drawing on more than thirty interviews with journalists and other industry professionals and a decade of published journalistic materials, Kimberly Meltzer uncovers the technological, economic, cultural, and political forces affecting the movement toward opinion and commentary—or talk—in television, online, print, and radio news. From CNN’s Brian Stelter, to Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, and many other journalists from CBS, USA Today, POLITICO, and HuffPost, the interviewees are key figures in journalism. Her analysis centers around several key case studies, including the increase in opinionated talking heads on television and the ushering in of a new era of talk and entertainment programs, the strategy by CNN to broaden its definition of news by adding non-news programs, and the bevy of star journalists starting their own self-branded sites. “This is an important work of journalistic scholarship that will influence future generations of journalists and teachers of journalism. It is grounded in historical and theoretical contexts while providing a novel approach to understanding an important issue through a practical lens—through the eyes of journalists.” — Lea Hellmueller, author of The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century: The Source-Correspondent Relationship