That's the Way It Is


Book Description

Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."




News That Matters


Book Description

Almost twenty-five years ago, Shanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder first documented a series of sophisticated and innovative experiments that unobtrusively altered the order and emphasis of news stories in selected television broadcasts. Their resulting book News That Matters, now hailed as a classic by scholars of political science and public opinion alike, is here updated for the twenty-first century, with a new preface and epilogue by the authors. Backed by careful analysis of public opinion surveys, the authors show how, despite changing American politics, those issues that receive extended coverage in the national news become more important to viewers, while those that are ignored lose credibility. Moreover, those issues that are prominent in the news stream continue to loom more heavily as criteria for evaluating the president and for choosing between political candidates. “News That Matters does matter, because it demonstrates conclusively that television newscasts powerfully affect opinion. . . . All that follows, whether it supports, modifies, or challenges their conclusions, will have to begin here.”—The Public Interest




The Origins of Television News in America


Book Description

This is the first in-depth look at the development of the television newscast, the most popular source of news for over forty-five years.During the 1940s, most journalists ignored or dismissed television, leaving the challenge to a small group of people working above New York City's Grand Central Terminal. Without the pressures of ratings, sponsors, company oversight, or many viewers, the group refused to recreate newspapers, radio, or newsreels on the new medium. They experimented, argued, tested, and eventually settled on a format to exploit television's strengths. This book documents that process, challenging common myths - including the importance of a popular anchor, and television's inability to communicate non-visual stories - and crediting those whose work was critical in the formation of television as a news format, and illustrating the pressures and professional roadblocks facing those who dare question journalistic traditions of any era. -- Publisher.




Television News


Book Description




Writing and Producing Television News


Book Description

Drawing on the insights and experiences of reporters, anchors, producers, assignment editors, web journalists, graphic artists, and newsroom executives from across the country, Writing and Producing Television News: From Newsroom to Air is not merely a production manual, but rather a guide to newsroom writing and producing. The book immerses students in the everyday challenges that face journalists in professional television newsrooms, largely through the device of a fictional town called Lakedale, where many of the examples and exercises are set. From the very beginning of the book students are thrust into the roles of decision makers, learning about the many factors that will enable them to function as producers and reporters. Functioning as both a text- and a workbook, it integrates dozens of original examples, exercises, and assignments covering a broad spectrum of material, from breaking news to features. The book also introduces a wide range of story formats, from simple anchor readers and voiceovers to such complex structures as sound-bite stories and news packages. In addition to scriptwriting, the exercises and assignments cover such ancillary areas as graphics, headlines, teases, newscast organization, live reporting, web-based journalism, and anchoring, as well as news judgments and ethical decision making. Writing and Producing Television News is an ideal text for undergraduate courses in broadcast journalism.




How to Watch TV News


Book Description

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.




Broadcast Journalism


Book Description

This newest edition of Broadcast Journalism continues its long tradition of covering the basics of broadcasting from gathering news sources, interviewing, putting together a programme, news writing, reporting, editing, working in the studio, conducting live reports, and more. Two new authors have joined forces in this new edition to present behind the scenes perspectives on multimedia broadcast news, where it is heading, and how you get there. Technology is meshing global and local news. Constant interactivity between on-the-scene reporting and nearly instantaneous broadcasting to the world has changed the very nature of how broadcast journalists must think, act, write and report on a 24/7 basis. This new edition takes up this digital workflow and convergence. Students of broadcast journalism and professors alike will find that the sixth edition of Broadcast Journalism is completely up-to-date. Includes new photos, quotations, and coverage of convergent journalism, podcasting, multimedia journalism, citizen journalism, and more!




Tabloid Television


Book Description

Fires, floods, celebrity lifestyles, heroic acts of humble people, and cute acts by family pets. Sensational news seems to take up an increasingly large part of contemporary broadcast journalism, but it is regularly dismissed as having no place on our screens. In Tabloid Television, John Langer argues that television's "other news" must be recognized as equally important as "hard news" in the building of a comprehensive study of broadcast journalism. Using narrative analysis, theories of ideology, concepts from genre studies and detailed textual readings, "other news" is explored as a cultural discourse connected with story- telling, gossip, social memory, the horror film, national identity and the cult of fame. An eclectic and intriguing look at one of the most maligned areas of television news, Tabloid Television offers some interesting speculation about where the news might be heading.




U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960


Book Description

How US government and media collaborated in their dissemination of Cold War propaganda.




How to Write Television News


Book Description

Teaches the basic principles of solid television news writing. [It] also emphasizes the importance of integrity, ethics, and balanced reporting, and explains why these virtues make for good writing as well as good journalism. -Back cover.