A Newscast for the Masses

A Newscast for the Masses PDF

Author: Tim Kiska

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780814333020

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As the chief source of information for many people and a key revenue stream for the country's broadcast conglomerates, local television news has grown from a curiosity into a powerful journalistic and cultural force. In A Newscast for the Masses, Tim Kiska examines the evolution of television news in Detroit, from its beginnings in the late 1940s, when television was considered a "wild young medium," to the early 1980s, when cable television permanently altered the broadcast landscape. Kiska shows how the local news, which was initially considered a poor substitute for respectable print journalism, became the cornerstone of television programming and the public's preferred news source. Kiska begins his study in 1947 with the first Detroit television broadcast, made by WWJ-TV. Owned by the Evening News Association, the same company that owned the Detroit News, WWJ developed a credible broadcast news operation as a cross-promotional vehicle for the newspaper. Yet by the late 1960s WWJ was unseated by newcomers WXYZ-TV and WJBK-TV, whose superior coverage of the 1967 Detroit riots lured viewers away from WWJ. WXYZ-TV would eventually become the most powerful news outlet in Detroit with the help of its cash-rich parent company, the American Broadcasting Corporation, and its use of sophisticated survey research and advertising techniques to grow its news audience. Though critics tend to deride the sensationalism and showmanship of local television news, Kiska demonstrates that over the last several decades newscasts have effectively tailored their content to the demands of the viewing public and, as a result, have become the most trusted source of information for the average American and the most lucrative source of profit for television networks. A Newscast for the Masses is based on extensive interviews with journalists who participated in the development of television in Detroit and careful research into the files of the McHugh & Hoffman consulting firm, which used social science techniques to discern the television viewing preferences of metro Detroiters. Anyone interested in television history or journalism will appreciate this detailed and informative study.

Navigating the News

Navigating the News PDF

Author: Richard Craig

Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9781433151286

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In an age when young people may confuse online chatter with legitimate news, Navigating the News is the first textbook designed to show students how to recognize credible reporting and how real journalists perform their jobs. The book begins with the basics of how to critically assess news stories, then covers what to look for in everything from community news and crime reporting to business, political and investigative coverage. More than 50 professional journalists share insights on how they gather, edit and report news, and discuss what critical audiences should expect from their news coverage. Students learn how to analyze complex topics including science, environmental and education news, and a series of chapters covers how to approach news from different parts of the world. Navigating the News is aimed at general audiences, not just journalism or communication majors. Given the importance and timeliness of the subject, this book could easily be the core text for general education classes on news and media literacy. The trend toward teaching young people how to understand and assess news is gaining momentum at universities everywhere. The book is written in a clear, straightforward style to engage students who may be getting their first taste of adult issues and concerns. Even students who have avoided "serious" news growing up will gain tools for understanding, assessing and processing coverage of complex stories. The mission of this text is simple: If students don't recognize what real news is, Navigating the News is going to teach them.

News from Mars

News from Mars PDF

Author: Joshua Nall

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2019-09-17

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0822986612

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Mass media in the late nineteenth century was full of news from Mars. In the wake of Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1877 discovery of enigmatic dark, straight lines on the red planet, astronomers and the public at large vigorously debated the possibility that it might be inhabited. As rivalling scientific practitioners looked to marshal allies and sway public opinion—through newspapers, periodicals, popular books, exhibitions, and encyclopaedias—they exposed disagreements over how the discipline of astronomy should be organized and how it should establish acceptable conventions of discourse. News from Mars provides a new account of this extraordinary episode in the history of astronomy, revealing how major transformations in astronomical practice across Britain and America were inextricably tied up with popular scientific culture and a transatlantic news economy that enabled knowledge to travel. As Joshua Nall argues, astronomers were journalists, too, eliding practice with communication in consequential ways. As writers and editors, they played a pivotal role in the emergence of a “new astronomy” dedicated to the study of the physical constitution and life history of celestial objects, blurring harsh distinctions between those who produced esoteric knowledge and those who disseminated it.

Fake News

Fake News PDF

Author: Russell Chun

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781433159527

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In this dizzying post-truth, post-fact, fake news era, the onslaught and speed of potentially untrue, incorrect, or fabricated information (some crafted and weaponized, some carelessly shared) can cause a loss of our intellectual bearings. If we fail to have a common truthful basis for discussions of opinion and policy, the integrity of our democracy is at risk. This up-to-date anthology is designed to provide a survey of technological, ethical, and legal issues raised by falsehoods, particularly social media misinformation. The volume explores visual and data dissemination, business practices, international perspectives, and case studies. With misinformation and misleading information being propagated using a variety of media such as memes, data, charts, photos, tweets, posts, and articles, an understanding of the theory, mechanisms, and changing communication landscape is essential to move in the right direction with academic, industry, and government initiatives to inoculate ourselves from the dangers of fake news. The book takes an international and multidisciplinary approach with contributions from media studies, journalism, computer science, the law, and communication, making it distinct among books on fake news. This book is essential for graduate or undergraduate students in courses dealing with fake news and communication studies. Relevant courses include media studies, journalism, public relations, media ethics, media law, social media, First Amendment law, philosophy, and political science.

Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism

Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism PDF

Author: Sharon Machlis

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-12-21

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 0429681755

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Do you want to use R to tell stories? This book was written for you—whether you already know some R or have never coded before. Most R texts focus only on programming or statistical theory. Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism gives you ideas, tools, and techniques for incorporating data and visualizations into your narratives. You’ll see step by step how to: Analyze airport flight delays, restaurant inspections, and election results Map bank locations, median incomes, and new voting districts Compare campaign contributions to final election results Extract data from PDFs Whip messy data into shape for analysis Scrape data from a website Create graphics ranging from simple, static charts to interactive visualizations for the Web If you work or plan to work in a newsroom, government office, non-profit policy organization, or PR office, Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism will help you use R in your world. This book has a companion website with code, links to additional resources, and searchable tables by function and task. Sharon Machlis is the author of Computerworld’s Beginner’s Guide to R, host of InfoWorld’s Do More With R video screencast series, admin for the R for Journalists Google Group, and is well known among Twitter users who follow the #rstats hashtag. She is Director of Editorial Data and Analytics at IDG Communications (parent company of Computerworld, InfoWorld, PC World and Macworld, among others) and a frequent speaker at data journalism and R conferences.

Mass Media, Mass Propaganda

Mass Media, Mass Propaganda PDF

Author: Anthony R. Dimaggio

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9780739119020

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This work examines how the mainstream American media reacts to pro-war and anti-war themes throughout the 'War on Terror' in regards to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Using a political economy approach, the author addresses the ways in which corporations that own media reinforce official doctrines and propaganda by contrasting the content of American media to that of other global media.

It's Not News, It's Fark

It's Not News, It's Fark PDF

Author: Drew Curtis

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9781592402915

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Fark.com has taken the Internet by storm by featuring real, funny news. In his first book, founder Curtis exposes the stranger-than-fiction media patterns that prove just how little reporting is going on in the media world today. His 12 entertaining but undeniable patterns include fear-mongering in the absence of facts, the bogus press release and media-fatigue. His book is a witty wake-up call, exposing the news that was never fit for print in the first place. Curtis' website has 40 million page views a month and is a top 100 English language website.

Reaction to World News Events and the Influence of Mass Media in an Indian Village

Reaction to World News Events and the Influence of Mass Media in an Indian Village PDF

Author: Thomas Poffenberger

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2020-08-06

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13: 0472902253

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Our major research interest in the village under study was originally in the area of socialization practices, social change and variables related to fertility behavior. We had not planned a study of the diffusion of news events and villagers’ reactions to them. However, the Indian Government was considering the use of media for a major mass communication program, to propagate the idea of having small families through the use of family planning methods, and we believed it would be of value to examine any data that might be helpful in getting at least some feeling about what villagers read in the papers and what they heard on the radio, as well as their understanding of the information and their attitudes toward it. We subsequently asked questions about the use of mass media. [1]

Making the News

Making the News PDF

Author: Amber E. Boydstun

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-08-26

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 022606560X

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Media attention can play a profound role in whether or not officials act on a policy issue, but how policy issues make the news in the first place has remained a puzzle. Why do some issues go viral and then just as quickly fall off the radar? How is it that the media can sustain public interest for months in a complex story like negotiations over Obamacare while ignoring other important issues in favor of stories on “balloon boy?” With Making the News, Amber Boydstun offers an eye-opening look at the explosive patterns of media attention that determine which issues are brought before the public. At the heart of her argument is the observation that the media have two modes: an “alarm mode” for breaking stories and a “patrol mode” for covering them in greater depth. While institutional incentives often initiate alarm mode around a story, they also propel news outlets into the watchdog-like patrol mode around its policy implications until the next big news item breaks. What results from this pattern of fixation followed by rapid change is skewed coverage of policy issues, with a few receiving the majority of media attention while others receive none at all. Boydstun documents this systemic explosiveness and skew through analysis of media coverage across policy issues, including in-depth looks at the waxing and waning of coverage around two issues: capital punishment and the “war on terror.” Making the News shows how the seemingly unpredictable day-to-day decisions of the newsroom produce distinct patterns of operation with implications—good and bad—for national politics.