Home
Democracy and the News
Barnes and Noble
Democracy and the News
Current price: $27.99
![Democracy and the News](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780195173277_p0_v1_s600x595.jpg)
![Democracy and the News](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780195173277_p0_v1_s600x595.jpg)
Barnes and Noble
Democracy and the News
Current price: $27.99
Size: OS
Loading Inventory...
*Product information may vary - to confirm product availability, pricing, shipping and return information please contact Barnes and Noble
American democracy was founded on the belief that ultimate power rests in an informed citizenry. But that belief appears naive in an era when private corporations manipulate public policy and the individual citizen is dwarfed by agencies, special interest groups, and other organizations that have a firm grasp on real political and economic power.
In
, one of America's most astute social critics explores the crucial link between a weakened news media and weakened democracy. Building on his 1979 classic media critique
, Herbert Gans shows how, with the advent of cable news networks, the internet, and a proliferation of other sources, the role of contemporary journalists has shrunk, as the audience for news moves away from major print and electronic media to smaller and smaller outlets. Gans argues that journalism also suffers from assembly-line modes of production, with the major product being publicity for the president and other top political officials, the very people citizens most distrust. In such an environment, investigative journalismwhich could offer citizens the information they need to make intelligent critical choices on a range of difficult issuescannot flourish. But Gans offers incisive suggestions about what the news media can do to recapture its role in American society and what political and economic changes might move us closer to a true citizen's democracy.
Touching on questions of critical national importance,
sheds new light on the vital importance of a healthy news media for a healthy democracy.