Reading the News

We take our news for granted: that it will inform us about the significant people and cite the authoritative ones, reflect the world the way it is, and tell us why something happens as it does.Now, six working journalists, press critics, and scholars at the leading edge of media criticism have been specially commissioned to make the familiar act of reading the news into a fresh and revealing event. Taking the famous "five W's and an H" (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How), the authors turn these questions back on journalism for the first time to show us exactly what to make of the press.Leon V. SigalWho? Sources Make the NewsCarlin RomanoWhat? Grisly Truth about Bare FactsMichael SchudsonWhen? Deadlines, Datelines, and HistoryWhere? Cartography, Community, and the Cold WarJames W. CareyWhy And How? The Dark Continent of American JournalismRobert Karl ManoffWriting the News (By Telling the "Story")For everyone who reads the newspaper, for the journalist, and for the media critic alike, these essays offer fresh, provocative insights into a centerpiece of American culture, the news.