Showing results for "Writing the Social" in Media Studies

Papyrus rolls and Twitter have much in common, as each was their generation's signature means of "instant" communication. Indeed, as Tom Standage reveals in his scintillating new audiobook, social media is anything but a new phenomenon. From the papyrus letters that Roman statesmen used to exchange news across the Empire to the advent of hand-printed tracts of the Reformation to the pamphlets that spread propaganda during the American and French revolutions, Standage chronicles the increasingly sophisticated ways people shared information with each other....

When the world's biggest and most moving events took place - World War II, the Moon landing, the death of Princess Diana, and many more - Time magazine was there to tell the story with passion and clarity. This book features pieces by Barbara Ehrenreich, Henry Anatole Grunwald, Maureen Dowd, Walter Isaacson, Bono and many other famous writers, and will provide listeners with a uniquely entertaining view of 85 years of Time's history.

Was the 2000 presidential campaign merely a contest between Pinocchio and Dumbo? And did Dumbo miraculously turn into Abraham Lincoln after the events of September 11? In fact, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Paul Waldman argue in The Press Effect, these stereotypes, while containing some elements of the truth, represent the failure of the press and the citizenry to engage the most important part of our political process in a critical fashion.

Media and law enforcement work at cross-purposes. Law enforcement wants to solve a case as fast as possible and put the guilty behind bars. The media wants a case to drag on as long as humanly possible and do all they can to extricate every last bit of drama—drop by bloody drop—in order to hold the attention of the millions of viewers who have gotten hooked. Law enforcement must abide by rules. The media make their own rules, or break them, or find loopholes to work around them.

This year has seen unprecedented scrutiny of Rupert Murdoch’s empire in Britain. But what about in Australia, where he owns 70 per cent of the press? In Bad News, Robert Manne investigates Murdoch’s lead political voice here, the Australian newspaper, and how it shapes debate. Since 2002, under the editorship of Chris Mitchell, the Australian has come to see itself as judge, jury and would-be executioner of leaders and policies. Is this a dangerous case of power without responsibility?

The public appetite for intimate details about celebrities continues to grow— online, on television, and at the check-out counter of every grocery store. To feed the public' s insatiable desire for juicy gossip, Lysa Moskowitz-Mateu and David LaFontaine traveled the continent in search of headline stories for the Star, National Enquirer, and Globe. Invading the privacy of others became their way of life. By their own account, tabloid reporters are the "vermin media" whose outrageous quests for the inside scoop know no bounds.

Whatever happened to journalism? When did American news media go from the respected, trusted purveyor of truth to anything but? How did we go from the “Glory Days of Television News” to today’s growing distrust and derision of “the media?” Is the Internet our only journalistic hope? Can we remake the media into a meaningful part of the check-and-balances system fundamental to the democratic principles on which this country was founded?