The News then and now Reading Highlights Chapter

The News, then and now

Reading Highlights - Chapter 11 (or 10) • Milestones and significance; implications. – How have past media practices shaped today’s news? – Biltmore Agreement (why; effectiveness; relate it to current controversies) • Terms: pseudo-event; commentary; news values. • Significance of CNN and Fox news. • Bias and news as entertainment. • Citizen journalism

New developments, old reactions • New technologies often arouse suspicion among established media players: – Newspapers vs. Radio - The Biltmore agreement. – Recording industry vs. Napster.

Business imperatives • Money-making potential of new media tech is not always obvious. • Common practices: – To adapt the formats and practices of older media to the new media (Radio = newspaper on air. CNN = news radio) – To cooperate/ strike deal with established media companies (Television showing newsreels) – To find advertisers (sponsored broadcasts on TV). – To experiment with new ideas (Youtube adding commercials to video clips) – To co-opt or buyout independents (CNN Ireport)

Disturbing trends • News as entertainment • News as opinion (bias, partisanship) • Pack journalism: – “The press, en masse, whether covering Dan Quayle or O. J. Simpson, tends to lose its common sense and its sense of fairness and independence. Its standards seem to drop to the lowest common denominator” (Peter Kahn) • Tendency to stereotype issues and people. • Fascination with “the bizarre”

Latest trends • Citizen journalism – Citizens (especially non-journalists) playing an active role in collecting, reporting, and analyzing news. – Influential as watchdogs of mainstream media. – Viewed with a mix of suspicion and awe.