Informing the News

September 15, 2013
Patterson (Government and the Press/Harvard Univ.; The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty, 2002, etc.) delivers an impressive evaluation of a crisis he identifies as just as bad, if not worse, than that associated with the "yellow journalism" of the early 1900s. The author reports on the Carnegie-Knight Initiative, which was launched in 2005 with the purpose of strengthening the education and practices of journalism. He draws on the supporting work of the leading schools of journalism and references several multiyear research surveys of the media across multiple markets. He emphasizes that democracy and press freedom are inseparable; this relationship, he writes, "has been the bedrock of First Amendment jurisprudence." Patterson shows how, as a profit-driven business, journalism has devolved, permitting inaccurate information to be presented as news to a public whose interest is at an all-time low. During the run-up to the Iraq War, misinformation--e.g., nonexistent links to al-Qaida and nuclear weapons--joined with news as a form of entertainment and just plain partisan opinion-mongering. Sources, otherwise known as politicians, seek advantage from strategic spin. Journalists and their masters feed controversy. The public is left polarized and uninformed. These things all combine to undermine truth and an informed citizenry. Practitioners have come to represent stories as what the sources say the story is and, thereby, have reduced their professional skills to "stenography." Reviving truth-based standards will not be a simple matter, writes the author. Technological change and demographic shifts each have compounding effects, and news companies are often bound by the desires and requirements of profit-driven corporate executives. A well-organized and detailed book that underlines the need for remedial policy action and effective oversight.

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October 15, 2013

The ongoing crisis in the business of journalism generates a range of responses and proposed solutions and is currently the major theme for books published in this field. Patterson (Joan Shorenstein Ctr. on the Press, Politics & Public Policy, John F. Kennedy Sch. of Government, Harvard Univ.) offers a slightly different take on the failures of journalism. Targeting the quality and content of the press rather than its business model, he argues that the current information overload makes more crucial the role of reporting the news and advocates for the development of a knowledge-based journalism. Reporters currently rely on too few sources, often know less than newsmakers about issues, and do not have enough knowledge to inform their reporting, says Patterson. He considers the traditional reportorial tools of observation and interviewing inadequate and recommends training journalists to improve their reporting with deeper understanding. In terms of the business model, Patterson suggests that news media create specialized niche news aimed at specific audiences rather than continue the old model of seeking a mass audience. VERDICT The crisis in journalism has many facets, and Patterson's focus on the content of the news will be a provocative topic for practicing journalists and journalism educators.--Judy Solberg, Seattle Univ. Lib.

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