As the journalist Walter Lippmann noted nearly a century ago,
democracy falters "if there is no steady supply of trustworthy and
relevant news." Today's journalists are not providing it. Too
often, reporters give equal weight to facts and biased opinion,
stir up small controversies, and substitute infotainment for real
news. Even when they get the facts rights, they often misjudge the
context in which they belong.
Information is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy. Public opinion
and debate suffer when citizens are misinformed about current
affairs, as is increasingly the case. Though the failures of
today's communication system cannot be blamed solely on the news
media, they are part of the problem, and the best hope for
something better.
Patterson proposes "knowledge-based journalism" as a corrective.
Unless journalists are more deeply informed about the subjects they
cover, they will continue to misinterpret them and to be vulnerable
to manipulation by their sources. In this book, derived from a
multi-year initiative of the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight
Foundation, Patterson calls for nothing less than a major overhaul
of journalism practice and education. The book speaks not only to
journalists but to all who are concerned about the integrity of the
information on which America's democracy depends.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!