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Overview
This compelling, often surprising book demonstrates the ways news articles of today draw from age-old tales that have chastened, challenged, entertained, and entranced people since the beginning of time. Through an insightful exploration of actual New York Times articles, award-winning professor and former journalist Jack Lule reveals mythical themes in reporting on topics from terrorist hijackings to Huey Newton, from Mother Teresa to Mike Tyson. Beneath the fresh facade of current events, Lule identifies such enduring archetypes as the innocent victim, the good mother, the hero, and the trickster. In doing so, he sheds light on how media coverage shapes our thinking about many of the confounding issues of our day, including foreign policy, terrorism, race relations, and political dissent.Synopsis
This compelling, often surprising book demonstrates the ways news articles of today draw from age-old tales that have chastened, challenged, entertained, and entranced people since the beginning of time. Through an insightful exploration of hundreds of New York Times articles, award-winning professor and former journalist Jack Lule reveals mythical themes in reporting on topics from terrorist hijackings to Huey Newton, from Mother Teresa to Mike Tyson. Beneath the fresh facade of current events, Lule identifies such enduring archetypes as the innocent victim, the good mother, the hero, and the trickster. In doing so, he sheds light on how media coverage shapes our thinking about many of the confounding issues of our day, including foreign policy, terrorism, race relations, and political dissent.
Library Journal
Every culture has shared stories that help define its values. Lule (journalism, Lehigh Univ.) suggests that in modern society news is a form of storytelling that replaces the myths of earlier times. He analyzes seven news stories covered in the New York Times to illustrate how journalists link news items to familiar myths. For example, Lule reviews the Times's coverage of Mother Theresa, from the establishment of her order in 1950 until 1980, when she won the Nobel prize. There were no articles until 1968, but when she was "discovered," journalists used mythic terms to describe the "Good Mother." She was depicted as a maternal figure, praised for her kindness, and offered as a model for us all. Controversial issues that did not fit the mythic pattern such as her failure to advocate for social change in Calcutta or her opposition to family planning were not covered. Lule also examines news reports of Mike Tyson, Hurricane Mitch, and other subjects to illustrate six other myths: the victim, the scapegoat, the hero, the trickster, the other world, and the flood. Academic libraries will want this book for journalism collections. Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Jack Lule has been known for years as a skilled and subtle interpreter of news narratives. In Daily News, Eternal Stories, Lule convincingly argues that storytelling, not information dissemination, is the core activity of journalism. He finds mythic themes in every nook and cranny of the news--in stories about everything from terrorism and disaster to the exploits of Mark McGwire, Mother Teresa, and Huey Newton. Daily News, Eternal Stories is a wonderful book--smart, humane, witty, and passionate." --John Pauly, Professor of Communication and American Studies, Saint Louis University"This splendid book enters the debates over the crisis in news with a provocative thesis that no one can ignore. To resolve our confusion over the social role of newsmakers, the author argues for understanding the news as myth. In dramatic fashion, The New York Times becomes state scribe, the latest in a long line of privileged storytellers. Communications scholarship for years has played with the intriguing relation of mythmaking to news. Here that idea finally comes into its own--with intelligence, mastery of the literature, and a graceful style. This is a landmark book in the sociology of news. It will be cover-to-cover reading for students of journalism, media, and cultural studies." --Clifford G. Christians, Director, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"A century ago, poets and novelists began to experiment with the relation between mythic archetypes and the clichés and stereotypes of everyday existence. Jack Lule approaches these matters from the front pages of the daily press, rather than from the pages of literature. He demonstrates basic mythic patterns in news and shows how news media are busily engaged in reviving and replaying our oldest myths. This book offers a vital perspective for understanding the structure of news in a world bathed in information." --Eric McLuhan, PhD, author of Electric Language : Understanding the Message