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Overview
From CNN's live coverage of the Gulf War to televised images of the Soviet Union's collapse,the news has a profound effect on how we perceive and respond to world events. Acclaimed investigative journalist Martin Mayer helps us understand the evolution of today's major news organizations,how they operate and their pervasive influence on our lives. Now available in an updated,paperback edition,Making News is a vivid,comprehensive exploration of the news industry. A veteran reporter,Mayer tells an insider's story of the history,goals,and current operations of the print and broadcast media. He cites disturbing trends in the way mainstream broadcast news organizations cover events,from the irresponsible use of spin-controllers to the blurred boundaries between entertainment and news. He offers fresh analyses of such controversial subjects as the reporting on the Gulf War,the coverage of the Clarence Thomas hearings,and the coverage of recent banking debacles-the S&L disaster,Banca Nazionale del Lavoro,and BCCI.From CNN's live coverage of the Gulf War to televised images of the Soviet Union's collapse, the news has a profound effect on how we perceive and respond to world events. Now acclaimed investigative journalist Martin Mayer helps readers understand the evolution of today's major news organizations, how they operate, and their influence on our lives.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Mayer (The Lawyers, The Bankers, The Diplomats here holds a magnifying glass on the news media of the recent past, the present and presumed future. He has researched carefully and is particularly impressive in detailing the steps by which radio news evolved into television news. Some of his observations are not ground-breaking, however, e.g., newspaper employees are not intellectuals, politics is not the sexiest topic on TV newscasts. Mayer illustrates theory in practice in sections on news coverage of the 1982 Tylenol poisonings and the 1984 presidential elections and presents a comprehensive rundown of technological advances that may affect future news dissemination. Unfortunately, although the book is comprehensive, it has a ponderous tone that may put readers off. (April 19)Library Journal
Mayer specializes in making insiders' worlds (e.g., Wall Street, Madison Avenue) accessible to outsiders, and he's a wonderful demystifier. Here, his approach to the news media is refreshingly free of cant. No, he says, the diversity of media outlets in the past didn't necessarily make it the good old days. Nor is the switch from old fashioned ``news'' to interpretive ``journalism'' necessarily for the better. The things that interest people haven't changed much in human history, and people need news not to provide truth but for a ``sense of what's going on around them.'' Mayer's history of TV news and the evolution of ``the feelies'' and his discussions of media coverage of the 1984 elections and Tylenol scare show broad experience and sound judgmentexactly the qualities he recommends for media ills. Recommended especially for general readers. Dan Levinson, English & History Depts., Thayer Acad., Braintree, Mass.Booknews
New edition of Mayer's 1987 book on journalism's role in making news, what is made of it (often entertainment), and the too ready acceptance of the establishment's interpretation of events. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
June 11, 1987
Publisher
Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1987.
Pages
360
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780385189835