Covering America
A Narrative History of a Nation's Journalism
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- $30.99
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- $30.99
Publisher Description
Journalism is in crisis, with traditional sources of news under siege, a sputtering business model, a resurgence of partisanship, and a persistent expectation that information should be free. In Covering America, Christopher B. Daly places the current crisis within historical context, showing how it is only the latest challenge for journalists to overcome.
In this revised and expanded edition, Daly updates his narrative with new stories about legacy media like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and the digital natives like the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed. A new final chapter extends the study of the business crisis facing journalism by examining the “platform revolution” in media, showing how Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are disrupting the traditional systems of delivering journalism to the public. In an era when the factual basis of news is contested and when the government calls journalists “the enemy of the American people” or “the opposition party,” Covering America brings history to bear on the vital issues of our times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this scholarly yet readable volume, Daly (Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World), a professor of history and journalism at Boston University, presents a surprisingly spirited and detailed account of American journalism and the many ways in which the press has impacted the trajectory of American history, and vice versa. Beginning in the early 1700s with the institution of a postal service and continuing through the advent of the Internet and its implications for the "dinosaurs" of big media, the book is full of colorful portraits of American media icons such as Benjamin Franklin and late New York Times reporter David Halberstam. Any history book runs the risk of being bland, but Daly peppers the text with amusing anecdotes and intriguing facts (e.g., the idea for the first journalism courses, offered at Washington & Lee University, came from defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee). Daly divides the major time periods in American journalism into five categories: politicization (1704-1832), commercialization (1833-1900), professionalization (1900-1974), conglomeration (1965-1995), and digitization (1995-present). These divisions make the narrative easy to follow for both students of journalism and casual enthusiasts. In addition to the interesting stories, Daly makes many cogent arguments about what the press has meant to the country's shared history and identity. Illus.
