The News Media

The business of journalism has an extensive, storied, and often romanticized history. Newspaper reporting has long shaped the way that we see the world, played key roles in exposing scandals, and has even been alleged to influence international policy. The past several years have seen the newspaper industry in a state of crisis, with Twitter and Facebook ushering in the rise of citizen journalism and a deprofessionalization of the industry, plummeting readership and revenue, and municipal and regional papers shuttering or being absorbed into corporate behemoths. Now billionaires, most with no journalism experience but lots of power and strong views, are stepping in to purchase newspapers, both large and small.

This addition to the What Everyone Needs to KnowR series looks at the past, present and future of journalism, considering how the development of the industry has shaped the present and how we can expect the future to roll out. It addresses a wide range of questions, from whether objectivity was only a conceit of late twentieth century reporting, largely behind us now; how digital technology has disrupted journalism; whether newspapers are already dead to the role of non-profit journalism; the meaning of "transparency" in reporting; the way that private interests and governments have created their own advocacy journalism; whether social media is changing journalism; the new social rules of old media outlets; how franchised media is addressing the problem of disappearing local papers; and the rise of citizen journalism and hacker journalism. It will even look at the ways in which new technologies potentially threaten to replace journalists.

C. W. Anderson is an Associate Professor at the College of Staten Island (CUNY).

Leonard Downie Jr. is Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. He is the former executive editor of The Washington Post from 1991 to 2008, during which time the newspaper won 25 Pulitzer Prizes. In his 44 years at the newspaper, he also was an investigative reporter, London correspondent, and editor at several levels. As deputy metro editor from 1972 to 1974, he helped supervise the newspaper's Watergate investigation. He is the author of five previous books, including a novel.

Michael Schudson is Professor of Journalism at Columbia University. A sociologist and historian, he is the author of 8 books and co-editor of 3 books. His work has appeared in academic journals in media and communication studies, sociology, history, and political science, as well as in general audience publications.