Review by Choice Review
In this interesting study, Barkin (Univ. of Maryland) seeks to get behind some of the critical rhetoric concerning television news by tracing how the news came to be the way it is. Using interviews and archival research, the author looks at the commercial verities that define most US broadcast news. He divides the study into three parts: broadcasting and the culture of news (three chapters tracing historical background); seismic shifts in television news (the rise of news magazines, tabloid television and talk shows, the trends from hard to soft news, prime-time news values, the impact of CNN, and celebrity-focused news); and public service in the digital age (local news, network journalism, and a final summing up). Barkin emphasizes trends of the past quarter century and reviews some of the causes for the dramatic change (some would say cheapening) of the television news product. He bemoans the changes (which he asserts are largely for the worse) and suggests some of their causes. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. C. Sterling George Washington University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
