Description: For ten years, Herbert J. Gans spent considerable time in four major television and magazine newsrooms, observing and talking to the journalists who choose the national news stories that inform America about itself. He was interested in the values, professional standards, and the external pressures that shaped journalists' judgments.
Deciding What's News has become a classic. A new preface outlines the major changes that have taken place in the news media since Gans first wrote the book, but it also suggests that the basics of news judgment and the structures of news organizations have changed little. Gans's book is still the most comprehensive sociological account of some of the country's most prominent national news media.Review Quotes: "Neither burdened by jargon nor boosted by flashy style, the book renders the biases of the media with unusual authority." -Michael Schudson, Chicago Tribune