A sobering look at the intimate relationship between political power and the news media, "When the Press Fails" argues the dependence of reporters on official sources disastrously thwarts coverage of dissenting voices from outside the Beltway. The result is both an indictment of official spin and an urgent call to action that questions why the mainstream press failed to challenge the Bush administration's arguments for an invasion of Iraq or to illuminate administration policies underlying the Abu Ghraib controversy. Drawing on revealing interviews with Washington insiders and analysis of...

Despite the importance of foreign news, its history, transformation and indeed its future have not been much studied. The scholarly community often calls attention to journalism's shortcomings covering the world, yet the topic has not been systematically examined across countries or over time. The need to redress this neglect and the desire to assess the impact of new media technologies on the future of journalism -- including foreign correspondence -- provide the motivation for this stimulating, exciting and thought-provoking book. While the old economic models supporting news have crumbled...

"A thoughtful, provocative, and timely account of the meaning of a free press in the United States."-American Journal of Political Science Most Americans consider a free press essential to democratic society--either as an independent watchdog against governmental abuse of power or as a wide-open marketplace of ideas. But few understand that far--reaching public policies have shaped the news citizens receive. With contributions from leading scholars in the fields of history, legal scholarship, political science, and communications, this revised and updated edition of Freeing the Presses offers...