The News (Groundwork Guides Series)

by Peter Steven, Jane Springer (Editor)

Overview

"[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." -- Globe and Mail

Too many of us have no choice about the type of news we receive. Too many of us remain ignorant of major issues and diverse opinions because the news isn't providing them. Over the past twenty years the news media has become more restricted, less diverse and of steadily declining quality. Fewer owners and managers control editorial policies, journalists have been sacked, and those who remain find themselves working at a faster pace on more superficial stories. Most of us rely on a dominant media, controlled by a few globalized giants. These groups have attained enormous financial and political power.

But as this book shows, the trends are not all bad. Outside the West, particularly in Asia, citizens receive better and more diverse news than ever before. Rising levels of literacy and education in India, Korea, Indonesia and China have fostered vastly increased newspaper circulations, and the Internet has brought a much broader world to some restricted societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554982264
Publisher:	Groundwood Books Ltd
Publication date:	05/01/2010
Series:	Groundwork Guides Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Lexile:	1160L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Peter Steven teaches media studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, and he is the author of The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Media. His writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Le Devoir, the New Internationalist, Jump Cut, the Canadian Journal of Film Studies and the Beaver. He holds a PhD in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University in Chicago. Peter lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Jane Springer is the author of Genocide, part of the Groundwork Guides series for which she is also the series editor. She is a consultant in international development and has lived and worked in Mozambique and India. She is the author of Listen to Us: The World's Working Children and translator of the Portuguese-language books Nest Egg and Tales from the Amazon. Jane Springer lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

Recent developments in the news media industry and related key issues, including access to news, freedom of the press, and the ongoing newspaper crisis, are the focus of this nonfiction book. Author Steven contends that news media have become more restrictive and less diverse since the early 1990s, while the quality has steadily declined. Meanwhile, Steven explains that Asia is a direct opposite of the United States with better news, more diverse news, and increased newspaper circulation. In fact, Germany, India and Japan all have seen increased newspaper circulation over the past year. And, of course, the Internet has helped give much of the world greater access to news. Radio remains the most influential news media (e.g., BBC and Voice of America), because it is the medium available to poorer populations. Steven devotes some coverage to issues involving women and the media. For example, he specifically highlights five women investigative journalists and their backgrounds as well as the attacks many Muslim women reporters have faced. Steven does an excellent job introducing industry terms such as professional journalism, neutrality, objectivity, unbiased reporting, opinion and truth. This book would be a good choice for individual student book reports or to introduce a whole class to a discussion about the media and current issues. It is part of the "Groundwork Guide" series. Reviewer: Lynn O'Connell

Children's Literature - Lynn O'Connell

Written by recognized professionals in their fields, the books in the Groundwork Guides series present a definite point of view, usually anti-establishment, on social and political topics of international interest. The News defines "news" and classifies types of stories, and emphasizes the teller's power. Stevens warns that huge news conglomerates focused on profit restrict story selection, muzzle reporters, increasingly manipulate populations, and produce "cultural imperialism" now being resisted by large non-western networks like Al-Jazeera. Independent, unfiltered, and, often, unchecked news sources, fueled by Internet access or presented by low-tech information tools, struggle to present independent perceptions of local and international issues, and threaten to upend the present news monopoly. Stevens claims that world poverty makes radio the dominant news source, especially for uneducated populations, and that our complicated world, expense, time restraints, and growing danger have practically extinguished investigative reporting. The volume includes highlighted support information and examples within the text, and extensive resources for further reference that support the author's viewpoint. Even though Steven addresses changing news formats, his suggested references are primarily print. His few Web sources appear in the source notes, and suggest innovation exists almost exclusively in smaller organizations little-known in the United States. It will promote lively discussion, but readers should pursue other sources presenting conflicting points of view. Reviewer: Lucy Schall

VOYA - Lucy Schall