After Broadcast News: Media Regimes, Democracy, and the New Information Environment [Paperback]

After Broadcast News challenges the role of professional journalists as the primary source of politically relevant information.Most people assume professional journalists are the legitimate source for political information and that the role of good citizens is to watch, read, or listen to the news. After Broadcast News shows that this model is only one among several that have existed in the United States; that while it has some valuable aspects, it also has very narrow notions of politically relevant information and the role of citizens; and that the new information environment (from the Internet to The Daily Show) makes these strengths and limitations clear.Most people assume professional journalists are the legitimate source for political information and that the role of good citizens is to watch, read, or listen to the news. After Broadcast News shows that this model is only one among several that have existed in the United States; that while it has some valuable aspects, it also has very narrow notions of politically relevant information and the role of citizens; and that the new information environment (from the Internet to The Daily Show) makes these strengths and limitations clear.The new media environment has challenged the role of professional journalists as the primary source of politically relevant information. After Broadcast News puts this challenge into historical context, arguing that it is the latest of several critical moments, driven by economic, political, cultural, and technological changes, in which the relationship among citizens, political elites, and the media has been contested. Out of these past moments, distinct media regimes eventually emerged, each with its own seemingly natural rules and norms, and each the result of political struggle with clear winners and losers. The media regime in place for the latter half of the twentieth century has been dismantled, but a new regime has yet to emerge. Assuring this regime is a democratic onlS‰