Airplane crashes. The AIDS epidemic. Presidential election polls and voting results. Global warming. The latest cancer scare. All these news stories require scientific savvy first, to report, and then―for news consumers―to understand. It Ain't Necessarily So cuts through the miasma surrounding media reporting of scientific studies, surveys, and statistics. Whether the problem is bad science, media politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge, this book gives news consumers the tools to penetrate the hype and dig out the facts. Don't stop flying, run to the doctor, or change your diet before reading It Ain't Necessarily So.

It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality

Politics & Social Sciences

Murray, David

Schwartz, Joel

Lichter, Robert S.

Social Sciences

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2000

Every four years, the network news machines crank themselves up to cover the presidential election campaigns. What we get is often a mix of sound bites, horserace standings, and scandals. In Campaign 2000, we also got network meltdown on election night and then, the Florida fiasco. This book looks at campaign coverage over the past four presidential elections and tracks its tailspin in terms of accuracy, balance, and overall quality and quantity. Acclaimed media scholars Farnsworth and Lichter use extensive data from the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Media and Public Affairs to document the decline of network news. Analyzing the content of over 5,800 network campaign stories and 9,500 campaign items from other sources ranging from public television to newspapers to campaign speeches, the authors compare what the candidates said with what the networks say they said and judge the disparity a nightmare. The unprecedented breadth and depth of the evidence allow Farnsworth and Lichter to shatter old myths and shift the terms of the debate about the relationship between news and newsmakers. Proposing sweeping reforms affecting the news organizations, the political process, and the candidates themselves, the authors take media analysis to an unprecedented level. As they indisputably demonstrate, the old order is gone, but what replaces it may make it tough to sleep at night for those who care about the news.

Humor & Entertainment

Farnsworth, Stephen J.

Television

Every four years, the network news machines crank themselves up to cover the presidential election campaigns. What we get is often a mix of sound bites, horserace standings, and scandals. In Campaign 2000, we also got network meltdown on election night and then, the Florida fiasco. This book looks at campaign coverage over the past four presidential elections and tracks its tailspin in terms of accuracy, balance, and overall quality and quantity. Acclaimed media scholars Farnsworth and Lichter use extensive data from the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Media and Public Affairs to document the decline of network news. Analyzing the content of over 5,800 network campaign stories and 9,500 campaign items from other sources ranging from public television to newspapers to campaign speeches, the authors compare what the candidates said with what the networks say they said and judge the disparity a nightmare. The unprecedented breadth and depth of the evidence allow Farnsworth and Lichter to shatter old myths and shift the terms of the debate about the relationship between news and newsmakers. Proposing sweeping reforms affecting the news organizations, the political process, and the candidates themselves, the authors take media analysis to an unprecedented level. As they indisputably demonstrate, the old order is gone, but what replaces it may make it tough to sleep at night for those who care about the news.

The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance

Including late-breaking data from the Iraq occupation and the disastrous CBS News reports on Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard Service, acclaimed media scholars Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter examine news coverage of military policy, economic policy, and scandals from the last four U.S. presidencies, including the current controversial administration. Using a quarter-century of content analysis data, the authors demonstrate how the White House dominates Capitol Hill on every dimension of news coverage, undermining Congress's attempt to compete as an equal branch before the public. At the same time, they show how the networks are steadily losing ground to new media outlets and suggest future paths our media mania may take.

History

The Nightly News Nightmare: Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2004

Beginning with the 1988 presidential election and now updated through 2004, The Nightly News Nightmare shows how network news coverage of what is arguably the nation's most important political event has declined. Through extensive analysis of news content from the 'Big Three' and Fox, acclaimed media scholars Farnsworth and Lichter compare what the candidates said with what the networks say they said and judge the disparity a nightmare. The authors go on to suggest that perhaps the candidates themselves do a better job of portraying the campaigns than those who used to be the trusted network guardians of the news. While making clear that overall coverage of the Bush-Kerry race marked an improvement compared to previous elections, Farnsworth and Lichter also point out that in other ways, things were worse.

This text outlines how campaign journalism has evolved since the 1970s, concluding that media partisanship plays a disproportionate role in determining electoral outcomes.

Good Intentions Make Bad News: Why Americans Hate Campaign Journalism

Good Intentions Make Bad News: Why Americans Hate Campaign Jouralism

The Nightly News Nightmare: Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2008

The Nightly News Nightmare, Third Edition, examines news coverage of presidential nomination and election campaigns from 1988 to 2008. The book focuses on changes in the amount, tone, and focus of news coverage in these different electoral contexts. In addition to network news, the authors examine online news, cable television, talk radio, candidate campaign discourse in these election years. Farnsworth and Lichter find that the news media, despite the wide variety of outlets, have consistent problems in terms of fairness and focus on substantive matters rather than the horse-race reporting of the latest polls. In addition to the extensive discussion of the 2008 campaign, the third edition offers far more discussion and evidence regarding the use of alternative media, including online content, in the most recent presidential election. The authors conclude that online news had many of the same problems found in mainstream news coverage.

Farnsworth University of Mary Washington, Stephen J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lichter, Robert S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lichter, Robert S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lichter, Robert S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality

The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2000

The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2000

The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance

The Nightly News Nightmare: Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2004

Good Intentions Make Bad News: Why Americans Hate Campaign Journalism

Good Intentions Make Bad News: Why Americans Hate Campaign Jouralism

The Nightly News Nightmare: Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2008

The Nightly News Nightmare: Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2008