Synopses & Reviews
This instructive and entertaining social history of American newspapers shows that the very idea of impartial, objective news” was the social product of the democratization of political, economic, and social life in the nineteenth century. Professor Schudson analyzes the shifts in reportorial style over the years and explains why the belief among journalists and readers alike that newspapers must be objective still lives on.
Review
"Although this revised Harvard dissertation undoubtedly fulfilled its original goal, it hardly lives up to the promise of providing a 'social history' of the U. S. press—an awesome and somewhat puzzling undertaking at best. There are still far too many footnotes, too much emphasis upon Manhattan, and too many quotes introduced by a bewildering galaxy of names. Some will find Schudson's disregard of Civil War journalism a bit shocking, and not all historians would agree that American newspapers began in 1830.Yet this highly personal foray has merit. Philosophical reflections upon 'objectivity' are indeed thought provoking, and Schudson's approach—the penny press, the work of Pulitzer and Ochs, and the age of public relations and government management of news—certainly is one way to analyze the development of an important influence in American life." Reviewed by Robert Jackson, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)