The Sociology of News

by Michael Schudson, Jeffrey C. Alexander

The Sociology of News offers a brief, but comprehensive account of the origins, structures, operating practices, codes, and cultures of the contemporary news media, analyzing the question of the consequences of news on society―and politics, in particular. Michael Schudson treats soberly and skeptically a great deal of what passes for wisdom about the press in popular opinion, academic research, and journalists’ own self-understanding. The book’s ultimate objective is not to settle controversies involving the press, but to define them and to characterize the role that news institutions play in the formation of modern public consciousness. The Sociology of News is part of the Contemporary Societies series

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Social Science, Journalism

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Michael Schudson grew up in Milwaukee, Wisc. He received a B.A. from Swarthmore College and M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1976 to 1980 and at the University of California, San Diego from 1980 to 2009. From 2005 on, he split his teaching between UCSD and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, becoming a full-time member of the Columbia faculty in 2009.

He is the author of seven books and co-editor of three others concerning the history and sociology of the American news media, advertising, popular culture, Watergate and cultural memory. He is the recipient of a number of honors; he has been a Guggenheim fellow, a resident fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, and a MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellow. In 2004, he received the Murray Edelman distinguished career award from the political communication section of the American Political Science Association and the International Communication Association.

Schudson's articles have appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Wilson Quarterly, and The American Prospect, and he has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the Financial Times, and The San Diego Union.

Reviews

[Y. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a solid foundational analysis of media mechanics, effectively detailing institutional, political, and economic limitations, structural constraints on journalism, the role of spin, source selection, and professional tendencies.

However, it suffers from a dated and U.S.-centric perspective. The author's Eurocentric framing, particularly in discussions of Zionist media and institutions in the Global South, is problematic. While the core concepts remain relevant, the analysis would greatly benefit from an update to address the digital media landscape and a more inclusive examination of non-Western media systems.

[Ulrikke]

This book defines journalism from both a communication theoretical and sociological perspective, giving its readers thorough comprehension of the interplay between those overlapping fields. Michael Schudson offers a clarifying account of the news industry and its contemporary controversies. The focus is mainly on the US news industry but sheds light on global conditions as well when relevant for the sociological understanding of the role that news organizations play in the formation of public consciousness in an ever-connected media environment. I would recommend The Sociology of News to anybody interested in a legible and reader-friendly research of the impact of news on society.

[Kenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent update of the works of Tunstall (1972) and Tuchman (1978).