News ─ The Politics of Illusion

For over thirty years, News: The Politics of Illusion has not simply reflected or even influenced the political communicaiton field—it has played a major role in shaping it. Today, the familiar news brands of the legacy press such as The New York Times, USA Today, and CNN are operating in a fragmenting and expanding mediaverse that resembles a big bang of proliferating online competitors that are stealing audiences and challenging the very definition of news itself. Audience-powered sites such as Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Vox, and Vice blend conventional political reporting with opinion blogs, swimsuit models, celebrity gossip, and other ephemera aimed at getting clicks and shares.At the same time, the rise of serious investigative organizations such as ProPublica, Investigate West, and The Intercept ?present yet a different challenge to legacy journalism. With American press-politics in a time of turbulent transition, Lance Bennett’s throughly revised tenth edition offers the best and most up-to-date guide to understanding how and why the media and news landscape are being transformed. It explains the mix of old and new, and points to possible outcomes. Where areas of change are clearly established, key concepts from earlier editions have been revised. There are new case studies, updates on old favorites, and much new discussion of how the new media system and new kinds of information and engagement affect our politics. As always, however, News continues to challenge comfortable myths by presenting fresh evidence and arguments that invite new ways of thinking about our political information system.

W. Lance Bennett is professor of political science and the Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication at the University of Washington.