Governing with the News : The News Media as a Political Institution (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)

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Summary: Work of savvy scholar - relevant to all of us.
Review: Sheds light on the news media as a political institution. Cook's wisdom helps us make sense of the role media plays in governing our nation.

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Summary: the media as fourth branch of govt
Review: There are plenty of books about political coverage, and how it's too focused on personalities and sound bites and winners and losers. This book takes the next step: how politics and government are affected by the way news is reported today. One of his main points is that the media has become an influential political institution in its own right, not just an observer but a fourth branch of government. Also, politics and policy are run in part as publicity campaigns, which affects how the country is run.
It's somewhat academic reading, with lots of footnotes on studies cited... but at least you feel he has done his homework. I found most interesting the less-academic aspects, like the inside baseball of the cat-and-mouse between the press and politicians: the techniques politicians use to get better coverage, to spin, to set the agenda and frame the debate, and to advance their policies... and the bargaining, the tricks, and the compromises journalists use to get the inside dope.