How to Watch TV News

by Neil Postman, Steve Powers, Jeff Riggenbach, et al.

Book Overview

A scathing and prescient look at television news' now updated for the new tech-savvy generation

Television news: genuine information or entertainment fodder? Fifteen years ago, Neil Postman, a pioneer in media education and author of the bestselling Amusing Ourselves to Death, and Steve Powers, an award-winning broadcast journalist, concluded that anyone who relies exclusively on their television for accurate world news is making...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143113771
• ISBN13: 9780143113775
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

For News Junkies and Students Looking to Break Into TV Journalism

Truly eye-opening and fascinating. I read the first edition quite a few years back and eagerly read the newly revised edition that addresses the web and how it further affects the devolving quality of America's television news programming. It's astounding how little we truly know about something that is such an integral part of our everyday lives. The world of news can be overwhelming, and as a medium can't always be trusted. This book illuminates its inner workings in an easy and interesting way. You will never "watch" news the same way again after reading this book.

Terrific read!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who tunes into TV news to stay "in the know." This book truly enlightened me! Written by two award winning veterans in the field of journalism, I was pleased with the vast wealth of information and insight provided in this book. Packed with industry facts and shrewd perceptions, the book made me seriously ponder "what exactly is TV news and just what have I been watching all these years?" This book is also very timely, as it delves into how the Internet has further altered the reality and integrity of the news. It's a must read for anyone who wants to fully understand TV news and how it can manipulate our world view.

Any Way You Look at it, TV is Bad

In his previous books, Neil Postman has made some excellent observations about society. I am particularly a fan of his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death". In this work, Postman evaluates the televised media in "How to Watch TV News". Much like his other works, he raises some important points. News programs are typically filled with a collection of tidbits for a period of time slightly longer than fifteen minutes. The new items are chosen largely on whether they will draw viewers which in turn will draw advertising dollars. The advertising dollars pay the TV news media. So it is not really important what is covered in the news so much as what news will draw ratings.The content of the news is another issue. In reality, we get the the cliff notes version of the news. We only receive part of the picture. We lack a lot of the background information necessary to make judgements. Because we lack a lot of the information, we are vulnerable to the any bias injected by the news reporter or news station. One of the main points of the book is that we need to read newspapers and magazines to stay informed. Without supplemental information or complete picture, we lack the ability to make an informed judgment. Printed news allows us to select the important stories and eliminate the irrelevant stories. This is an option we don't have with television news.Postman goes through further scenarios that TV affects. Particularly the chapter that deals with the effects of news on children is enlightening. Even though the material is somewhat dated, Channel One programming is also addressed as part of this discussion. Overall, Postman makes an informed and intelligent statement with this book.

You cannot afford not to read it ...

After being almost 3 years in the business of dealing professionally with the press, both printed and electronic, I would say that most of the things that you read in this amazing book seem somehow 'obvious'. Yet, it is what's 'obvious' that passes unattended. It is because even the professionals in this business, (actually especially the professionals in this business) operate without questioning the very principals of the trade: 'What's 'news' really? Why choosing this particular form of presenting them on TV? What is it that we are aiming for? What's hidden behind?I think that reading this book makes a better TV viewer, may be a better journalist, possibly a better citizen.

How to watch TV News and be informed at the same time.

An academic and a TV journalist combine forces to take on the most powerful and pervasive force in our daily lives and dissect its influence in a way no one's thought of before. Who'd think that a society so bombarded with information would be the least informed in the world? This book explains how-- and why. And it's quite prescient, having been written a few years ago, in showing how "news' and "entertainment" combine to form something that tastes great but is less filling. It's worth a read for anyone who suspects that "they" are not telling us what we need to know or want to know-- but what "they" decide" we should know. This is the Rosetta Stone of the Infotainment Age.