Chapter 6 Further Reading: The Evolution of Traditional Media

Historical Foundations

1. Schudson, M. (1978). Discovering the news: A social history of American newspapers.

Basic Books.

The indispensable social history of American journalism, analyzing the development of the objectivity norm as a social phenomenon — rooted in shifting professional identities, market structures, and cultural conceptions of science rather than in abstract commitment to truth. Schudson's central argument is that objectivity is best understood as a professional strategy and cultural response to historical conditions rather than as a timeless epistemic ideal, which illuminates both its genuine value and its characteristic failures. Essential for anyone who wants to move beyond naive accounts of journalism's professionalization.

Difficulty: Moderate. Well-written academic history accessible to general readers. Key themes: Objectivity norm origins, professionalization, news as cultural product.

2. Emery, M., Emery, E., & Roberts, N. L. (2000). The press and America: An interpretive history of the mass media (9th ed.).

Allyn and Bacon.

The comprehensive standard reference for American journalism history, covering from colonial pamphlets through the early internet era. Richly detailed and well-organized by period, providing the factual foundation that more interpretive works build on. The penny press, Yellow Journalism, and professionalization eras are covered in thorough detail with attention to the full range of press activity, not just the New York-centric narrative that often dominates. Essential for students who want depth in any specific period.

Difficulty: Accessible. Textbook format; clear and comprehensive. Key themes: Chronological coverage of all major developments in American journalism history.

3. Nasaw, D. (2000). The chief: The life of William Randolph Hearst.

Houghton Mifflin.

The authoritative biography of William Randolph Hearst, providing the full social and economic context of Yellow Journalism. Nasaw neither romanticizes Hearst as a colorful villain nor dismisses him; he shows Hearst as a figure who understood the emerging media marketplace with brilliant commercial instinct, whose excesses were structural as much as personal. Essential for understanding Yellow Journalism as an economic phenomenon rather than purely an ethical failure.

Difficulty: Accessible. Well-written popular biography. Key themes: Media ownership, commercial incentives, press and politics, Spanish-American War.

4. Steffens, L. (1904). The shame of the cities.

McClure's Magazine (collected edition, 1904, S. S. McClure Co.)

The foundational text of muckraking journalism, available in digital reproduction through Project Gutenberg and many university library archives. Steffens's investigation of municipal corruption in St. Louis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York documents both the investigative methods and the reform journalism tradition that remains the template for accountability journalism. Reading the primary source gives direct access to the voice, methods, and moral commitments of the muckraking tradition at its origin.

Difficulty: Accessible. 19th-century journalistic prose; somewhat dated style but very readable. Key themes: Muckraking, municipal corruption, investigative methods, Progressive Era journalism.

Press Freedom and Investigative Journalism

5. Woodward, B., & Bernstein, C. (1974). All the president's men.

Simon & Schuster.

The Watergate reporters' own account of the investigation, written immediately after events and before its ultimate outcome was certain. More than a historical document, this is a detailed first-person account of investigative journalism practice: source development, corroboration requirements, editorial management, legal battles, and the emotional and professional toll of a major investigation under sustained official pressure. Essential reading for understanding both the Watergate investigation specifically and the institutional conditions that make major investigations possible.

Difficulty: Accessible. Compelling narrative journalism. Key themes: Investigative journalism practice, source protection, editorial independence, institutional accountability.

6. Ellsberg, D. (2002). Secrets: A memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.

Viking Press.

Ellsberg's memoir of his transformation from Pentagon insider to antiwar whistleblower provides an insider account of the information environment surrounding the Pentagon Papers. The book illuminates the relationship between government information, official secrecy, and press freedom at a foundational moment in American journalism law. Ellsberg's analysis of how classified information systems enable government deception — and his reasoning about when unauthorized disclosure is justified — remains deeply relevant to contemporary debates about whistleblowing, classified information, and the press.

Difficulty: Accessible. Well-written memoir. Key themes: Pentagon Papers, press freedom, prior restraint, whistleblowing, government secrecy.

Broadcast Media and Regulation

7. Fairness Doctrine. (1949/1987). In the matter of editorializing by broadcast licensees, 13 F.C.C. 1246 (1949); Memorandum Opinion and Order, 2 FCC Rcd 5043 (1987).

The FCC's original articulation of the Fairness Doctrine (1949) and its repeal order (1987) are primary legal sources available through the FCC's digital archives and legal databases. Reading both documents reveals how regulatory justifications shift over time: the 1949 rationale emphasizes public service obligations; the 1987 repeal emphasizes both First Amendment concerns and the proliferation of information sources that undercut the scarcity rationale. This comparison illustrates how regulatory arguments are shaped by political contexts as well as legal principles.

Difficulty: Moderate. Legal language but not technically complex. Key themes: Broadcast regulation, Fairness Doctrine, public interest obligations, First Amendment.

8. Minow, N. N., & LaMay, C. L. (1995). Abandoned in the wasteland: Children, television, and the First Amendment.

Hill and Wang.

Newton Minow, who as FCC chairman in 1961 famously called television "a vast wasteland," and journalist Craig LaMay assess the public interest obligations of broadcasting three decades later. While the specific focus is children's programming, the book's analysis of the tension between commercial broadcasting's economic logic and its public service obligations is applicable to news. Particularly valuable for the discussion of what "public interest, convenience, and necessity" has meant in practice versus its democratic promise.

Difficulty: Accessible. Well-written policy analysis. Key themes: Broadcast regulation, public interest standard, commercial vs. public service broadcasting.

Contemporary Media Dynamics

9. Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2014). The elements of journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expect (3rd ed.).

Three Rivers Press.

The most influential contemporary statement of journalistic professional standards, grounded in the Project for Excellence in Journalism's extensive research. Kovach and Rosenstiel identify nine core elements of journalism (truth, loyalty to citizens, verification, independence, monitoring power, forum for public criticism, significant and interesting, comprehensive and proportional, editorial judgment) and analyze how each is under pressure in the contemporary environment. Useful both as a normative standard and as a diagnostic framework for assessing journalism quality.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for both journalists and general audiences. Key themes: Journalism ethics, professional standards, verification, independence.

10. Alterman, E. (2003). What liberal media? The truth about bias and the news.

Basic Books.

A rigorous and well-documented challenge to the conservative claim that mainstream media is systematically biased toward liberal viewpoints. Alterman examines ownership, advertising dependencies, source relationships, and content patterns to argue that structural forces push mainstream media toward establishment centrism rather than liberal advocacy, while explicitly partisan conservative media (Fox News, talk radio) increasingly dominates the commercial media landscape. A useful corrective to both the "liberal media" and the "fair and balanced" narratives, with extensive empirical grounding.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for general audiences with rigorous documentation. Key themes: Media bias, ownership effects, advertising effects, ideological analysis.

11. Picard, R. G. (2011). The economics and financing of media companies (2nd ed.).

Fordham University Press.

The most rigorous academic treatment of media economics, covering advertising markets, subscription economics, the economics of news gathering, and the financial pressures that determine editorial priorities. For students who want to understand why journalism makes the decisions it makes at an institutional level, this provides the economic framework that explanations focused on bias or culture cannot supply. The chapters on advertising economics and the dual product market (selling content to audiences AND selling audiences to advertisers) are particularly valuable.

Difficulty: Advanced. Academic economics with some technical content. Key themes: Media economics, advertising markets, newspaper economics, digital disruption.

12. Waldman, S., et al. (2011). The information needs of communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age (FCC Working Group on the Information Needs of Communities).

Federal Communications Commission.

A comprehensive 2011 FCC-commissioned study of changes in the media landscape and their implications for democratic governance. The report documents the decline of local journalism with extensive data and analysis, examines the emergence of digital news alternatives, and assesses the adequacy of the information environment for democratic participation. Authoritative and data-rich, though subsequent developments (local paper closures, local TV news decline) have made its already-alarming findings look even more serious.

Difficulty: Accessible. Government report written for general policy audience. Key themes: Local news decline, information needs, democratic governance, digital transition.

13. Abramson, J. (2010). Merchants of truth: The business of news and the fight for facts.

Simon & Schuster.

Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, provides an insider account of the transformation of four major news organizations (The Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, VICE) during the digital transition. Based on extensive interviews and direct observation, the book provides unparalleled access to the internal culture, business model challenges, and editorial decision-making of institutions navigating a fundamental structural change. Particularly valuable for understanding how digital economics reshaped newsroom culture and priorities.

Difficulty: Accessible. Well-written journalism narrative. Key themes: Digital transition, newsroom culture, business models, editorial decisions.

14. McChesney, R. W., & Nichols, J. (2010). The death and life of American journalism: The media revolution that will begin the world again.

Nation Books.

A progressive critique of corporate media consolidation and a comprehensive survey of alternative structural models for sustaining journalism — including public funding, nonprofit ownership, cooperative structures, and hybrid approaches. McChesney and Nichols draw on international comparisons (particularly European public broadcasting models) and historical precedents (postal subsidies, government printing) to argue that journalism has always required structural subsidy to perform its democratic functions, and that restoring it will require explicit policy choices rather than market solutions.

Difficulty: Accessible. Written for a general political audience. Key themes: Media consolidation, public broadcasting, journalism subsidies, democratic function of journalism.

15. Kaplan, R. L. (2002). Politics and the American press: The rise of objectivity, 1865–1920.

Cambridge University Press.

A scholarly historical analysis of the objectivity norm's development, arguing — in contrast to accounts emphasizing commercial incentives — that objectivity emerged partly from active journalistic engagement with the political struggles of the Progressive Era. Kaplan's account of how the developing objectivity norm was contested, challenged, and variably implemented is more nuanced than popular accounts. Particularly valuable for the analysis of the relationship between objectivity and political power: whose interests does objectivity serve, and when?

Difficulty: Advanced. Academic historical analysis. Key themes: Objectivity development, Progressive Era politics, press-politics relationship, journalism history.