Description
Book SynopsisUntil the recent political shift pushed workers back into the media spotlight, the mainstream media had largely ignored this significant part of American society in favor of the moneyed upscale consumer for more than four decades. Christopher R. Martin now reveals why and how the media lost sight of the American working class and the effects of it doing so.
The damning indictment of the mainstream media that flows through No Longer Newsworthy is a wakeup call about the critical role of the media in telling news stories about labor unions, workers, and working-class readers. As Martin charts the decline of labor reporting from the late 1960s onwards, he reveals the shift in news coverage as the mainstream media abandoned labor in favor of consumer and business interests. When newspapers, especially, wrote off working-class readers as useless for their business model, the American worker became invisible. In No Longer Newsworthy, Martin covers this shift in focus,
Trade Review
Insightful.... At once an important work of Trump-era criticism and an urgently needed condemnation of a media culture that persistently erases and misrepresents the lives and concerns of America's diverse working-class majority.
* Jacobin *
This book about journalism is also an example of what journalism should be.
* Choice *
Even though Martin has written a history of newspaper journalism from a union perspective, his honesty as a commentator, great skills as a researcher, and deep, careful argumentation make this book worthy of considerable attention.
* H-Net *
Well-researched and equally well-written...Martin registers a major scholarly insight...Based on two deep content analyses of national outlets, he deftly identifies the early inclusion of labor in the news and its subsequent exclusion to demonstratethe long, downward trend he wants the reader to see.
-- Frank Durham, University of Iowa * Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly *
"A detailed argument about how the demise of labor reporting speaks to something systemically troubling with U.S. journalism, a disconnect between the newsroom and the working classthis book should be read by beat reporters and editors around the country as a cautionary tale of past media failures and an inspiration to do better with the next story.
* Journalism History *
A major accomplishment...Martin's powerful prescriptive story is very much part of the policy agenda for the broad community of labor scholars and activists.
* ILR Review *
No Longer Newsworthy is an engaging read that makes a convincing case for how and why the working class was neglected by the news media. The use of historical sources and content analysis data clearly strengthen this argument.
* Communication Booknotes Quarterly *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Trump, Carrier, and the Invisible Worker
2. The Rise and Fall of Labor Reporting
3. The News Media's Shift to Upscale Audiences
4. The Changing News Narrative about Workers
5. Workers and Political Voice
6. "Job Killers" in the News
7. Rethinking News about US Workers
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
