Description
Book SynopsisIn Partisan Journalism: A History of Media Bias in the United States, Jim A. Kuypers guides readers on a journey through American journalistic history, focusing on the warring notions of objectivity and partisanship. Kuypers shows how the American journalistic tradition grew from partisan roots and, with only a brief period of objectivity in between, has returned to those roots today.The book begins with an overview of newspapers during Colonial times, explaining how those papers openly operated in an expressly partisan way; he then moves through the Jacksonian era's expansion of both the press and its partisan nature. After detailing the role of the press during the War Between the States, Kuypers demonstrates that it was the telegraph, not professional sentiment, that kicked off the movement toward objective news reporting. The conflict between partisanship and professionalization/objectivity continued through the muckraking years and through World War II, with newspapers in the 1950
Trade ReviewHow does one even begin to open a scholarly discussion of news media bias in a landscape that has become so proliferated with bias that it now has its own category, 'partisan journalism'? This is the challenge for educators and students, and Kuypers starts by leading readers through the highly partisan roots of US newspapers' initial popularity surge (in the 1820s). He shows how the party presses of the medium's nascent days were not unlike Fox News or MSNBC today. (Objectivity, one learns, arose from scientific empiricism and good business: a practical, inoffensive way to serve large, diverse audiences.) Kuypers's clearheaded, highly insightful, and deeply researched volume takes the reader through all the ages of US journalism--through wars, presidents, and the ebb and flow of various media platforms. He even devotes a full chapter to the rise of alternative media. Partisan Journalism, which culminates with a chapter titled 'The 2010 and 2012 Elections,' is an extremely valuable and highly readable resource. Kuypers's examination is thorough, historically potent, and enlightening. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. * CHOICE *
A major strength of this book is the sheer volume of data to back up his claims.... [I]t is very good scholarship. * Communication Research Trends *
In Partisan Journalism: A History of Media Bias in the United States, Jim Kuypers has written one of those rare books that is designed to actually stimulate thought among scholars, news professionals and the news reading/viewing (and now tweeting and blogging) public. His analysis of the origins, rise, variations and modern incarnations of the partisan press is both scrupulously detailed and wittily pointed. More than just a history or a critique, Kuypers explains and contextualizes events, ideas and people who shaped our modern media world. The book will—I hope—incite controversy and counter-argument and thus spur a renewed debate on what constitutes a free and fair press in a representative republic. -- David D. Perlmutter, Dean and Professor of the College of Media & Communication, Texas Tech University, and author of Blogwars: The New Political Battleground
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. The Rise of a Partisan Press: News was not always “News” Chapter 2. Profits, Partisanship, and a War: The “Revolution in Journalism” Chapter 3. A Golden Age of Objective Journalism? Chapter 4. Three Presidents and a War Chapter 5. Beyond Nixon: Growth of the Partisan Press Chapter 6. Pushing Their Polls Chapter 7. The Rise of the Alternate News Media in Radio and Internet Chapter 8. Journalistic Values and Biased Reporting Chapter 9. The Clinton Manipulation and a Declining Press Chapter 10. Bush and Election 2000: We Spin, You Figure It Out Chapter 11. Obama 2008 and the Contemporary Establishment News Media Chapter 12. The 2010 and 2012 Elections
