Description
Book SynopsisPrimetime Pundits explores the ascent of punditry and offers a new approach for understanding how social issues are covered in the changing media landscape. Based on extensive research of primetime news coverage of social issues, Letukas analyzes how pundits have come to dominate our national political dialogue over the past thirty years.
Trade ReviewPrimetime Pundits provides a careful, scholarly, and generally reliable guide to the confusing world of political punditry in the early twenty-first century. -- Eric Alterman, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Millions of people regularly watch cable news pundits, yet little attention has been paid to their rising influence. Primetime Pundits, an original and thought-provoking book, remedies this gap. Expertly placing the claimsmaking of pundits in their social, political, and historical context, this fascinating and timely book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politicization of information through the media. -- Rebecca Tiger, Middlebury College
Primetime Pundits deftly explores how opinion, outrage, and provocative moralizing have become accepted—expected, even—components of the modern news cycle and what this means for how news gets made and received by audiences. Letukas’ analysis should resonate with anyone who harbors an interest in cable news, and is a must read for media scholars who study the social construction of news and how media content influences popular rhetoric about political and social issues. -- Brian Monahan, Marywood University, author of The Shock of the News
Table of ContentsChapter 1: What is a Pundit? Chapter 2: The Ascent of Punditry Chapter 3: The Era of Infotainment: The Rise of Television Punditry and Sound Bite News Chapter 4: Constructing the News Chapter 5: Packaging Pundit Claims about Social Issues Chapter 6: How Primetime Pundits Politicize News Chapter 7: Justifying Day Two: How Cable News Sustains a Story Chapter 8: A Model for Partisan News Appendix A: Methodology Appendix B: Case Studies
