Introduction: News as Public Knowledge

PART I: The News in Historical Perspective

1. Three Hundred Years of the American Newspaper
2. The Politics of Narrative Form
3. Question Authority: A History of the News Interview
4. What Is a Reporter?


PART II: Myths of Media Power

5. Trout or Hamburger: Politics and Telemythology
6. The Illusion of Ronald Reagan's Popularity with Elliot King
7. Watergate and the Press


PART III: Citizenship and Its Discontents

8. National News Culture and the Informational Citizen
9. Was There Ever a Public Sphere?
10. The News Media and the Democratic Process


Notes

Credits

Index

Michael Schudson is Professor of Communication and Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of several books, including Advertising: The Uneasy Persuasion and Watergate in American Memory.