Newsworthy

In 1952, the Hill family was held hostage by escaped convicts in their suburban Pennsylvania home. The family of seven was trapped for nineteen hours by three fugitives who treated them politely, took their clothes and car, and left them unharmed. The Hills quickly became the subject of international media coverage. Public interest eventually died out, and the Hills went back to their ordinary, obscure lives. Until, a few years later, the Hills were once again unwillingly thrust into the spotlight by the media—with a best-selling novel loosely based on their ordeal, a play, a big-budget Hollywood adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart, and an article in Life magazine. Newsworthy is the story of their story, the media firestorm that ensued, and their legal fight to end unwanted, embarrassing, distorted public exposure that ended in personal tragedy. This story led to an important 1967 Supreme Court decision—Time, Inc. v. Hill—that still influences our approach to privacy and freedom of the press. Newsworthy draws on personal interviews, unexplored legal records, and archival material, including the papers and correspondence of Richard Nixon (who, prior to his presidency, was a Wall Street lawyer and argued the Hill family's case before the Supreme Court), Leonard Garment, Joseph Hayes, Earl Warren, Hugo Black, William Douglas, and Abe Fortas. Samantha Barbas explores the legal, cultural, and political wars waged around this seminal privacy and First Amendment case. This is a story of how American law and culture struggled to define and reconcile the right of privacy and the rights of the press at a critical point in history—when the news media were at the peak of their authority and when cultural and political exigencies pushed free expression rights to the forefront of social debate. Newsworthy weaves together a fascinating account of the rise of big media in America and the public's complex, ongoing love-hate affair with the press.

Until 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, the loss of political voice for the working class, and the emergence of a more conservative media in the form of Christian television, talk radio, Fox News, and conservative websites. Now, with our fractured society and news media, Martin offers the mainstream media recommendations for how to push back against right-wing media and once again embrace the working class as critical to its audience and its democratic function.

Chapter 1: Research -- Chapter 2: Creative Strategy -- Chapter 3: Headlines and Slogans -- Chapter 4: Body Copy -- Chapter 5: An Introduction to Design -- Chapter 6: Newspaper Advertising -- Chapter 7: Magazine Advertising -- Chapter 8: Radio Advertising -- Chapter 9: Television Advertising -- Chapter 10: Direct Mail Advertising -- Chapter 11: Internet Advertising -- Chapter 12: Other Media Advertising -- Chapter 13: Public Relations and Corporate Advertising -- Chapter 14: Advertising Copy Research -- Chapter 15: Advice on How to Get a Job in Advertising -- A Final Note -- References -- Appendix: Graduate Programs.

Newsworthy wrestles with living in a culture infected by white supremacy where current media is distrusted, cursory, and impossible to escape. And yet, we yearn to know. We crave a thoughtfulness--apart from soundbites and viral videos--that plumbs deeper, one that reawakens our shared humanity by reminding us that under headlines beat all of our "pierced hearts." A leading light in the new poetic guard, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton's collection is a poetic reimagining of the newspaper, collecting cutouts from the editing floor to resurrect those who would otherwise be forgotten. Not content to further sensationalize the horrors perpetrated on Black Americans by a broken justice system, Mouton boldly relays stories of police brutality by reinventing poetic form and function, reminding us that wisdom, context, and every angle of truth is what infuses information with elucidation. Akin to An American Marriage, Newsworthy grounds the fragility and danger inherent in contemporary Black experience in an "ordinary" family: mother, father, brother (Josh), and sister (Amandla), following their near and lived tragedies against the backdrop of murdered black Americans. Amandla serves as a surrogate for all of us, regardless of skin color, morphing from naive bystander to headline herself. Alongside her, we witness the exponential compilation of threat. We learn to conceive of dread, anger, compassion, suffering, and love as survival tactics. And we uncover what we should have seen all along: that to be human in the world is to rectify its injustices. With Newsworthy, Mouton brings us news of the heart.

"...this book can be recommended to journalism students as a useful entry point into many of the debates surrounding 21st century journalism, and as a way of encouraging thought about what, indeed, a journalist may be." Tony Harcup, University of Sheffield What are the key issues confronting journalism today, and why? What are the important debates regarding the forms and practices of reporting? How can the quality of news be improved? Journalism: Critical Issues explores essential themes in news and journalism studies. It bringstogether an exciting selection of original essays which engage with the most significant topics,debates and controversies in this fast-growing field.Using a wide range of case studies, topics include: Journalism’s role in a democracy Source dynamics in news production Journalism ethics Sexism and racism in the news Tabloidization, scandals and celebrity Reporting conflict, terrorism and war The future of investigative journalism The book is written in a lively manner designed to invite discussion by identifying key questionsaround a critical issue. Each chapter assesses where journalism is today, its strengths and itschallenges, and highlights ways to improve upon it for tomorrow. Journalism: Critical Issues is essential reading for students and researchers in the fields ofnews and journalism, media studies, cultural studies, sociology and communication studies. Contributors: Stuart Allan, Alison Anderson, Olga Guedes Bailey, Steven Barnett,Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Michael Bromley, Cynthia Carter, Simon Cottle, Chas Critcher,Matthew David, Máire Messenger Davies, Bob Franklin, Robert A. Hackett, RamaswamiHarindranath, Ian Hutchby, Richard Keeble, Justin Lewis, Minelle Mahtani, P. David Marshall,Brian McNair, Martin Montgomery, Alan Petersen, Susanna Hornig Priest, Jane Rhodes,Karen Ross, David Rowe, Prasun Sonwalkar, Linda Steiner, Howard Tumber, Ingrid Volkmer,Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Barbie Zelizer.

In 1952, the Hill family was held hostage by escaped convicts in their suburban Pennsylvania home. The family of seven was trapped for nineteen hours by three fugitives who treated them politely, took their clothes and car, and left them unharmed. The Hills quickly became the subject of international media coverage. Public interest eventually died out, and the Hills went back to their ordinary, obscure lives. Until, a few years later, the Hills were once again unwillingly thrust into the spotlight by the media—with a best-selling novel loosely based on their ordeal, a play, a big-budget Hollywood adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart, and an article in Life magazine. Newsworthy is the story of their story, the media firestorm that ensued, and their legal fight to end unwanted, embarrassing, distorted public exposure that ended in personal tragedy. This story led to an important 1967 Supreme Court decision—Time, Inc. v. Hill—that still influences our approach to privacy and freedom of the press. Newsworthy draws on personal interviews, unexplored legal records, and archival material, including the papers and correspondence of Richard Nixon (who, prior to his presidency, was a Wall Street lawyer and argued the Hill family's case before the Supreme Court), Leonard Garment, Joseph Hayes, Earl Warren, Hugo Black, William Douglas, and Abe Fortas. Samantha Barbas explores the legal, cultural, and political wars waged around this seminal privacy and First Amendment case. This is a story of how American law and culture struggled to define and reconcile the right of privacy and the rights of the press at a critical point in history—when the news media were at the peak of their authority and when cultural and political exigencies pushed free expression rights to the forefront of social debate. Newsworthy weaves together a fascinating account of the rise of big media in America and the public's complex, ongoing love-hate affair with the press.

Whether espoused by sports leagues, teams, or individual athletes, social issues are part of the sporting world fabric. The sports media often plays the gatekeeper, deciding how messages are presented and to what extent they’re covered—if at all. Sports, Media, and Society investigates the impact of societal issues in sports and how the media reports those stories. Why does the sports media operate in the manner that it does, and what’s the impact of its decisions on the audience? With Sports, Media, and Society, there is now a resource that combines mainstay class discussion points, current case studies, and theoretical and historical foundations in one comprehensive text. The book’s 34 chapters are each short and concise—a format preferred by instructors—covering a wide range of topics and easily digestible for students. Part I covers sports media history and the media’s role as gatekeeper. Chapters explore the history and evolution of various media—newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and social media—and the business of and competition between sports media entities. Case studies examine NBC’s Olympics coverage and the nimbleness of Sports Illustrated in the digital space. Part II showcases television’s impact on how fans follow sports. Discussions include ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which exposed viewers to events around the globe; ESPN’s foray into 24/7 sports coverage; and Fox Sports’ shocking NFL deal, which marked a new era in media rights negotiations and sports broadcasting technologies. The intersection of sports and social issues is the focus of part III. Numerous issues are addressed, punctuated by case studies involving key players and events related to each topic. Cases concerning Colin Kaepernick, USWNT (and coverage of women’s sports generally), LGBTQ+ issues, and obstacles faced by women working in sports media are highlights, while examinations of social identity theory and framing provide context on how people identify with specific groups and how the media influences opinions. Athletes and sport entities are constantly in the news—not always in a positive light. Part IV addresses crisis management and communication, featuring case studies about Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, LeBron James (The Decision), Kobe Bryant (his death and the misreporting of facts surrounding it), and the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. The text concludes with part V, which explores emerging trends in sports media and society. Through social media, virtually anyone can become a thought leader (wresting control from traditional outlets), and teams and athletes can dialogue directly with fans, effectively sidelining sports journalists. Chapters on the formerly taboo subjects of athlete mental health and sports wagering, as well as the exploding popularity of esports, round out the text. Sports shape our culture in numerous ways, and the sports media plays a transformative role in how it occurs. Sports, Media, and Society prepares tomorrow’s sports journalists and communicators to venture beyond the how-tos of developing content to understanding the whys behind it.