Thoughts
from a journalist manqué
As a young man Herbert J. Gans, PhB’47, AM’50, wanted
to be a journalist. Instead he became a sociologist. In Democracy
and the News (Oxford University Press) the author of the classic
Deciding What’s News analyzes what the news media can
and can’t do in support of American democracy.
“Today,
most international news is domestic news about Americans making
news overseas, whether as soldiers, victims of terrorism, or lawbreakers.
Truly foreign news is scarce, probably because much of it has no
immediate impact on most Americans. But if journalists learned more
about the indirect consequences, international events could be made
more meaningful.”
“Today,
most international news is domestic news about Americans making
news overseas, whether as soldiers, victims of terrorism, or lawbreakers.
Truly foreign news is scarce, probably because much of it has no
immediate impact on most Americans. But if journalists learned more
about the indirect consequences, international events could be made
more meaningful.”
