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New Media, Old News
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New Media, Old News
Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Age

First Edition
Edited by:


October 2009 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Have new communications technologies revitalised the public sphere, or become the commercial tool for an increasingly un-public, undemocratic news media? Are changing journalistic practices damaging the nature of news, or are new media allowing journalists to do more journalism and to engage the public more effectively?

With massive changes in the media environment and its technologies, interrogating the nature of news journalism is one of the most urgent tasks we face in defining the public interest today. The implications are serious, not just for the future of the news, but also for the practice of democracy.

In a thorough empirical investigation of journalistic practices in different news contexts, New Media, Old News explores how technological, economic and social changes have reconfigured news journalism, and the consequences of these transformations for a vibrant democracy in our digital age. The result is a piercing examination of why understanding news journalism matters now more than ever. It is essential reading for students and scholars of journalism and new media.

 
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Natalie Fenton
Drowning or Waving? New media, Journalism and Democracy
 
PART TWO: NEW MEDIA AND NEWS IN CONTEXT
James Curran
Technology Foretold
Des Freedman
The Political Economy of the 'New' News Environment
Angela Phillips, Nick Couldry, Des Freedman
An Ethical Deficit? Accountability, Norms, and the Material Conditions of Contemporary Journalism
 
PART THREE: NEW MEDIA AND NEWS IN PRACTICE
Peter Lee-Wright
Culture Shock: New Media and Organizational Change in the BBC
Angela Phillips
Old Sources: New Bottles
James Curran and Tamara Witschge
Liberal Dreams and the Internet: A Case Study
 
PART FOUR: NEW MEDIA, NEWS SOURCES, NEW JOURNALISM?
Aeron Davis
Politics, Journalism and New Media: Virtual Iron Cages in the New Culture of Capitalism
Nick Couldry
New Online News Sources and Writer-Gatherers
Natalie Fenton
NGOs, New Media and the Mainstream News: News from Everywhere
 
PART FIVE: NEW MEDIA, NEWS CONTENT AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
Joanna Redden and Tamara Witschge
A New News Order? Online News Content Examined
Rodney Benson
Futures of the News: International Considerations and Further Reflections

This important book brilliantly explores the contradiction between the transforming potential of new technologies and the stifling constraints of the free market and corporate power
Greg Philo
Glasgow University Media Group


In the great and significant debate about the future of news and information, Natalie Fenton has identified important new players and new ways in which society will be educated in the world in which they function. Few people have come so freshly and perceptively to describe the ethical and other challenges that occur when old reportorial modes are so substantially altered
Monroe Price
Director, Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania


Everyone knows that the internet "changes everything." But hardly anyone has studied it systematically enough to say anything more specific about how exactly it changes things. Here's a collection that provides some real evidence about how the internet is and isn't changing journalism and political communication. The essays that make up this volume are rich with real-life data about the working lives of journalists, bloggers, politicians and more, and also with sophisticated insight about how technology interacts with political and economic change. The analysis it provides is broad and nuanced, giving a complex sense of the range of different forms of news and debate that exist online
Dan Hallin
Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego


This is journalism scholarship at its very best. New Media, Old News offers a radical and provocative assessment of the complexities of news, news media and journalism in the age of digital media and global news. Authoritative, yet accessible, this collection will undoubtedly shape scholarly and public debate about journalism and new media. But it also articulates a passionate commitment to the view that - more than ever - "news matters". This book is nothing less than essential reading for everyone interested in the past, present and future of news and journalism
Bob Franklin
Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff University


Valuable contributions to characterize a changing news landscape from various perspectives

Mr Stefan Gadringer
Department of Communication Studies, University of Salzburg
December 14, 2015

This is an excellent book which offers a comprehensive examination of different topics relevant to the fields of New Media and Journalim

Mr Manuel Hernandez
Mass Communications , Wolverhampton University
December 14, 2012

A very useful collection with new research and a coherent overview of emerging trends in journalism. This is not just a collection of interesting and timely essays but there is a thread running through the book which builds a comprehensive and insightful picture of the state of the media today.

Dr David McQueen
CMC, Bournemouth University
July 23, 2012

I would definitely recommend this book for my online journalism module to give students a contextual understanding of the economic, social and technological issues surrounding digital news. It will be added to the reading list.

Ms Lily Canter
Communication & Media, Sheffield Hallam University
May 2, 2012

. Adopted as essential for the course

Dr Hayes Mabweazara
Media and Performance, University College Falmouth
March 15, 2012

This book gives a real historical overview and big picture analysis of the the digital age. The chapter on Technology foretold was particuarly useful.

Mr Alex Fenton
School of Media, Music & Performance, Salford University
February 17, 2012

A collection of rich theoretical references. It covers many relevant new media/online journalism themes.

Dr Abel Ugba
Schl of Soc Sci, Media & Cultural Stud, University of East London
October 18, 2011

A most useful book. Highly recommended.

Mrs Desiray Viney
Media & Cultural Studies, University of KwaZulu -Natal
September 8, 2011

Excellent and timely look at the challenges posed to journalism by new media.

Mrs Jackie Newton
Journalism, Liverpool John Moores University
July 21, 2011

Sample Materials & Chapters

Part One


For instructors

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