Mass Media & Strategic Communications

A former reporter, media critic and academic, Barbie Zelizer charts a singular journey through journalism's complicated contours, prompting readers to rethink both how the news works and why it matters.

Randall Sumpter questions the dominant notion that reporters entering the field in the late nineteenth century relied on an informal apprenticeship system to learn the rules of journalism. Drawing from the experiences of more than fifty reporters, he argues that cub reporters could and did access multiple sources of instruction.

Interviewing for Journalists focuses on the central journalistic skill of how to ask the right questions in the right way. It is a practical and concise guide for all print and online journalists.

Michael Schudson examines journalism in relation to democratic theory and practice, its own economic crisis, and recent discussions of "fake news." In contrast to those who suggest that journalism has had its day, Schudson argues that it has become more important than ever for liberal democracies; it is the keystone institution among a set of institutions that invite public attention to and public monitoring of government.