Breaking News
The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now
Published on 6. September 2018
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-1-78689-093-1 (ISBN)
Description
How do we know any more what is true and what isn't? We are living through the greatest communication revolution since Gutenberg in which falsehood regularly seems to overwhelm truth. In Breaking News Alan Rusbridger offers an urgent and agenda-setting examination of the past, present and future of the press, and the forces menacing its freedom.
The news media have been disrupted by huge and fast-moving changes. The growth of social media and with it the ability of billions of people to publish has created a vast amount of unreliable and false news which now competes with, and sometimes drowns, more established forms of journalism. The President of the United States regularly lies to the public and brands his critics 'fake'. Politicians openly rubbish the views of 'so-called experts'. Where can we look for reliable, verifiable sources of news and information? What does all this mean for democracy? And what will the future hold?
Reflecting on his twenty years as editor of the Guardian; and his experience of breaking some of the most significant news stories of our time, including the Edward Snowden revelations, phone-hacking, WikiLeaks and the Keep it in the Ground campaign, Rusbridger answers these questions and offers a stirring defence of why quality journalism matters now more than ever.
The news media have been disrupted by huge and fast-moving changes. The growth of social media and with it the ability of billions of people to publish has created a vast amount of unreliable and false news which now competes with, and sometimes drowns, more established forms of journalism. The President of the United States regularly lies to the public and brands his critics 'fake'. Politicians openly rubbish the views of 'so-called experts'. Where can we look for reliable, verifiable sources of news and information? What does all this mean for democracy? And what will the future hold?
Reflecting on his twenty years as editor of the Guardian; and his experience of breaking some of the most significant news stories of our time, including the Edward Snowden revelations, phone-hacking, WikiLeaks and the Keep it in the Ground campaign, Rusbridger answers these questions and offers a stirring defence of why quality journalism matters now more than ever.
Reviews / Votes
[Rusbridger] has written a book of breathtaking range . . . The brilliant Breaking News is essential - and entertaining - reading -- SIR HAROLD EVANS * * Observer * * I particularly enjoyed Alan Rusbridger's Breaking News - in places it's as exciting as a thriller (and the good guys win) but it also gave me a new understanding of the difficulties that now confront good journalism -- HENRY MARSH * * New Statesman, Best Books of 2018 * * Just when we were feeling lost in the dark labyrinth of fake news and journalism in crisis, Alan Rusbridger lights his torch and leads the way. Essential -- STEVE COOGAN Well written and unskimped, this will be a painful document when we wake up one morning with nothing to read at breakfast except our smartphones -- TOM STOPPARD * * Times Literary Supplement, Best Books of the Year * * The book [Rusbridger] has written is eloquent in its argument for well-resourced journalism, and never better than in its central narrative of how an old profession struggled to cope with a new technology that threatened it with obsolescence -- IAN JACK * * Guardian * * It was my good luck - and the world's - that Alan Rusbridger was the Guardian's editor when powerful governments tried to prevent the paper from revealing that they had deceived and disempowered their citizens. Alan is a fearless defender of the public interest who has had a singular career in journalism. His book is an urgent reminder that there is still a place for real journalism - indeed, our democracies depend on it -- EDWARD SNOWDEN A fascinating book and an important one * * Scotsman * * Engaging . . . We love a good newspaper yarn, and Rusbridger provides a dandy * * Financial Times * * Alan Rusbridger is one of the most important journalists of his generation . . . this book needs to be read * * Independent * * The portrait of Rusbridger that emerges is that of the rarest of newsroom species - someone with genuine bona fides as a journalist and an unassailable commitment to the profession's enduring values, who also possesses the curiosity, nimbleness of mind and openness to change necessary to navigate the relentless, shape-shifting challenges that lie ahead for media companies today. The cascading crises afflicting journalism are now, rightly, understood to be threats to American democracy. It is hardly an overstatement, then, to say that the health of our society depends, in part, on future Rusbridgers emerging to take the reins of our news organisations * * New Yorker * *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
746 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78689-093-1 (9781786890931)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alan Rusbridger was Editor-in-Chief of Guardian News & Media from 1995 to 2015. He launched the Guardian in the US and Australia as well as building a website which today attracts more than 100 million unique browsers a month. The paper's coverage of phone-hacking led to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards and ethics. Guardian US won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service for its leading global coverage of the Snowden revelations. He is the author of Play It Again.
arusbridger.com | @arusbridger
arusbridger.com | @arusbridger