Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press

Journalism does not create democracy and democracy does not inventjournalism, but what is the relationship between them? Thisquestion is at the heart of this book by world renowned sociologistand media scholar Michael Schudson.
Focusing on the U.S. media but seeing them in a comparativecontext, Schudson brings his understanding of news as at once astory-telling and fact-centered practice to bear on a variety ofcontroversies about what public knowledge today is and what itshould be. Should experts have a role in governing democracies? Isnews melodramatic or is it ironic - or is it both atdifferent times?
In the title essay, Schudson even suggests that journalismserves the interests of free expression and democracy best when itleast lives up to the demands of media critics for deep thought andanalysis; passion for the sensational event may be news at itsdemocratically most powerful.
Lively, provocative, unconventional, and deeply informed by arich understanding of journalism's history, this workcollects the best of Schudson's recent writings, includingseveral pieces published here for the first time.