Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. The news about democracy -- News and democracy -- Gatekeeping : who and what makes the news -- News as a democratic information system -- Politicians, press, and the people -- A definition of news -- The new gatekeeping -- How mediated government works -- Case study : governing with the news as terror comes to America -- The fragile link between news and democracy -- Why free speech cannot guarantee good information -- Soft news and the turn away from politics -- Myths about news bias -- Putting journalistic bias in perspective -- What kind of news would better serve democracy? -- 2. News content -- A different kind of bias -- Four information biases that matter : an overview -- Case study : how George W. Bush got his swagger -- Four information biases in the news : an in-depth look -- Bias as part of the political information system -- New bias and discouraged citizens -- Reform anyone? -- 3. Citizens and the news -- Priming public opinion on Iraq -- News, strategic information, and public opinion : the citizen's dilemma -- Internet versus mass media : why mainstream news still matters -- Processing the news -- Why people prefer TV : audio and visual information -- News frames and political learning -- Case study : national attention deficit disorder? -- News and personal experience : what gets through -- Uses and gratifications : other reasons people follow the news --- Citizen, information, and politics -- Notes --

4. How politicians make the news -- The politics of illusion -- The sources of political news -- Case study : selling the Iraq war -- News images as strategic political communication -- News bias and press-government relations -- The goals of strategic political communication -- Symbolic politics and the techniques of image making -- News management : the basics -- News management styles and the modern presidency -- Press relations : feeding the beast -- Government and the politics of newsmaking -- Notes -- 5. How journalists report the news -- Work routines and professional norms -- When routines produce high-quality reporting -- Case study : top ten reasons the press took a pass on the Iraq war -- How reporting practices contribute to news bias -- Reporters and officials : cooperation and control -- Reporters as members of news organizations : pressures to standardize -- Reporters as a pack : pressures to agree -- The paradox of organizational routines -- When journalism works -- Democracy with or without citizens? -- Notes -- 6. Inside the profession -- Journalists and their profession -- The paradox of objective reporting -- Defining objectivity : fairness, balance, and truth -- The curious origins of objective journalism -- Professional journalisms in practice -- Objectivity reconsidered -- Case study : why mainstream professional journalism favors spin over truth -- Notes --

7. The political economy of news -- The economic transformation of the American media -- Corporate profit logic and news content -- The political economy of news -- Economics versus democracy : inside the news business -- The media monopoly : arguments for and against -- Case study : the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the citizen's movement of social responsibility in broadcast standards -- Effects of the media monopoly : five information trends -- How does corporate influence operate? -- News on the Internet : perfecting the commercialization of information? -- Commercialized information and citizen confidence -- Megatrends : technology, economics, and social change -- 8. All the news that fits democracy -- The deliberative citizen -- Personalized information and the future of democracy -- Whither the public sphere? -- The news about the private (commercial) media system -- The news about public broadcasting -- The news about objective journalism -- News and power in America : ideal versus reality -- Why the myth of a free press persists -- Proposals for citizens, journalists, and politicians -- Case study : citizen input, from interactive news to desktop democracy -- The promise and peril of virtual democracy -- Corporate social responsibility : a place to start .