Newszak and news media Book

In an increasingly competitive market, the pressures on news media to win readers and viewers has generated a new journalism with revised editorial priorities. News is becoming part of the entertainment industry, preferring stories which interest the public to those that are in the public interest. Investigative journalists are increasingly being replaced by celebrity columnists and presenters, and infotainment is rampant. News journalism is moving away from providing a forum for informed debate of key issues, and the explosion of newszak raises significant questions about the role of news media in a mature democracy. This is the first comprehensive examination of how developments in the organisation, financial structures and regulation of news media, combined with changes in journalism's composition and news-gathering practices, have resulted in shifting editorial standards in newspapers, radio and television.