Taking Journalism Seriously
News and the Academy
- Barbie Zelizer - University of Pennsylvania, USA
Taking Journalism Seriously provides a critical mapping of the field of journalism studies among academics across the different fields that have come to look at journalism. The book calls for a realignment of the goalposts through which journalism has traditionally been conceptualised, inviting others to continue thinking anew about what journalism is, which tools are used in its evaluation, and why scholars see it as they do.
"Barbie Zelizer provides enormous service to students and scholars with this comprehensive and highly persuasive critique of the literature in and about journalism as both process and practice, as a profession and an industry. Zelizer takes a step back to look at what we know about news, and she does not pull her punches in pointing out what we do not know."
"Zelizer's encyclopedic review of scholarly studies of journalism fills an important need for researchers, and comparing that scholarship across disciplines, generations and countries makes it even more valuable. . . Her analyses will be invaluable for media research and should also spur interest in journalism among the social science and other disciplines she studied. . .The book is an impressive achievement."
"Taking Journalism Seriously is a refulgent analysis of the condition of journalism studies. Zelizer has produced a critical and lasting contribution to our understanding of the position of news, journalism and journalism practice within the disciplines of political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, language and cultural studies. This excellent book is an engaging and sophisticated treatise on both the historical and contemporary theoretical perspectives of journalism scholarship."
"This is the one-stop book for getting to grips with journalism. I can't imagine anyone seriously interested in journalism not reading this superb critical summary."
"This is an exciting book. Barbie Zelizer brings a multifaceted perspective to bear on journalism, illuminating its contours from a number of disciplinary vantage points. It is essential reading for everyone concerned with journalism studies today."
"This is indeed an encyclopedic overview of just about every important English-language academic inquiry into how and why journalism matters. The book will be indispensable without a doubt."
This book will be extremely useful in helping us to provide a bridge between the vocational and critical elements of our course. This is an accessible work which will help our students to frame journalism more academically.
