News: The Politics of Illusion

Lance Bennett's News: The Politics of Illusion is a now-classic study, used as textbook in many political science departments, on how the interplay among American politics, journalists, and the public influences objectivity in news reporting and ultimately the democratic governance in the United States.

When first published in 1983, this political communication study was a milestone work, as Doris A. Graber from the University of Illinois at Chicago writes in the book's foreword. Bennett, professor of political science at the University of Washington, analyzes what determines which stories get published and which are ignored. He demonstrates that political images in news stories are artfully constructed visions of a reality that don't resemble what an unbiased observer might see. Bennett analyzes the politicians' continued efforts to control ...