Journalism Studies, Volume 5, Number 4, 2004, pp. 551–562

Book Reviews

The Troubles of Journalism: a critical look The Troubles of Journalism is a small book with at what’s right and wrong with the press, big goals. It purports to diagnose “the causes of 2nd edn the malaise that seems to grip the news business WILLIAM A. HACHTEN today,” as well as to catalog the major economic, social, cultural and technological changes in Women and Journalism American journalism; to evaluate the impact of DEBORAH CHAMBERS,LINDA STEINER AND CAROLE the changes and the criticism they have trig- FLEMING gered; and to suggest what the changes have meant for America and the world. Meget Stoerre End Du Tror: avislaeserne og From the anecdotal opening of the preface det internationale through 14 chapters on an assortment of issues facing modern journalism, William Hachten JENS HENRIK HAAHR AND HANS HENRIK HOLM brings the observations and insights of a lengthy career to bear in this book. In essence, it takes Mass Communication Ethics: decision the tone of a valedictory address, rich with both making in postmodern culture, 2nd edn concern and celebration. While the intended LARRY Z. LESLIE audience is never made explicit, the book’s ma- terial and tone suggest it will be most effective From Bevan to Blair: fifty years’ reporting with students and lay readers. If that is the case, from the political frontline then the book succeeds at its goals. GEOFFREY GOODMAN Upper-level undergraduate students and en- try-level graduate students who find their way Technology, Television, and Competition: to The Troubles of Journalism generally consider it the politics of digital TV both enlightening and highly readable. They JEFFREY A. HART find it exciting and eye-opening. Whether jour- nalism scholars or researchers have the same The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR reaction depends on how current they are with AL RIES AND LAURA RIES the issues of shifting news values, the impact of media concentration on public affairs coverage, trends in American coverage of international Critical Approaches to Television, 2nd edn news, and the history of journalism education. LEAH R. VANDE BERG,LAWRENCE A. WENNER The book’s presentation is uneven. The Trou- AND BRUCE E. GRONBECK bles of Journalism is at its best where it shows and at its weakest where it tells. Students who Media Organisation and Production are new to a particular topic need concrete ex- SIMON COTTLE (Ed.) amples to follow the point. Those who are fam- iliar with the topic often need the concrete The Troubles of Journalism: a critical look examples to grasp Hachten’s point or at least at what’s right and wrong with the press, suspend judgment while he completes his 2nd edn thought. WILLIAM A. HACHTEN The book is particularly weak when it strings Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, a quote from one famous media scholar to a 2001 quote from another media scholar. Turn the 205 pp., US$26 (pbk), 0-8058-3817-1 page, however, and authoritative, well-rea

ISSN 1461-670X print/ISSN 1469-9699 online/04/040551-12 © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/14616700412331296464 552 BOOK REVIEWS soned examples make the author’s case. On the Women and Journalism other hand, Hachten does a good job of high- DEBORAH CHAMBERS,LINDA STEINER AND CAROLE lighting important conclusions about media FLEMING performance and consumption from some of London and New York: Routledge, 2004 the big-name scholars in the field. For instance, 278 pp., £16.99 (pbk), 0-415-27445-1 he calls attention to Stephen Hess’s observation that the United States has really become one Women and Journalism is an impressively- nation with a two-tiered media consumption researched book bursting at the seams with system: those with resources want and have intriguing snippets and one which will sit access to more news about the world than they comfortably on many shelves—but it also made can consume, while the vast majority of Ameri- me question what I want in a textbook. cans get little news and consume less. Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner and Carole One of the more troubling aspects of the Fleming have provided us with a comprehen- book is the inconsistency in underlying as- sive and accessible look at women’s roles in sumptions. For example, while one chapter journalism. But for me, it is also an opportunity suggests that American journalism was more lost, as it fails to provide any original first-hand focused and more serious when Hachten and input from either UK or US practitioners. It’s a his peers were young, the next carefully pref- classic cuttings job—collecting lots of sources aces criticism by saying that in many ways, the together with very little gloss on. In fact, it’s press is better today. heavy on tell but light on show. Additionally, the book’s emphasis is some- The authors pursue a largely chronological times more Ameri-centric than some readers and historical path for the first few chapters, will be comfortable with. For instance, this au- looking at women journalists between 1850 and thor might quibble with the assertion that the 1945 and then during the post-war period. global media are essentially American, when From there they examine: education and train- the BBC and other British and international ing; the glass ceiling which has stopped many interests have played important parts in global women from progressing into the higher eche- communication for longer than the United lons of the media; newsroom culture; and chal- States and, in many places, are still considered lenges to sexism and discrimination. There are more reliable than US news products. also chapters focusing on alternative media, A reader with much familiarity with media women war correspondents, and “post-mod- history also is likely to quibble with some of ern” journalism and its implications for Hachten’s assertions about past practice and women. the context in which events or media changes On the plus side, the book is a treasure trove took place. of facts and the authors are to be commended As a valedictory, The Troubles of Journalism on the prodigious amount of research they would be Hachten’s to define, but one might clearly have undertaken. I was particularly fas- suggest that there are issues of race, ethnicity cinated by early cases of investigative journal- and gender facing the America press that are ism by 19th-century women, such as Annie not reflected in the book’s pages. In the wake of Besant who exposed the appalling conditions of September 11, it is also tempting to be troubled match girls working in sweatshops in London by the underlying complacency about the blind in 1888. And never mind the old school tie; spots of the American model of world news C. P. Scott advanced the careers of UK women coverage that insulate US policy makers and journalists from the 1920s—but only if they citizens from a grasp of harsh, uncomfortable were his wife’s university friends, or women he realities about the vast chasms between Ameri- met socially! The authors comment: “However, can thought and culture and the cultures of the the proportion of women who resorted to per- rest of the world. sonal contacts to get a job created the im- CATHERINE CASSARA pression that only ‘well-connected’ women Bowling Green State University USA were suitable to be journalists, and this created BOOK REVIEWS 553 another barrier for women from working-class network! And in the “post-modern journalism” backgrounds” (p. 27). I was also unaware of the section, the authors mention porn publisher fact that the BBC didn’t employ married or Richard Desmond’s takeover of the Daily Ex- divorced women until the 1960s. press, commenting that: “…Desmond was intent However, the book’s rather rigid structure on reporting only ‘positive news’ in the Daily (UK situation … US situation…), plus the de- Express. This story demonstrates the moral and cision to shoehorn print, broadcast and online professional dilemmas that women journalists, media into what is a fairly compact book, and indeed their male colleagues, now face causes some problems with both flow and rep- more or less routinely in the news media indus- etition. Marjorie Proops, one of the best-known try” (p. 216). This is a worrisome blanket state- English journalists of the 1950s and 1960s, first ment which, whilst acknowledging Desmond’s appears in a section sub-headed “women at undesirable influence on the newspaper indus- British newspapers,” where her feature writing try, tars every other newspaper with the same is mentioned. For many readers, though, she brush. was far better known as an agony aunt—but And in other cases the authors display a lack this angle doesn’t appear until a later section. of understanding of the print industry. The And the same goes for The Guardian’s Mary authors are right to say that print publications Stott, one of the most renowned of women’s can be cheap and easy to produce, but the pages editors—but one who had a distinctly reason many failed was simply because stan- subversive approach to them! Stott pops up in dards were woefully low, or because it was— several places when she could quite usefully and still is—virtually impossible to get the have been profiled in one section. non-mainstream magazines or papers dis- This begs the question as to why the authors tributed widely. chose not to examine certain writers or publica- I felt the book was a missed opportunity to tions in more depth. They have culled together showcase both women journalists and publica- colossal amounts of information from myriad tions. It provides a great starting point in an sources, but actually do very little with it. As area well worth study, but lacks the depth to far as I can see, the only first-hand research contribute further. I read the book with the they conducted was phoning a small sample of feeling that the authors were standing at a UK educators to gauge the proportion of men distance and never quite engaging with some to women in university journalism depart- fascinating and challenging material. ments. The book screams out for case studies of SHARON WHEELER key journalists and magazines. For instance, the University of Gloucestershire UK discussion of UK feminist publication Spare Rib would have been greatly enhanced by asking those involved with it—including influential figures such as Rosie Boycott—to look back Meget Stoerre End Du Tror: avislaeserne og with the benefit of hindsight. det internationale There are also some problematic throwaway JENS HENRIK HAAHR AND HANS HENRIK HOLM lines that both need and deserve more analysis. A˚ rhus, Denmark: Forlaget Ajour, 2003 The controversy over whether we need 208 pp., Dkr 248 (pbk), ISBN 87-89235-84-3 women’s pages is glossed over in about half a page, whilst there is a particularly crass com- In recent years, scholars in media, journalism ment about women sports reporters’ doing the and cultural studies have turned to the concept job because they presumably like sports. I can of globalisation as a way of describing a sweep- confirm from personal experience that sports ing set of changes to our experience. To put it reporting is one of the most difficult areas for glibly, globalisation has become one of the women to break into, and those of us who have grand narratives of the postmodern age. Al- done it had to prove an encyclopaedic knowl- though we have moved away from overexcited edge of sports to break through the old boys’ metaphors like McLuhan’s much-recycled 554 BOOK REVIEWS

“global village”, scholarly discourse still reflects ested in news that is relevant to their everyday a useful curiosity about how the global flow of lives and deals with the near and the local. To capital, technologies, images and people affect the local reader, international news gains our cultural landscapes. significance insofar as it impacts on their every- A new Danish book, Meget Stoerre End Du day lives. Tror: avislaeserne og det internationale, cautions Haahr and Holm set out to investigate us to examine our enthusiastic embrace of whether these ideal types correspond to the globalisation as an explanatory framework, and practices of Danish newspaper readers, and suggests that we need a more complicated Chapters 4, 5 and 6 report on the findings of model for conceiving of the ways in which the their studies. Their studies show that readers global intersects with the local. The authors are both local and global. On one level, this is work from the premise that we are living in a perhaps not surprising. Ideal types are just that; globalised world, and set out to investigate they reflect theoretical heuristics that simplify whether this means that we have become messier realities. However, the specific details globalised newspaper readers. Written by Jens of the studies are both fascinating and make a Henrik Haahr and Hans Henrik Holm, it looks real contribution to our knowledge of newspa- at how Danish newspaper readers approach per readership. Danish readers, Haahr and international news. The title of the book trans- Holm suggest, find international news interest- lates to Much Larger Than You Think: newspaper ing, stimulating and relevant, and spend on readers and the international. Athough the book is average 30 per cent of their reading time on this published in Danish and about Danish newspa- material. However, the readers also indicate per audiences, it contains a great deal of ma- that local news is both the highest priority and terial that is of interest to international scholars the category of news on which they spend most and practitioners. of their time. Readers agree that they have a Chapter 1 introduces the book, which is responsibility to stay informed about inter- based on a series of empirical studies, including national events. The international material that a country-wide survey, a series of focus groups they find most important is news about natural and a content analysis of international coverage disasters, the environment and everyday life in in Jyllandsposten, the largest circulation broad- other countries. This is surprising because, as sheet newspaper. Chapters 2 and 3 set up the Haahr and Holm argue, such news stories are central theoretical framework: that of the oppo- unlikely to impact their own lives. By contrast, sition between the global and the local reader, readers are not particularly interested in reports as ideal types of newspaper audiences imag- on international politics, economics and busi- ined by journalists and scholars alike. To the ness—the news about elites that dominates the global reader, or “Homo Globus”, geographical agenda. Haahr and Holm suggest that while and cultural distance are no longer central, and the readers live their lives locally, they have their experience is instead shaped by the reali- global awareness (p. 184). Their priorities chal- ties of globalisation. They see themselves as lenge the judgements of newspaper editors, part of a world that extends beyond the and show that readers are selective and resist- boundaries of their nation state. Their con- ant. sumption of news is based on their individual In explaining readers’ engagement with in- interests. In the eyes of the global reader, sto- ternational and local news, the authors suggest ries about what happens in Japan and Africa that they are driven by a “hierarchy of needs” may be as relevant and interesting as ones that (p. 98). This appears to me a limited theoretical report on local or national events. approach which ultimately risks advancing a The local reader, or “Homo Loculus”, on the simplistic and individualist understanding of other hand, reacts to globalisation by develop- audiences in a book that otherwise calls our ing a growing consciousness of their local, na- attention to the complicated nature of newspa- tional and ethnic identities and communities. per readership. In fact, the authors critique Consequently, the local reader is most inter- cultural studies approaches to audiences for BOOK REVIEWS 555 their lack of a solid empirical basis (pp. 103–4). I ethics have developed throughout history. believe the book could have benefited from en- Larry Z. Leslie, an associate professor at the gaging with such insights, which suggest that University of South Florida, also provides an we are not merely utilitarian and rationalistic in understanding of the frameworks for ethical our consumption of mass media, but also gain decision-making that can be used when teach- pleasures from it. ing classes with students drawn from all of the Chapter 7 features a historical content analysis communications areas and with many different of Jyllandsposten, tracing changes in the paper’s backgrounds. reporting of international news over the past 40 Because I have had a personal research inter- years. It would have been interesting to see a est in ethics—and in particular, in examining content analysis of all the Danish national broad- the ethical requirements for building and main- sheets during the same period, to be able to taining relationships—I have wrestled for a generalise about changes in international news number of years with the problem of identify- coverage. After all, Jyllandsposten prides itself on ing the constants that can be taught students. being Denmark’s international newspaper, and Honesty and fairness have been the ethical val- so it is perhaps not surprising that the authors ues upon which philosophers seem to share find its coverage has shifted in that direction agreement the most. Yet, both of these values over the past few decades. Because of its narrow are shaped by self-interest, which creates a new focus this was the least compelling chapter. dilemma for ethical performance in a global By focusing on readers of the broadsheet society where social concepts vary. press, which coexists with vibrant tabloid and Leslie handles that problem by first placing local press traditions, the book necessarily the identification of ethical values in a historical glossed over some of the complexities of Danish context. Philosophers from Plato to Jean-Paul newspaper readership. Indeed, it is possible that Sartre are identified with brief histories of the readers of the national broadsheet press may be lives of each, followed by an explanation of a self-selected sample of more self-consciously their philosophies. Are some philosophers and “global readers”. scholars missed? Of course! The body of litera- This book ultimately makes an important con- ture on ethics is immense. I would like to have tribution by reminding journalists and aca- seen Confucius in the list because of his demics alike that we should be critical of any identification of “reciprocity” as the single most sweeping claims about audiences and their important rule by which humans should live. needs, interests and interpretations, as well as The list also would benefit from including Erik about globalisation and its consequences. Only Fromm, who identified the concept of fairness: solid empirical research, like that which forms the concept that I give you goods and services the basis for this book, can tell us convincing equal in value to what you give me as the stories about real audiences’ complicated en- capitalistic system’s “greatest gift to the world.” gagement with media texts. But I found Leslie had the principles I was seeking covered in his citation of other philoso- KARIN WAHL JORGENSEN phers, which will make it easy to expand on the Cardiff University UK topic in classes. Although great depth is not involved, Leslie Mass Communication Ethics: decision also provides some understanding of the making in postmodern culture, 2nd edn influence of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and LARRY Z. LESLIE Buddhism. There’s enough to initiate student Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin interest in perhaps writing research papers on Company, 2004 the ethical differences among religions, es- 326 pp., US$59.96 (pbk), 0395904900 pecially in view of current Middle Eastern and far-Eastern religious conflicts as to what is true At long last, a single book on ethics that allows and what is fair and how differing concepts students to understand how our concepts of result in ethical conflicts. Certainly, enhancing 556 BOOK REVIEWS our understanding of these ethical differences As a man of the Left, and a friend of leading has new relevance today. Left-wing rebels like the creator of the National Case studies are provided to facilitate class Health Service, Nye Bevan, and former Labour discussion in virtually all the communication Party leader Michael Foot, Goodman does not areas. While Leslie missed the opportunity to hide where his sympathies lay in the debates point out to students the importance of ethics in that kept Labour out of power in the 1950s and maintaining and harmonizing personal rela- caused it to lose power after the disillusion- tionships—an exercise that can bring home the ment surrounding Harold Wilson’s govern- relationship of public relations and ethics—his ments in the 1960s and 1970s. By backing his case studies are relevant and can easily be heroes, he was on the “wrong” side on the two supplemented with current issues. I also like big issues that fatally divided Labour, unilat- the summary provided of ethical decision-mak- eral disarmament and trade union reform. ing tools provided in the philosophies he cites. Nye Bevan broke with the Left by refusing to This much-needed, readable, understandable go down the unilateral road. Goodman does and student-friendly book should easily earn a not reproach his hero for his realpolitik but thumbs-up from most teachers. instead blames Hugh Gaitskell and his support- ers for blocking the Welshman’s “rightful” rise MELVIN L. SHARPE to the leadership of the Labour Party. His Ball State University USA venom is directed not at Gaitskell himself but at his most charismatic supporter, the sophisti- cated Roy Jenkins, later Labour Chancellor and then founder of the Social Democratic Party From Bevan to Blair: fifty years’ reporting (SDP), when Labour looked on the verge of from the political frontline committing electoral suicide in the early 1980s. GEOFFREY GOODMAN Goodman blames Jenkins for undermining London: Pluto Press, 2003 Harold Wilson after devaluation in 1967 and 287 pp., £18.99 (hbk), 074532178X then, somewhat oddly, for lacking the real killer instinct to finish Wilson off and losing out This book is about another time and place, to the older and more wily James Callaghan pre-dating Margaret Thatcher and her political when Wilson surprised everyone, including coup of 1975, when she snatched British Con- Goodman, by voluntarily retiring from the servative Party leadership from the One Nation premiership at the age of 60 in 1976. Tories whom she derided as “wets”. From 1979 What Goodman seems to find unforgivable, to 1990, as Britain’s first woman Prime Minis- from an old Marxist viewpoint, is that Jenkins, ter, she changed Britain forever by burying the the son of a Welsh miner who became a Mem- post-war political consensus and socialism in ber of Parliament and Parliamentary Private the Labour Party along with it. Secretary to Prime Minister Clement Atlee, This is a personal memoir by a man who dropped his Welsh accent when he went up to thoroughly disapproved of Mrs Thatcher and Oxford and came down a man of letters who all her works. Geoffrey Goodman, the British found Goodman’s trade union chums far too Daily Mirror’s long-serving industrial editor, rough and ready. What Goodman does not looks back at nearly 50 years in and around mention is that it was Jenkins who missed London’s Fleet Street and its national media. A Labour’s best chance of reforming the trade former Communist, and still describing himself unions before Mrs Thatcher chose “the nuclear as a Marxist Socialist at the grand old age of 83, option” in the 1980s. Prime Minister Harold he spent his whole Fleet Street career covering Wilson and Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle the trade unions and the Labour Party for three only dropped their plans for legislation in 1969 largely sympathetic newspapers: the News after Jenkins, then the powerful Chancellor, left Chronicle, the Daily Herald and lastly the Mirror, them in the lurch and switched sides. Other when it was still Britain’s biggest selling daily. accounts also identify Jim Callaghan as the BOOK REVIEWS 557 most disloyal Cabinet member, portraying him television (HDTV) and digital television (DTV) as working from within to scupper the reforms. in the United States, Europe and Japan between But because Goodman himself was against le- 1984 and 1997. Although this work covers simi- gal curbs, Callaghan escapes the kind of criti- lar territory to Dupagne and Seel’s (1998) High- cism reserved for the “class traitor” Jenkins. definition Television: a global perspective, it focuses Jenkins, of course, had the last laugh. His SDP specifically on HDTV and DTV technology pol- paved the way for Tony Blair’s post-socialist icy. New Labour party, a pragmatic post-Thatcher Those readers who have followed the evol- group which promised to keep Middle England ution of advanced television will reminisce sweet by not betraying its Thatcherite inherit- fondly about such classic episodes as Robert ance. Mosbacher’s “Uncle Sugar” remark (p. 111), For me, the most painful part of the book is which heralded the end of HDTV industrial Goodman’s apology for working, during his policy initiatives in the United States, and Aki- final two years as industrial editor at the Mir- masa Egawa’s “digital TV” comment (p. 199), ror, alongside that larger-than-life crooked which marked the beginning of the shift toward newspaper proprietor Robert Maxwell. Good- an all-digital HDTV system in Japan. Those man, who began working life a poor, self-edu- readers who are new to the subject will learn cated Jewish boy from the back streets of about the major events that have dominated the Manchester, stresses that the Maxwell formative years of these technologies. Hart re- “monster” came out of the Holocaust in which lies on a combination of personal interviews most of Maxwell’s Jewish family perished in and secondary sources to retrace this history. Central Europe. For this, he forgave him much. Technology, Television, and Competition is div- Like many Mirror executives at the time, he ided into 10 chapters. Chapter 1 sets the stage forgave far too much. They bowed to an Em- for the entire book. Among other things, Hart peror with no clothes. argues that “digital convergence” was a pri- It meant a sad end to a lengthy and worthy mary motivating force in HDTV and DTV pol- career in newspapers. Maxwell almost de- icy debates. At the end of the book, he even stroyed the Mirror while Rupert Murdoch’s Sun coins the term “digitalism” as “an ideological became Britain’s biggest-selling daily whilst belief in the superiority of digital technology worshipping at the feet of Mrs Thatcher and over analog technology” (p. 227). celebrating the “loadsamoney” society of the Hart also briefly mentions several useful 1980s, a far cry indeed from Clem Atlee’s economic and regulatory theories, such as the Socialist New Jerusalem of 1945 with which concept of “creative destruction,” to explain Goodman’s account begins. DTV developments. Schumpeter (1950) defines creative construction as the capitalistic process TOM CONDON of industrial mutation “that incessantly revolu- Freelance journalist and former industrial tionizes the economic structure from within, in- and political correspondent, London, UK cessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one” (p. 83). This displacement of old interests by new interests can be initially Technology, Television, and Competition: resisted before the industry bows down to com- the politics of digital TV petitive pressures and accepts institutional JEFFREY A. HART changes. DTV applications of such constructs New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004 could include the misgivings of US broadcast- 248 pp., US$60 (hbk), 0-521-82624-1 ers about the cost of HDTV implementation in the late 1990s and the Japanese broadcasting Authored by Jeffrey Hart, a political science industry’s reluctance to embrace digital tele- professor at Indiana University, Technology, vision in the mid-1990s. Television, and Competition is the latest book to Chapter 2 offers background information chronicle the development of high-definition about the history and regulation of broad- 558 BOOK REVIEWS casting in the United States, Britain, Germany, would sound the death knell for the computer- France, Italy and Japan. For readers familiar compatible progressive format in DTV sets. His with broadcast systems outside the United prediction did not materialize, though. Today, States, this chapter is optional. while NBC and CBS air their HDTV programs Chapter 3 prefaces the industrial policy com- in 1080 lines interlaced, ABC and Fox use the ponent of Chapter 5 and highlights the trends 720 lines progressive format. of the consumer electronics industry in the Chapter 8 explains the DTV initiatives in three regions. Chapter 4 reviews the history of Europe and Japan, including the emergence of the Japanese Hi-Vision production standard the European Digital Video Broadcasting and its associated MUSE transmission system, (DVD) group as a prominent industry-led re- as well as the role of the Ministry of Inter- gional standardization body and Japan’s reluc- national Trade and Industry and the Ministry tant decision to turn away from analog HDTV of Posts and Telecommunications in promoting and embrace all-digital HDTV. In that chapter, HDTV technology. An interesting figure in that Table 8.1 provides useful historical figures chapter is Japan’s estimated spending on about the number of Hi-Vision receivers, the HDTV R&D: a staggering $708 million between number of receivers with MUSE-NTSC de- 1970 and 1989. coders and the number of wide-screen NTSC Chapter 5 discusses the US standardization receivers between 1996 and 2000. process of HDTV in the United States and US Chapter 9 examines how such computer stan- attempts to adopt industrial policies promoting dards as TCP/IP and HTML differ in accept- HDTV. These efforts came to a halt when ance from DTV standards. The author Robert Mosbacher, the Bush Administration’s concludes that, in the case of these computer Secretary of Commerce, rejected a proposal standards, there was an obvious attempt on the from the American Electronics Association for part of the computer programming community substantial direct subsidies and when Craig to rise above national politics and involve as Fields, the head of the Defense Advanced Re- many people from different backgrounds and search Agency (DARPA) and a stalwart sup- countries as possible in the design cycle. porter of government involvement in HDTV The last chapter summarizes the findings of technologies development, was demoted in the previous chapters and draws conclusions May 1990. about the outcomes of the HDTV and DTV Chapter 6 retraces the EC policymaking pro- debates in the triad of regions. One of Hart’s cess of the multiplexed analog components central points is that “The difficulties of nego- (MAC) standards from the 1986 directive to the tiating DTV standards in all three regions were 1992 directive. Hart concludes that the HD- at least partially the result of institutional iner- MAC approach in Europe failed to gain politi- tia and errors in the re-regulation of the digi- cal and industry traction because of the EC tally converging media industries” (p. 231). “Commission’s manifest inability to overcome Unfortunately, the author does not revisit at the the resistance of private broadcasters and skep- end of the book how the theoretical frame- tical governments” (p. 146). works cited in the Introduction could contrib- Chapter 7 extends the content of Chapter 5 ute to explaining the DTV industry and policy by recounting the inter-industry squabbles sur- end results. rounding the adoption of the Grand Alliance Technology, Television, and Competition is well DTV system in the United States. Readers inter- written and has clear historical value, but it is ested in these matters should also consult disappointing that Hart chose to stop his cover- Brinkley (1997) who detailed the testing process age of the issues in 1997. Because the book was of terrestrial advanced television systems and published in 2004, it is reasonable to expect that the subsequent formation of the Grand Al- an additional five years (1998–2002) be ex- liance. As early as 1993, Apple’s Mike Liebhold plored. Chronicling DTV developments and argued before Congress that the endorsement policies is a challenging and merciless task of both interlaced and progressive scanning because the technology continues to progress BOOK REVIEWS 559 constantly. Therefore, it is normal that some They watch or read advertisements because information be out of date even before such a they’re creative, and to be entertained.” book is released. However, leaving out a span Advertising executives want to win awards, of five years seems an eternity in the DTV and the way to do that, they have learned, is to environment. be creative. However, at some point in time, a shift occurred and advertising agencies started MICHEL DUPAGNE to measure their ads’ effectiveness by how many University of Miami USA awards they won and not by how much prod- uct the ads sold. This started the fall of the ad References industry, according to the authors. Brinkley, J. (1997) Defining Vision: the battle for the future of The Rieses go on to present a seemingly television, New York: Harcourt Brace. endless number of case studies that strengthen Dupagne, M. and Seel, P. B. (1998) High-definition Television: a global perspective, Ames: Iowa State University Press. their argument by showing how successful an Schumpeter, J. A. (1950) Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, advertising campaign can be in comparison to 3rd edn, New York: Harper & Brothers. the product’s success (or lack thereof). The case I’ll describe to make this point is the Nissan commercial in which a look-alike G.I. The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR Joe drives off with a look-alike Barbie while a AL RIES AND LAURA RIES look-alike Ken is left behind as Van Halen New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002 sings “You Really Got Me.” I liked that com- 295 pp., $24.95 (hbk), 0-06-008198-8 mercial, although until I read the case, I couldn’t have told you it was a Nissan com- Let’s start with a hard truth: This is an incred- mercial. That year, the ad agency won a slew ibly self-serving book. The authors, Al Ries of awards, and Adweek magazine called the and his daughter Laura, own a rather high-end spot “the most talked-about ad campaign of Atlanta consulting firm that makes a great 1996.” That year, Nissan’s sales dropped 3 deal of money telling companies how best to percent while Toyota was up 7 percent and market their products. If these companies con- Honda up 6 percent. Do any of us remember tinue to do things the way they always have, their advertisements? Ries & Ries doesn’t get called in and the au- What public relations lacks in this type of thors don’t make as much money. creativity, it makes up for, say the authors, in That said, this book still should be required credibility. A typical public relations program reading in both advertising and public rela- may start out slowly, but it builds momentum tions classes, and by those teaching such as it goes along—the exact opposite of adver- classes. The main premise of the book is that tising, which usually starts with a big splash. public relations, not advertising, builds Public relations also uses third parties (read: brands. Advertising has lost its credibility in the media) to get its message across to the minds of consumers, say the Rieses, consumers. Whereas consumers don’t believe whereas public relations has managed to keep advertising because they know it is self- its worth to companies by using the tactics of serving, they will believe what they read or obtaining third-party endorsements and posi- see in the media. If a piece on the 6 o’clock tive media coverage, both of which still serve news reports that an automobile model is to attract consumers’ attention. unsafe, all the advertising in the world isn’t They claim that advertising has outlived its going to convince a potential buyer that it is functionality, and, like all things that outlive safe. their function, advertising has become art. As Again, the authors use cases to make their my students told me after reading this book: point. Volvo doesn’t hold the safety “position” “No one believes advertising. They don’t in auto owners’ minds because of advertising watch and read advertisements to make edu- (it was originally advertised as being cated decisions about products or services. “durable”) but because that’s the position the 560 BOOK REVIEWS media gave it. The auto company has been of television on its audience is a constant con- smart enough to adopt that “position” in its cern for our society. advertising. The Internet is now edging in on the type of For those in advertising who are concerned, mass reach that television has enjoyed for the book does not totally negate the worth of years, yet television still draws a critical eye. advertising. In fact, the authors write that Critical Approaches to Television goes beyond “advertising has a brilliant future if it accepts what most people consider television criticism its true role in the life cycle of a brand”—that of and takes a more scientific approach, beginning maintaining brand position once public rela- with the basics. Authors Vande Berg, Wenner tions has built the brand identity. The Rieses and Gronbeck dive into the critical analysis of are advocating that advertising should adopt a television with all of their homework done. different role, because its current role isn’t The book is divided into five parts, with each working. part getting progressively more complicated: I realize that some people in public relations the first gives the reader some background on will reject this book out of hand because it deals television criticism; the second discusses some solely with public relations in a marketing set- types of criticism dealing with television text, ting. But as a public relations academic, I know meaning the sensory signs the audience re- where my students get jobs and what they do. sponds to. The third deals with a critical look at No matter where they go to work—from non- the production context of television studies, the profit to agency to corporate—they end up, in fourth deals with how the audience actually one way or another, “pitching” to the media. responds to television, and the fifth discusses And that pitching involves a brand. The Girl the ethical considerations of this type of criti- Scouts (organization for girls) is a brand in the cism. same way BlueCross BlueShield (health in- This book takes baby steps in explaining the surance) is a brand or Nestea (powdered tea) is critical analysis of television. This is necessary a brand; it’s only the product that changes. considering all the material covered. This may The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR might discourage some readers, and can also be dis- be self-serving, but it also serves the fields of couraging to those with a genuine interest in advertising and public relations in raising some the material. It seems to take some patience to serious questions about the roles each plays for get to the substance of each chapter, and the an organization. theoretical discussions can be overwhelming. While it is understood that any valid theoretical LYNN ZOCH discussion must be based in sound research, it University of Miami USA may take some a second reading to digest all the information contained in this book. The activities at the end of each chapter are a welcome break from the reading and help keep Critical Approaches to Television, 2nd edn the reader engaged in the material. Also, the LEAH R. VANDE BERG,LAWRENCE A. WENNER examples of critical writing complement the AND BRUCE E. GRONBECK discussion. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin As the title implies, this book does not in Company, 2004 itself criticize television; rather it serves to ex- 532 pp., US$66.36 (pbk), 0618206744 plain different types of critical analysis of the medium. While certain programs are used for The medium of television is not without its illustration, the book does not single out any critics, and rightly so. Those of us who grew up one program. In fact, the variation of programs in the United States have a hard time imagining discussed works like a history lesson. Readers a world where television is purely the voice of can catch most of the programs discussed with the people, not the advertisers. As a result of no more that a basic cable subscription and an our commercial system, the study of the effects accurate television listing. This helps bring the BOOK REVIEWS 561 subject matter into perspective for the reader. cause so many of these classic studies used the The chapter discussing the television coverage processes of journalism as their focus, and an of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, is updating of our insights is overdue. a great example of this. Of the nine case studies in Media Organisation Overall, this is a very comprehensive book on and Production four will be of direct interest for television criticism. There is very little, if any- journalism studies and a further two examine thing, left out of the text that would leave the the wider context of contemporary media. Two reader searching for answers. As a textbook, of these studies, Timothy Majorbanks’ analysis there is a lot of information for a class to of News Corporation and Lucy Kung-Shankle- consume in a semester. Some instructors may man’s comparison of the BBC and CNN, are find it necessary to work with certain segments likely to become useful reference points for of the book and leave the rest as reference future work, and excellent case studies for jour- material. The book is designed to accommodate nalism education. There are also two studies of this. neglected areas of journalism: Eamonn Forde’s I am a fan of television. I have been all my discussion of music journalism and Julian life. Anyone who reads this book will find it Matthew’s exploration of children’s news are hard to watch television in the same way again. informed overviews of these important niche Although I do not think their enjoyment of this formats. Both are clear and straightforward ac- medium will be affected, their perspective will counts that make sound summaries of their definitely change. topics and strong links to the human processes of production. ROCKY DAILEY While the studies of TV and film co-pro- Virginia Commonwealth Univearsity USA duction in Canada and of natural history TV will perhaps be of less interest to readers of Journalism Studies, Paddy Scannell’s specula- Media Organisation and Production tions on the nature of live-ness in radio has SIMON COTTLE (Ed.) implications for contemporary radio and TV London: Sage, 2003 news, particularly in an age of 24-hour rolling 203 pp., £18.99 (pbk), 0761974946, £60 (hbk), news. Scannell’s short chapter on the BBC’s 0761974938 Brain Trust from the middle of the last century may seem rather historically specific, but what As any journalist knows, the organisation one it tells us about the levels of organisation and works for is a major determinant of what is how innovations in programming are managed reported and what is written. Given this, de- is invaluable for other historical moments in- tailed analysis of how media organisations are cluding our own. organised and how media products are made The introductory chapter from the editor, has been somewhat neglected in recent schol- and the following two chapters—one on global arly work and education. Simon Cottle’s edited mainstream media from Robert McChesney collection is therefore a welcome reminder of and one on alternative media production from the importance of this area, and a useful book Chris Atton—provide an excellent context to for those of us who teach. the more specific studies that follow. The glo- The book is part of a larger series, also edited bal–local relationship is one that is in need of by Cottle, and includes some clear, focused and fuller exploration, and has obvious implications contemporary studies from Sage publications. It for new journalism in an age of globalising is also one of a slew of books on organisational technologies like the Internet and the financial studies and media political economy that have fragility of the independent local press. recently added considerably to the resources in Helpful notes support each chapter, and a this area. This is an important development number of articles include fairly up-to-date because so many of the existing studies are now statistics or other data. The chapter summaries over 20 years old. Equally, it is important be- made each case study very useful for under- 562 BOOK REVIEWS graduate students, and I found the single bibli- over-generalisations about the current state of ography at the end of the book an effective way media organisations. The studies do, however, to organise such material, one that allowed for over-privilege television, and leave contem- varied avenues for further reading and for porary radio and converging communication more advanced study. technologies of consumption somewhat ne- With my background in political economy glected. It is, though, over-burdening one and culture of production studies, I would have book to expect it to hold sole responsibility for liked to have seen the editor commissioning a wide and important area of scholarship. more detailed analyses, and some theorising on Overall, this is an accessible contribution to the nature of production and media organis- the field and the combination of some primary ation. The articles share a tendency to the de- research and student-friendly writing and fea- scriptive, rather than analytical. I am sure more tures will make it popular with both students developed studies could have been included and lecturers. without any loss of accessibility. It is certainly encouraging to see such a TIM WALL diversity in cases and a healthy avoidance of University of Central England in Birmingham UK