How the Cold War Broke the News

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A01=Barbie Zelizer
American journalism
Author_Barbie Zelizer
Barbie Zelizer
Category=JBCT
Category=JPH
Cold War
culture
democracy
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
how the Cold War broke the news
Journalism
journalism during war
journalists
media
national identity
polarization
politics
reporting during war
the issues with modern journalism
the news
the press
wartime journalism

Product details

  • ISBN 9781509566372
  • Weight: 499g
  • Dimensions: 158 x 231mm
  • Publication Date: 26 Sep 2025
  • Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Most of us would agree that American journalism has problems. Rushed reporting and thin coverage. Timidity in the face of adversity. Polarized perspectives and euphemistic language. Groupthink about complicated events.

While much blame has been levelled at big tech, Barbie Zelizer traces the decline of American journalism to the Cold War. She makes the bold claim that Cold War-era practices are to blame for the state of journalism today, undermining a once trusted media environment. This groundbreaking book shows how journalism's current problems can be traced back to customs developed over half a century ago and demonstrates how they've continued to upend journalism, journalists and the news ever since.

We all need a news environment that works. This book tells us why it doesn't and offers a plan to make it better. If our news is better, so is our democracy. And, if our democracy is better, we may be too.

Barbie Zelizer is Raymond Williams Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Media at Risk at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

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