What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism
“The crisis in journalism is a hot topic for media scholars, and new books analyzing the situation are appearing monthly. Many cover familiar ground—the growth of the Internet, loss of advertising revenue, increasing corporate ownership, and changed reading behavior. Fuller, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former editor and publisher of theChicago Tribune, takes a different tack and explores how recent discoveries in neuroscience explain why traditional professional journalism no longer meets the needs of contemporary audiences. He argues that in an information-rich environment, the human brain will be attracted to ‘emotionally significant stimuli,’ or to sensational news rather than objective coverage. He recommends a complete rethinking of the objectivity standards and the development of a new rhetoric for news. VERDICT: Fuller’s advocacy of both a redefinition of news and a more emotionally rich approach to its coverage will be controversial for many. Journalists and communication scholars trying to understand what is happening to news will want to read this book.”(Library Journal)“This is one of the most interesting, innovative, and important new books on journalism in ten years, and it could not come at a better time for practicing journalists, the new cadre of citizen journalists in development, and the public affairs community as a whole. It will not only serve as a guide to journalists as the author intends, but also as an important guide for the general public, now faced with the need to sort through the messages that bombard them every day. “--Bill Kovach, Founding Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists(Bill Kovach)“A masterful and stunning piece of work. In attempting to explain once and for all (scores have tried) the causes and context of the decline and fall of organized journalism, Jack Fuller ranges out from the usual terrain across the sciences, the humanities, and even the arts. He synthesizes a gardener's delight of startling, up-to-date scientific and medical findings about how the brain works with diverse branches of philosophy, the scholarship of storytelling, the self-immolation of the news business, the emergence of the digital age, and more. And he does so authoritatively and persuasively.”--Michael Janeway, Columbia University School of Journalism(Michael Janeway)“There is no more important or exciting thinker about journalism than Jack Fuller. For anyone who cares about the future of news,What is Happening to Newsarrives just in time. While the explosion in media choices is well documented, the ways in which the human brain is responding have been little noticed. Using  the same reporting skill that earlier earned him a Pulitzer Prize, Fuller turns to neuroscience to provide a fascinating explanation for why news of conflict or celebrity, for instance, crowds out more sophisticated or subtle dispatches. The stakes are enormous, not only for journalists struggling to recapture dwindling audiences, but for audiences struggling to hold onto quality journalism.”--Ann Marie Lipinski, former editor,Chicago Tribune