Overview

"In an age when the American public relies more on television for its news than any other medium, Edward Jay Epstein's detailed, probing analysis of the decision-making process in network news organizations has achieved the status of a classic. Mr. Epstein shows how internal corporate policy and budget requirements shape the direction of television news coverage. What we see on the network evening news, he demonstrates, does not mirror reality because TV's essential aim is not to inform but to excite viewers enough to induce them to ""stay tuned."" ""The best book ever written about any aspect of television.""—Richard Schickel. ""The book is burnished with insights on virtually every page. Epstein's analysis seems to me incontestable, and is offered with great cogency, elegance, and sophistication.""—Stephen J. Whitfield, Brandeis University. ""A complex, fascinating book....Mr. Epstein shows that no educated citizen should rely exclusively or principally on TV news, but also that none should fail to watch it.""—Wall Street Journal."

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9781566633000

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Reviews

A complex, fascinating book...Epstein shows that no educated citizen should rely exclusively on the news, but also that none should fail to watch it.--Edmund Fuller Wall Street Journal

A complex, fascinating book...Epstein shows that no educated citizen should rely exclusively on the news, but also that none should fail to watch it.--Edmund Fuller The Wall Street Journal

The book is burnished with insights, cogency, elegance, and sophistication. -- Stephen J. Whitfield Brandeis University A complex, fascinating book...Epstein shows that no educated citizen should rely exclusively on the news, but also that none should fail to watch it. -- Edmund Fuller The Wall Street Journal The best book ever written about any aspect of television. -- Richard Schickel

It was Richard Salant, president of CBS News, who unwittingly titled Epstein's latest if not greatest foray into investigative reporting: Our reports do not cover stories from their point of view. They are presenting them from nobody's point of view. When all is competently said and done, when all the hefty and quite unoriginal questions are disposed of - what after all is news? what controls if any can be established to minimize personal bias in the news gathering, editing, and reporting processes? how to deal with the news fraternity's homogeneous sociology of knowledge ? is fairness as mandated by the FCC a possibility or even a desirability? who really controls news content? - when all of these persistent riddles are fielded (rather like an unwelcome relative in your life), Epstein has only one firm recommendation and this is, alternative sources of national news are necessary for balance. Fine. Perhaps his next work will be on cable TV which is not discussed here (for a clue, see Barrett's The Politics of Broadcasting above). This is not so much a mediocre book as a disappointing one - Epstein's Inquest and Counterplot contributed to the Kennedy assassination controversy and the piece on the Panthers in the New Yorker awhile back was a masterpiece of corrective journalism. But News From Nowhere, despite its readability and logical reliability, simply has very little news from anywhere. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Edward Jay Epstein has also written Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer; The Assassination Chronicles; Agency of Fear; and Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth. He lives in New York City.

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