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    What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism
    What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism
    What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism
    Ebook209 pages5 hours

    What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism

    By Jack Fuller

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    About this ebook

    Across America, newspapers that have defined their cities for over a century are rapidly failing, their circulations plummeting even as opinion-soaked web outlets like the Huffington Post thrive. Meanwhile, nightly news programs shock viewers with stories of horrific crime and celebrity scandal, while the smug sarcasm and shouting of pundits like Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann dominate cable television. Is it any wonder that young people are turning away from the news entirely, trusting comedians like Jon Stewart as their primary source of information on current events?

    In the face of all the problems plaguing serious news, What Is Happening to News explores the crucial question of how journalism lost its way—and who is responsible for the ragged retreat from its great traditions. Veteran editor and newspaperman Jack Fuller locates the surprising sources of change where no one has thought to look before: in the collision between a revolutionary new information age and a human brain that is still wired for the threats faced by our prehistoric ancestors. Drawing on the dramatic recent discoveries of neuroscience, Fuller explains why the information overload of contemporary life makes us dramatically more receptive to sensational news, while rendering the staid, objective voice of standard journalism ineffective. Throw in a growing distrust of experts and authority, ably capitalized on by blogs and other interactive media, and the result is a toxic mix that threatens to prove fatal to journalism as we know it.

    For every reader troubled by what has become of news—and worried about what the future may hold—What Is Happening to News not only offers unprecedented insight into the causes of change but also clear guidance, strongly rooted in the precepts of ethical journalism, on how journalists can adapt to this new environment while still providing the information necessary to a functioning democracy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateMay 15, 2010
    ISBN9780226268996
    What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism

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    • 4/5
      Jack Fuller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, proves with his book "What Is Happening to News" that all of us involved in workplace learning and performance need to read far beyond the artificial walls surrounding our field of play. While the book ostensibly leads us through the well-documented crisis and evolution of contemporary journalism, its focus on how our brains absorb and cause us to react to all the stimulus we encounter is perfect reading for anyone involved in training-teaching-learning. Fuller starts off with explorations of how our brains actually learn. His third chapter, "Models of the Mind," is particularly helpful both in its brief survey and its description of the physiological reasons why practice makes perfect: "the connection between neurons strengthens through the coincidence of their mutual firing. As the neuroscience slogan has it, 'Cells that fire together wire together.' The more frequent the coincidence, the stronger the connection" (p. 34). For Fuller, that helps explain why repetition of statements through the media we use has a long-term impact on how we perceive the world. And when he moves into a section on "the inundated brain," he offers a thought worth quoting not only to those interested in why news reporting focuses so much on negative stories but also to those of us interested in knowing what happens to learners who are attempting to do too many things at one time: "Time pressure alone also increases cognitive challenge and emotional response. Some studies have shown that when given tasks under severe deadlines, people use more negative information--which suggests that negative emotions are in play--than when doing the same task without being time pressured. Multitasking and information overload, too, increase the challenge to the brainâs processing resources. And when a erson'âs information processing capacity is stressed through information overload or multitasking, she is more likely to rely on emotional cues and use social stereotypes in making decisions about another person" (p. 61). News junkies and trainer-teacher-learners alike will find plenty to admire in Fuller's work--and will leave with a solid foundation for better serving the learners with whom they work.

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