1. The news about democracy
News and democracy
Gatekeeping : who and what makes the news
News as a democratic information system
Politicians, press, and the people
A definition of news
The new gatekeeping
How mediated government works
Case study : governing with the news as terror comes to America
The fragile link between news and democracy
Why free speech cannot guarantee good information
Soft news and the turn away from politics
Myths about news bias
Putting journalistic bias in perspective
What kind of news would better serve democracy?
2. News content
A different kind of bias
Four information biases that matter : an overview
Case study : how George W. Bush got his swagger
Four information biases in the news : an in-depth look
Bias as part of the political information system
New bias and discouraged citizens
Reform anyone?
3. Citizens and the news
Priming public opinion on Iraq
News, strategic information, and public opinion : the citizen's dilemma
Internet versus mass media : why mainstream news still matters
Processing the news
Why people prefer TV : audio and visual information
News frames and political learning
Case study : national attention deficit disorder?
News and personal experience : what gets through
Uses and gratifications : other reasons people follow the news
- Citizen, information, and politics
Notes


4. How politicians make the news
The politics of illusion
The sources of political news
Case study : selling the Iraq war
News images as strategic political communication
News bias and press-government relations
The goals of strategic political communication
Symbolic politics and the techniques of image making
News management : the basics
News management styles and the modern presidency
Press relations : feeding the beast
Government and the politics of newsmaking
Notes
5. How journalists report the news
Work routines and professional norms
When routines produce high-quality reporting
Case study : top ten reasons the press took a pass on the Iraq war
How reporting practices contribute to news bias
Reporters and officials : cooperation and control
Reporters as members of news organizations : pressures to standardize
Reporters as a pack : pressures to agree
The paradox of organizational routines
When journalism works
Democracy with or without citizens?
Notes
6. Inside the profession
Journalists and their profession
The paradox of objective reporting
Defining objectivity : fairness, balance, and truth
The curious origins of objective journalism
Professional journalisms in practice
Objectivity reconsidered
Case study : why mainstream professional journalism favors spin over truth
Notes


7. The political economy of news
The economic transformation of the American media
Corporate profit logic and news content
The political economy of news
Economics versus democracy : inside the news business
The media monopoly : arguments for and against
Case study : the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the citizen's movement of social responsibility in broadcast standards
Effects of the media monopoly : five information trends
How does corporate influence operate?
News on the Internet : perfecting the commercialization of information?
Commercialized information and citizen confidence
Megatrends : technology, economics, and social change
8. All the news that fits democracy
The deliberative citizen
Personalized information and the future of democracy
Whither the public sphere?
The news about the private (commercial) media system
The news about public broadcasting
The news about objective journalism
News and power in America : ideal versus reality
Why the myth of a free press persists
Proposals for citizens, journalists, and politicians
Case study : citizen input, from interactive news to desktop democracy
The promise and peril of virtual democracy
Corporate social responsibility : a place to start .