Changing Business of Journalism and its Implications for Democracy – new co-edited book out

Today we release The Changing Business of Journalism and its Implications for Democracy, a new book David Levy and I have edited. It’s been rushed to publication to address the timely issue of how the commercial media organizations who have for much of the twentieth century dominated news-provision in much of the world are changing, and what it means for our democracies.

There’s already been a bit of advance publicity on the Guardian (which didn’t get it quite right, I have to say, but of course, we are happy with the publicity) and on Journalism.co.uk and the Press Gazette, both of whom did good summaries.

Here is the pretty cover…

Tonight, David, myself, and Robert Picard (one of the contributors to the volume), will speak at a launch event at Ofcom in London, and discuss the book and the main findings with George Brock (City University), Steve Hewlett (BBC/the Guardian), and Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths, University of London) and moderator Tim Gardam (St Anne’s College, Oxford).

The Executive Summary is available here, and the book can be bought for £19.95, shipping included, here.

In addition to the chapters written by David, Robert, and myself, the book contains interesting contributions by Alice Antheaume (Sciences Po, Paris), Michael Brüggemann (University of Zürich), Frank Esser (University of Zürich), John Lloyd (University of Oxford), Hannu Nieminen (University of Helsinki),  Mauro Porto (Tulane University), Michael Schudson (Columbia University), Daya Kishan Thussu (University of Westminster), and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent (World Intellectual Property Organisation and formerly OECD).

Nicholas Lemann and Paolo Mancini have provided the advance praise, which almost makes me blush…

The Changing Business of Journalism and its Implications for Democracy, as the only rigorous global survey of a situation usually discussed on the basis of anecdote and unproved assertion, is an indispensable and necessary work. It ought to open the way for real progress in reinventing journalism.

Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

This is a very detailed and rich analysis of the structural changes in today’s business of journalism: the media in many countries face a deep crisis caused both by new technologies and more general economic circumstances while in others they are experiencing rapid growth. In both cases the entire structure of the field is undergoing a dramatic change in terms of professional practice and in how media are organized and run. This book represents an indispensable tool for all those who want to understand where journalism and democracy are going today.

Paolo Mancini, Professor at Università di Perugia and co-author of Comparing Media Systems (Cambridge, 2004).

The full table of content looks as follows:

Contents

Executive summary

1. The Changing Business of Journalism and its
Implications for Democracy
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and David A. L. Levy

2. A Business Perspective on Challenges Facing Journalism
Robert G. Picard

3. Online News: Recent Developments, New Business
Models and Future Prospects
Sacha Wunsch-Vincent

4. The Strategic Crisis of German Newspapers
Frank Esser and Michael Brüggemann

5. The Unravelling Finnish Media Policy Consensus?
Hannu Nieminen

6. The French Press and its Enduring Institutional Crisis
Alice Antheaume

7. The Press We Destroy
John Lloyd

8. News in Crisis in the United States: Panic – And Beyond
Michael Schudson

9. The Changing Landscape of Brazil’s News Media
Mauro P. Porto

10. The Business of ‘Bollywoodized’ Journalism
Daya Kishan Thussu

11. Which Way for the Business of Journalism?
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and David A. L. Levy