The Media: Readings and Links

Suggested Reading

Bagdikian, Ben H. The Media Monopoly. 6th ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000.

Bagdikian raises concerns about consolidation and the growing power of the media.

Hess, Stephen. Live From Capitol Hill: Studies of Congress and the Media. Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 1991.

Although the president gets most of the media coverage, Congress is not ignored. Hess examines how the media and members of Congress use and help one another.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, and Paul Waldman. The Press Effect. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

An in-depth, critical examination of the role of the media in American politics.

Kurtz, Howard. Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine. New York: Free Press, 1998.

Kurtz explores the strategies the Clinton Administration used to handle the media.

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Reprint, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994.

McLuhan’s best-known work is the source of his statement that the “medium is the message.”

Patterson, Thomas E. Out of Order. New York: Vintage, 1994.

Patterson sharply criticizes the role of the media in elections by arguing that its fascination with the horse race element of campaigns undercuts its abilities to cover the issues.