GC Times Talk

Over the past decade, fact-checking outlets have shaken up the political world by holding public figures accountable for what they say. Deciding What's True recounts the routines of the journalists at these innovative news organizations and plots a compelling, personality-driven history of the fact-checking movement and its recent evolution.

News Values is a concise, powerful statement of the fundamental issues, ethical and practical, confronting newspapers today. Jack Fuller not only makes those issues clear, but offers a provocative new perspective on questions journalists should be asking themselves now in order to prepare for tomorrow. "Every talk show host should read this book. So should every newsroom cynic. . . . 'Pursuit of truth is not a license to be a jerk.' In all too many newsrooms, that statement would resound like a three-bell bulletin."--Martin F. Nolan, New York Times Book Review "[News Values] ought to be required reading not just for those who work for newspapers, but for all those who read and care about them. . . . [This book] seems destined to become one of those slim but important volumes people read for a long time to come."--Richard J. Tofel, Wall Street Journal "Fuller stays above the fray [of the many books on the media]: His is a deeply intellectual approach, one that provides serious context to the highly complicated issue of how the news 'works.'"--Duncan McDonald, Chicago Tribune Books "News Values has the touch and feel of knowledgeable, authentic caring about the kind of journalism than can help make society more cohesive, even human." --"Monitor's Pick," Christian Science Monitor

From News to Talk examines what journalists think about the movement toward often opinionated, sometimes uncivil, talk in news. It provides an important intervention in debates about the future of news by investigating what journalists themselves perceive as the forces affecting this movement, the effects of this shift on audiences and political culture, and how the movement from news to talk affects their roles and authority in society. Drawing on more than thirty interviews with journalists and other industry professionals and a decade of published journalistic materials, Kimberly Meltzer uncovers the technological, economic, cultural, and political forces affecting the movement toward opinion and commentary--or talk--in television, online, print, and radio news. From CNN's Brian Stelter, to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo, the Washington Post's Paul Farhi, and many other journalists from CBS, USA Today, POLITICO, and HuffPost, the interviewees are key figures in journalism. Her analysis centers around several key case studies, including the increase in opinionated talking heads on television and the ushering in of a new era of talk and entertainment programs, the strategy by CNN to broaden its definition of news by adding non-news programs, and the bevy of star journalists starting their own self-branded sites.