Scooped! - Softcover

Krajicek, David J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231102933 ISBN 13: 9780231102933

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Scooped! surveys the impact of tabloid journalism in America and reveals that crime news and reporting say much about a society fascinated by sleaze and violence. David Krajicek raises important questions about how and why certain crimes are reported, and the ways in which these representations are framing debates concerning crime policy and the criminal justice system. He challenges journalists--in the tabloid, television, and otherwise "respectable" news media--to fulfill their mission to inform, and not inflame, the public.

The book is a much-praised critical analysis of the manner in which the media and politicians trivialized important decisions about criminal justice policy by basing them upon expediency and aberrational crime anecdotes. In the years after Krajicek wrote "Scooped," his criticisms were validated as the costs of criminal justice skyrocketed in American, driven by the expedient political decisions he cites in the book.

About this title

Review

When the New York World printed the first color comic strip ("Hogan's Alley") in 1894, its rival, the New York Journal quickly employed the cartoonist and ignited a war between the superpowers of American journalism. At the center of the controversy was the Yellow Kid, the bad boy star of "Hogan's Alley," who attracted hoards of readers to the papers. Because both papers vied for the artist and used sensational stories to build readership, they were soon called the "Yellow Press," thus yellow journalism was born.

After more than a century, with the onslaught of entertainment television programs such as A Current Affair, David J. Krajicek believes that sensationalized news is not only alive and kicking, but has mutated into something possibly more pervasive and destructive than in previous times. In Scooped!, Krajicek draws upon his past as a crime reporter for the Daily News in New York to show how "back-alley journalism" has distorted reality and created a nation "that knows everything about Amy Fisher but next to nothing about the development of our national criminal justice policies." From the television tabloid journalism embodied by such shows as A Current Affair to even the mainstream press's descent into sensationalism at the expense of solid journalism, Krajicek paints a disturbing portrait of a fourth estate more interested in the bottom line than providing thoughtful analysis or serious reporting on important issues.

Book Description

Scooped! surveys the impact of tabloid journalism in America and reveals that crime news and reporting say much about a society fascinated by sleaze and violence. Krajicek raises important questions about how and why certain crimes are reported and the ways in which these representations are framing debates concerning crime policy and the criminal justice system, and challenges journalists to fulfill their mission to inform―and not inflame―the public.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0231102933
• ISBN 13: 9780231102933
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240