The American Journalist Under Attack

Drawing on a 2022 national survey of U.S. journalists and more than five decades of decennial studies, this book offers a timely, comparative portrait of journalism during a period of crisis for both the nation and the news media. The study examines journalists’ changing demographics, working conditions, ethics, and professional norms, including challenges to objectivity and newsroom strategies to protect democracy amid growing threats and abuse. It also analyzes structural and cultural shifts in the profession, such as the expanding roles of women and minority journalists, changing political attitudes, a shrinking workforce, and evolving views of social media’s impact on a fragmented, disinformation-prone audience. The book concludes with a cautiously optimistic assessment of a resilient profession driven by altruism and renewed purpose.

Lars Willnat (Ph.D., Indiana University) is the John Ben Snow Research Professor at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. His research interests include journalism studies, media effects on political attitudes and behaviors, cross-national and comparative survey research, and international communication.

David H. Weaver (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Distinguished Professor of Journalism Emeritus at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he was on the journalism faculty from 1974 to 2011. He has shared four Sigma Delta Chi national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists with Cleve Wilhoit and one with Lars Willnat.

G. Cleveland (Cleve) Wilhoit (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Emeritus Professor of Journalism and was Associate Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Indiana University. In 1981, he received the American Newspaper Publishers Association Distinguished Service Award.