Social Issues, Journalism & Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Communication & Media Studies 

We are better informed--and more quickly informed--than any people in history. So why do we also seem more confused, divided and foolish than ever before? Some pundits criticize the news media for political bias. Other analysts worry that up-to-the-minute news reports on radio and television oversimplify complex realities. Sommerville thinks the problem with news is more basic. Focusing his critique on the news at its best, he concludes that even at its best it is beyond repair. He argues that news began to make us dumber when we insisted on having it daily. The news, Sommerville says, becomes the driving force for much of our public culture. This eye-opening book is for everyone dissatisfied with the state of news media, especially those who think the news informs them about and connects them with the real world. Read it and you may never again know the tyranny of the daily newspaper or the nightly news broadcast.