[ecrea] New Book: Stephen Cushion The Democratic Value of News

Please find below some information on Stephen Cushion's book /The 
Democratic Value of News: Why Public Service Media Matter/ which is hot 
off the press from Palgrave.

Just how important are public service media to democratic culture? 
Stephen Cushion puts forward the convincing argument that, for all the 
commercial choice and competition in contemporary news culture, public 
service media do not only remain distinctive from market-driven media, 
they contribute to raising the editorial standards of journalism more 
widely as well.

http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=380584

At a time when public service media are under increasing pressure to 
justify their licence fees, Cushion undertakes a comprehensive review of 
studies examining the 'quality' of journalism produced by public and 
market-driven media around the world. In doing so, some important and 
timely questions are raised: Do public service media supply editorially 
distinctive news to market-driven media? Should citizens continue to 
subsidize news when so much commercial competition and choice is 
available? Reviewing also the impact news has on people's knowledge, 
civic participation and levels of trust towards competing media systems, 
he finds that the democratic value of news is more likely to be enhanced 
when it is produced by public rather than market-driven media.

/The Democratic Value of News/ provides a useful hybrid of theory and 
practice and helpfully introduces the concept and history of public 
service broadcasting. It aims to develop and encourage scholarship 
asking whether public service media are distinctive from market-driven 
systems, in addition to serving as an invaluable textbook for 
undergraduate and postgraduate students of Media, Journalism and 
Communication studies.

*Advanced Reviews*

'Stephen Cushion's /The Democratic Value of News: Why Public Service 
Media Matter/ is a work of singular importance. As the Internet and 
digital communication remakes our media and revamps journalism before 
our eyes, Cushion makes a powerful case for the continued significance 
and necessity of public service media. This will be required reading for 
scholars, students and concerned citizens.' - Robert W. 
McChesney, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

'This is a superb book by a rising star of journalism studies.'  - James 
Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

'Stephen Cushion deals in this book with a supremely important topic: 
whether, and if so how, to what extent and in what main subject areas 
the journalism of public funded media differs from that of commercially 
funded ones. His distinctive approach - assembling and interpreting an 
extensive range of content analyses of news supply in many different 
countries and situations - yields findings deserving of academic and 
policy attention.' - Jay G. Blumler, Emeritus Professor of Public 
Communication, University of Leeds, UK

'This accessible and stimulating book combines breadth and depth of 
scholarship in a study which is essential reading for anyone interested 
in the future of public service media in a rapidly changing 
environment.' - Professor Tom O'Malley, Aberystwyth University, UK