"Provocative and often wise....Cook, who has a complex understanding of the relationship between governing
and the news, provides a fascinating account of the origins of this complicity."
--James Bennet, Washington Monthly
Publisher Web Site, July 2005
Summary
The ideal of a neutral, objective press has proven in recent years to be just that--an ideal. In Governing with
the News, Timothy E. Cook goes far beyond the single claim that the press is not impartial to argue that the news
media are in fact a political institution integral to the day-to-day operations of our government. This updated
edition includes a new afterword by the author, which pays close attention to two key developments in the twenty-first
century: the accelerating fragmentation of the mass media and the continuing decline of Americans' confidence in
the press.