Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What is news? Why are we so eager to exchange it? Why does it so often seem sensational? How does the way news is gathered and presented affect our politics and our lives? A History of News, Third Edition, provides an extended, international history of journalism that ranges from preliterate societies to the digital age. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of news and provides unique insights into contemporary journalism. Author Mitchell Stephens, an accomplished writer and media critic, analyzes news in all of its manifestations--spoken, written, visual and digital--from an international perspective.
For the third edition, Stephens has broadened the scope of the book's international coverage, expanded the section on television news, increased coverage of women and minorities and added new material on the Internet and the digital revolution. The book also features an updated timeline, questions at the end of each chapter and new boxes, many of which underline connections between older news systems and issues in contemporary journalism.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• Chronology (p. xi)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Spoken News
• 1 Why News?-The Thursty Desyer That All Our Kynde Hath to Know (p. 7)
• The Need for News-A Social Sense (p. 9)
• The Urge to Tell (p. 13)
• 2 News in Preliterate Societies-In the Ordinary Way (p. 16)
• "Human Wireless Telegraphy" (p. 18)
• The Amplification of News-Messengers, Criers and Minstrels (p. 20)
• Newsworthiness (p. 24)
• The Edge of the World (p. 29)
• 3 The Survival of Spoken News-Publishing the Whisper of the Day (p. 32)
• Coffeehouses and Nouvellistes (p. 33)
• The Decline of Spoken News (p. 37)
• Part 2 Written News
• 4 News and Literacy-The First Story That Comes to Hand (p. 43)
• The Demands of News (p. 45)
• News and History (p. 47)
• 5 News and Empire-The Thought Stream of the Group Mind (p. 50)
• News of Rome (p. 53)
• News Through China (p. 59)
• News Across Europe (p. 61)
• "Cosmopolitan Commerce" (p. 64)
• Part 3 Printed News
• 6 Controlling the News-The Undeceiving of the People (p. 71)
• News Management and Manipulation-The Newsbook (p. 77)
• Press Controls (p. 80)
• A Fear of Controversy (p. 82)
• Chauvinism-The News Ballad (p. 84)
• 7 Human Interests (Faits Divers)-Such a Deal of Wonder (p. 90)
• Published Gossip (p. 92)
• News of Crime (p. 96)
• Sensationalism (p. 100)
• Moralizing (p. 104)
• The Supernatural (p. 107)
• "Popular" Journalism (p. 112)
• 8 The Logic of News (Faits Isoles)-People Biting Dogs (p. 116)
• The Extraordinary (p. 118)
• The Conventional (p. 120)
• The Unexpected (p. 124)
• Part 4 Newspapers
• 9 The First Newspapers-Expecting the News (p. 131)
• News in Venice-The Gazette (p. 133)
• News from Amsterdam-The Coranto (p. 139)
• An Editor in London (p. 143)
• 10 The Power of the Periodical-Domesticating News (p. 147)
• Home News-The Breadth of the Newspaper (p. 148)
• News of Science-The Authority of the Newspaper (p. 152)
• News of Business-The Speed of the Newspaper (p. 157)
• 11 News and Revolution-A Junction of All the People (p. 162)
• The American Revolution (p. 164)
• The French Revolution (p. 173)
• A Free Press (p. 178)
• 12 Mass Circulation-For All (p. 183)
• The Penny Press and Newspaper Ownership (p. 184)
• Other Voices (p. 189)
• The New Journalism and Consolidation (p. 194)
• Tabloids and Corporations (p. 198)
• Part 5 Reporting
• 13 Before Reporting-No Data by Which We Can Correctly Reason (p. 205)
• The Haze (p. 207)
• The Print Shop (p. 211)
• 14 The Development of Reporting-The Journalistic Method (p. 214)
• Enterprise (p. 217)
• Observation (p. 219)
• Investigation-The World Asked to Explain Itself (p. 228)
• Veneration of the Fact (p. 239)
• Objectivity (p. 251)
• Control of the News (p. 259)
• Part 6 Electronic News
• 15 New Technologies-Improved Means to an Unimproved End (p. 265)
• Radio-An Electronic Meeting Place (p. 268)
• Television-The Distant Newsmonger (p. 273)
• 16 The Information Explosion-A Surfeit of Data (p. 287)
• Publicity (p. 290)
• The Weight of the Present-News, Rumors and Ideas (p. 292)
• The Future of News (p. 294)
• Endnotes (p. 301)
• Bibliography (p. 330)
• Credits (p. 343)
• Index (p. 344)