ABSTRACT
The news is in a state of continual change, defined and redefined by economics, journalism, technology, politics, and publics. Today’s news system in the United States is in the ironic situation of having evolved as an essential tool of government at a time when audiences increasingly mistrust politicians and journalists. As today’s news system evolves under pressures of commercial profit and political spin, the most glaring result may be the dwindling space for serious political news itself. Over the past two decades the content of news in daily papers, television newscasts, and magazines has shifted from substantial levels of reporting on government activities and policy problems to an increasing proportion of soft news features that resemble entertainment formulas more then they represent the kind of hard information that citizens might use in grasping the political events that affect their lives. The details of this reformulation of news content are documented here.
