ABSTRACT
The book reviews included in this issue all focus on how the role of the media is misunderstood and how, in turn, the media are misunderstood by various groups and individuals. A review of two books on media and religion, by D. Keith Shurtleff, discusses problems in how Western media report about religion and religion-based stories. In Michael M. Monahan's piece, he rightly appreciates an author who worries that the public is getting shortchanged by commercial interests that control the media. Here is the public that doesn't understand the larger forces that control what we see and don't see. Finally, a review of a book that details the year-in-the-life of a well-known television journalist reveals that a lack of understanding about how to change the media is not limited to the general public.
