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  1. Home
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  3. Television News and the Supreme Court
  • Cited by 65
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2009
Print publication year:
1998
Online ISBN:
9780511625565
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511625565
Subjects:
Area Studies, American Studies, American Government, Politics and Policy, Film, Media, Mass Communication, Politics and International Relations, Media, Mass Communication
Information

Book description

Beginning with the recognition that the Supreme Court is the most invisible branch of American government and the one that most Americans know the least about, this book examines the way in which television news, the primary source of the public's limited knowledge, covers the Supreme Court. The book relies on rich interviews with network news reporters who have covered the Court, coupled with actual videotapes of network newscast coverage, to develop a unique portrait of the constraints faced by reporters covering the institution as well as a thorough picture of what facets of the Court's work actually are covered by television news. The analysis demonstrates convincingly that there are characteristics of the television news industry (such as its heavy reliance on dramatic stories and visuals) that, coupled with the rules and habits of the Supreme Court (such as its refusal to allow cameras in the Court as well as its propensity to announce several critical rulings on the same day) come together to make network news coverage of the Court infrequent, brief, and in too many instances, simply plain wrong.

Reviews

"....will certainly remain a definitive book on the subject of television coverage of the Supreme Court. This well organized and well-written book is far superior to other works focusing on media coverage of the Supreme Court (Davis, Devol, Graham, and Katsh). That is because Slotnick and Segal analyze the subject from just about every possible angle, employing a variety of methods and providing different levels of analysis." David M. O'Brien, The Law and Politics Book Review

"...a valuable and detailed view of how broadcasters cover the Court as well as some sense of how coverage has changed over time." Robert E. Drechsel, Judicature

"Appropriate for journalists, lawyers, and scholars and students of mass communications and judicial process." Choice

"...provide[s] a highly readable scholarly examination of the ways in which the media, particularly television news, (mis)inform the public about the Supreme Court....Television News and the Supreme Court contributes significant new information about the Court and the reporters who cover it....this book could become part of an excellent graduate course on the interactions of the Court and the media." Susan Dente Ross, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

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