Social Work or All the News Thats Fit to Sell

Social Work: A Profession of Many Faces

Author: Armando T Morales

This is one of the leading books in social work, a field that is fast growing. It is unique in its presentation of social work as a profession thatUs dedicated to serving the needs of diverse populations. Often used to study for the social work licensing exams, this book includes separate chapters on social work practice with many special populations including, women, gays and lesbians, the elderly, people with disabilities, and different ethnic groups including, Asian Americans, American Indians, Mexican Americans, etc. Readers will build an understanding of social work's purpose, history, professional orientation, career patterns, values, and practice activities. Newer social workers looking for a comprehensive reference to their field and those who are interested in pursuing this expanding career field.

Booknews

Presents an overview of social work, introducing terms, concepts, key people, and critical events that have shaped the profession, and emphasizing the relevance of social work to today's social issues. Part I traces historical development of the field, Part II focuses on career options and settings for social work, and Part III examines the ethical foundation of social work. Part IV consists of four sections on working with special populations, such as women, gays, rural and urban populations, and ethnic minorities. Part V offers an extended fictional case study of a drive-by shooting. For undergraduates. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

A textbook that presents an overview of social work, introducing many of the terms, concepts, key people, and critical events that have shaped the profession. This revised and updated edition (sixth was 1992) adds an original piece of illustrative practice material, a chapter that addresses "the social worker-in-action," which begins at the individual level and moves to the cultural level to address America's violent culture and obsession with firearms and other environmental factors. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

New interesting book: Death by Supermarket or History of Food

All the News That's Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News

Author: James T Hamilton

That market forces drive the news is not news. Whether a story appears in print, on television, or on the Internet depends on who is interested, its value to advertisers, the costs of assembling the details, and competitors' products. But in All the News That's Fit to Sell, economist James Hamilton shows just how this happens. Furthermore, many complaints about journalism--media bias, soft news, and pundits as celebrities--arise from the impact of this economic logic on news judgments.

This is the first book to develop an economic theory of news, analyze evidence across a wide range of media markets on how incentives affect news content, and offer policy conclusions. Media bias, for instance, was long a staple of the news. Hamilton's analysis of newspapers from 1870 to 1900 reveals how nonpartisan reporting became the norm. A hundred years later, some partisan elements reemerged as, for example, evening news broadcasts tried to retain young female viewers with stories aimed at their (Democratic) political interests. Examination of story selection on the network evening news programs from 1969 to 1998 shows how cable competition, deregulation, and ownership changes encouraged a shift from hard news about politics toward more soft news about entertainers.

Hamilton concludes by calling for lower costs of access to government information, a greater role for nonprofits in funding journalism, the development of norms that stress hard news reporting, and the defining of digital and Internet property rights to encourage the flow of news. Ultimately, this book shows that by more fully understanding the economics behind the news, we will be better positioned to ensure that the newsserves the public good.

Library Journal

In his previous book, Channeling Violence, Hamilton (public policy, Duke Univ.) showed that the market dictates the amount of violence appearing on television. His new book discusses how economics affects the presentation of news and how market pressures have reduced the amount of hard news appearing in the media generally. He begins by offering different economic theories of news; goes on to discuss the rise of nonpartisan newspapers, which began in 1870; and then includes an analysis of the news audience, asking how much interest they actually have in hard news. The remainder of the book reviews the various methods used by audiences to access news, including newspapers, television (including cable and evening news programs), and the Internet. As Hamilton shows, news is now presented to specific audiences, depending on marketing decisions, with a resultant shift from political news to softer topics such as entertainment. He recommends ways to counteract this situation and increase the amount of hard news available to the consumer. Hamilton includes a wealth of supporting information, including many tables and graphs, 40 pages of notes, and an extensive bibliography. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.-Joel W. Tscherne, Cleveland P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction	1
Ch. 1	Economic Theories of News	7
Ch. 2	A Market for Press Independence: The Evolution on Nonpartisan Newspapers in the Nineteenth Century	37
Ch. 3	News Audiences: How Strong Are the Public's Interests in the Public Interest?	71
Ch. 4	Information Programs on Network Television	121
Ch. 5	What Is News on Local Television Stations and in Local Newspapers	137
Ch. 6	The Changing Nature of the Network Evening News Programs	160
Ch. 7	News on the Net	190
Ch. 8	Journalists as Goods	215
Ch. 9	Content, Consequences, and Policy Choices	235
	Notes	265
	Bibliography	307
	Index	339