First published as Journalism: truth or dare, 2003.

Includes index.

Born free: a brief history of news media -- Big Brother: journalism and the altered state -- The first casualty: journalists at war -- Star-struck: journalism as entertainment -- Up to a point, Lord Copper's: who owns journalists? -- Hacks vs flaks: journalism and public relations -- Murder is my meat: the ethics of journalism -- Digital: after the deluge.

Journalism entered the twenty-first century caught in a paradox. The world had more journalism, across a wider range of media, than at any time since the birth of the western free press in the eighteenth century. Western journalists had found themselves under a cloud of suspicion: from politicians, philosophers, the general public, anti-globalization radicals, religious groups, and even from fellow journalists. Critics argued that the news industry had lost its moral bearings, focusing on high investment returns rather than reporting and analysing the political, economic, and social issues of the day. Journalism has a central and profound impact on our worldview; we find it everywhere from newspapers and television, to radio and the Internet. In the new edition of this thought-provoking and provocative Very Short Introduction, Ian Hargreaves examines the world of contemporary journalism. By looking not only at what journalism has been in the past, but also what it is becoming in the digital age, he examines the big issues relating to reportage, warfare, celebrity culture, privacy, and technology worldwide.