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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 071.3
EAN: 9780826429315
ISBN: 0826429319
Label: Continuum
Manufacturer: Continuum
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 226
Publication Date: October 05, 2008
Publisher: Continuum
Sales Rank: 71267
Studio: Continuum
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Product Description:
An eviscerating look at the state of journalism in the age of the 24 hour news cycle by a Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic and a veteran news correspondent
No Time To Think focuses on the insidious and increasing portion of the news media that, due to the dangerously extreme speed at which it is produced, is only half thought out, half true, and lazily repeated from anonymous sources interested in selling opinion and wild speculation as news. These news item can easily gain exposure today, assuming a life of their own while making a mockery of journalism and creating casualties of cool deliberation and thoughtful discourse. Much of it is picked up gratuitously and given resonance online or through CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other networks, which must, in this age of the 24-hour news cycle, 'feed the beast.'
In dissecting this frantic news blur, No Time to Think breaks down a number of speed-driven blunders from the insider perspective of Charles Feldman, who spent 20 years as a CNN correspondent, as well as the outsider perspective of Howard Rosenberg, who covered the coverage for 25 years as TV critic for The Los Angeles Times.
No Time to Think demonstrates how today's media blitz scrambles the public's perspective in ways that potentially shape how we think, act and react as a global society. The end result effects not only the media and the public, but also the government leaders we trust to make carefully considered decisions on our behalf. Featuring interviews ranging from former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to internet doyenne Arianna Huffington to PBS stalwart Jim Lehrer to CNN chief Jonathan Klein to a host of former presidential press secretaries and other keen-eyed media watchers, this incisive work measures lasting fallout from the 24-hour news cycle beginning in 1980 with the arrival of CNN, right up to the present.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Clumsy, but right on
This book is somewhat clumsily written, without smooth flow. But the ideas presented are spot-on, highlighting how television news reporting has suffered from the competetive need to be "first." We viewers haven't got a chance. There's no time for any of us to think anymore.
Rating: - An Important Argument Lost in Self-Important Rhetoric
I should have been the most eager and appreciative reader the authors have. I've had a glimpse inside the belly of the beast and it's just as ugly in there as they declare it to be.
But any good jeremiad has to be serious and carefully written as well as entertaining and provocative. No Time to Think manages to be only provocative. Sadly, the authors have taken a solid premise and their significant first-hand knowledge and experience and turned it into the kind of rant I might have expected to see on the now-defunct Crossfire. There is enough content here to fill a long magazine article; alas the authors have stretched it to its limits and beyond, stuffing it with gratuitous literary stunts such as portraying television pundits in imaginary debates. Their goal is to lampoon these individuals, but it just feels staged and forced. With so much real material available to accomplish the same end, what on earth were they thinking about?
At its worst, the style sounds coy and forced, as in the chapter devoted to blogging, where "your blogmeister" transforms himself into a central character of the book. (Oddly enough, that very tendency is one the authors criticize in the broadcast media figures they criticize. One rule for them, another for their targets?) Ironically, given the book's title, the writing is almost breathless throughout and excessively chatty. A way to get readers to pay attention? I can't imagine how that kind of tone would help.
I finished reading this with a feeling ... Read More
Rating:  - A call to arms
Normally I tend to shy away from co-authored books, but there's a good reason why this book has two authors. Feldman spent 20 years as a TV and radio reporter as the guy in front of the camera or the mic, and Rosenberg covered the media for the LA Times (and won a Pulitzer along the way). The net effect is that you get a real feel for how our news actually gets put together from an insider and an outsider, each of whom brings a unique perspective and old school journalistic morals... and it's a real eye-opener.
If you think that the Olbermans and O'Reillys and Geraldos of this world could use a healthy dose of Murrow, Cronkite, and Woodward & Berstein, you are not alone, and No Time To Think is your call to arms.
Rating: - Angry, Funny, and Very Very Important
This is a subject I've been annoyed/frustrated about for ages, so its great to see a book like this published. Basically, the two authors - one who worked for CNN, the other for Los Angles Times - believe that part of the reason our society is in danger of going down the pan is that news media is no longer about "news" any more. It consists almost entirely of opinion, speculation, and ridiculous combinations of those two, presented and disguised as news. The authors chart the history and development of news media, but focus very much on two things that have changed the landscape entirely: the birth of cable news, and the creation of the internet. I should admit that most of the jokes in the chapter about "blogging" probably went over my head, but this is an incredibly readable book about journalism, truth, dignity, and how on earth our politicians are supposed to function properly when there's an endless screaming demand for opinion and instant answers to everything.
Is there anyway to stop this all from spiraling out of control? The authors aren't sure, but they do have one or two suggestions at the end of the book. But do yourself a favor and read this book: its alarming, and terrifying at times, but it will make you look at news media in a whole new light.
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