Deciding What's News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time 25th Anniversary Edition by Herbert J. Gans Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2004. 393 pp

Reviewed by Michael D. Murray University ofMissouri-Sf. Louis a sociological rendering of news judgment. This revision begins by analyzing changes that have taken place since the book was first published. This is valuable because as much as anything, the book's value lies in analysis. Too often attempts to explain the past have engaged in generalities and failed to recognize rare elements of news including changes in news culture, or as Gans puts it what was once "a class" rather than "mass" audience. He acknowledges growth in cable, use of new technology and overall fragmentation of the news audience. As colleagues pointed out years ago, Gans does not employ flashy language. His initial study was valued as devoid of academic jargon. The study dissects the process of decision-making, demolishing many myths about the popular press. Gans points out that while the traditional television news organizations have lost audience, circulation of national news magazines that were under study have remained much the same, although the country has grown by 30 percent since 1975. These distinctions make the difference when one is trying to determine how the news business has changed dramatically in a quarter century with changes in the division of labor between old and new media within the context of purely profit driven conglomerates. Another benefit of the revised material is that Gans has gone back to many of the decision-makers seeking Deciding What's News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time 25th Anniversary Edition