Custodians of Conscience
Investigative Journalism and Public Virtue
James S Ettema author Theodore L Glasser author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Published:15th Jun '98
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Through in-depth interviews with award-winning investigative reporters and detailed analyses of the stories that brought them professional acclaim, the authors explain how journalists resolve, practically if not conceptually, the paradox of a press that is committed to exposing wrongdoing and is at the same time adamant about its disinterest in questions of right and wrong.
This book is the culmination of more than a decade of research and writing on the nature of investigative journalism as a form of social and moral inquiry. Focusing on the work of a number of award-winning investigative reporters, James S. Ettema and Theodore L. Glasser punctuate their analysis of news and journalism with interviews with these writers and excerpts from their stories. Custodians of Conscience provides a powerful assessment and critique of the tensions and contradictions that characterize modern American journalism. It is a book that honors the rigor and importance of investigative journalism by showing how facts implicate values and by explaining why the future of news requires a deeper appreciation for the connection between human knowledge and human interest.
The most thoughtful book in years about the intellectual assumptions behind investigative journalism... It's hard to imagine any journalist who wouldn't do investigative reporting more thoughtfully, or any citizen who wouldn't read it more insightfully, after this two-teacher seminar. -- Carlin Romano The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Winner of Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism 1998
- Winner of Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award 1998
- Winner of Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism (Research About Journalism Category) 1998
ISBN: 9780231106757
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
288 pages