Praise for NO TIME TO THINK
“The faster we feed the mass media beast, the faster it devours us. Step back, read Rosenberg & Feldman, then step even further back and start thinking how to save yourselves and democracy from the tsunami of blarney, blather, and bathos that passes as news today.”
“Compelling and insightful...“No Time to Think” is a quick read, and its immediate appeal will be to those who aren’t fans of the 24-hour news channels. But any reader who wants to understand how news outlets such as CNN are run might appreciate a behind-the-scenes glimpse from a longtime insider.”
“Veteran journalists Rosenberg and Feldman examine the shrinking news cycle-the period of time between when a news event occurs and its reportage-through a series of incisive essays. They decry the reckless speed at which stories appear in print, electronic, and broadcast media, which sacrifices journalistic integrity and fact-checking processes. They trace this need for speed back to the advent of 24/7 cable news networks like CNN, which was founded in 1980. Under pressure to fill hours of airtime, networks began inflating stories by constantly updating them, magnifying non-news events, and injecting personal conjecture from anchors. The Internet, blogs, and the birth of citizen journalism led to even higher stakes for the professionals. Rosenberg and Feldman suggest that while speed itself is not bad, the resultant erosion of professional standards affects public perception of what is newsworthy. Similar in tone to Rosenberg’s earlier Not So Prime Time: Chasing the Trivial on American Television, this book pulls no punches in its assessment of the profession. Recommended for academic and public libraries.”
*Starred Review* “The breezy style of this critique belies the incredible research behind it, as Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rosenberg and investigative journalist Feldman explore the impact of the amped-up, overwrought nature of modern news gathering. The authors talked to a wide range of reporters, including Arianna Huffington, Jim Lehrer, Tom Brokaw, and others, from sources as divergent as CNN News, the Drudge Report, and Access Hollywood, to present a look at the competitive forces at work in speeding news coverage at the cost of accuracy, never mind insight and reflection. Amid predictions that politics this year is moving at the speed of the Internet, with the blogosphere kicking around reaction to campaign news that has yet to make it onto television, Rosenberg and Feldman worry that the speed of news gathering is shaping the news, and not for the better. They offer a history of increasingly speedy news coverage from newsreels to radio and television to the Internet, as well as a diary of blogging and an absorbing dialogue between the two as they look back over their own careers and experiences. Often humorous, completely engrossing.”
–Booklist
“Drive[s] home the head-spinning uncertainty and unsteadiness of today’s change-happy journalism. …”No Time to Think” makes you do just that: think.”
–American Journalism Review
“Left, right? Crushed between? You need this book. Read it.”
-Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451
“Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman capture both the serious dangers and the intense competitive pressures of today’s 24 hour news cycle. The traditional policy of “getting it right” often has been replaced by the urgency of “getting it first.” Today’s news culture rewards those who achieve both speed and accuracy. It awards no praise for second place or reporting inaccurately. Howard and Charles witnessed firsthand the accelerating speed and the decelerating standards in two of the finest news organizations in the nation, Los Angeles Times and CNN. Their book is a very provocative read.”
-Tom Johnson, Former chief executive, CNN; Former CEO, Los Angeles Times
“Rosenberg and Feldman deliver a caustic take on today’s speed-driven news media, along with a warning to news consumers: Get smarter about the information you rely on, since there’s no hope of slowing it down.”
-Deborah Potter, former CBS News correspondent; Executive Director, “NewsLab”
“Pulitzer Prize winner Rosenberg teams with veteran journalist Feldman to argue that the 24-hour news cycle has degraded the news media and failed consumers in this indignant, often reactionary examination. The authors’ premise, that a demand for a constant flow of information via the Internet and cable news networks has led to inaccuracies in reporting, is a popular refrain and one with merit. The many quotes the authors have collected from media giants such as Jim Lehrer and Arianna Huffington present the challenges facing news outlets as changing technologies, most notably the Internet, interact with traditional media.”
–Publishers Weekly
“This is a dangerous book because it’s all true. Every one of us inside the media (and outside it, if there are any left) ought to read every word, and then question all we see, hear and say. And think. Every day, twenty-four hours a day. The book will explain why. Beautifully.”
-Linda Ellerbee, Television Producer, Journalist and Author
“Highway safety officials have warned for years that speed kills. Rosenberg and Feldman illustrate over and over again that the admonition is just as applicable to traffic on the information superhighway…Reading this book will make you more aware of what you are seeing on TV and on the Internet. It will make it easier to recognize when you are being served hot air instead of hard information, and it will make you more skeptical of the entire process. And that’s a good place to start.”
-Barry Garron, The Hollywood Reporter
“In No Time to Think, Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman take a refreshing pause to contemplate today’s superheated media environment and the implications of ‘Shoot first, think later’ news. The book deftly captures this relatively new dynamic and its depressing implications for journalism and democracy — and should be required reading for anyone who cares about either. Breezily written, it’s a sobering reminder of the often-overlooked price tag associated with headlong technological advancement.”
-Brian Lowry, media columnist/chief TV critic, Variety
“[A] significant new book by two veteran American journalists, who believe that 24-hour news is not only a menace in itself, but gives us no time to sort out fact from unsound opinions and analytical fiction – and to our cost. Everything becomes a blur as the media blizzard we suffer from scrambles our perspectives, they believe, and there is no doubt that the information overload is so intense, the internet too increasing the turmoil, that we suffer as a result.”
“This book deals with one of the most critical issues of our time: the ability of the news media to provide understanding and perspective of the world around us. Journalism has been defined as the “search for reportable truth.” No Time to Think shines light on key reasons for abuse of analytical reporting. Speed and greed combined with the explosion of technology is exposed in this timely book by these expert, experienced, authors. They point out the half-truths, the misconstrued truths and outright lies that permeate the 24-hour news cycle. I recommend that everyone who cares about our democracy read No Time to Think, then think it over carefully.”
-Dr. Judith Marlane, Professor Emeritus, Cinema and Television Arts, California State University, Northridge; Author of Women in Television News Revisited
“An awful warning, delivered with anecdotal richness and real passion.”
-Libby Purves, The Times of London
“The authors really do have a point…In short, Rosenberg and Feldman are right to say that there’s a lot wrong with rolling news.”
“This book is a useful contribution to the debate on the media.”
-Morning Star (UK)
