Daily News, Eternal Stories The Mythological Role of Journalism [Paperback]

This compelling, often surprising book demonstrates the ways news articles of today draw from age-old tales that have chastened, challenged, entertained, and entranced people since the beginning of time. Through an insightful exploration of hundreds ofNew York Timesarticles, award-winning professor and former journalist Jack Lule reveals mythical themes in reporting on topics from terrorist hijackings to Huey Newton, from Mother Teresa to Mike Tyson. Beneath the fresh facade of current events, Lule identifies such enduring archetypes as the innocent victim, the good mother, the hero, and the trickster. In doing so, he sheds light on how media coverage shapes our thinking about many of the confounding issues of our day, including foreign policy, terrorism, race relations, and political dissent.

Winner of the MEA's 2002 Lewis Mumford Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Technics

Jack Lule has been known for years as a skilled and subtle interpreter of news narratives. InDaily News, Eternal Stories, Lule convincingly argues that storytelling, not information dissemination, is the core activity of journalism. He finds mythic themes in every nook and cranny of the news--in stories about everything from terrorism and disaster to the exploits of Mark McGwire, Mother Teresa, and Huey Newton.Daily News, Eternal Storiesis a wonderful book--smart, humane, witty, and passionate. --John Pauly, Professor of Communication and American Studies, Saint Louis University

This splendid book enters the debates over the crisis in news with a provocative thesis that no one can ignore. To resolve our confusion over the social role of newsmakers, the author argues for understanding the news as myth. In dramatic fashion,The New York Timesbecomes state scribe, the latest in a long line of privileged storytellers. Communications scholarship for years has played with the intriguing relation of mythmaking to news. Herelc2