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March 2022 Vol. 59 No. 7

Nelson (Arizona State Univ.) provides a well-written, timely book about the decline of trust in news organizations and the dearth of research available to address the news industry's current challenges. Nelson argues that leading researchers in the field of journalism studies focus on what they perceive Americans want from news coverage, rather than on investing time in research that would provide more definitive knowledge about the similarities and differences in audience preferences, interests, and habits across different populations or demographic groups. He adds that more knowledge is needed to understand often overlooked minority communities, and why an increasing number of Americans are not interested in news coverage. While Nelson offers a helpful example of a new genre of audience engagement research, he acknowledges that more imaginative research approaches (with newsroom participation) are needed. While the author is candid in his portrayal of journalism's decline, he tries to rally practitioners and researchers to work together to revitalize the news industry. This is a well-researched, thoughtful addition to the literature about journalism's decline, joining such books as Roy Santoro's Broken News (2018). The text is supported by extensive references in notes. It will be a superb acquisition for libraries supporting graduate journalism programs and for mass communications collections.

--R. A. Logan, emeritus, University of Missouri--Columbia

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.