Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252080654)

Whether it's the rule-defying lifer, the sharp-witted female newshound, or the irascible editor in chief, journalists in popular culture have shaped our views of the press and its role in a free society since mass culture arose over a century ago.

Drawing on portrayals of journalists in television, film, radio, novels, comics, plays, and other media, Matthew C. Ehrlich and Joe Saltzman survey how popular media has depicted the profession across time. Their creative use of media artifacts provides thought-provoking forays into such fundamental issues as how pop culture mythologizes and demythologizes key events in journalism history and how it confronts issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation on the job.

From Network to The Wire, from Lois Lane to Mikael Blomkvist, Heroes and Scoundrels reveals how portrayals of journalism's relationship to history, professionalism, power, image, and war influence our thinking and the very practice of democracy.


Author: Matthew C. Ehrlich, Joe Saltzman
ISBN-10: 0252080653
ISBN-13: 9780252080654
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 03/01/2015
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.09lbs
Size: 8.81h x 6.47w x 0.59d