Want proof that the inter/transdisciplinary study of news production and news discourse is en vogue? Look no further than the following textbooks which, taken together, nicely reflect the wealth of perspectives and traditions on the topic. All books presented below have been published between 2006 and 2008.
- John E. Richardson (2007) Analysing Newspapers. An approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. Palgrave.
Written by former ace blogger John E. Richardson, Analysing Newspapers provides a very lucid account of Critical Discourse Analysis in the tradition of Norman Fairclough. A sample chapter is available (.doc) on John’s website, as is a review by Mary Hogarth.
- Chris Paterson & David Domingo (eds.) (2008) Making Online News. The Ethnography of New Media Production. Peter Lang.
A very timely addition to the long-standing research tradition of news production sociology. The book comes with a blog and opens with a useful appraisal of newsroom ethnography.
- Martin Montgomery (2007) The Discourse of Broadcast News: A linguistic approach. Routledge.
Based on discourse analysis of television and radio news interviews, this book illustrates how presentational formats are changing. The discourse of broadcast news has been shortlisted by BAAL for their 2008 book prize.
- Mary Talbot (2007) Media Discourse. Representation and Interaction. Edinburgh University Press.
This book is divided into two parts. Part 1 can be read as a broad introduction to the critical analysis of media language. Part 2 focuses on social interaction among and with production and audience communities.
- David Machin & Sarah Niblock (2006) News Production: Theory and Practice. Routledge.
Drawing on ethnographic case studies of journalists at work, this book provides a sociological analysis of journalistic theory and practice. A review can be found here.
Tom Van Hout 
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