Georgetown University LogoGeorgetown University Library LogoDigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
    • Communication, Culture & Technology Master of Arts Program (CCT)
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    • View Item
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
    • Communication, Culture & Technology Master of Arts Program (CCT)
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Hardly a Dying Art: The Flourishing of Print News in Literary Journalism Books

    Cover for Hardly a Dying Art: The Flourishing of Print News in Literary Journalism Books
    View/Open
    View/Open: etd_kea22.pdf (3.1MB) Bookview

    Creator
    Aberbach, Katherine
    Aberbach, Katherine
    Abstract
    While most media scholars are turning their attention toward virtual means of communication, few individuals or research organizations have taken notice of new developments related to physical forms of news in print. The increasing popularity of socially and politically relevant literary journalism books like Barbara Ehrenreich s Nickel and Dimed (2001) and Tracy Kidder s Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003) is a journalistic trend that has been largely viewed from a literary perspective and only minimally examined by news media scholars or experts. This thesis seeks to bridge the chasm between literary examinations of literary journalism books and scholarship on contemporary mass media, by highlighting socially and politically relevant literary journalism books as a form of powerful and influential communications media. Though these books contain literary and subjective elements like first-person perspective, they also share a number of important characteristics with modern-day mainstream print news, making them a hybrid media form. Through an examination of bibliographic, textual and literary characteristics of Ehrenreich s Nickel and Dimed and Kidder s Mountains Beyond Mountains, I demonstrate that the books definitions and functions are intrinsically connected to those of traditional American print news. In addition, I utilize the media effects theory and methodology of uses and gratifications in order to guide and analyze original focus group and survey research. This approach enables a unique comparison between individuals understandings of and reactions to Nickel and Dimed and Mountains Beyond Mountains with their uses and gratifications of mainstream print news media. Ultimately, this thesis not only provides evidence that socially and politically relevant literary journalism books represent a flourishing genre of print news, but also identifies characteristics and qualities of the books that may be valuable for future scholarship.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/551608
    Date Published
    2007
    Subject
    print news; mass media; literary journalism books; Nickel and Dimed; uses and gratification; Mountains Beyond Mountains;
    Type
    thesis
    Extent
    3287264 bytes
    Collections
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Communication, Culture & Technology
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Cover for Discovering Everyday Life: Representation, Ethics, and Transatlantic Convergence in Contemporary Literary Journalism in Spain

      Discovering Everyday Life: Representation, Ethics, and Transatlantic Convergence in Contemporary Literary Journalism in Spain 

      Zujevic, Jovana (Georgetown University, 2016)
      This thesis looks at the interrelation between literary journalism in contemporary Spain, or periodismo de arte in Francisco Umbral’s words, and everyday life. Specifically I examine how weekly newspaper columns by fiction ...
    Related Items in Google Scholar

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2023 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DigitalGeorgetownCommunities & CollectionsCreatorsTitlesBy Creation DateThis CollectionCreatorsTitlesBy Creation Date

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2023 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility