Review by Choice Review
Boczkowski (MIT) documents and assesses how US newspapers migrated to the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s. He provides an insiders' view of the creation of New Jersey Online; The New York Times's CyberTimes project, part of its Web site; and the Houston Chronicle's Virtual Voyager, an experiment in "interactive journalism." The three examples provide a spectrum for exploring how newspapers adapted to the Web. Although The New York Times grafted its traditional model of news coverage onto the Web, Boczkowski notes how the Houston Chronicle tried to partially reinvent news development. In contrast, the staff at New Jersey Online envisioned consumers as information producers and set up a site that maximized interactive participation. Boczkowski contends there are several predictors of newspaper innovation; these include internal newsroom dynamics and whether consumers are perceived as active or passive. Although he acknowledges his view differs from the technological-determinism perspective argued by some academics, the author adds credibility to his argument with well-documented field experience and an excellent review of the literature. This results in a book that is the most comprehensive, scholarly analysis of newspaper industry innovation since Anthony Smith's Goodbye, Gutenberg: The Newspaper Revolution of the 1980s (CH, Nov'80). ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Journalism collections, especially those supporting graduate programs. R. A. Logan emeritus, University of Missouri--Columbia
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
