"A perceptive study of an enduring and tantalizing question: What do they think of us? Ehrlich and Saltzman craft a persuasive, sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious montage of the omnipresence of journalists in popular culture. But the book does more than that. The authors work also tells us a great deal about the powerful and defining role of popular culture itself."--Richard Reeves, author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power "Authors Matthew C. Ehrlich and Joe Saltzman have done a painstakingly thorough job of marshaling, assembling, organizing, and setting down in print the vast amount of material that makes up our popular culture's representation of journalism and the men and women who commit it. . . . The subject matter holds plenty of interest for readers drawn to the popular media, and that's a lot of us; that's why it's cold the popular media."--The Santa Fe New Mexican"Authors Matthew Ehrlich and Joe Saltzman make a convincing case that fictional journalists are both ubiquitous and significant in pop culture-- in plays, movies, television, novels, short stories, comic strips, graphic novels, video games, and so on… With scores of examples and an extensive appendix of media sources, Heroes and Scoundrels is a terrific resource for courses in mass communication and society, contemporary issues in journalism, journalism ethics, media history, and related courses."--Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly"Ultimately, anyone who studies media portrayals or public perceptions of journalists would benefit greatly from reading this book and incorporating it into their teaching and research."--Journalism and Mass Communication Educator "Stimulating and thought-provoking. . . . No other work comes close to covering the subject as broadly."--Maurine H. Beasley, author of Women of the Washington Press: Politics, Prejudice, and Persistence "The assumption behind Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture is that the audience's perception of the messenger shapes the message. That's hardly a new idea but, applied to journalism in a democracy, it's vastly significant. For example, it turns out that, while the media have been transformed by technology, archetypal images of journalists have persisted. Maybe everything hasn't changed all that much after all. That, along with other important insights gained from formidable research, will help both journalists and their audiences better understand the news of the future. Besides, it's fun to read all those stories."--Warren Olney, Host and Executive Producer, "To the Point" and "Which Way, LA?", KCRW-FM "A great read that showcases depictions of journalists over the past century in popular culture. Its thoughtful analysis integrates cultural theory with media concepts and provides important historical context that will interest professionals and academics alike."--Bonnie Brennen, author of Qualitative Research Methods for Media Studies "Using a multidisciplinary approach that draws on everything from language studies to cultural studies, Matthew C. Ehrlich and Joe Saltzman creatively and entertainingly address the history of the journalist's image, 1890 to the present. Fascinating chapters focus on the images of photographers, war correspondents, gay and lesbian journalists, journalists of color, women journalists, and journalists of the sci fi future. The dueling myths of the journalist as hero and scoundrel, the book persuasively argues, raise questions about the enduring tension in society between the press as a force for freedom and a tool of oppression."--Loren Ghiglione, author of CBS's Don Hollenbeck: An Honest Reporter in the Age of McCarthyism
