Making Laws and Making News: Media Strategies in the U.S. House of Representatives

by Timothy E. Cook

The news media, especially television, have become a fixture on Capitol Hill in the past twenty years. Making Laws and Making News describes the interactive relationship between the press and Congress that strongly affects the news, the legislative process, and the types of laws enacted. Instead of focusing on how reporters decide who and what to cover and how news is resented, Cook examines the other side of the equation—the relationship between the media strategies of House member’s press offices and the legislative strategies of the members themselves. The book won the 1990 Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing.

223 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 1989

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just had to read this for my class Contemporary Congressional Politics, and it was definitely one of the more interesting school books I've had so far. Granted, it's pretty old (published in 1989 I believe), but is still pretty relevant today talking about how Congressmen use the media (and vice versa).