On Press
Matthew Pressman looks at how American journalism changed between the 1960s and 1980s, when newspapers like The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times moved away from straight, just-the-facts reporting toward analysis, interpretation, and a clearer set of professional values. He explains how reporters and editors came to see their job as explaining the news rather than only relaying it, and how that shift shaped debates about media bias that continue now. Using internal memos and archives, Pressman shows the choices behind a transformation most readers never noticed but feel every day. The result is a careful history of how the modern press came to think about its own purpose.
What you might want to know about On Press
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A media historian traces how American newspapers shifted from neutral fact-reporting to the interpretive, values-driven journalism that defines the press today.
Yes. Ezra Klein included it among six of his favorite books in a 2019 list for The Week.
On Press was written by Matthew Pressman, published in 2018 by Harvard University Press.
On Press is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, On Press takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
On Press is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
