America is suffering from an information glut. Most Americans are no longer clear about what news is worth remembering or how any of it connects to anything else. Thus, Americans are rapidly becoming the least knowledgeable people in the industrial world.

In How to Watch TV News, author and academic Neil Postman and television journalist Steve Powers show how you can become a discerning viewer. They show the difference between entertainment fodder and genuine news, pointing to the symbiotic relationship between TV news and advertising. They explain why TV news has become a “cash cow,” and stress that anyone who relies exclusively on TV for his or her knowledge of the world is making a serious mistake.