Public sentinel: News media and governance reform

The volume Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform, edited by Pippa Norris and published in 2010 by the World Bank, originated with the papers presented at a workshop hosted by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2007. The workshop participants included academics and representatives from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world, who shared an interest in global communication and national development. The volume will appeal to a wide array of readers ranging from government policy makers, to social activists, media practitioners, NGO program officers, and university faculty and students. The book undertakes an expansive and ambitious exploration into various media theories, explains the role of the media in democratic governance and deliberation, offers recommendations on media policy and development, and contains interesting case studies on the media systems in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. A book with as broad a mission as this one undoubtedly has something to offer almost everyone and yet will leave some unfulfilled because it whets the appetite but does not fully satisfy it. The selection of topics and the specific case studies included illustrate the serendipity of what was presented at the conference rather than the kind of systematic and carefully considered choices an editor might make in a volume of commissioned chapters. It must also be said that the research design and methodological rigor in some of the case study analyses would not likely meet the expectations of blind peer-review journals. Despite these weaknesses, however, I found the book's strengths to be noteworthy.