"As the basis for self-government is an informed citizenry, and as the Fourth Estate is the institution with primary responsibility for making an informed citizenry possible, the existential crisis for news media is, in fact, an existential crisis for self-government."---from the Introduction<BR><BR>The sudden meltdown of the news media has sparked one of the liveliest debates in recent memory, with an outpouring of opinion and analysis crackling across journals, the blogo-sphere, and academic publications. Yet, until now, we have lacked a comprehensive and accessible introduction to this new and shifting terrain.<BR><BR>In Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights, celebrated media analysts Robert W. McChesney and Victor Pickard have assembled illuminating perspectives on the crisis in journalism, by today's most incisive and influential commentators. This accessible volume provides a comprehensive portrait of the newspaper industry's predicament---including a concise history of modern journalism, a hardhitting analysis of the structural and financial causes of news media's sudden collapse, and deeply informed proposals for how the vital role of journalism might be rescued from impending disaster.<BR><BR>The essential guide to the journalism crisis, Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights is both a primer on the news media today and a chronicle of a key historical moment in the transformation of the press.