ROLE OF THE MEDIA A t the center of our changing and paradoxical world stands the press. It is the day-to-day broker of political and social psychology, conveying the information and images needed for the successful exercise of privilege and priority. With its images of what the whole world is watching, with its promise of nonideological practicality and problem solving, it gives cues as to how others are reacting and offers a means of ma- nipulating the sociability of others to one's advantage and of trading one's future well-being for a short-lived present benefit. An alternative reality is covered in the media, reacted to by the public, and dealt with by government as if it were the same as the reality we experience in everyday life at home or on the job. Journalists need officials' events and information to make news stones. Officials need journalists' attention to gain public support for their projects and careers. The two engage in barter: Information, access, and events are given in exchange for news coverage, and vice versa. The trade leaves every- one involved seemingly better off. Officials get publicity, journalists get the raw materials of news, and the public learns what officials and institutions are up to. But, contrary to the way we usually speak of it, the news isn't sim- ply a report of what happened yesterday. It's a story, with characters, action, plot, point of view, dramatic closure. Moreover, it's a story about crisis and emergency response -- about the waxing and waning of urgent danger to the
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