Journalism's Roving Eye

Journalism's Roving Eye provides a sweeping and definitive history of American foreign news reporting from its inception to the present day, chronicling the economic and technological advances that have influenced overseas coverage, as well as the cavalcade of colorful personalities who've shaped readers' perceptions of the world across two centuries.para;From the colonial era to the ongoing multimedia press coverage of the Iraq War, the author explores journalism's constant-and not always successful-efforts at "dishing the foreign news." Along the way, he presents a fascinating cast of characters, among them Victor Lawson, who pioneered the concept of a foreign news service geared to American interests; Henry Morton Stanley, one of the first reporters to generate news on his own with his 1871 expedition to East Africa to "find Livingstone"; and Jack Belden, a forgotten brooding figure who exemplified the best in combat reporting. Their stories not only bring the narrative to life; their arresting detail makes this an indispensable book for anyone wanting to understand the evolution of foreign news-gathering. para;Many fear that foreign reporting will soon no longer exist. But as Hamilton shows in this magisterial work, traditional correspondence survives alongside a new type of reporting. Journalism's Roving Eye offers a keen understanding of the vicissitudes in foreign news, an understanding imperative to better seeing what lies ahead.