The ideal of a neutral, objective press has proven in recent years to be just that - an ideal. In Governing with the News, Timothy E. Cook goes far beyond the single claim that the press is not impartial to argue that the news media are in fact a political institution integral to the day-to-day operations of our government.

"Provocative and often wise.... Cook, who has a complex understanding of the relationship between governing and the news, provides a fascinating account of the origins of this complicity." - James Bennet, Washington Monthly; "Governing with the News addresses central issues of media impact and power in fresh, illuminating ways.... Cook mines a wealth of historical and organizational literature to assert that the news media are a distinct political institution in our democratic system." - Robert Schmuhl, Commonweal; "While we worry about the media's influence on politics, we rarely notice that journalists are political actors, part of the governing system, a means for raising issues and getting them advanced.... Cook's dead-on analysis is a model of engaged scholarship." - Jay Rosen, Nation"