Book notes: The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Communication by Michael S. Jeffress, Joy M. Cypher, Jim Ferris and Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock (Editors)

Abstract

much forms of mass communication but rather ‘a kind of currency’—‘texts that are produced and circulated less for their impact on any public than for the private transactions and relationships that their circulation can engender’ (p. 4). The examples she provides are of journalists who might write articles to please their editors for the benefit of their career or managing executives promoting articles praising party officials who later on provide some form of political protection for the newspaper. In her view, professional ideals are shaped by various influences—in addition to Party doctrines, there is also the influence of Western theories and models as well as reprises of Confucianism. Her conclusion is that ‘news, in this contemporary construction, is a medium of truth-claims that are always doing more particular things for more particular actors than they let on’ (pp. 4–5). The book is split into Introduction, five chapters, and Epilogue. Chapter 2, ‘A Contested Medium,’ provides a history of the ‘institution of news’ (p. 27) in China. Chapter 3, ‘From Propaganda to Publicness,’ explores the newsmaking practices of the journalists working in the Politics section of the newspaper the book is about. Chapter 4, ‘An Ethic of Efficacy,’ then focuses on some habits and practices that might be perceived as unprofessional and unethical. Chua argues that ‘these dispositions are the elements of a novel newsmaking ethic that is centered not on the value of truthfulness but on the value of efficacy—that is, on the journalists’ ability to use their news assignments to sustain and support their newsmaking practice’ (p. 27). Chapter 5, ‘News as Currency,’ develops the book’s main argument of news as currency. Chapter 6, ‘The Newsmakers’ Jianghu,’ is based on the term Jianghu, which literally translates as ‘rivers and lakes’ but it has its roots in Chinese martial arts literature, and is ‘commonly used to describe the realm of interpersonal alliances and rivalries that are known to pervade China’s business and professional worlds, and to have a great degree of influence on the trajectories of the individuals who participate in them’ (p. 119). All in all, although focused on China, the book’s ethnographic insights and theoretical framing of news as currency would be of interest to researchers from around the world.