Michael Schudson. (1995). The power of news. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Herbert Gans. (1979). Deciding what's news. New York: Pantheon Books. Both of these books do an excellent job of looking at how the news media behave and the influences they have on society as a whole. They examine the less obvious biases within the media that go beyond liberal and conservative labels.
Ken Auletta. (1998). The highwaymen. San Diego: Harcourt Brace. Aulleta covered the media industry for the New Yorker for several years, and this book is a collection of some of his best columns. It provides a good introduction to many of the key players in the media industry.
Ben H. Bagdikian. (2000). The Media Monopoly, Sixth ed. Boston: Beacon Press. The definitive book on consolidation within the media industry.
Eric Barnouw, ed. (1997). Conglomerates and the media. New York: The New Press. A wide-ranging look at the effects of consolidation on the media.
