The premise of the book is great and the author really delivers. Great read. Highly recommended. .

This book makes important contributions to current scholarship about news, the context in which it is generated and disseminated. Specific examples of NGOs working essentially as journalistic entities and sharing information and access with journalistic entities makes the book especially engaging and illustrative.

Matthew Powers has written a detailed and thoughtful work which analyzes the intersection and mutual reliance of NGOs (non-government organizations) and traditional new sources (newspapers and televised news). As global news bureaus have shut down, traditional news media has had to rely more heavily on alternatives to get their international new stories. NGOs have stepped into this role, to both area's mutual benefit - and also to the both area's detriment. Powers looks at both the benefits (increased coverage, lower cost, increased visibility and donations, etc.) and the drawbacks (increase popular scrutiny, reinforcing old fashioned media pathways, over-prioritization of government officials, etc.) and determines that one side of the pro/con divide clearly carries more weight. The analysis in the book is critical and thoughtful, but some of the arguments and observations can occasionally be too repetitive and overly self-supporting, but on the whole it appears his applications of various system and institutional theories have had much thought and rigor in their application. Excellent book for those who are interested in the work of charitable organizations, humanitarian organizations, media, journalism, and information studies.