By their very nature, books are poor vehicles for studying "news" since the average book takes 18 months to get to market after completion. However, these are books that might help you digest immediate events in terms of the U.S. media and coverage of the Middle East.
You may also want to consider looking up issues in Latin America that have been censored recently (or covered poorly) such as anything on the subject of Hugo Chavez/Venezuela, the election fiasco in Mexico and the Rebellion in Oaxaca, and the rise of socialism in Bolivia. What kind of trade and security partnerships are being formed between U.S. and Latin American agents?
THEORY/THINKING
Ethics, Alain Badiou
Metapolitics, Alain Badiou
Propaganda, Jacques Ellul
Orientalism, Edward Said
Critique of Cynical Reasoning
MEDIA
The New Media Monolopy, Ben Bagdikian
Media Control, Noam Chomsky
The Future of Media, Robert McChesney
CURRENT EVENTS (see Seven Stories Press)
Camelia--A Memoir of Iran, Camelia Entekhabifard
The Next 25 Years--The New Supreme Court..., Martin Garbus
(One of the numerous books on Guantanamo Bay)
Murder in Samarkind, Craig Murray
FEMINISM & NEWS MEDIA
Whose News?: The Media and Women's Issues, Ammu Joseph
Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality, Sarah Husain
Feminism, Multiculturalism, and the Media: Global Diversities, Angharad N. Valdivia
Book Ideas for Tutorial