Newspapers' Struggles with Civic Engagement: The U.S. Press and the Rejection of Public Journalism as Propagandistic

This article examines how two factors—journalism's professionalized vigilance against co-option and its difficulty differentiating social action communications from propaganda—led to many in the press attacking public journalism as propagandistic. Sociologist Alfred McClung Lee's mid-20th century writings provide fresh explanations for how press critics conflated public journalism with propaganda. Finally, this article maintains that newspapers can improve their pertinence in a new media age by better linking citizen voices into news stories.     

Press,Paper, and the Public Sphere

In late nineteenth-century USA, technological developments in paper production—a shift from a reliance on scarce cotton rag to plentiful wood—drastically reduced the price of newsprint. That decline helped overturn the reigning economics of the daily newspaper and resulted in the rise of new cheap papers with vastly expanded circulation. This novel mass press encompassed almost all Americans in the public sphere as represented by its pages. Focusing on newspapers in Detroit, this study examines the manifold consequences this shift had for the press's economics, its news agenda, and the implicit identity of the audience it addressed. The rise of a mass press in the late nineteenth century, however, was not specific to Detroit or the USA. As comparative historians have highlighted, the emergence of a mass press in Europe and elsewhere was a turning point that deeply marked the historical evolution of press systems around the globe.     

The Constables and the ‘Garage Girl’

In the summer of 1928, the arrest on a disorder charge of a young woman in north London who gave her name as Helene Adele led to a press sensation after she claimed that the officers had falsely accused her in order to discredit her claim that one of them had sexually assaulted her. The constables were ultimately prosecuted, convicted and discharged from the Metropolitan Police. This article considers the Adele case in the context of intense concerns about the possible abuse of police powers—particularly in cases involving women—in the late 1920s. Adele was catapulted onto the front pages of Britain's sensationalist press: her serialised memoir appeared in a newspaper and was reprinted in a women's magazine. However, her case was more than just a tabloid spectacle. Contributing to historians' reconsideration of the sensationalist inter-war press, this article shows how the coverage of the case fit into the press's interest in young working-class women's lifestyles and sexuality, highlighting how ‘human interest’ journalism could be intermixed with social critique.     

Press laws in North Korea

The press in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is closely tied to its communist sociopolitical structures. The North Korean press finds its modus operandi in the ‘Soviet Communist’ theory for its relationship with its government. This study examines the press laws and regulations in North Korea, pursuing three questions: (1) What is the status of the press as a sociopolitical institution in North Korea?; (2) What is the constitutional and statutory scheme relating to press freedom in North Korea?; and (3) What is the impact of the statutory mechanisms on the press in North Korea?

The press and other mass media in North Korea are totally controlled by the Korean Worker's Party. No dissenting voice is permitted in the news media. North Korea recognizes freedom of the press as a Constitutional right of their citizens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable disparity between the constitutional guarantee of press freedom and its practical application. In the name of ‘collective good’ as defined by President Kim II Sung and his party, the basic right to a free and independent press as understood in its libertarian sense is denied to North Koreans. While there are no separate specialized laws relating to the rights and/or responsibilities of the North Korean press, several indirect press laws are on the books. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether they have any noticeable bearing upon the functions of the state‐controlled press. The impact of the statutes upon the North Korean press is negligible in that the press does not (or to be precise, need not) feel any statutory constraint. This is because there is no room for conflict between the North Korean press and law enforcement authorities.     

OUT-ing AIDS

Little is known about the relationship between the Irish gay press and the AIDS crisis during the 1980s. This article aims to fill this gap by presenting the findings of a study dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Ireland and how it was confronted through the alternative media platform of OUT magazine. Using issues of OUT, it argues that alternative media in Ireland were pivotal in generating vital public health information for the gay community, particularly when the mainstream press and Irish government were not providing the necessary resources. This article also highlights the activist potential of alternative media such as OUT, as it engaged with public bodies in an attempt to hold them accountable for their response, or lack thereof, to the epidemic. The Irish gay press is thus an important example of how alternative media are critical when mainstream society ignores a particular group’s public health needs.     

Two Suspicious Persons

In Norway, one of the best examples for examining cultural narratives of murder is what is known as the Lensmannsmordersaken, i.e., ‘the case of the county police officers murder’. After summarising the key events of this sensational 1926 case, this article will consider its presentation in the Norwegian press, the impact of contemporary debates around the death penalty, the influence of scientific understandings of criminality, and the case's subsequent reimagining in literature and film. This article shows how inter-war criminalistic fantasies reflected a broad variety of fears, notably those related to ethnic otherness and anxieties related to Norway's then recent achievement of full political independence. A literary version of the case from the 1930s—one of Norway's first ‘true-crime’ novels—is also considered, as is a post-war feature film based on the murder that was banned (for privacy reasons) in 1952 and not released again until 2007.     

“SOMEONE'S GOTTA BE IN CONTROL HERE”

Journalists explain daily happenings according to a uniform mission, agreed-upon routines, and established societal relationships. Their product—American newspaper stories in this case—helps shape the social order by controlling information dissemination in a structured environment. As a result, the press enjoys the status of a political institution that operates with some authority. When technology allows the audience to take over some control in this process, its institutional dynamics shift. This research examined the words of 35 journalists to explore how technology is causing marked evolutions in newspaper journalism's missions, routines, and relationships with sources and readers. This paper found that news considerations center on personal experience for journalists and their audiences. The evidence indicates that journalists are sharing their ability to tell the day's news with people outside of the institution. Eventually, the changes in news production will have implications for the press's ultimate authority as a societal institution.     

Taking sides: Analyzing news of the US September 11 incident in the Chinese and Taiwanese press

This study examines news reports of the US September 11 incidents in the Chinese and Taiwanese press. In the Chinese press, the party newspaper (People's Daily) and the new mass‐appeal tabloid (Nanfang Daily) were studied. In the Taiwanese press, the traditional top circulation newspaper (United Daily) and the emerging pro‐Taiwan independent newspaper (Liberty Times) were chosen. Based upon a content analysis of news reports, supplemented with Chinese and Taiwanese government documents, the study found that the Chinese and Taiwanese press tended to report the incident along with the government stances and each represented its own side even after the economic reform and ruling party shift. However, the mass‐appeal tabloid in China moved slightly toward the pattern found in capitalist countries, without violating the government policy severely. The pro‐Taiwan independent newspaper showed more loyalty to the ruling party, but both Taiwanese newspapers covered diverse topics apart from the government stance. To what degree did the press follow the government stances? This study provided the preliminary answer that business interests might influence the press not to follow completely the government stances.     

Censor dot gov: the Internet and press freedom 2000

The rapidly growing volume of news and information on the Internet poses immediate problems for governments intent on influencing or controlling the ideas accessible in cyberspace. Old methods of censoring news and information are being remodeled to cope with the new communication technologies. This article examines some of the new methods of controlling information flows. These legislative and juridical actions in democratic as well as less-than-democratic states belie early assumptions that the content of Internet flows would be uncontrollable by governments. To place press freedom in context worldwide, the paper includes the latest (January 2000) Freedom House assessments in 186 countries. The study found that press controls are becoming subtler and less detectable in Europe, Latin America and where “Asian values” are projected to control internal and external news and information flows. For 400 years, governments learned to censor each new medium — newspapers, radio and television — as it appeared. The paper acknowledges that the Internet provides the greatest challenge to censors, but they are striving to master electronic forms of communication. The independence of the Internet, the study concludes, becomes the newest test of a government's will to encourage and sustain a free press.     

Perpetual development journalism? Balance and framing in the 2006 Singapore election coverage

This study sought to determine if Singapore's press model has evolved beyond the development model to take on characteristics of other press models. It examined balance and framing in election coverage in the Straits Times, Singapore's dominant English newspaper, over 16 days before the 2006 Singapore General Election. As expected under the development model, and contrary to expectations under the social responsibility model, we found coverage of the competing parties lacked balance, as indicated by more coverage with a more favorable tone for the ruling People's Action Party. In framing, we found game frames predominated over issue frames, as predicted by media intrusion theory, in which commercial media favor competitive aspects of campaigns as a result of following commercial journalistic values. This finding contradicts the expectation that development journalism would likely have more issue frames, since it emphasizes issues and policies, and suggests that some commercial journalistic imperatives outweigh development model imperatives in the Singapore press.     

Disciplining the Virtual Home Front: Mainstream News and the Web During the War in Iraq

Considered by many to be the first war of the Information Age, the 2003 War in Iraq provided a unique opportunity for observing how the American mainstream press defined the Web's journalistic value and how it reacted to the competition from alternative online news sources. In an attempt to exert control over the Web as a journalistic space, the mainstream press used rhetorics of “professionalism” to discipline online news seekers into conforming to the definition of “news” favored by the mainstream press. This essay analyzes these tactics and their implications for the Web's journalistic potential, and concludes with a call for a more collaborative online journalism that maintains journalistic credibility while also incorporating a wider variety of perspectives.     

The TV News Scheduling Game: When the Face of the Newscaster Matters

From the late 1920s, all radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom was undertaken by a public sector broadcaster—the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Television was also the exclusive preserve of the BBC until the mid-1950s, when advertiser-supported commercial stations came into existence. This form of competition for audiences, but not for finance, between two broadcasting sectors—called by some a 'comfortable duopoly'—persisted until the late 1980s when the government permitted competitive entry by cable and satellite operators, introduced competition for advertising revenue between terrestrial stations, and placed commercial television broadcasting on a more competitive footing by introducing tendering for franchises. As these changes have occurred, the BBC has maintained its traditional system of regulation and has continued to operate under a Royal Charter. Although the expiry of the current Charter at the end of 1996 has provoked a debate about the role of the BBC, the government has stated its intention to renew the Charter for another 10 years. It seems likely that, until the year 2002 at least, the current system of regulating and financing public Service broadcasting in the United Kingdom will remain intact. However, the proliferation of channels represents a threat to the BBC's audience base. There may also be difficulties in combining within the same organization a public service mission and highly commercial activities, undertaken in a very competitive world market.     

THE CHANGING TENOR OF QUESTIONING OVER TIME

This paper uses a single question form—the negative interrogative—as a window into the increasing aggressiveness of American journalists and hence the increasingly adversarial relationship between press and state in the United States. The negative interrogative in English is a type of yes/no interrogative (e.g., “Isn't it …”, “Don't you …”) often understood as asserting rather than merely seeking information. Its frequency in the construction of yes/no questions is an index of the propensity for journalists to depart from a formally neutral posture and express a point of view on the subject of inquiry. Previous quantitative research documented their growing use in US presidential news conferences since the 1950s, with the Nixon Administration as an historical turning point. Here we incorporate a more nuanced qualitative analysis of single cases in use. Beyond their growing frequency, negative interrogatives were increasingly mobilized to raise substantively adversarial matters, increasingly prefaced by adversarial assertions, and increasingly likely to treat such prefaces as presuppositionally given. Together these trends indicate journalists' growing willingness to highlight administration problems and failings and to hold Presidents to account, with Presidents since Nixon facing a harsher climate of journalistic questioning than did their predecessors.     

Educating Students About Global Media Regulation

As Mexico's government undertook neoliberal reforms to join the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, a number of scholars questioned the cultural consequences of closer media ties to the United States and Canada. Government officials countered that Mexico's strong identity needed no protection. This study situates the disagreement within cultural policy traditions, and examines how Mexican television broadcasting changed under globalization forces—including domestic competition, international market expansion, and new technology development—during the 1990s and early 2000s.Thestudy concludes that insufficient attention was given NAFTA's impact on Mexico's own television industry, which strongly influences culture.     

The good,the bad,and the ugly: Financial markets and the demise of Canada's Southam newspapers

Abstract

The impact of financial markets on media management practices is apparent in Canada, where public trading in newspaper company shares has contributed significantly to concentrated press ownership. Fluctuations in newspaper share values have often shaped firm strategies as a result. This paper presents the Southam newspaper chain as a case study of the impact of financial markets on newspaper management practices. Historical analysis is used to show how Canada's oldest and largest newspaper chain, which was known for its commitment to quality journalism and for allowing its local publishers editorial independence, made a fateful decision when it went “public”; with a share issue in 1945. The increasingly widespread ownership of its stock led to Southam's gradual takeover in 1996 by Hollinger Inc., which cut costs and reduced staff chain‐wide. Sale of the Southam newspapers in 2000 to CanWest Global Communications has seen editorial control centralized at company headquarters and partisan support shown for the ruling federal Liberal party, contrary to Southam's founding principles. As a result, the Canadian Senate began hearings into the media in 2003, bringing the possibility of government regulation to reverse the impact of financial markets on the management of media firms there.     

The Russian intelligentsia in the public sphere: The mass‐circulation press and political culture, 1860–1917

An independent, commercial mass‐circulation newspaper industry boomed at the end of the tsarist era, one analogous in most respects to that which evolved in the West during the nineteenth century. The Russian press, however, differed significantly from the Western press in the manner in which it functioned politically. Russian journalism, too, helped to open a public sphere in the autocratic environment, in concert with a series of social and political reforms in the 1860s. However, when those reforms failed to create a political order guaranteed by a constitution, the press reconstituted that sphere in a way to actually thwart the evolution of Western liberalism. The pivotal event in this process proved to be the failure of the 1905 Revolution to secure the postreform decades of incremental gains. Like most of the rest of society, journalists became so disappointed by the limited concessions exacted from the government that they lost hope that the autocracy could be reformed. Newspapers sought new political symbols in Russia's past; they found an equally disillusioned intelligentsia, whom they historicized and manipulated so as to undermine whatever substantive part they could have played in using the press as a genuinely transformative institution central to the public sphere.     

The role of government information officers

In most countries, a key figure in the provision of public information at the central government level is the government information officer (GIO). These individuals may be known as spokespersons, press officers, press attachés, public affairs officers, or public information officers. A GIO contributes to public understanding of government policies and raises awareness of the roles of decision makers and purview of state institutions, the availability of social services, noteworthy trends, and risks to public health and safety. In Central and Eastern Europe, a GIO's responsibilities typically include: monitoring media coverage of public affairs; briefing and advising political officials; managing media relations; providing information directly to the public; sharing information across the administration; formulating communication strategies and campaigns; and researching and assessing public opinion. Because of the region's communist heritage, GIOs in Central and Eastern Europe confront a number of special challenges, starting with poorly performing public administrations. Other problems include immature media, secrecy and political influence, and a lack of training and skills. However, as democratic, market, and media practices in Central and Eastern Europe come to resemble those in Western Europe, the activities and attitudes of GIOs in the former region are becoming more like their counterparts in the latter.     

Presenting “The Other Half”: Jacob Riis's Reform Photography and Magic Lantern Spectacles as the Beginning of Documentary Film

This article examines the emergence of the visual documentary genre through the study of Jacob A. Riis's magic lantern spectacles, writings, photographs, audience reception, and critical reviews as published in the press during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To demonstrate an existing strong connection between Riis's lectures and documentary film, in particular, the article also focuses on a more contemporary idea about documenting society—the concept of documentary modes of representation. The analysis of related primary and secondary sources reveals that despite the limitations of technology, “moving” documentary pictures were produced long before they were part of the film genre, and Riis's work should be viewed as one of the principal antecedents to this visual documentary form.     

Online Government Resources for Financial Literacy

Freely accessible federal government websites provide children, parents, educators, young adults, adults, and seniors—even non-native English speakers—a wealth of information on financial topics as diverse as saving, budgeting, credit, paying for college, investing, purchasing a home, and end-of-life financial decisions. Libraries of all kinds could collaborate with a variety of community leaders and groups to educate their respective constituents in making informed financial decisions. This article presents and describes some of the many federal websites of use over a typical person's lifetime and offers suggestions for promoting these sources to various audiences.     

When the information flows: Media professionalism as a signal of institutional trust at the state capitol

Recent communication scholarship emphasizes national and technological analyses of the relationship between politicians and media actors. However, this qualitative analysis uses interviews and observations to find that U.S. state legislative offices still draw on an institutional understanding of the press as the primary information provider to the electorate. In a more diverse information environment with broader definitions of media, this study finds that legislators relied on professionalism to signal a media organization's understanding of their institutional role—and it is this institutional role that allows for information to flow between media actors and legislators. Professionalism also became the language used to draw boundaries in the relationships. When behavioral norms were violated, the press became viewed as antagonistic because it stepped out of its institutional role as information provider and interrupted functions of the political institution. Recurring discomfort with “information correction” suggests legislators and their staffs find themselves increasingly in the position of fact arbiters in the changing media landscape.