Repositioning a landmark: The Hutchins commission and freedom of the press

Can Government Support the Press? Historicizing and Internationalizing a Policy Approach to the Journalism Crisis

“…The Hutchins Commission's unpublished transcripts suggest that fairly radical nonprofit models were considered early on in their discussion, but later jettisoned (Bates, 1995;McIntyre, 1987;Pickard, 2010a). For example, the commissioners declared that the service of news should not be left solely in the hands of private agencies.…”

“…They discussed how a federal agency modeled after the Federal Communications Commission should regulate newspaper content, especially in one-newspaper towns. They considered forming citizen councils to oversee local media on the basis of cooperative relationships (Bates, 1995;McIntyre, 1987;Pickard, 2010a). They proposed aggressive anti-trust interventions; regulation against newspaper chains; as well as increasing competition with start-up newspapers aided by government-guaranteed loans, subsidies, and reduced postal rates.…”

Reopening the Postwar Settlement for U.S. Media: The Origins and Implications of the Social Contract Between Media, the State, and the Polity

“…The Hutchins Commission was composed of leading intellectuals—all white, elite men—whose ideological breadth ranged from social democratic progressives like Archibald MacLeish to First Amendment absolutist liberals like Zechariah Chafee. Although more radical proposals like government aid toward start‐ups in one‐newspaper towns and establishing municipal‐owned newspapers were jettisoned, the commission established once and for all that institutions of the press bore responsibilities to the public, and should be held accountable (Bates, 1995; McIntyre, 1987; Pickard, in press a). The commission's findings held profound norm‐setting power.…”

Audience Enabling as Corporate Responsibility for Media Organizations

“…The idea of the media's responsibility toward society is not new and can be found in literature as early as the 1940s (McIntyre, 1987). Originally the social responsibility of media referred to preserving democratic and journalistic ideals, such as providing a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent report on events; safeguarding individual rights; enlightening the public; and separating these ideals from commercial goals (Commission on Freedom of the Press, 1947;Peterson, 1956).…”