The American press and political community: reporting in Detroit 1865-1920

Abstract

This paper argues that the tripartite model of society — economy, state, civil society — offers possibilities for the comparative analysis of news media in democratic countries. Ideally, the press is embedded in civil society's `public sphere' with its participatory and deliberative norms. However the media is also dependent upon the instrumental functions of the economy and the polity. The shifting public posture of the daily press of Detroit in 1865-1920 illustrates two alternative forms of the press under this typology. Journalism of the late 1800s was subordinated to formal political society and thoroughly partisan. In the early 1900s, the media rebelled against this alignment. Declaring itself independent, the press dispensed with its open, emphatic advocacy and migrated to the realm of civil society. However, under the influence of technocratic and professional ideologies, it did not incorporate civil society's broader political dialogues. Instead, it presented an ostensibly apolitical, factual account of the day's most important events and the words of only the most legitimate speakers from the formal polity.

Toward a Measure of Community Journalism

“…A host of other factors influencing news decision making were also discussed in these articles, including pressures from finances and from audience (Lariscy, Tinkham, Edwards, & Jones, 2004;Waters, Lynd, & Wood, 2001), degree of local economic uncertainty and level of local competition (Beam, 1996), age of a community (Pollock & Yulis, 2004), and wider cultural and geopolitical factors (Hamilton, 1998;Kaplan, 1997;Rusciano, 1997).…”

The Paradoxes of the Journalistic Profession

“…a clear political bias disappear from the Detroit press during presidential election campaigns. 38 Julian Ralph, a New York Sun correspondent, described in 1903 the normal negotiation between journalists and important officials in the last two decades of the 19 th century as reaching an agreement "upon terms of equality … to publish or not to publish, as the two agree". 39 The power of journalists in such negotiations changed as newspapers grew in circulation and influence, but it was also countered by public relations coming into business from the turn of the 19 th century, as an answer to the muckraking journalism.…”