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COMMON THREADS
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is the role that media play in a democracy. The newspaper industry has always played a strong role in our democracy by reporting news and investigating stories. Even in the Internet age, newspapers remain our primary source for content. How will the industry’s current financial struggles affect our ability to demand and access reliable news?
With the coming of radio and television, newspapers in the twentieth century surrendered their title as the mass medium shared by the largest audience. However, to this day, newspapers remain the single most important source of news for the nation, even in the age of the Internet. Although today’s readers may cite search engines like Google as the primary places they search for news, sites like Google are really directories and aggregators that guide readers to news stories—
Newspapers link people to what matters in their communities, their nation, and their world. Few other journalistic institutions serve society as well. But with smaller news resources and the industry no longer able to sustain high profit margins, what will become of newspapers? Are digital news sites serving readers in their communities as well as newspapers once did? Who will gather the information needed to sustain a democracy, to serve as the watchdog over our key institutions, to document the comings and goings of everyday life? And perhaps more important, who will act on behalf of the people who don’t have the news media’s access to authorities or the ability to influence them?
KEY TERMS
The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.
partisan press, 273
penny papers, 274
human-interest stories, 274
wire services, 275
yellow journalism, 276
investigative journalism, 276
objective journalism, 279
inverted-pyramid style, 279
interpretive journalism, 280
literary journalism, 281
consensus-oriented journalism, 285
conflict-oriented journalism, 285
underground press, 290
newshole, 291
feature syndicates, 294
newspaper chain, 294
joint operating agreement (JOA), 296
paywall, 300
citizen journalism, 302
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
The Evolution of American Newspapers
Competing Models of Modern Print Journalism
The Business and Ownership of Newspapers
Challenges Facing Newspapers Today
Newspapers and Democracy
QUESTIONING THE MEDIA
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE
REVIEW WITH LEARNINGCURVE LearningCurve, available on LaunchPad for Media & Culture, uses gamelike quizzing to help you master the concepts you need to learn from this chapter.
target="_pop"VIDEO: THE MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY This video traces the history of media’s role in democracy from newspapers and television to the Internet.