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

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.