Media Democracy Deferred: The Postwar Settlement for U.S. Communications, 1945--1949

Pickard, Victor

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86600 Copy

Description

Title

Media Democracy Deferred: The Postwar Settlement for U.S. Communications, 1945--1949

Author(s)

Pickard, Victor

Issue Date

2008

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

McChesney, Robert

Department of Study

Communications

Discipline

Communications

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

History, United States

Language

eng

Abstract

"Based on extensive archival research, this study historicizes current media policies and reform efforts by analyzing the 1940s postwar critical juncture when policymakers, social movements, and communication industries grappled over the role of a commercial press in a democratic society. By focusing on policy formations around the Hutchins Commission, the Federal Communications Commission's ""Blue Book,"" and the Fairness Doctrine, this dissertation chronicles how a vibrant media reform movement was largely co-opted and quelled, resulting in a postwar settlement marked by three assumptions: media should remain self-regulated, practice social responsibility, and adhere to a negative First Amendment a freedom of the press privileging the rights of media producers and owners over listeners, readers, and the broader public. This social contract between the state, the polity, and media institutions consolidated an industry-friendly arrangement that contained reform movements, foreclosed on alternative models, and discouraged structural critiques of the U.S. media system---a relationship that continues to have a major impact on U.S. media today."

Graduation Semester

2008

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/86600

Owning Collections