News and the Power of the Press

Bibliographic Data

ID2201204
AuthorsRobert E Park (corresponding author)
Year1941
Volume47
Issue1
Pages1-11
Publication date1941-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9602 • E-ISSN: 1537-5390
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/218818
OpenAlexW2052147888
LanguageEN
Citations received10

The relation of the news to public opinion and the power of the press is considered with reference to its function in the "political process." News columns are read more widely than the editorial pages. Generally speaking, the editorial is addressed to an intellectual and political elite. Its function is not to inform the public but to interpret the news in accordance with some political policy. Its function is to insure consistent political action. The function of the news is to orient the public in regard to events which affect not only public policy but the interests of individual readers. At times when party discipline is maintained the editorial is likely to be successful in directing political action. At times when party discipline is relaxed it is the news rather than the editorial that makes opinion. However, there can be no public opinion, except where there is some fundamental agreement and understanding as to what events, as they happen, are likely to mean, and events have meaning only as one knows what to do about them

Action (physics) · Elite · Epistemology · Function (biology) · Meaning (existential) · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public opinion · Public relations · Relation (database) · Sociology · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Computer Science · Law

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