TheJoan Shorenstein Center

PRESS. POLITICS

'PUBLICPOLICY'

HarvardUniversity JohnF. KennedySchool ofGovernment INrnonucrIoN

There is a large academic literature, some in sively on referendums and other forms of direct economics and some in philosophy, about the democracy,is that representativescan often status of people's revealed preferences, their temper the passionsof ephemeralmaiorities, and expressedstatements about what they desire.For can often exercise a healthy dampening effect on although there are obvious attractions to the idea the wide swings of unchecked maioritarianism. that we should always respectwhat people say When Madison in Federalist 10 distinguished a they want, the issue turns out to be more com- democracyfrom a republic, and when he advo- plicated. At times, what peopie say they want cated representativerepublicanism as a way of "mischiefs may not be what they would really prefer in the controlling the of faction," even long term or upon further reflection, as when when those mischiefs were producedby factions " peopleask for a third drink or a seconddessert that were comprised of. a maiority of the and shortly thereafter wish that their wishes had whole," he recognizedthe importance of struc- not been granted.Consider Ulysses,who had turing government so that it could, when neces- himself bound to the mast for precisely this sary, limit the abusesof pure majoritarianism. reason."...but you must bind me hard and fast, This limitation may come from representative so that I cannot stir from the spot where you will rather than direct democracy,it may come from stand me...and if I beg you to releaseme/ you a system of separationof powers and checks and must tighten and add to my bonds." (The Odys- balances,and it may come from a written sey).As the current debatesabout a balanced constitution with judicial review, but each of budget amendment to the Constitution indicate, these devicesis premised on the insight that today as well as in Homer's time we worry that there is more to governmental design than getting what we now say we want may causeus simply reflecting the revealedpreferences of regret in the future. today's transient maiority. Even when revealedpreferences do reflect It is often thought, and properly so, that.the what people in fict want,'people'swants may presscan (and should) serveas a central compo- not always reflect what is best for them. Even nent of a well-functioning democracy.The when well-informed of the consequences,peQple power of the presscan at times help to check may prefer to smoke'cigarettes,to drive cars abusesof official power, and even more impor- without wearing their seatbelts,to ride motor- tantly it can serveas the forum for public delib- cycles without wearing helmets, and to forego eration and'communication when the decision- higher education in favor of becoming part of the making body is a population of over two hundred entourageof a rock band. million rather than the severalhundred of the Yet there is still more to the problem than stereotlpical New England town meeting. Yet if this. Even when revealedpreferences track the pressis to be seen,in part, as one of the actual preferences,and even when preferences devicesof democracy,then all of the reasonsfor match interests,giving effect to the preferences thinking carefully about the distinction between and interests of the maiority may not always be a well-functioning democracy,on the one hand, the right thing to do. The reasonwe recognize and pure majoritarianism, on the other, are as international human rights, and the reasonwhy applicable to the pressas to the other institu- domestic constitutions protect rights like tions that concernedfames Madison and his freedom of religion and freedom from torture, is colleagues. that sometimes it is simply wrong to fail to When we think of the pressin Madisonian recognizethe rights that people have, even when republican, rather than in pure majoritarian, recognition of those rights is inconsistent with terms/ a different conception of pressresponsibil- the actual interests of the majority. ity is before us. And when we recognizethe close Each of these complications castsdoubt on affinity between the concernsof Madison and institutions designedexclusively to reflect the the concernsof those who from classicalto revealedpreferences and interests of the maior- present times have reflected on the problems ity. One of these institutions is a completely accompanyingthe simple satisfaction of all laissez-fairemarket as a way of allocating goods revealedpreferences/ we can seeas well that a and services.And another is an unalloyed pressthat measuresits responsibilities solely in majoritarianism as away of making political terms of satis{ying the revealedpreferences (and decisions.One of the virtues of a representative passions,as Madison would say)of its readers democracy,rather than one that relies exclu- may fall short o{ fulfilling the role that the press can and should serve in a representative democ- risks that Madison saw in pure majoritarianism racy. To put it more simply, if democracy works in 1787,and all of the risks that many people see best when majoritarianism is tempered with less in excessreliance on referendums and citizen majoritarian institutions, then the press may initiatives in the present political climate. For serve democracy best when it seesitself as doing her, this worry is a worry about whether a press something more than iust reacting to the imme- that takes its agendasfrom reader surveys and diate and revealed preferences of its readers. focus groups is a press that is fulfilling its role in Indeed, given that a desire for profit-maximtza- the mediated majoritarianism we call American tion may itself be away of allowing voters to democracy.The phenomenon that Carper vote with their wallets, a newspaper or magazine questions is undeniably growing, and her that tries to maximize its profits and in addition thoughtful and provocative discussion paper tries to provide the news that its readers believe should be required reading for all who too "what they want is likely to be a newspaper or maga- quickly think that the readerswant" is zine that represents just what Madison and the prescription for effective journalism. others had sought to avoid in the design of governmental institutions. Frederick Schauer The argument I have foreshadowed in the Acting Director, The |oan ShorensteinCenter on previous paragraph is not mine, but that of the Press,Politics and Public Policy Alison Carper, a former reporter for Newsday Frank Stanton Professorof the First Amendment who was a Fellow of the Shorenstein Center in fohn F. Kennedy School of Government the Spring of. 1994. Reacting to the increasing Harvatd University use in contemporary journalism of reader sur- veys and focuJgroups to determine what the people "teaLly" want, she worries that this approach to journalism brings with it all of the PAINT.BY.NUMBERS JOURNALISM How ReaderSurveys and Focus Groups Subvert a Democratic press

I. the purpose of their profession.Like all joumalists, |ournalism in America has always had two they have been schooledin the traditions of free warring halves. On the one side, it is a public speech,and they know that this liberty they enjoy service, armed with staunch principles about the is preservedby the Constitution for one reason: people'sright to know. On the other, it is a Newspapersinform the citizenry, and in a democ- business,invigorated by hearty profits or by racy, citizens must be inlormed in order to fulfill profits'allure. Its successhas always depended the demands of self-govemance. on keeping both halves strong/ becausea wound In recent years,then, these editors have faced to one side - principles or financial strength- a need to reconcile two objectives,the fulfill- debilitates the other. ment of their democratic function, and the Yet, in the past 30 years or so, the business assuranceof their own survival. As a result, they side of journalism has assumedan unyielding have found strong iournalistic justifications for dominance. Newspapers across the country have using marketing techniques to shapethe news. been sold by families to corporations.Motivated In this essay,I will try to show how the by the medium's potential for profits, executives reasoningof these journalists fails to rise above of these corporationshave strived to make each the level of mere rutionalization; that, in fact, quarter's earningsexceed the last. They have when their arguments are scrutinized it becomes struggledto pleaseshareholders. They have c,learthat the goalsof marketing are largely in labored to make circulation figures meet their conflict with the role that the pressshould play guaranteesto advertisers,They have fretted in a democracy. about the cost of newsprint and delivery. In more recent years,however, the executives, concernshai'e changed.Rather.than worry about II. profitability, they have become anxious about |ournalism's adoption of marketing tech- their ir\dustry's very survival. The reabonsfor . niques has affectednearly every newspaperin this shift are not hard to discern. America. ' Recessionshave undermined the stability of In some cased,editors call upon focus groups newspapers'advertising base. New sourcesof for guidance.Sitting behind one-way mirrors, information and entertainment have drawn they listen to comments about their newspaper subscribersaway. And, most ominously, a by a dolen or so readersor "potential,, readers. declining regard for the written word has eroded An industry consultant, hired by the newspaper, the habit of reading.Taken together, these trends servesas the group's moderator/ asking questions seemedto raise the specterof newspapers, and giving shapeand order to the discussion. extinction. Without drastic reforms, newspaper Often, the members of these focus group are executiveshave come to believe that their randomly selectedfrom the paper'sreadership industry might well disappear. area,but not always. Sometimesthey are chosen What to do?Besieged by adversesocial and from a particular demographicgroup to which economic trends and plaguedby the profit the paper especiallywants to appeal,such as demandsof shareholders/newspaper executives women or young people.In either case,consult- began searching for a remedy. They have found a ants are obliged to warn editors that no focus plausible one in a prescription offeredby indus- group speaksfor an entire community. Nonethe- try consultants: Use market researchtechniques less,editors are naturally tempted to generalize to find out what readerswant and then give it to from the comments they hear. them. The very same tools that brought prosper- Editors also use readersurveys,to acquaint ity to manufacturersof soapand automobiles- themselveswith the tastesand sentiments of public-opinion surveys and focus groups-could their community. Again, the newspaperitself, or restore the newspaperindustry to health. its corporateheadquarters, will often work with It has been up to editors to adopt this advice- a consultant to write the'survey. The question- editors who, at one time or another and to varFng naires are u.suallymailed to readersor appearas degrees,are likely to harbor lofty notions about couponsin the paper.

Alison Carper 1 Some newspapers/however, do not undertake Boston Globe, for example, reachesout to research of their own, but use that which has readersby periodically asking them a question been gathered by others, such as by the head- on the front page and inviting them to call in quarters of their parent newspaper chain, or their responses.The LosAngeles Times prints a consultants who make the results of their work local news summary on the left-hand column of available to the newspaper industry as a whole. the front page of its Orange County edition. And At Knight-Ridder, one of the country,s the Philadelphia Inquirer sandwiches brief story wealthiest newspaper chains, papers carry out summaries between the headline of an article their own research. Each of the corporation,s 29 and the text. Whether or not these featurescan papersprobes its readership-using a survey or be traced to specific surveys by each newspaper/ focus group-at least once every 24 months. The the modifications are consistent with recom- chain has also conducted concentratedcam- mendations by market researcherswho distrib- paigns to find out what readerswant. When it ute their findings industrywide. redesigned its Boca Raton News in 1990, it drew Many market-driven changes in the biggest upon more than 30 focus groupsfor guidance.t papersare modifications in format, such as art At Gannett, all but one of the company,s 83 and layout, rather than in the content of the dailies is required to adopt a detailed strategy news. Yet, there are exceptions.At the Atlanta that will ailow it to find out what its readers lournal-Constitution, a paper whose Sunday want and give it to them. The exception to the circulation of around 700,000makes it among companywide program - known as News 2000 the country's largest,a major readershipresearch -is USA Today, Since USA Today was the drive was followed by radical changesin news country's first paper to be conceivedof and content/ including shorter articles, and more createdby market research,it is natural that it briefs and graphicsin place of stories. be exempted. But generally speaking,it has been at me- Gannett's mandate gives each paper the free- dium-sized and small papers- and primarily dom to execute News 2000's imperatives in its those owned by chains - that market-driven own way. In Washington state/ editors at the modifications have had the greatesteffect. The Olympian took steps to satisfy the program,s Orcnge County Register,Seattle Times, and.the requirements by sending reporters to shopping Olympian, for example, have been profoundly malls and other public places to passout surveys influenced by market research.Like the Atlanta that asked ri:adersto rate their news preferences.2 fournal-C onstitution, editors at these papers In Little Rock, the chain's Arkansas Gazette have shapednews content/ and not iust format, distributed readersurveys that had two columns, to cater to the demandsof the market. one for hard news, one for soft. From column A, Adherents of the marketing school say sur- readerswere askedto check off whether they veys and focus groups produce newspapersthat wanted more news about Europe,the Midille respondto. the needsof people.This essaywill East, the governor/ the legislature or the county. argue that they have the opposite effect. Gratify- From column B, whether they wanted more ing readers'wants is not the same as satisfying advice on infants, teenagers,dating, retirement their needs,and indeed,I will argue,a preoccupa- or single parenting.3 tion with the former can disable a newspaper Gannett owns more papersthan any corpora- from achieving the latter. I also hope to show tion in America. Knight-Ridder ranks second. that in respondingto the wishes of readers, These chains are indeed prominent in the editors producepapers that are rigidly formulaic,. industry. But their embraceof marketing tech- Using marketing tools, then, doesnot produce a niques doesnot encompassthe whoie move- creative new kind of journalism, but rather the ment. Rather, these companiesare emblematic newspaperequivalent of paint-by-numbersart. of a still larger trend. One can cast a line rn any When did the marketing trend begin? direction to find other newspapersthat use If a single year had to be assigned,it would marketing methods to shapenews content: The be 1977.That was when the American News- Chicago Tribune, WaLLStreet fournal, and New paper PublishersAssociation and the Newspa- York Times. are three prestigious examples. per Advertising Bureau joined forces to address While these papers do use surveys and focus what the industry saw as an impending crisis groups/ marketing has, generally speaking, least of declining readership.Together the associa- affectedthe content of the country,s biggestand tions createda $5 million ReadershipProjecr, most prestigious dailies. Yet, upon inspecrion, and the project turned to market researchfor one can seeits mark even on some of them. The its answers.

2 Paint-By-Numbers [ownalism The first major study that the project commis_ resonatesright away with the reader. And, on sioned drew upon focus group discussions with the other hand, less foreign, national and govern- newspaper readers and prospective readersin 12 ment news - indeed, with the exception of "hard cities. Conducted by market researcherRuth crime stories,less news" altogether. Clark and distributed to the organization's3,500 The drive to promote the marketing approach members, ,,Changing the study, called Needs for has had its effect - both on newspapersand on Changing Readers,,,had the effect of Ggitimizing the minds of their executives.Over the years, the use of market research in shaping editorial even the rhetoric of executiveshas changedto content. It launched the marketing tiend.a reflect the new influence. It is not uncommon to - Th: study suggestedthat n"wspap.rs adopt hear editors refer to readersas ,,customers,,now. both format and content changes.-It-suggested One often hearsthe newspapercalled the ,,prod- greateruse o{ news summaries,briefs, graphic uct." "coping" ,,good,, aids, stories, and ,rewi. And it The following statements from a few of the recommended that papersrun less national, country's publishers and editors are evidenceof foreign, and government news.s the depth of the new marketing mentality: "We Clark believed that the future of newspapers must sell ourselveslike Chevrolet and lay in the willingness of editors to cater to lhe Ivory Soap."- Walme Ezell, editor of the Boca demandsof the 1970's,,me,,generation, a Raton News.lr generation "We that wanted to hear less about na- try to listen and tailor our product to the tional and world events and was hungry for marketplace. ,We "news" Our readerstell us, don,t want about the lifestyle issuesof people to work terribly hard, we don,t want to struggle exactly like themselves.In effect,Clark recom- through what you're trying to tell us.,They like mended that newspapersdraw a curtain over the stories they can use for their coffee-breaktalk.,, window on the - world that they had traditionally |ohn Gardner,publisher of the euad-City offered their audience,and hand readersa mirror Times in lowa.12 instead. "We're trying to put out a newspapet for a years In the since Clark,s report/ dozensof whole new generation of newspaperscanners out publications urging newspaperexecutives to there who expect to developa conversational survey their readerswere circulated by the knowledge of what's in the paperbased only on American NewspaperPublishers Association and reading the headlings.//- Dan Hays, editor of the American Society of NewspaperEditors. the Quad-City Times,ts ,,Keys "The Some bore apocalyptic titles, such as, to surest way to editorial failure is to Our Survival."6Others were less melodramatic impose upon readersour own senseof what they in tone but just as pointed in.message,such as, ought to know. judge "Readers: We must the value of what How to Gain and Retain Th'em.,,7 we publish in their terms.,, - Michael Fancher, The industry publications Editor d publisher editor of the Seattle Times.ta joined "News and Prcsstime the marketing bandwagon is what our readerssay it is.,, - Steve with a paradeof articles. They appearedunder Crosby, editor of the Wausau "Whoever Daily Herald in such headlinesas, StaysClosest to the Wisconsin.r5 "Reviving Customer Will Win,"8 and a Romance Two kinds of modifications are urged by with Readersis the Biggest Challenge for Many marketing enthusiasts,and an important distinc. Newspapers."e tion must be drawn between them. The first Conferences/conventions and seminarsfor affectsnewspaper format, and while such newspaperexecutives also becamepopular changeshave been dramatic in recent years,I forums for industry consultants to try to per- will not discussthem here. The secondmodifica- suadeeditors to use surveysand focus groups.r0 tion affectseditorial content, and it is this with Whether an industry report, article or oral which the remainder of this paperwill be con- presentation,the formula suggestedwas the cerned,because it is the shapingof news content ,,quick same.It included, on the one hand, more to appealto an audiences'preferences "escape" that reads," or upbeat news/ entertaining conflicts with the historic "multiple mission of iournalism. articles, points of entry,,,such as One could tum to any number of newspapers graphic aids and sidebars designed to easethe for examplesof how editorial content is shaped readerinto the main news story, and news-you- to correspondto readers,tastes, but the Atlanta can-use/or/ as communication theorists call it, "immediate-reward lournal-Constitutionoffers a portrait that is news," which generally more vivid than most. consists of a health, coping or lifestyle tip that On Sunday,Apri.l 3, 1994,there were onlv 11

Alison Carper 3 pagesof local, national and foreign news in the createnew beatsthat reflect those topics they believe 138-page Constitution. loutnal- The front page readerscare about most. In Wausau,Wisconsin, carried only three stories, only one of whiih was editors atthe Daily Herald.consohdatedthe city, long enough to continue on another page.The counfy and suburbangovemment beatsand reas- dominant story was a feature about local srgnedthe two reporterswho lost their beats to churches' preparations for Easterservices. The generalassignments. Steve Crosby, the Wausau page'slead story, about North Korea,sgrowing paper'seditor, said thag in facg city hall news has capacity to produce nuclear weapons,was only becomeso rare in dte Daily Heraldthat ,,the mayor six paragraphslong. calls and complains."zt Dominant stories on the front pagerecently In Rochester,N.Y., readersof the Democrat have also included a feature, otr a Su.rday,thri and Chronicle also find less government news in revealedthat baby boomers are going to bed their paper now. Editor BarbaraHenry says the earlier.t6InMay of.1992, "not after acyclonehit paper is as nose-to-the-grindstoneon city Bangladeshand killed 125,000people, the story hall and the county legislature [as it used to be]. was found inside while the front pageincluded a Yes, we still cover them, but we don,t do it in pi9c9 o1 the opening of a McDonald,s at the city,s the nitty-gritty way we used to.,,22 public hospital and a dispute between the city and Lou Heldman, who directed Knight-Ridder,s catererswho provide food in an Atlanta Dark.rz remake of the Boca Raton News, saysthat his That same year, fournal-Constitution editor editors have learnedthat government stories are Ron Martin told the Washington lournalism more expendablethan other types of news. They Review that the days "tend when reporterswent out, to be the first thing droppedwhen the gathered a story and wrote it up are over. Report- spacecrunch comes,,'he said.B ers now work as part of a team/ along with Meanwhile, at the Orange County Register, editors and artists, "shopping ,,car and together they come up malls" and culture,, beatshave with news''/packagss." ta been created,as have weekly pet and hobby government, As for national and foreign news sections.2aAnd, while minimizing government stories,at the loumal-Constitution and ilse- stories, the Boca Raton News makes an effort to where, these are frequent caSualtiesof the satisfy readers'demands fot.,,good,,news witli a market-driven approach. "Today's Hero" column, which highlights the At the Boca Raton News, editor Wayne Ezeli heroic side of a local resident each day.rs candidly acknowledged his willingness to Lou Heldman of Knight-Ridder sayshe be- sacrifice traditional news in an interview with lieves that the purposeof the Boca Newsis to do Washington Post "a media correspondentHoward good job of explaining the world for people Kurtz. Asked if he would stop carrying foreign who don't want the world in great depth.,,zoThe news if focus groups said they were not inter- paperis replete with opinion columns, sports,a ested,Ezell said, "That would iell me thev,re not bold front pagebox that tells readerswhire the reading it, so why'should I have it? If readerssaid comics 4re, and is filled with briefs on every- they wanted more comics and lessforeign news/ thing from local to national to entertainment in a market-driven economy/ I,m going to give news. Depth is one thing that is not on the them more comics and lessforeign news.,rie News' menu of offerings. Newspapersthat embracethe marketing It is not surprising, then, to find that the paper approach . "no-jump" often find themselvespracticing a has a rigid policy for front page particular kind of formula - iournalism the kind stories.2TEven on the first, dramatic day of the that emphasizesformat at the expenseof con- Gulf War, when U.S. forcesbegan bomting Iraq, tent. At the Boca Raton News, the drive to have the lead story did not continue on a subsequent the news fit predetermined into a format has page.As a consequence,it was only l i para- shifted positions of power in the newsroom. graphslong.28 Under the old arrangement,a copy editor was subordinateto a reporter.But when the paper's format took precedenceover the conteni oJ rl"w, ilI. stories,it was the - ,,pushes, copy editor who When Ezell of the Boca Raton News told the pummels and pounds the writer,s words to fit Washington Post media critic that he would drop the format" - who gainedthe upper hand.2o foreign news altogetherif focus groups so re- The marketing approachto news content also has quested,his reasoningwis that of a business- causedsome papers to scaledown their emphasison man. But what of those arguments editors make traditional beats,including govemment coveragg and from their position as fournalists?

4 Paint- By-Numb ers lournalism I have identified four, and will take each up in papers they find easy to understand, they are turn and challengeit. inclined to watch TV. Briefly stated, they are: If the goal, then, is to enhance accessibility The Pedagogical Argument, which maintains for those who fall into this middie category, that marketing tools tell editors how readers what shall be the means?This is where the learn from the news, and so allow them to craft authors of Common Knowledge and newspaper their newspapers into the kind of products that editors who embracemarketing tools part ways. readersfind most accessible. The book's authors believe that format The Enticement Argument, accordingto changes- more use of color, art, and graphics- which editors are morally obliged to lure readers and moderate content changes- more detailed into buying the paper, becauseonce readers have background or context to news stories - are the the paper in hand, they will read the serious best ways to make an article more accessible. news. But market-oriented iournalists take a different The Demouatic Argument, which maintains view. When readersresponding to surveys or that surveys and focus groups are highly demo- speakingup in focus groups say that they are not cratic in that they allow readers to specify what very interested in national, foreign and govern- it is they want. Since newspapers,like govern- ment news, editors conclude that if those stories ment/ are a service, then readers should be able were shorter, they would be easierto digest. If to "vote" for the content of their paper.And, readersare getting little hard news in any event, finally, the editors conclude, then abbreviatedbits of The BusinessImperative Argument, which news will at least give them something of value. holds that if newspapersare in financial trouble, What are we to make of this reasoning?It is editors must give readerswhatever they want, counter-intuitive at best. It advocatesoffering becauseif they do not, the paperswill perish and less information in the name of assistingthe every opportunity for quality journalism will learning process.It maintains that more knowl- perish along with them. edgewili be assimilated if the amount of infor- mation available is reducedto accord with the amount habitually absorbed.That is, it argues IV. that the best way to educateis to cut back The PedagogicalArgument is predicatedon horizons to meet the field of vision. But how can theories about how peoplelearn from the news. such an exerciselead to an expandedview of the While editors may basetheir perceptionsof this world? processon anecdotes,impressions and preju- Cutting back horizons doesnot promote dices,academics have rigorously explored the education, it impedesit. The effect is not an questions of how this learning takes place. These expansionof readers'knowledge of national and explorations have resulted in detailed exposi- world events,but a reinforcement of their tions, the best example of which is found in the provincialism. The truncation and oversimplifi- book, Common Knowledge.2eltwill be to that cation of the news also inhibits learning in book that I will tum to lay out the foundation of another way as well. Since the messagea news- the Pedagogical Argument. paperimplicitly conveys is that its pagesreflect Common Knowledge begins with the ap- the world's most noteworthy events, its failure praisal that traditional newspapersare the least to reflect those events encouragescomplacency "hard accessibleof the news media; that is, people on the part of readers.When the news" is have more trouble absorbing information from abbreviated,readers who are not inclined to turn newspapersthan they do from television news- to foreign and national stories are no longer even castsor weekly newsmagazines.But, as the book forced to be consciousof what they are missing. notes, people'slevel of difficulty with each Additionally, an oversimplified newspaper medium dependson their cognitive skills. Those prevents readersfrom "graduating up" to a level with low skills absorbthe least from newspapers where they read and understand more complicated and, indeed, gravitate toward TV. Those with news stories. Some readerswho are initially high skills get the most from newspapersand disinclined to tackle pieces that are nuanced or naturally tend to read them. So, it is primarily complex could eventually use traditional newspa- for the purpose of capturing those with average pers to work their way up to those stories, and skilis that the Pedagogical Argument is de- thus attain a broadervision of the world. Reducing signed. Those in this group can make efficient the news iontent and simplifying stories prevents use of either medium, although in the absenceo{ them from being able to do so.

Alison Carper 5 The Pedagogical Argument has a famlliar The two types account for equal segments - parallel in education theory, namely the view 13 percent - of the newspapermarket, the that students should not be expectedto perform report said. But it is far easier to ^tftact the at- tasks in which they have not already proved risk readerthan the potential reader.It takes less their "package,,small abiiity. Central to this philosophy is the effort to piecesof information idea that the primary purposeof education is not than it doesto provide in-depth news. The to increasestores of knowledge but to raise self- report/ written for newspaper executives, noted esteem. all this, and it recommendedtaking the easier But there is a dangerinherent in this view. path. When the raising of self-esteembecomes the There is nothing wrong with making newspa- expressedgoal of schools,the baseon which that pers accessibleto readers.Indeed, making confidence - - is built mastery of the material complex events clear has always been the aim of can become something to be sacrificedif it journalistic narrative. But using market research blocks the way. The result is an insecure foun- to this end posesserious problems. First, it dation on which the rhetoric of self-esteem is encouragesnewspapers to take the most expedi_ erected, not a solid one supporting the real ent route to accessibility, namely abbreviating thing. news stories. Second,it tends to screenout the Take ,,whole the example of the language,, preferencesof an important minority of custom-. approach to teaching reading and writing, a ers, those who are intensely interested in the controversial method that is currently in vogue news. Third, it refashionspapers in the image of in some schools around the country.3oTeachers television, since it is in the light of TV,s success who use it refrain from correcting the spelling of that editors construe the responsesto their own children just learning how to write. If a child surveys.Helping people understand the events of spells apple , A-P-L,the teacher,who values the a complex world is a laudablegoal, but eliminat- . child's self-esteemmore than she values her ing all complexity in the name of teaching growing store of knowledge, will recognize only defeatsthe purpose. the intent behind the misspelled word and praise the child for writing her version of apple. The teacher'sexpectations are cut back to V. meet the student's ability; horizons are reduced According to the secondargument, the to accordwith present limits of understanding. Enticemenf theory, newspapersmust give as when |ust newspapersare simplified, learning readerswhat they want in order to lure them is not promoted; 'into it is impeded. buying the paper.Once the paper is in Newspaper consultants and editors tend to their hands, the argument goes,they will read interpret the results of market researchas a call the serious news. for greatet simplification even when the studv There are several objections to this argu- results are ambiguous.A clear illustration of ment. First, it fails to take account of the this is found in a I99I ASNE readershipreport, impact of a simple fact, that is, every frivolous "Keys to Our Survival." The report identifies story that is printed takes up spacein the two types of people that are not loyal newspaper newspaperthat would otherwise be used for readersbut n could becomeso. The first is the at something less frivolous. But advocatesof the risk" reader, person a who dips into the papera Enticement Argumenf do not recognizethis. few times a week, scanningit superficiaily each In their view, the information that people time. He is someonewho feels harried and want - as determined by market research- unable to control his life, tends to retreat into a is merely addedon top of the standardnews protected provincial and world, and likes news fare. Market research,according to this theory, stories that are short and entertaining, the report is only meant to enhance/not to change,the said. content of newspapers. The ,,potential,, other type is the reader.This But, a glance at arrynewspaper that has is the reader who is seriously interested in news adoptedthe market-researchapproach proves the events and prefer newspapers to TV. She is busy Enticement advocateswrong. As we saw with but doesnot feel ,,deep,, harried. Sheis a readei the Atlanta lournal-Constitution, stories of the and wants more detail and explanation in news sort that focus group respondentssay they prefer stories than her local papernow provides.In - about lifestyle issies and community events short, the reasonshe doesnot reid the paper - have not been addedto the hard news, they now is that it is too superficial for her. have displacedit. In other words, the market-

6 Paint-By -Numb ers lournalism oriented changes have not been used to entice l98l report, scoldededitors for their general readers to get the informational nutrition thev unwillingness to ask readerswhat kind of news need, rather they "From have supplanted the old diei they want. time immemorial,,, the report altogether. "editors began, have been blithe spirits - laigely The Atlanta [ournal-Constitution also illus- untouchable, unteachable, and utterly indepen- trates the second {law in the Enticement Argu_ dent. They listened to the dicta of few excepr ment.In order to be lured into reading the their publishers. Vox populi be damned.,,33 seriousnews/ the import of that news has to be The same rebuke is found in a 1992 Nieman clear. In other words, a distinction must be made Reports article by three high ranking newspaper between "Who, stories inserted to gratify readersor get executives. if not the reading public, their attention and stories of substance. should judge the value of a newspaper,sservice,,, Papershave historically maintained this the authors asked.3a distinction by reserving the front page for the From Gallup's days to the present,polls have important news, - and relegating the less substan_ become an increasingly acceptable- even tial stories to inside sections. But once newspa- respected- guide for leadersto turn to when pers begin to promote attention-getting stories making decisions.{president Clinton has used self-consciously ,,enticement,,, as an the hierar- them liberally.f The opinion poll, when relied chy of news values is overthrown. As the Atlanta upon to an extreme degree,becomes a referen_ C fournal- onstitution demonstrates,non-news dum on public policy decisions.When polls stories get moved to the front pages,while much dictate policy, the boundariesof representational of the hard news is relegatedto subsequentpages, government are breached,and the nation re- briefs and indexes.In the name of enticement. sembles,at least for the moment/ a direct de- editors fail to highlight the news most worth mocracy. As Gallup predicted, the country is reading. The result is that it is no longer clear indeed brought into one great room. And, though what readers are being enticed to read. it is Americans who make up the resulting assembly,the processhas a distinctly Athinian flavoi. But, is the Athenian VI. model of government ari appropriateone for us? Should our government According to the Democratic Argument, focus aspire to direct democracy?There are reasonsto grou,psand surveys are justifiable becausethey believe that such an ideal would be misplaced in are democratic tools. Like politicians who defend . the Americah context. the_useof opinion polls on the grounds that they In order for Athenian democracy to function, enable them to policy enact that accordswith one needsAthenian citizens - and ideal Athe- their constituents'will, advocatesof the Demo- nian citizens at that.3sWhat is an ideal citizen of cratic Argument argue that focus groups and Athen's?He is a man whose reasondominates surveys allow them to produce newspapers that over his passionsand for whom the common correspondto their readers,needs and desires. good takes precedenceover his own private When George Gallup first popularized the interests. Direct democracydemands a nation opinion poll, he promoted it as a democratic tool; made up of such citizens. For the Athenian a "sampling referendum," he called it.3tInThe assemblyto work, each member must conform Pulse of Demouacy {l94}l, Gallup said that the his behavior to rhis ethical ideal. poll, which a telephone in every home had The American political system, on the other recently possible, made would allow citizens to hand, is predicated on a very different idea of the voice their views on all issues, something that citizen. Rather than rely on an ideal of human had not been feasiblesince America,s deirocratic behavior, the Framers of the American govern- experiment began. For the first time ever, the ment set their sights lower; they sought an ,,one "natuaLlr,an," opinion poll would bring the nation into image of that is, of how people great room," he said. would behaveif they had been stripped of " A6tet one hundred and fifty years/ we return society's artifices and constraints. Influenced by to the town meeting. This time the whole nation Hume and Locke, and consulting the record of is within the doors," Gallup wrote.32 history, they decidedthat people do not make It was, it would seem,in the interest of natural Athenians. They concluded that we are democracy - that is, of encouraging journalists far too predisposedto place our own interest to hear the voices in Gallup,s great room - that aheadof the common good. the American Society of Newspaper Editors, in a Whether the Framers, view of human nature

Alison Carper 7 doesjustice to our full humanity is an open can reader surveys and focus groups only work to question. Nevertheless,it is clear that the the advantageof the public under those condi- American system of government was designed to tions. When they do not exist, readerswill ask function even if the Framers'pessimistic view only for news relating to their private interests were largely true, that is, even if most citizens and neglect their need for information that will never took account of the public good. enablethem to participate responsiblyin the But, of course/even a country such as ours common society, that is, information that will needstrustees to attend to the common- equip them to perform the tasks of a democratic wealth. For any nation to endure, laws must citizen. Rather than ask for more national, be enactedthat are expresslyintended for the foreign and government news, they will tell common good, even if they conflict with the consultants such as Ruth Clark that they want interests of naturally self-seekingindividuals. more news that affects them, the members of the For example, the raising of taxes is always "me" generation. unpopular, but taxes must occasionally be Where ideal Athenian citizens are not present/ increasedto meet government expenses. a system that seemsto be modeled on direct Likewise, most citizens do not want to make democracycan paradoxically yield less demo- the sacrificesnecessary for cleaning up the cratic results. When self-interestedpeople are nation's air,yet laws must be enactedthat given the kind of newspaperthey say they want, require expensiveanti-pollution devices to be the gulf is widened between those who have installed on cars and in factories. The list enough information to participate meaningfully could be extended,but the point is clear. In in the demociatic processand those who do not. each of these cases,what is good for society as The result is not democratization, but an exacer- a whole doesnot reflect the sum choice of bated form of elitism. Market-oriented journal- individuals acting only in their own interest. ism leads,therefore, not to a more equal society, The Framerswere consciousof the potential but a more divided one. for conflict between the aggregateof citizens' The conflict between representativeand direct wishes and the common good. So, they built into dqmocracyhas a corollary in the traditional the Constitutional system a number of barriers doctrines justifying pressfreedom. There are two intended to insulate lawmakers - the popularly familiar models of the pressthat offer justifiia- selectedtrustees of the commonwealth - from tion for the liberties that the First Amendment the feople's will. For example, they called for sanctions,and there are fundamental differences senatorsto servewhat then seemedlike very between them. The first is the libertarian model, long six-year terms/ for prbsidentsto be elected and the second,the social-responsibilitymode1.36 indirectly through an electoral college, and for As with the distinct ideasabout human nature the members of the SupremeCourt to serve that each form of democracyassumes, each lifetime appointments. Each of these provisions mqdel adopts its own vision of the press. was designed,at least in part, to give political According to the libertarian model, the press leadersthe spacethey need to deliberateabour resemblesan open marketplace of ideas,a public and pursue the common good while being at arenafrom which no views ought to be excluded. ' least somewhat protected from popular pressure. Opinions compete for dominance here, according It is this spacefor independentdeliberation to the libertarian view, and out of the contesr, that is subvertedby politicians' public opinion the truth inevitably emergesvictorious. polls. When lawmakers blindly follow the J.S.Mili buttressedthe libertarian model with dictates of the people through the polls, they four now classic arguments in favor of press relinquish their prerogativeof assessingwhen freedom.3TFirst,he believed that censorshipis and how the public good varies from the aggre- wrong becausein suppressingfalsehood, there is gate wishes of self-seekingindividuais. In the always the risk that truth will be silenced. same way, when editors believe their duty is to Second,he noted that false opinions, no less than gratify the tastesof readers,they are relinquish- true ones/ may be founded on a kernel of truth, ing their higher responsibility - their demo- and that kernel can lead on to still larger discov- cratic responsibility - to make sure the public eries.Third, he contendedthat even if a com- is informed about the vital issuesand events of monly held opinion is true, it is only when those the day. who hold it are forced to defendit that the |ust as direct democracycan only work when opinion rises above the level of preiudice and citizens place their civic duties or societal becomesa rationally held belief. And finally, he interests aheadof their private concerns/so too held that the truth must be challenged from time

8 Paint- By-Numb ers [ournalism to time to teep it from losing its vitality, and resemblesthe paradigm of representational thus its effect on character. government adoptedby the authors of the The libertarian model promotes a strictly FederalistPapers. In both paradigms,the stew- negative conception of press freedom. That is, ards of the community - journalists, in the one that in order for newspapersto carry out their case,and legislatorsin the other - are obligated function, they must be free from censorship and to deliberateabout how best to serve the com- control. This model presumes that citizens can monwealth. find truth in the cacophony of press voices, and While the social-responsibilitytheory had a thus in{orm themselves about the world. In this prestigious sponsorin Robert Maynard Hutchins way, a high degreeof rationality on the part of - the chairman of a committee which wrote a readersis presumed. Truth can only prevail in celebratedreport advancingthe viewao- it was the open marketplace of opinions if the public never universally popular among newspaper mind is capableof discerning it in a seaof falsity. executives.There has always been a strain of It is in this respectthat the libertarian press resistanceto the model's suggestionthat any- resemblesdirect democracy;the models for both thing - even the burden of a self-proclaimed presume that people are guided to their decisions duty - should compromise the press' au- and convictions not by passion,but by reason. t"onomy.al Critics of the libertarian model reject this The generalhostility to the social-responsibil- optimistic view of human nature. Man, they ity model is only reinforcedby journalism,s "is observe, capableof using his reason,but he is recent adoption of the use of marketing tech- loath[e] to do so."38These skeptics doubt that niques to shapethe news. By using surveys and peoplehave the stamina to exercisetheir ratio- focus groups, after all, editors are discouraged powers, nal and indeed, their misgivings seem to from exercisingtheir independentiudgment, and find validity in the evidenceall around us. The encouragedto capitulate to the demandsof triumph of television is, perhaps,the most vivid public taste. proof that we are eagerto suspendour powers of Where, then, can one find a justification for reason.TV viewers cheerfully allow themselves . freedom of the press?On the one hand, the to be hypnotizedby images- flashesof pseudo- libertarian model's presumption that peqple are reality that bypassthe intellect and directly guided by reasonhas been decidedly discredited. manipulate the emotions. The rise of On the other hand, the social-responsibility docudramas/newsmagazine shows, and pro- model makes demandsthat the pressis obvi- grams "re-enact" in which performers s.ensa- ously.unwilling to shoulder. |ournalism's adop- tional news events are evidenceof the publicis tion of marketing techniquesis further froof of preferencefor fantasy and entertainment over the press'srepudiation of those demands. rational deliberation and discourse. From this vantagepoint, one can seethat the Critics of the libertarian model reject as . press'sadoption of marketing techniques not unrealistic the notion that people will sort truth only widens the gulf between the well-informed from falsehoodin the marketplace of ideas.Out minority and the rest of society, it has another of this skepticism emergesthe secondmodel of alarming effect as well. The acceptanceof these pressfreedom, the social-responsibilitymodel. techniques representsa decisive abandonmentof This view recognizesthat the presshas liberties, the social-responsibilitymodel, the final disposal but it maintains that it also has correlative of that model's tattered remains. Without even obligations. While granting that journaiists must the threadsof the social-responsibilitytheory to be {ree from compulsion, the advocatesof this hang onto, the pressis left without a reasonable model demand that the pressmust also make a justification for the unrestrainedfreedom it "contribution to the maintenance and develop- enjoys. ment of a free society.t'3eIn other words, the social-responsibilitymodel requires the pressto earn its constitutional protection/ not just by vII. speakingits collective mind, but by interpreting The BusinessImperative Argument maintains the day's events/ arranging them for maximum that if papersdo not give readerswhat they want, comprehensibility, and instructing the public they will lose money and possibly go our of about the issuesthat they as citizens must business,and if this happens,ail opportunity for confront in the exerciseof self-governance.With quality joumalism will be lost. As Fancher,Criner its emphasison journalistic discretion and and Lessersohnput the argument in a question in judgment, the social-responsibilitymodel their Nieman Reports afticle, "Whatquality of

Alison Carper 9 service can a newspaperprovide if it acceptsa It is that credibility that paperswhich em- long-term decline in financial strength?"42 brace marketing techniques are in danger of Of the four pro-marketing arguments/editors losing. Without it, readers'respect for newspa- hold this one most zealously,yet it, too, has pers as a whole will erode. They will eventually significant weaknesses.First, it rests on a tenu- turn to other news sources without feeling that ous empirical basis.The vast maiority of Ameri- they are giving up anything of value. can papersare monopolies in their markets and But, not oniy do market-oriented changesfail many are owned by Fortune 500 companies.On the test of being pragmatically iustifiable, they the whole, newspaper'spretax profit margins are also often implemented in suspectand rangefrom 15 to 20 percent. Even throughout unprofessionalways. the difficult years of the 1980s,profits did not To begin with, newspaper consultants charged dip below this. Returns in this range make the with carrying out market research work for newspaperbusiness consistently more profitable individual clients, so, like alawyer representing "truth" than most industries.4 aparty in a dispute, the that their Second,the BusinessImperutive Argument researchleads them to is not objective,but substitutes a short-term for a iong-term vision. client-directed. In the short term, it seemsto make good busi- At Newsday in Long Island, for example, nesssense to give peoplewhat they want. But in editors brought in a focus group of women the long term, such panderingis likely to be recently to test their hunches about the appeal of detrimental to a paper'scontinued commercial a new women's page.Editors sat behind a one- viability. Thoughtful readerswill perceive way mirror, in the usual custom, and watched a immediately that their re-fashionednewspaper consultant moderate the group's conversationin has become impoverished. And sooner or later, an adjoining room. The consultant, who had even less thoughtful readerswill perceivethat been told in advance.aboutthe editors'plans for their paper is not offering them anything that a women's page,asked the group questions about they cannot get, more cheaply and easily, on TV. their tastesin feature articles and wrote re- So, the conscioustrivialization of neryspapersin sponseson a blackboard.But, as one editor the name of appealingto readersmay ultimately watching the proceedingslater reportedronly the hasten, rather then retard, the demise that the answersthat confirmed the editors'theories industry itself now fears. about why such a pagewould be appealingwere William Hornby, former editor of the Denver in fact written down, and it was only these that Posr,described the effect of catering to a public the moderator pursued in follow-up questions. that hds lost its hunger for the news in an article Such partiality on the part of the moderator is "If in Quill in 1976- soon after the trend began. not uncommon. At the Orange County Register, the decline in the respectfor news spreads,if the even the pretenseof disinterestednesshas.been hard, spot news'of what's happeningbecomes abandoned.When focus groups are brought in to more and more capsuledin easydoses, between discussthe news pages/an outside consultant columns of matter on how to take a bath, news- doesnot moderate- an editor from the news- paperswill move away from the central human room does. " need they particularly exist to satisfy, he wrote. In addition, market researchersoften seek to "That can't help but be weakening in the long imbue their findings with an aura of scientific run. For the truth is - no matter what the validity that the results do not merit. Often their marketers of bathing tips say - news is still the pretensesto scientific rigor are undermined by basic thing people want from newspapers."aa their own subsequentpronouncements. Third, newspaperexecutives who embracethe Ruth Clark's reports provide a clear example. BusinessImperutive Argument fail to take into Five years after her original study, Clark pub- account the value of their most important lished a secondreport whose findings opposed commodity, namely their credibility. Papersearn the first. While she was clriticized, after the and sustain credibility not only by being truth- secondstudy was released,for not doing a ful, but by adhering to the decreesof an unwrit- statistically valid analysis the first time around, ten contract between readerand editor, the Clark maintained that the new findings simply terms of which state that newspapersmust reflected a changein readers'tastes. provide an accuratepicture of the day's events. Discussing her secondreport at the American This means presenting the news in an order and Society for NewspaperEditors convention in fashion that reflects a consideredassessment of 1984,Clark told editors that readersno longer "coping" the importance of each story. want stories, they want the news.

10 Paint-By -Numb ers lournalism "less Readers,she said,were now calling for goups also reflects a secondbroad trend in advice, more information."a5 American life, the decline in status given to civic "Hard news," Clark declared,"is back in responsibility, both among the people at large vogue."a6 and the nation's elites. Like politicians, lawyers, But unlike Clark's first pronouncements, doctors,and businessexecutives, editors enjoy a these words fell on deafears. position of privilege in our culture. In the past, it The final flaw in the BusinessImperative was thought that social privilege carried with it a Argument is that market researchers{and those set of correlative obligations. For politicians, this who adopt their findings| often seek to extend meant taking the lead in advocating unpopular the results of their researchto inapplicable but necessaryprograms. For editors, it meant contexts. For instance,the results of a national putting out papersthat educateand inform the survey may be applied to a local paper, although public. the preferencesof the local community may It should come as no surprise that the joumal- differ significantly from those expressedby the istic establishmentis in the processof turning American public at large. its back on its traditional obligations and view- For example,when the Olympianwas refash- ing itself more purely as a profit-seekingbusi- ioned to accord with Gannett's national findings nessnow. After all, this is what the political, on reader preferences,story iumps were severely legal, and medical establishmentshave been restricted and more briefs, graphics and news- doing throughout the l9B0s and 1990s.It is part you-can-useappeared. Local readerssaw it and of the Zeitgeist. complained.The paper,they told the Olympian In blending increasingly into corporate staff, lacked the in-depth news coveragethey America, journalism - like politics, law and liked.a7 medicine - is relinquishing its special status in society. Newspapersare no longer, in the words of A.|. Liebling, "aprivately owned public vm. utility."48 Rather, they arc commercial enter- In more ways than one, the newspaperindus- priseslike any other, and as such they have "more try holds up a mirror to American culture. |ust become subiect tb control'by managers as the front pageis expectedto reflect national schooledin profit making than by editors pas- events,newspapers' use of marketing techniques sionate for fierce iournalism."ae mirrors popular currents in the larger society. Finally, the specific kindS of changesthat The first of these currents is the glorifica- newspapershave instituted in responseto their "up- tion of science.Science has achievedsuch market research- shorter articles, more prestige that our culture makes every effort to beat" news/ more graphics- reflect larger bring its methods and presuppositionsto bear, transformations in American society as well. even on those aspectsof life which seem least With the printed word ceding power to the amenableto them. In the education and televisedimage, people's capacityfor sustained rearing of our children, in the study of society attention to any kind of exposition has radically and of human nature, and now also in journal- diminished. Neil Postman has persuasively ism, "scientific" practitioners, with their arguedthat television has accustomedAmeri- statistical methods and claims of infallibility, cans to expect entertainment rather than argu- enjoy the highest authority. Little room is left ment or information, and has taught them to 'over for the exerciseof independentiudgment. bring this expectation to every activity, includ- The pressurethat journalists now feel to ing the readingof newspapers. "[T]elevision conform to the demandsof readers- as these is the paradigm for our concep- "scien- "As have been ascertainedwith allegedly tion of public information," Postman writes. tific" precision by market researchers- is a the printing pressdid in an earlier time, televi- clear example of the constraints imposed by sion has achievedthe power to define the form putatively scientific techniques on individuai in which news must come/ and it has also freedom, including the freedom to iudge. defined how we shall respondto it. In presenting Quantitative studies,with their aura of cer- news to us packagedas vaudeville, television tainty, are a substitute for the exerciseof induces other media to do the same/so that the discretion in many fields. In recent decades, total information environment begins to mirror "50 journalism has been addedto the list. television. The phenomenon of running newspapers Newspapers engagedin the act of re-inventing according to the results of surveys and focus themselveshave indeed taken on more and more

Alison Carper L7 of the properties associated with TV. about the role one is playrng and the conse- But acknowledging that newspapers' embrace quences of one's actions. o{ the marketing agenda reflects recent develop- What I have tried to argue in this paper is that ments in American culture does not absolve the newspaper industry should frankly eq)lore newspaper executives of responsibility for their the harm causedto its traditional mission by its actions. Even within the context of the domi- adoption o{ a marketing mentality. Newspapers nant cultural trends, it is possible to be more or are too important to the functioning of democ- less responsible, more or less committed to racy for there to be so radical a transformation upholding the traditional standards of one's with so little self-examination and self-doubt. profession, and more or less honest with oneself

L2 Paint-Bv-Numbers Iournalism Endnotes

"When 1. "BocaWatch." Newslnc,Feb., 1991, p. 19. 15. Stepp,Carl Sessions. ReadersDesign the " News, Washington I ournalism Review, pp. 2O-24.

2. Underwood, Doug. "The Very Model of the Reader- " "Life Driven Newsroom ? Columb ia I ournalism Review, 16. Shumate, Richard. After Kovach," Washing' December L993,pp. 42-44. ton [ournalism Review, September1992, pp.28-32.

3. Kurtz, Howard. Media Circus. New York: Times 17. rbid. Books,L993,p.322. 18. rbid. 4. Underwood, Doug. When MBAs Rule the News- room. New York: Columbia University Press,1993, 19. Kurtz. Media Circus. p. 348. pp. 7'8.

20. Gladney, George Albert. "USA Today, Its Imita- 5. Clark, Ruth. "Changing Needsof Changing tors, and Its Critics: Do Newsroom StaffsFace an Readers."Commissioned by the American Society of Ethical Dilemma?" of MassMedia Ethics, NewspaperEditors as a part of The Newspaper lournal Vol.8,No.l, pp. 17-36. Readership Project, May 1979.

21. Stepp."When ReadersDesign the News." 6. "Keys to Our Survival." American Society of NewspaperEditors. 1991. 22. Ibid. 7. "Readers:How to Gain and Retain Them." News- paperAdvertising Bureau. 1986. 23. rbid.

"Whoever 8. Cohen, Barbataand SusanEngel. Stays 24. Ibid. Closestto the Customer Will Win." Editor d Pub' Iisfter, September14, 1991,pp. 4R+. 2s. rbid. "il.eviving 9. Go\tz,Gene. a Romancewith'Readers is the BiggestChallenge for Many Newspapers." 26. Kurtz. Media Circus. p. 348. Presstirie, February 1988,pp. 16-22. 27. Deneen, Sally. "Doing the Boca," Columbia 10. Rosenstiel,Thomas B. "Editors Debate Need to lournalism Review, May/fune I99I, p. 15. " RedefineAmerica's Newspapers. LosAngeles Times, "The April 13, 1991,p. A18, and Willis. Tyranny fim 28. rbid. of the Apathetic." Nieman Rsports,Spring 1992, pp.ll-16. 29. Neuman, RussellW., Marion R. fust, and Ann N. Crigler. Common Knowledge. Chicago: Univ.ersity of 11. Kurtz. Media Circus,p.348. Chicago Press,1992.

"When 12 Underwood, Doug. MBAs Rule the News- "Fighting 30. Berger,foseph. Over Reading;Principal " olumb i a ow n ali sm Review, March/Ap ri I room. C I and Methods Are Under Frre," New York Times, Nov. 1988,p. 28. 17,1993, p.BL.

13. rbid. 31. Gallup, Georgeand Saul ForbesRae. The Pulse of Democracy. New York: Simon and Schuster,1940. 14. Fancher,Michael. "The Metamorphosisof the NewspaperEditor," Gannett Center Spring [ournal, 32. rbid. 1987,pp. 69-80.

Alison Carper 13 "How 33. Bogart, Leo. Prcserving the Press.New York: 42. Fancher. Can America's Newspapers Be Columbia University Press,1991, p. 147. Saved?"

"USA 34. Fancher, Michael, Kathleen Criner, and fames 43. Gladney. Today, Its Imitators, and Its "How Lessersohn. Can America's Newspapers Be Critics. " Saved?"Nieman Reports,Spring 1992,p.3+.

44. Hornby, William FI. "Beware rhe'Market, 35. Indeed, the historical evidence suggeststhat the Thinkers." The Quill,lanuary L976,pp. 14-17. Athenian model of direct democracy did not function well in Athens. "America's 45. Miller, Susan. Dailies and the Drive to Capture Lost Readers." Gannett Center lournal, 36. For expositionsof both models, see:Seibert, Fred Spring1987,pp.56-68. S., Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm. Four Theories of the Press.New York: Books for Libraries Press,1956. 46. Bogart.Preserving the Press.p. 143.

"The 37. Mill, J.S.On Liberty. London: Longmans,Green, 47. Underwood. Very Model of a Reader-Driven ReaderandDyer,1874. Newsroom?"

38. Siebert.Four Theoiles ofThe Press.p. 100. 48. Liebling, A.l. The Press.New York: Ballantine Books,I95I, p.32.

39. Commission on Freedomof the press.l [The A "Access Frce and Responsible Press.Chicago: University of 49. Stepp,Carl Sessions. in a Post-Socill ChicagoPress, 1947, p. 18. Responsibility Age. Demouacy and the Mass Media. Lichtenberg, |udith, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1990, p. 193. 40. rbid.

50. Postman,Neil. Amusing Ourselvesto Death: 41. Christians, Clifford G., |ohn P. Ferre,and p. Mark Public Discourse in the Age of Show Busrness.New Fackler. Good News: Social Ethics e) the Press. New York: Viking, 1985,p. 111. York: Oxford University Press,1993, p. 32.

14 Paint-By-Numb ers lournalism