Central Ideas in the Development of American Journalism: A Narrative History

Originally published in 1991. This fascinating book of journalism history outlines the author’s concepts of the three ‘central ideas’ in journalism which have evolved through time. The first is the Official Story, that which state authorities wanted people to know; the second, the Corruption Story, emphasised the abuse of authority by those in power and focused on a willingness to oppose the official and tell the specific detail; and the third, the Oppression Story, where journalists present the cause of events as down to external influences and work to change the social environment.

The book narrates the history from its European beginnings in the 16th and 17th Centuries up to the early 20th Century, expressing how all interpretive journalism has a philosophic, world-view, component and understanding journalism history entails understanding these insights of the times.