AFTERWORD - POLITICAL VALUES AND PRODUCTION VALUES

Authors
Citation
Te. Cook, AFTERWORD - POLITICAL VALUES AND PRODUCTION VALUES, Political communication, 13(4), 1996, pp. 469-481
Citations number
51
Categorie Soggetti
Communication,"Political Science
Journal title
ISSN journal
10584609
Volume
13
Issue
4
Year of publication
1996
Pages
469 - 481
Database
ISI
SICI code
1058-4609(1996)13:4<469:A-PVAP>2.0.ZU;2-Z
Abstract
This afterword to this issue suggests that our deep knowledge of the p atterns of news content that are consistent across organizations and o ver time now should be followed by a greater awareness of how news org anizations and newspersons come up with that content. In particular, w hile the preceding studies, as well as a wealth of others, conclude th at the news is ''indexed'' to elite opinion, they also display conside rable individual discretion for journalists. I suggest that news norms are not closely connected to news content and that journalistic routi nes cannot explain the consensual pictures presented in the news. If i t is the case that newspersons are less preoccupied with reflecting a legitimized elite than with generating a predictable stream of nonfict ion stories about the world, we may comprehend their work better by th inking of them as not so much ''following the trail of power'' as seek ing to find ways to craft a continuing and compelling saga.