SPEEDY DELIBERATION - REJECTING 1960S PROGRAMS AS CAUSES OF THE LOS-ANGELES RIOTS

In modern democracies, public deliberation is often mediated; it large ly involves not face-to-face debate among citizens, but discussion amo ng public officials, experts, and professional communicators through t he mass media. Close examination of a particular instance of public de liberation-the quick rejection of the Bush White House charge that the 1992 Los Angeles riots were caused by failed social programs of the 1 960s and 1970s-reveals several features of mediated deliberation that may be Father general: the great speed with which communication can oc cur; the differing editorial stands of particular print and electronic media; the ways in which editorial positions are reflected in news st ories; and the leading roles of such elite newspapers as the Wall Stre et Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. This case also sugges ts conditions under which the communications power of the presidency a re limited, and it illustrates some of the political currents that bro ught the Bush presidency to an end.