Newspapers as policy actors in urban school systems - The Chicago story

Public schools operate within a local context where institutional actors fa cilitate or constrain policy decisions. The authors focus on the role of th e local newspapers. In this study of news reporting on educational issues i n Chicago, they apply two analytical perspectives-namely, the pluralist bar gaining model and the unitary actor model. They created a database of news reports on the city's educational matters by two major Chicago newspapers f or a 20-month period. Analysis suggests a strong unitary tendency in news r eporting by the city's two major newspapers, as they are situated in the mi dst of mayor-led reform in schools.