Journalism and the Democratic Market Society: Decline and fall?

This paper argues for the continuing relevance of Michael Schudson’s historical approach to journalism. It probes links with Schudson’s insistence on the centrality of the cultural contexts of journalism’s reception, which allow us to appreciate the ways in which his work has prompted historicizations of journalism to move from mere chronology into areas rich for interdisciplinary investigation, such as the economic underpinnings of news, the relationship of journalism to democracy, assessments of the sedimentation of journalistic styles and even discursive analysis. Such studies are increasingly important in their capacity to assess the performance of journalism from the perspective of textual evidence and thus challenge many outdated or unrepresentative idealizations that may lie at the heart of journalism’s contemporary plight.