“An Interested Reader”: Measuring Ownership Control at the<i>New York Times</i>

Chomsky, Daniel

doi:10.1080/07393180600570659

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In a 1951 biography of the Times , Meyer Berger claimed the paper’s owner and publisher did not intervene in the editorial functions of the paper; but Berger was a long-time reporter and columnist at the paper, not an editor (Berger, 1951; Chomsky, 1999). A growing body of evidence, including the present study, showed that Arthur Hays Sulzberger, as a vice president and later as publisher, played a central role in managing the editorial functions of the paper (Boyland, 1986; Chomsky, 2000, 2006). Managing Editor Edwin L. James took his marching orders from Sulzberger while delegating editorial decisions to the “desk” editors, who, prior to the 1950s and 1960s, wielded more power than reporters (Boyland, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 68%

The Journalist Who Interpreted Too Much: The New York Times’ Courtship, Defense, and Betrayal of John W. White

Stoker

2017

Journalism & Communication Monographs

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This study analyzes the behind-the-scenes correspondence, from 1928 to 1941, between the New York Times' news executives and editors and John W. White, who served as the paper's first Chief South American Correspondent. An analysis of the correspondence and White's dispatches shows that interactions between news management, foreign governments, and the U.S. State Department influenced White's writing to the point that he avoided writing about Argentina's neighbors; provided more positive, "Pollyanna" material; and censored his own dispatches. The study provides further evidence that Arthur Hays Sulzberger meddled in the paper's news coverage, even before he became Times publisher in 1935. The correspondence between Sulzberger and White also calls into question the romantic myth of the autonomous foreign correspondent, free to report without fear or favor. Instead, it shows that American foreign correspondents faced scrutiny not only from their news executives and editors but also from foreign governments, police officials, local newspapers, Nazi and Fascist spies, U.S. business interests, the State Department, and even the President of the United States.

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confidence: 68%

The Journalist Who Interpreted Too Much: The New York Times’ Courtship, Defense, and Betrayal of John W. White

Stoker

2017

Journalism & Communication Monographs

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“…The fact that owners intervened beyond issues of vital corporate interests to matters of personal preference suggests a willingness on the part of owners to intervene broadly in news decisions. Chomsky (2006) documented the direct impact of publisher intervention on individual articles in the news pages of the New York Times. But, in this instance, the publisher and his mother affected the frequency and visibility of news coverage over a long period of time.…”

Section: Rethinking and Remodeling The Influence Of Ownersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Editor, the Publisher, and His Mother: The Representation of Lesbians and Gays in theNew York Times

Chomsky

Barclay

2013

Journal of Homosexuality

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The attention and prominence given to issues in media outlets may affect the importance citizens attribute to them, so the actors who influence mass media coverage decisions may have political power in society generally. This article seeks to measure the relative influence of journalists, social trends, events, government officials, editors, and owners on the New York Times coverage of lesbians and gays from 1960 to 1995. Although many factors affected the nature and frequency of such coverage, the findings of this article show that the owners of the Times exerted decisive influence. Documentary evidence reveals that the Times' owners actively intervened to suppress coverage of lesbians and gays until 1987, even as reporters and editors recognized that increased social visibility made them newsworthy. Statistical analysis confirms that, although some actual events and statements of officials attracted attention from the newspaper throughout the period, they were more likely to generate prominent coverage after 1987 when the stories were consistent with the enthusiasms of the owners.

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“…Direction from the top might be invisible to individual reporters. Chomsky (2006) found that New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger routinely asked editor Turner Catledge to produce stories about his social class and pet projects in the 1950s. Catledge typically passed the suggestions along for assignments but disguised the source of the story idea.…”

Section: Newsroom Routinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Labor Reporting and Its Critics in the CIO Years

Glende

2020

Journalism & Communication Monographs

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This monograph examines daily newspaper coverage of organized labor during the burst of union activity that began in the early 1930s. Three factors influenced labor reporting during this period: the dramatic rise of unions as a political, economic, and cultural force in the New Deal; trends in journalism, including the dominance of objectivity as an operating norm and the shift toward interpretive reporting; and journalists, their sources in labor leadership, and the emergence of the American Newspaper Guild. Union leaders were highly critical of the general circulation press and its coverage of labor issues. I argue that labor news was biased against unions, but that bias was not the result of a deliberate attempt to discredit unions. Despite prounion inclinations of some journalists, news values, news gathering routines, and newsroom practices shaped labor reporting in a way that emphasized organized labor’s role in repeatedly challenging and disrupting the status quo.

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“An Interested Reader”: Measuring Ownership Control at theNew York Times

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

The Journalist Who Interpreted Too Much: The New York Times’ Courtship, Defense, and Betrayal of John W. White

The Journalist Who Interpreted Too Much: The New York Times’ Courtship, Defense, and Betrayal of John W. White

The Editor, the Publisher, and His Mother: The Representation of Lesbians and Gays in theNew York Times

Labor Reporting and Its Critics in the CIO Years

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