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An undistorted picture: Broadcasting, journalism and the state, 1920-1941
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the development of radio news broadcasting in the years between the First and Second World Wars. Historians have long acknowledged that radio's coverage of the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe marked the beginning of modern broadcast journalism. Too little attention has been paid to why the news broadcasts Americans listened to in ever greater numbers as war approached took the shape they did. This study attempts to place broadcast journalism in context by examining the evolution of radio news and information programs as one part of the rapid development of a new industry and its evolving regulatory framework. Radio broadcasting emerged following the First World War. The potential of the new technology quickly became obvious, and both producers and consumers turned to the government to bring stability and order to the new industry. Private broadcasters were licensed to use the people's air in exchange for their pledge to serve an ill-defined "public interest" standard. The "American System of Broadcasting" which developed between the wars was the result of this bargain. A new kind of journalism was created for the new medium. Responding to various commercial, regulatory, professional and bureaucratic imperatives, the industry sought to protect itself by repeatedly proclaiming its commitment to fairness, balance, accuracy and impartiality. Yet the immediacy and emotional intimacy of radio as well as the many crises of the period made "objectivity" an elusive goal. Broadcast journalists, industry executives, elected officials and the public constantly debated the meaning of the word and sought to insure that the broadcasts they produced or heard were compatible with their diverse visions of society. By examining the development of broadcast journalism within the context of both the radio industry and the times, this dissertation studies the growth of a profession, an industry and the conflict among competing public and private interests for control of a new technology and, more importantly, the flow of information in a liberal, capitalist society. The conflict was part of the broader debate over the proper role of government and corporations in modern society which took place during the interwar years.
Subject Area
American history|Journalism|Mass communications
Recommended Citation
Ashwell, Thomas Wright, "An undistorted picture: Broadcasting, journalism and the state, 1920-1941" (1994). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9434448.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9434448