“Whether the Giants Should Be Slain or Persuaded to Be Good”: Revisiting the Hutchins Commission and the Role of Media in a Democratic Society

Abstract

This paper examines the landmark Hutchins Commission's unpublished minutes and correspondence to uncover a potential radicalism that advocated for and then shied away from significant structural reform of the US media system. With an eye towards contemporary media problems, this project aims to recuperate lost alternatives and yield fresh insights regarding the institutional role of the press in a modern democratic society. By situating the Hutchins Commission in a historical trajectory of media criticism and media reform movements, this paper illuminates perennial tensions and confrontations between the liberal ideals and commercial imperatives driving the US press system. Drawing from Gramscian theory to contextualize the US media system's current crisis, the paper concludes by outlining an emergent consensus that calls for structural reform and for re-evaluating core normative democratic principles underpinning the social contract between US media institutions and the public.

Keywords:

• Hutchins Commission
• Journalism History
• Normative Theory
• Media Reform
• Media Policy

Acknowledgements

He thanks Eric Watts, John Nerone, Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, and the anonymous CSMC reviewers for their insightful comments on previous drafts. He would also like to thank the ICA Communication History Interest Group, where an earlier version of this paper was presented.

Notes

1. . A more detailed analysis of these materials can be found in Pickard (2008).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victor Pickard

Victor Pickard is an assistant professor at New York University