Reopening the Postwar Settlement for U.S. Media: The Origins and Implications of the Social Contract Between Media, the State, and the Polity

Abstract

Drawing from archival research, I historicize current media policies and reform efforts by analyzing the 1940s critical juncture when policymakers, social movements, and communication industries grappled over commercial media's role in a democratic society. By focusing on policy formations around the Hutchins Commission and the FCC's “Blue Book,” I propose that a suppressed media reform movement resulted in a “postwar settlement” marked by three assumptions: media should remain self-regulated, practice social responsibility, and be protected by a negative freedom of the press. This social contract consolidated an industry-friendly arrangement that contained reform movements, foreclosed on alternative models, discouraged structural critiques of the U.S. media system, and privileged media owners' rights over those of the public's—a relationship that continues today.

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