A collection of essays by the nation's leading journalism scholars and professionals will examine the history, identity, roles, and future of the American press, with an emphasis on topics of concern to both practitioners and consumers of American media.

DIRECTORY OF CONTRIBUTORS ; GENERAL INTRODUCTION: The Press as an Institution of American Constitutional Democracy ; INTRODUCTION ; SECTION I: ORIENTATIONS: THE PRESS AND DEMOCRACY IN TIME AND SPACE ; 1. Presses and Democracies ; 2. American Journalism in Historical Perspective ; 3. The Nature and Sources of News ; 4. Definitions of Journalism ; 5. The Minority Press: Pleading Our Own Cause ; 6. Journalism and Democracy across Borders ; SECTION II: THE FUNCTIONS OF THE PRESS IN A DEMOCRACY ; 7. What Democracy Requires of the Media ; 8. The Marketplace of Ideas ; 9. The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press ; 10. The Watchdog Role ; 11. Informing the Public ; 12. Mobilizing Citizen Participation ; SECTION III: GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS: AN AMBIVALENT RELATIONSHIP ; 13. Government and the Press: Issues and Trends ; 14. Public Policy toward the Press: What Government Does For the News Media ; 15. The First Amendment Tradition and Its Critics ; 16. Legal Evolution of the Government-News Media Relationship ; 17. Communications Regulation in Protecting the Public Interest ; 18. Journalism and the Public Interest ; 19. The Military and the Media ; SECTION IV: STRUCTURE AND NATURE OF THE AMERICAN PRESS ; 20. Money, Media, and the Public Interest ; 21. The Market and the Media ; 22. The Press and the Politics of Representation ; 23. The Legacy of Autonomy in American Journalism ; 24. What Kind of Journalism Does the Public Need? ; SECTION V ; AFTERWORD ; INDEX

"This book addresses this matter in the kind of thoughtful, intellectual, historical context often lacking in discussions." --American Journalism Review "When it comes to controlling the press, Americans for 200 years have resoundingly preferred the marketplace to the government. This important book raises the unsettling questions: What happens if the open market no longer does the job? Is it time to turn to government?"--American Journalism Review

Geneva Overholser is the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting, Missouri School of Journalism Washington Bureau. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Ph.D., is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center. Series edited by Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale University and University of Pennsylvania.