How the Media Support Local Governmental Authority

Authors:
  • DPDavid L. Paletz
    David L. Paletz
  • PRPeggy Reichert
    Peggy Reichert
  • BMBarbara McIntyre
    Barbara McIntyre
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Abstract
By comparing newspaper accounts of Durham, North Carolina city council meetings with direct observations of those meetings, the authors identify a number of mechanisms through which local print media reinforce the authority of local governing bodies. Most of these mechanisms, they conclude, are attributable to norms governing the behavior of professional journalists, and are likely to have diverse consequences for the polity.