Journalism’s institutional discourses in the pre-Internet era: Industry threats and persistent nostalgia at the American Society of Newspaper Editors

Abstract

The institutional discourses of US journalism display both an ever-present sense of crisis and a persistent nostalgia for a mythic golden age when the news was better made and better respected by the public. This article examines discussions hosted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors between 1986 and 2000, what we call ‘the pre-Internet era’, as a site of discursive constitution and relative stability in the news industry. As various actors inside the news industry utilize both nostalgia and crisis as common representational strategies, these discourses circulate and propagate a sense-making regime that is both precise and flexible in its deployment, and thus, helps journalism cohere as a field. Specific discussions around the First Amendment, journalistic identities, and business issues all provide fertile ground for challenging and reaffirming journalism’s binding values, and reveal larger structures of power around who has the authority to both describe threats to journalism and prescribe possible solutions.