ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the Reagan and Bush administrations managed news content, including news regarding political violence. The Reagan administration pursued a profoundly more threatening course of action in its efforts to control the news and public issue agenda. The chapter deals with what is by a rather familiar description of the corporate operating environment of the contemporary news media. Todd Gitlin has rioted the sometimes confusing array of explanations of news content. While some explanations are "journalist-centered," regarding news as the product of professional news judgments, others regard the news as the product of organizational factors. Central to nearly all explanations of news content is consideration of the concentration of mass media ownership. According to the "chain of command" argument, reporters and editors must produce news that is in compliance with the ideological disposition of the owner or board of directors. News as a commodity must be treated like any other mass production item.
