Further Reading
Johnson, Earvin.My Life. New York: Random House,
1996.
Kramer, Sydelle A.Basketball’s Greatest Players. New
York: Random House, 1997.
Troupe, Quincy.Take It to the Hoop, Magic Johnson.
New York: Hyperion Books, 2000.
Alvin K. Benson
See also Basketball; Bird, Larry; Sports.
Journalism
Definition Distribution of significant information
and news via print and electronic media
The best of professional journalism in the United States
lasted from the 1950’s to the early 1980’s. During the
1980’s, however, journalism came under sustained attack
from corporate and commercial pressures.
During the 1980’s, journalism across print and the
electronic media was restructured, and problems of
inaccuracy, misrepresentation, and intrusion into
privacy arose. The gulf between popular and serious
journalism in the press became more pronounced
in the decade. In broadcasting, there was a tendency
toward redefining journalism as personalized
“infotainment” programming, and the tension be-
tween commerce and ethics was a powerful cause of
disruption within journalism of the time. The gap
between citizens and government grew, as well as
the long-standing national problems such as crime,
a lagging educational system, and environmental
degradation. Discussions about solutions to these
problems often turned into accusations across an
ideological gap constructed by politicians and per-
petuated by journalists. Consequently, in the 1980’s,
a majority of Americans expressed the opinion for
the first time that their children would inherit a soci-
ety less livable, more dangerous, and presenting less
opportunity than they had. It was noted that, for the
first time since 1924, only half of the nation’s voters
turned out for the presidential election in 1988. A
decline in journalism and a decline in public life
happened in the same decade because they are pro-
foundly interrelated in modern society, as journal-
ism provides the timely information and perspective
that public life requires.
The professional autonomy of U.S. journalism
changed radically in the 1980’s, when the relaxation
of federal ownership regulations and the prolifera-
tion of new technologies made larger media con-
glomerates economically advantageous. Fewer and
fewer firms owned and dominated the major film stu-
dios, television networks, music companies, and other
media outlets. As most of the traditional news media
became segments of commercial empires, owners
looked to the news divisions to provide the same fi-
nancial return as generated by film, music, or enter-
tainment segments. As a result, news bureaus were
closed, reporters were laid off, more free press re-
leases were used as news, and advertisers and corpo-
rate entities gained increased influence on the press.
Another problem that arose during this period
was the growing control of the public relations in-
dustry. By providing superficial press releases, enter-
prising public relations agents used “experts” to
shape the news in order to enhance the influence of
their corporate clientele. Public relations releases
were favored by media owners, as they provided fill-
ers at no cost. More subtle but just as important was
the unseen influence of values furthering the com-
mercial aims of owners and advertisers. Thus, stories
about royal families and celebrities became seen as
legitimate news stories, while the government re-
ceived more strict scrutiny than big business.Class Bias in Journalism Earlier in the century,
most daily newspapers of large circulation had at
least one and sometimes several reporters to cover
labor. By the end of the 1980’s, the number of re-
porters covering the labor movement had declined
by more than half, and the coverage of working-class
economics was markedly declining. At odds with
this, business news and mainstream news grew over
the decade, as news was increasingly aimed at the
richest segment of the population. The largest me-
dia firms were built by profits generated by govern-
ment gifts of monopoly rights to the valuable broad-
cast spectrum or monopoly franchises. The ups and
downs of Wall Street, information about profitable
investments, and the benefits of wealth were pre-
sented as of interest to the general reader or viewer.
Some journalists began to rely on releases from busi-
ness-oriented think tanks and institutes for their
economic stories.
Increased coverage by news media on the afflu-
ent components of the population supported this
class bias in the selection of stories. Throughout the552 Journalism The Eighties in America