Toward a theory of press criticism

The United States press has received its share of criticism through the years, but much of it amounts to little more than personal essays that recount journalism's ills from one individual's particular point of view. Therefore, scholars of press criticism argue that there is no sustained, systematic and intellectually sound tradition of criticism. Several of these scholars contend that it is time to develop a theory of criticism, which will help guide critics in their work and lead to criticism that impacts the press in more meaningful ways than does the criticism that abounds today. This dissertation provides initial work toward developing a theory of criticism. Beginning from the perspective that a theory of press criticism ought to be grounded in a theory of the press itself, the project builds a foundation for the press that rests on the ideals of discursive democracy, particularly the view offered by Jürgen Habermas. The discursive paradigm is then used to develop a model for criticism that makes the relationship between critics and the press analogous to the one that occurs between citizenry and the state in a discursive democracy.