The press, the state and hegemony: A theoretical exploration

Despite the growing importance of the state and media in the contemporary social process, the question of press-state relations has remained a major theoretical blindspot in critical media studies. This dissertation offers a theoretical discussion on how we can develop a comprehensive approach to press-state relations from a wide range of literature, including Marxist and post-Marxist theories of ideology and hegemony, critical theories of the state and media, sociological studies of news, and Habermas's concept of the public sphere.;The concept of hegemony allows us to see the press-state nexus as a discursive terrain in which diverse actors involved in policy-making (i.e., the state, the media, capital, and the general public) compete for a dominant position. Signification and articulation help broaden the scope of the hegemony approach by permitting us to theorize press-state relations as a space of multiple contestation around meanings of public policy issues. News frame, implying the signifying power of media texts, helps explain how the news media promote one particular version of social reality over alternatives by selecting some events and making them salient while ignoring others. The concept of the public sphere allows us to see the media space as mediating between the state and private spheres of social life in contemporary capitalist societies.;By utilizing the concepts of hegemony, news frame, and the public sphere, we can develop a contextualized approach to press-state relations. This approach views the media as symbolic mediators between the state and the public in the policy-making process. By analyzing the media's active role in constructing specific public policy issues in specific historical contexts, we can enlarge our knowledge of press-state relations on empirical grounds. The Reagan presidency provides an excellent case for illustration, because it stimulated a drastic shift in U.S. public policy philosophy from New Deal liberalism to radical conservatism. Analysis of how the U.S. news media handled tensions between the New Deal liberal and radical conservative elements in policy coverage can provide insight about press-state relations and hegemonic transition.