Pressman Defends Dissertation, Accepts Tenure Track Position at Seton Hall

On Thursday, March 17, grad student Matt Pressman successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Remaking the News: The Transformation of American Journalism, 1960-1980.”  Most Americans, Pressman explains, associate certain defining traits with the contemporary American press: a broad definition of news, an emphasis on analysis, a skeptical tone, and adherence to a specific definition of objectivity. None of these elements characterized American newspapers in 1960, but all were firmly in place by 1980. Remaking the News examines how that remarkable transformation occurred, and how it influenced politics and society. While focusing mainly on two newspapers—The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times—it attempts to analyze the media business as a whole. In addition to providing a novel interpretation of how the press assumed its contemporary form, this dissertation suggests that the evolution of American politics and society since 1960 cannot be understood without considering the evolution of journalism from 1960-1980.

Pressman will receive his Ph.D. at commencement in May and take up a tenure track position as Assistant Professor of Journalism at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

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