Lippmann and his critics: A new historical perspective of the context of Public Opinion’s press analysis

Abstract

The education of Walter Lippmann on the topics of propaganda and censorship during the First World War profoundly shaped the sober critique of the traditional theory of American democracy that appeared in Public Opinion. The war also shook his faith in the ability of the press to inform a public he increasingly viewed as hopelessly separated from ‘reality’. Yet, between the end of the war and the publication of Public Opinion, Lippmann still maintained a faith, tempered by critique, in the potential of the press in his lesser-known publications, Liberty and the News and A Test of the News. This article argues that there was an overlooked yet critical influence on Lippmann in the interregnum between the end of the war and the publication of Public Opinion that helps explain Lippmann’s evolving thoughts on the press; namely, the critical responses to Liberty and the News and A Test of the News. This analysis suggests that the dialogue between Lippmann and his critics provides a piece of the intellectual and historical context for the arguments relating to the press that appeared in Public Opinion.