Abstract

The power to influence decisions is inherent in newspaper practices of publishing or withholding information about significant events - creating profound ethical questions. The two major newspapers in Seattle provide an example of selective coverage of the Great Depression. Area unemployment that reached 25% and galloping bank failures were ignored, as were social implications of such events. Questions are raised here about the moral implications of strategic silence, or reverse agenda setting, as a means of encouraging broadened discussion of the implications of such selective coverage.