Reading the Russian Revolution: International Communication Research and the Journalism of Lippmann and Merz

This article recovers the historical roots of international communication research in the United States from the journalism of Walter Lippmann and Charles Merz. A critical reading of their 1920 study of the New York Times coverage of the Russian Revolution suggests that their analytically sophisticated presentation of a politically vital topic legitimizes their press criticism as intellectual groundwork for the rise of an international communication research tradition.