Afterword: Political values and production values

This afterword to this issue suggests that our deep knowledge of the patterns of news content that are consistent across organizations and over time now should be followed by a greater awareness of how news organizations and newspersons come up with that content. In particular, while the preceding studies, as well as a wealth of others, conclude that the news is ''indexed'' to elite opinion, they also display considerable individual discretion for journalists. I suggest that news norms are not closely connected to news content and that journalistic routines cannot explain the consensual pictures presented in the news. If it is the case that newspersons are less preoccupied with reflecting a legitimized elite than with generating a predictable stream of nonfiction stories about the world, we may comprehend their work better by thinking of them as not so much ''following the trail of power'' as seeking to find ways to craft a continuing and compelling saga.