"Scott Memmel has thoroughly documented and meaningfully disentangled the often-fraught relationship between police and the press. Using historical and legal methods, he illuminates how cooperation and contention between law enforcement and news media can have both positive and negative effects. This book is an important contribution to an area of journalism studies that has received insufficient attention despite vast implications for the daily lives of citizens. Coverage of law enforcement is a staple of American news, yet few scholars have interrogated the press-police relationship with the depth and care Memmel offers." — Kathleen Bartzen Culver, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Pressing the Police and Policing the Press provides the important and messy ‘origin story’ of how police officers and reporters have come into conflict, coexisted, and even cooperated (not always in good ways) in the United States. Tracing this story from the beginnings of professional law enforcement in the 19th century through the post-WWII era and down to today, Memmel explores how the police and members of the press came to both trust and distrust each other. In our own fraught moment for coverage of crime and police, this kind of legal and historical context is more vital than ever." — Will Mari, Louisiana State University, author of The American Newsroom: A History, 1920-1960
“More than just timely, this is a book we’ve needed for a long time. Memmel’s history uncovers and illuminates how law, professional norms and practices, and social expectations of the police and press have created productive and destructive tension between the two institutions over their shared history, with nothing less than the public trust constantly in the balance. Researched with impressive depth and breadth, and written with thoughtfulness and clarity about what’s at stake, Pressing the Police and Policing the Press promises to be a key touchstone for scholars studying this crucial democratic dynamic, and an enlightening read for everybody.” — Patrick C. File, University of Nevada, author of Bad News Travels Fast: The Telegraph, Libel, and Press Freedom in the Progressive Era