As in an earlier article, Kielbowicz explores the tensions between local versus national media outlets that existed in early U.S. communications policymaking. Kielbowicz examines congressional debates related to postal policy for news publications during the 1820-1860 time period, particularly in terms of how these debates reflected different cultural and political values – specifically, the development of a national cultural versus the preservation and promotion of local and regional cultures. Like his earlier article, this piece does an excellent job of tracing what are truly the earliest incarnations of the localism principle in communications policy.