History of American Journalism Flashcards
Define Journalism:
The act of reporting events in the world for a mass audience.
The Mainstream Model of Journalism:
“Information model”- Presses role is objective news. It is detached, funded by ads, only in U.S. is it politically neutral. The point is to transmit objective news. News is fact based.
First newspapers:
The first newspaper didn’t have permission to be in production so it was shut down (Public Occurrences). The first successful newspaper was the Boston news-letter (also unauthorized).
Early American Journalism:
Small, safe, static, a side business for many convenience stores.
The evolution of the newspaper during the time of American independence:
It started to become unsafe for newspapers to be neutral, they became patriotic newspapers. Thomas Paine wrote ‘Common Sense’.
The Partisan or Political Press:
It was aimed at elites, fairly small circulations, politically funded, gathered from other sources, campaigns through editorials, the reader was considered a potential voter.
The industrial revolutions effects on newspapers:
The steam printer, telegraph (news could travel faster than people), The New York Sun, was written for the masses for 1/6th the price.
The Penny Press:
Cheap, portable, non profit, mass audiences, gathered from reporters. Only a few newspapers at this time stayed political, most went to news. Some were tabloids (aliens!). Newspapers went to current issues like slavery. Fredrick Douglass’s ‘North Star’ abolitionist newspaper 1847. The civil war made people want to read news since so many people had family in the war.
Commercialization of the newspaper:
It was funded by ads, journalism by 1870’s had become a big business. The reader wasn’t a voter, but a consumer. News was a commodity, where ads were funded by department stores, etc…
The Age of Yellow Journalism:
1890’s movement. The focus was on sensational news/opinionated. Participatory, non offensive, with massive circulation. Department stores were the biggest advertisers.
Elizabeth Cochrane: ‘Nellie Bly’
She pretended to be insane to write about insane asylums. She also travelled the world in 79 days and wrote about it.
Criticisms of yellow journalism:
It was overly sensational, inaccurate, corrupt, controlled.
The response to yellow journalism’s criticism:
Objectivity, professionalism, balance, neutrality, detachment, reliant on sources, interviewing, bylines by 1920s. Byline: The header of an article that had the name of the author, this removed the anonymity of previous newspapers causing articles to be trusted more if a person new that author.
The Information Model of Journalism/Newspapers:
News as data/info. News as entertainment. News not just as political perspective. Edward R. Murrow was an American radio performer, used to create empathy for Britain.
