Juan Monroy — Newspapers

Evolution of all Mass Media (Media and Culture)
- Development Stage
- Entrepreneurial Stage
- Mass Market Stage
- Convergence Stage
Partisan Press
Colonial Era Newspapers
- imported or reprinted news from Europe
- audience was representatives of the British royalty
- Most published “by Authority” of the British Crown
Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic (1690)
- Benjamin Harris
- scandalized stories
- shut down after one issue
Boston News-Letter (1704)
- John Campbell
- received blessing of the British Crown
- thrived for 72 years, until Independence
Revolutionary Era
- political press built support for the American revolution
- defined the role of the free press
- published Declaration of Independence (1776)
- covered debates over the Constitution (1787)
New England Courant (1721)
- James Franklin
- had no authority
- jailed and forbidden to publish
- passed to brother Benjamin
Pennsylvanian Gazette (1728–1800)
- Ben Franklin’s paper
- published articles about independence
John Peter Zenger
- New York Weekly Journal (1733–1734)
- openly criticized British governor of New York (1733)
- charged with libel
- argued that truth was the defense of libel
Benjamin Franklin
- Join or Die cartoon (1754)
- urged colonies to unite against the British
Newspapers and Technology
- Postal (Mail)
- Telegraph (1844)
- rotary press
- machine-made wood pulp
Penny Press
- mid–1800s
- benefit of industrialization
  - economies of scale: lower cost
  - urban audience
  - wire services: Associated Press (1848)
- newspapers became mass media
  - mass audience
  - common language
  - non-partisan
New York Sun
- launched 1833
- Benjamin Day
- sold for a penny
- advertising
- recruited newsboys
New York Herald
- launched 1835
- published news promptly
- daily coverage
  - business
  - sports
  - women’s news
- advertising
  - classified advertising
  - required new ads everyday
Yellow Press
- Circulation War
  - William Randolph Hearst
  - Joseph Pulitzer
  - “Yellow Kid” (Richard F. Outcault, 1895–1898)
- Joseph Pulitzer
  - Hungarian immigrant
  - St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1878)
  - New York World
    - purchased 1883
    - underdog’s newspaper
    - hired Nellie Bly
- William Randolph Hearst
  - bought New York Journal (1895)
    - imitated success of Pulitzer
  - Spanish-American War
    - spectacular coverage of the USS Maine
    - blamed Spanish for explosion in Havana
- Competition
  - revenue and profit based on advertising and subscriptions
  - can’t compete on price, compete with product
    - sensational photos and headlines
      - crime
      - disaster
      - scandals
      - intrigue
    - personality and human interest stories
    - hoaxes and fake interviews
  - formidable competition in over-saturated newspaper markets
- Legacy
  - muckrakers
  - Progressive Era
  - expose-and-reform cycle
Journalism in the 20th Century
- Objective
  - Adolph Ochs
    - bought New York Times (1896)
    - deliberately avoided tactics of the Yellow press
    - stressed objectivity
      - reports for business, legal professions, political
        leaders
      - book and theater reviews
      - general audience and intellectuals
    - “won’t soil the breakfast cloth”
    - introduced “inverted pyramid” style
- Interpretive
  - Walter Lippman print, “Responsibilities of the Press"
    - to make a current record
    - to make a running analysis
    - on the basis of both, to suggest plans
  - Edward R. Murrow radio
    - “This is London” (1940)
    - <https://myfiles.fordham.edu/users/jmonroy/electronicmedia
      /goldenageradio/05-CBS-LondonAfterDark–400824.mp3>
- Literary
Convergence Stage
- Newspapers in the Digital Age
  - Web
  - Tablet apps
  - Blogs
- Personalization News
  - “Daily Me”
    - coined by Nicolas Negroponte (1995)
    - topics
  - RSS
  - Twitter