The History of American Media
Chapter 1: Looking Back
The Information Age
• The amount of information available
on-line is staggering.
• Some of it is excellent—but some of it
is junk
• Somebody has to sort out all the
information, make sense of it, organize
it, judge it, and interpret it.
• That is the job of a journalist.
The Job of a Journalist
1. Scan the environment
2. Pick out what is the most important
to the most people
3. Gather Information
4. Weigh the facts
5. Take Pictures
6. Design Graphics
7. Make Decisions
8. Write, package and deliver stories
Skills Journalists Need
• They need a broad education
• They need to know about everything
because that is what they cover—
everything
• They need people skills
• They need language skills
Journalist Fundamentals
• Good sense
• Good judgment
• Good writing
• Poise under pressure
• Ethical and moral standards
Classic Standards for Journalists
• Be fair
• Get it right
• Don’t expect the technology to do your
work.
• “The news does not gather itself.”
- Bob Mulholland, former NBC President
Journalism and American History
• Early newspapers printed essays that
stirred the revolutionaries and that
chronicled the historic break from
England
• Today journalists still help set the
agenda.
• Journalists help a democratic nation
make historic decisions by providing
facts and opinions needed to elect the
leaders who decide national policy.
America’s first newspapers
• Did not look like the
papers of today—they
were usually one sheet
and made up of letters,
essays, etc.
• Publick Occurrences was
the first newspaper. It
was published in Boston
in 1690 by Benjamin
Harris.
• It was ended by the
government after one
issue.
First Continually Published Paper
• The Boston NewsLetter, started by
John Campbell in
1704
• It was published “by
authority”—it had
the government’s
approval
• More and more
papers emerged as
pioneers moved
south and west.
Freedom of the Press
• Early newspapers that criticized the
government were guilty of sedition
(the stirring of rebellion).
• The truth of their statements was no
defense.
• In 1735, John Peter Zenger printed
articles critical of the Governor William
Cosby. He was arrested and thrown
into jail.
Freedom of the Press
• Because Zenger printed attacks on the
British crown, he was guilty of libel,
even if the statements were true.
• Andrew Hamilton defended him and
appealed to the jury that everyone has
the right to speak and write freely—as
long as it is the truth.
• The jurors deliberated briefly and
found Zenger not guilty.
The Birth of the Nation
• The Zenger trial fanned the flames of
freedom that were beginning to burn in
the colonies.
• By 1775, when the Revolution began,
37 newspapers were being published
• They backed the Revolution and printed
the cries to battle that rallied the rebels.
• Some say there would not have been a
Revolution without the support of the
press.
The Birth of a Nation
• When the war ended, the framers of
the Constitution did not spend much
time on the freedom of the press,
because most states already covered
the matter.
• However, the Bill of Rights was ratified
in 1791.
• In it, the First Amendment guaranteed
the freedom of the press.
The Birth of a Nation
• After the Revolution, the nation grew
rapidly, and so did the newspaper
industry.
• The first student newspaper, The
Students Gazette, was founded in
Pennsylvania, in 1777.
• The first daily, The Pennsylvania Post,
was founded in 1783.
The Penny Press
• Early papers had little actual news, but
in 1833, Benjamin Day founded the
New York Sun and filled it with news
and sold it for only a penny.
• Day’s staff covered the police beat,
wrote about tragedies and natural
disasters, and toned down the
opinions.
• This was the “penny press” and was
the forerunner of today’s newspapers.
The Penny Press
• Because it was so inexpensive and was
distributed widely, it developed a large
audience.
• Advertising began to take a major role.
(which is still what funds newspaper
today)
• Two years later, James Gordon Bennett
started the New York Morning Herald—
selling for two cents, and more and
more were founded in the years to
come.
The Penny Press
• One of the most influential was the
New York Tribune founded by Horace
Greeley in 1841—its weekly edition
had more than 200,000 subscribers.
• The New York Times, was founded in
1851 by Henry Raymond. It is
considered one of the best newspapers
in the country.
• It was not unusual for a city to have 8
or 9 competing newspapers.
The Effect of the Telegraph
• During the Civil War the telegraph
began to be used to transmit stories.
• Shortly afterwards, the first newsgathering service was formed. This
service, a forerunner of the Associated
Press, began selling news to papers in
1849.
• By 1910, there were 2,600 daily
newspapers in the United States.
Yellow Journalism
• An unethical irresponsible brand of
journalism that involved hoaxes,
altered photographs, screaming
headlines, “scoops,” frauds, and
endless promotions.
• The most notable of the yellow
journalists were William Randolph
Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Their
newspapers were in constant
competition.
Nellie Bly
• The pen name used by Elizabeth
Cochrane.
• She worked for Pulitzer’s New York
World and was noted for her “stunts,”
stories in which she made the news
herself.
• She pretended to be mentally ill and
was committed to an Asylum where
she wrote an article exposing the awful
conditions.
The Advent of Radio
• In 1906, Dr. Lee De Forest made
improvements to the vacuum tube that
made the new medium of radio
possible.
• De Forest made the first newscast in
1916.
• Regular daily programs started in
Detroit in 1920
The Advent of Radio
• The National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) was formed in 1926 and the
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
in 1927. The Mutual Broadcasting
system went on the air in 1934, and
when part of NBC’s network was sold,
it was renamed the American
Broadcasting Company (ABC)
The Advent of Radio
• It became clear that the airwaves
needed to be regulated.
• In 1912, a law was passed to assign
wavelengths to applicants
• The Radio Act of 1927 broadened this
power and created the Federal
Communication Commission (FCC)
which has power over both radio and
television.
The Advent of Radio
• Radio still occupies an important place
in the media
• Most stations still play music mixed
with news, and millions of Americans
get their first word of major news
events from radio as they drive to or
from work or school.
• There are also a lot of “shock jocks”
and call in radio programs.
The Radio and Journalism
• It’s important to distinguish legitimate
journalists from shock jocks and radio
talk-show hosts.
• Journalism is devoted to providing
accurate, objective, untainted
information that the public can use in
their lives.
• Part of the role of the journalist is to
entertain, but that the exclusive aim of
the jocks and hosts. They’re not
journalists, they’re entertainers.
The Impact of Television
• The first television newscast took place
in 1940
• TV dramatically changed radio and
newspapers.
• It took much of the entertainment role
away from radio and claimed much of
the breaking news role traditionally
held by newspapers.
• Papers today put less emphasis on
breaking news.
Assignment
• Select a journalist from the list. Find
out information on your journalist and
discuss his or her role in American
media.
• You will be in groups of about 2-3.
Someone in your group should be
responsible for getting a picture of that
person.
• You will be putting this information
together into a poster to display in the
classroom.
Block 2
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Andrew Hamilton
Cornelia Walter
Robert S. Abbott
Nellie Bly
Benjamin Harris
Ben Bagdikian
Carl Bernstein
David Brinkley
• Gloria Steinem
• John Quinones
• Margaret BourkeWhite
• Molly Ivins
Block 4
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John Campbell
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Day
Anna Catherine
Zenger
Jane Grey
Swisshelm
Bryant Gumbel
Christine Craft
Edward R. Murrow
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Helen Thomas
Katharine Graham
Marshall McLuhan
Newton Minnow
Walter Winchell