HOW TO APPROACH JOURNALISM HISTORY
A HISTORIOGRAPHY
Victoria Camron
310 Stratford Place #12
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
708-351-6714
VCAMRON@luc.edu
HIS 400
December 5, 1995
In most historiography, there has been a schism between the study of
American history and that of journalism history. The Americanists all but
ignored the newspaper unless it had a direct effect on the events of the day.
Historians usually limited their discussions of journalism to such episodes as
the Peter Zenger case, which helped establish the right to a free press, the
roles of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst in moving public
opinion towards the war with Spain, and of course, Watergate, in which the
discoveries of the Washington Post led to the fall of the Nixon administration.
Similarly, journalism historians recorded the activities and developments of
the newspapers with little mention of how these periodicals fit in the society
of which they were part. Biographies of publishers, editors and reporters
were also popular. Fortunately, with the advancement of cultural history, this
canyon is narrowing. Researchers have taken notice that the newspaper has
been an important social institution, one that was both influential on and
influenced by the society in which it functioned. As such, a reading of the
newspaper communicates more than the facts that lay within its stories. The
literature of journalism history shows that a cultural historian will find the
newspaper to be a valuable source.
Some approaches to journalism history fail to derive all the
information available from the newspaper. The narrative approach was
very common because the authors of newspaper histories were often
reporters or former reporters. These narratives repeated the story of
how the paper was founded, told the paper's story during a particular
era, or were biographies of a particular editor or publisher. Allan Nevins
asserted that such histories were poor because they were commonly
written as promotional material for the newspaper. Often, embarrassing
controversies were not included. Another reason for the quality, he
claimed, is that many former reporters who were writing these histories
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had become sentimental about the newspaper for which they had
worked.[1] Such monographs presented very limited, subjective
histories. Unfortunately, a more objective method is not necessarily a
better one. The quantitative approach to content analysis is also weak,
as it presents little information to the researcher. To perform a content
analysis, the researcher simply counts the number of stories per topic
within the sample. John J. Pauly pointed out that, although content
analysis requires the identification of themes and topics, it does not
explain how that theme connects to the rest of society.[2] For example,
from determining the number of crime stories in the newspaper one
cannot infer how many crimes occurred over a period of time, as some
crimes are more newsworthy than others. Both the narrative and
quantitative approaches to journalism history are weak because they
relay information only about the newspaper, not about the society in
which the newspaper operates.
A cultural approach -- a method of studying journalism history
that would include the newspaper's role as a social institution -provides substances to the researcher. James Carey called for a
cultural approach in the first issue of Journalism History in 1974. Carey
wanted journalism history to reveal how a society's self-awareness
became organized into the "procedures for news gathering and
reporting, forms of press organization, and definitions of rights and
freedom."[3] Pauly was also an advocate of a cultural approach to
journalism history, as it was one method to study the communication of
a society. Instead of studying one particular form of mass
communications, journalism historians should examine the path of the
media through society, Pauly said.[4] Although Carey's challenge
began the movement towards a cultural approach in journalism history,
he was not he first to advocate it. Sidney Kobre first advanced the
notion of studying the "relationships between the newspaper and
society" in 1945, and expanded on that idea in 1969.[5] Instead of
focusing on the press itself, Kobre said, "the emphasis here is on the
basic factors which caused the press to develop and to change in each
era. The concern is with the fundamental processes and cycles which
occurred in the news-communications industry,"[6] Obviously, for a
researcher to comprehend those factors and understand the press, one
would have to be familiar with the environment in which it was
published, Kobre charged.[7] The relationship between the newspaper
and spectator sports illustrates how two social institutions can affect
each other, Kobre claimed. As the popularity of sports increased,
newspapers began to cover them. This coverage, in turn, raised more
interest in sports. This cycle continued until, eventually, the newspapers
formed sports sections to provide adequate coverage.[8] This is just
one representation of how studying a newspaper within its society is
more useful to the historian than does simply examining the
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newspapers is. Kobre still thought it was important to study those
involved in creating the newspaper -- the owners, publishers, editors,
and reporters -- because they implemented the changes in the
newspapers as they saw new social needs to fill.[9] Looking at how the
people effected change, and what influence they or that change had on
society, would be more beneficial than yet another narrative biography,
though. Some argue, however, that journalism history is not ready for a
cultural approach. David Paul Nord acknowledged that a cultural history
of journalism is a noble goal, but argued for the creation of a strong
social history first. Nord supported further study of the social contexts in
which mass media messages were created and received. Research on
the "structures, processes, and conventions of mass media
organizations," as well as on the readers, is required before a proper
social history can be fashioned, he charged.[10] "Cultural history must
spring from social history as well as from intellectual history....What is
needed now, therefore, is not a heedless rush to join the cultural history
flood, but rather a renewed commitment to social history, without which
there can be no cultural history worthy of the name," Nord asserted.[11]
Since journalism history is new to the cultural approach, a better
foundation for it may first need to be constructed. Nevertheless, most
writers accept that a cultural approach to journalism history will be most
beneficial in integrating the role of the press into history.
Looking at a newspaper from a cultural standpoint is
advantageous as the pages of a newspaper reflect what is happening in
society through the types of stories it carries and the manner in which it
displays them. Lucy Salmon was one of the first to realize that one can
read the newspaper for more than the facts the stories present. Social
norms are also evident, she said. The newspaper is "of value in
determining ideals and standards, in gauging collective ignorance or
intelligence, and interpreting the spirit of a time or of a locality," Salmon
asserted. Salmon argued that, within the news of the day, the concerns
of a community are disclosed.[12] She claimed, for example, that
obviously false advertisements reflect a society's tolerance for low
business standards.[13] Even crime stories relay more information than
who, what, where, when, why and how. James Fulcher examined
nineteenth-century society's attitudes towards immigrants by studying
murder reports in the New York Times. From 87 murder reports during
the years 1851, 1852, and 1856, Fulcher discovered 75 of these reports
involved an immigrant as the murderer.[14] He argued that through the
use of "formulaic narrative" and stereotypes, the New York Times both
reflected and reinforced society's attitude towards immigrants. The
emphasis on immigrants in the reports reinforced the idea that the
community was valuable by pointing out how many people wanted to
live in that locale, he said. He also concluded that, through the
identification of the national origin of the victims and defendants, the
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newspaper implied that murder was the immigrants' fault. The terms
used to identify those involved in the murder cases reinforced the
community's stereotypes of immigrants, he said. The newspaper made
references such as the drunk Irishman, the methodical German, the
excitable Italian, the crude Pole. Fulcher charged that judicial
comments reported by the New York Times were in line with the
popular attitudes towards immigrants. Judges often portrayed immigrant
murderers as lacking civility and gratitude for being allowed to come to
the United States. Judges would also state their belief that the
immigrant convicts did not know how to live in a success-oriented,
harmonious community. Fulcher also concluded that when the paper
stopped listing an immigrant's country of origin and started identifying
him by occupation, society considered him a member.[15] Crime stories
are only one example of how a newspaper can provide information
about society's values and attitudes to the historian.
The researcher must consider though, that the newspaper is not
providing a reflection that is entirely accurate. In most modern societies,
there is a variety of newspapers that range from the conservative
broadsheet to the sensationalist tabloid. Hazel Dicken-Garcia said that
even after a careful reading, one may not know exactly what the
newspaper said about society. "One can examine content for tone,
substance, and excesses in emphasis and speculate about the extent
to which these may have offended taste or opposed values of the time,"
she said.[16] Besides reflecting attitudes, Marion Marzolf points out that
the newspaper can also be a vehicle for changing them. "We know that
media tend to reinforce cultural values, to act as mirrors for society, but
that at times they also furnish new and challenging ideas and aid in
changing those values," she said.[17] Especially during a time of crisis,
the researcher must consider the position of the newspaper within a
society before accepting the paper as an accurate reflection of that
society.
Other elements of society affect the newspaper as a social
institution. Kobre noted many factors within journalism would transform
individual newspapers, including the 'beat' system; invention of new
presses to speed the printing of the papers; competition from other
newspapers; and spreading of traits such as a particular headline or
writing style.[18] Changes that would influence the press could be
either national or local. Reforms in educational systems, laws and
technology are three of the most obvious. Other external pressures on
journalism Kobre listed include urbanization, the changing wants of the
reader, population changes, economic developments, cultural changes,
and social-psychological changes.[19] The newspaper had to evolve to
meet the new needs created by such changes to ensure its own
survival. This desire for survival led to content changes in the
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nineteenth century. The penny press told the stories of modern city life
that the blanket press ignored, Gunther Barth said.[20] Barth also
claimed that editors changed their newspapers -- creating a more
sensationalist appeal -- when they realized the audience was choosing
its reading material based on emotional, not rational, decisions.
Newspapers with human-interest stories became more popular than
those that carried serious news. The penny press era was a time of
change for more than just newspapers though. Frank Luther Mott and
Donald Shaw agreed that the penny press was more a sociological
development than a journalistic one. A mass press, affordable to the
working class, existed for the first time. Mott believed that the penny
press depended on awakening social consciousness to be successful,
but in turn, helped develop that consciousness.[21] Shaw declared
that, while there is little evidence of changing news styles between
1830 and 1850 to support the concept of the penny press as a
journalistic force, it was an important sociological phenomenon.[22]
The penny press is one possible model of how the changes in society -in this case, urbanization, the development of less expensive presses,
and the rise of literacy -- led to changes in the journalism industry.
As can be concluded from a review of the literature, the properly
utilized newspaper is a great source for the cultural historian. The
narrative approach to journalism history can only tell one story about its
subject. How many times can the history of the New York Times or the
biography of Henry Raymond, that paper's founder, be written?
Similarly, the quantitative only provides information about the
newspaper. The results of a quantitative study show the trends in a
newspaper's coverage, but not the significance of those trends. For
example, the number of stories about an upcoming election will
increase as the election nears. However, that does not indicate that a
large percentage of the society cares about the issues or the
candidates involved. The cultural approach examines the newspaper as
it operated within its place in society. Cultural history is a combination of
intellectual history -- the texts produced by a society's elite -- and of
social history -- the actions of the common man in the society. The
stories behind the development of journalism need to be researched.
The reasons behind journalism's organizational patterns are one area
open to study. How the journalism standards of the headline, the lead
and the inverted pyramid developed is another. On the other side of the
newspaper, one could examine the readers' reactions. Did one feature
attract readers, or spread through the industry because of its perceived
popularity? The use of graphics and short stories in USA Today
provides a modern example. Although almost every newspaper in the
country quickly adapted these innovations, it is not clear if this trend
attracted more readers. The relationship between the newspaper and
other social institutions is another field of study within the cultural
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history of journalism. Analyzing the saturation-level coverage of OJ
Simpson's trial and its effects on the justice system may someday be
an interesting research question. The proper study of the newspaper
can provide a wealth of cultural information to the historian.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barth, Gunther. City People. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 980.
A general history of city newspapers with an examination of why the
audiences read these papers.
Carey, James W. "The Problem of Journalism History." Journalism History 1
(1974): 3-5, 27.
His call for a cultural approach to journalism history seems to have
generated the most response of anyone's. Argues that "the press is itself an
expression of human consciousness." Wants to examine how consciousness
became a "need for news" which, in turn, developed into the institution of
journalism.
Dicken-Garcia, Hazel. Journalistic Standards in Nineteenth-Century America.
Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989.
Examines and explains the standard practices of newspaper reporters
in the nineteenth century.
Fleming, Dan B. "Benjamin Franklin to Watergate: The Press in U.S. History
Textbooks.” Journalism Quarterly 61 (Winter 1984): 885-888, 909.
A quantitative study of the presentation of journalism history in highschool textbooks.
Fulcher, James. "Murder Reports: Formulaic Narrative and Cultural Context."
Journal of Popular Culture 18 (Spring 1985): 31-42.
Takes a cultural approach to murder stories in the New York Times
from 1851 and 1856. Presents evidence that Americans' attitudes
towards immigrants is reflected and reinforced in these articles.
Kobre, Sidney. Development of American Journalism. Dubuque, Iowa:
William C. Brown Company, 1969.
Advocates what he calls a "sociological" approach to journalism
history. This approach is very similar to a cultural approach, in that it
looks at the interaction between a newspaper and the society of which
it is part.
Kobre, Sidney. "The Sociological Approach In Research in Newspaper
History." Journalism Quarterly 22 (March 1945): 12-22.
Probably the foundations of the above book, this article examines what
social factors might have an effect on the press and should be
examined under the sociological or cultural approach to journalism
history.
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Marzolf, Marion. "American Studies -- Ideas for Media Historians?" Journalism
History 5 (Spring !978): 1, 13-16.
Supports a cultural approach to journalism history. Proposes the use of
content assessment (as opposed to quantified analysis) and literary
analysis in studying the newspaper. Discusses limitations of quantified
content analysis, but illustrates its potential for examining trends in
journalism.
Mott, Frank Luther. "Facetious News Writing, 1833-1883." Mississippi Valley
Historical Review 29 (June 1942): 35-54.
Discusses the use of humor in satire and hoaxes. Argues that the use
of the "local" reporter led to the development of news staffs as they are
known today.
Nevins, Allan. "American Journalism and Its Historical Treatment."
Journalism Quarterly 36 (Fall 1959): 411-422, 519.
Examines the shortcomings of the narrative approach to journalism
history.
Nord, David Paul. "Intellectual History, Social History, Cultural History...and
Our History." Journalism Quarterly 67 (Winter 1990): 645-648.
Claims that the increase in cultural history studies is good for the
history of communications. Posits that a study of the production of
communications systems, a social history of the media, is needed to
create a true cultural history rather than simply an intellectual history.
Pauly, John J. "New Directions for Research in Journalism History." In Guide
to Sources in American Journalism History, edited by Lucy Shelton Coswell.
New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
Promotes a cultural approach to journalism history. Discusses the
technological and economic histories of journalism. Looks at
contextualization of news stories. Proposes journalism historians
examine not just the history of communications, but the "history of
public life."
Salmon, Lucy Maynard. The Newspaper and the Historian. New York:
Octagon Books, 1976. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1923.
A detailed examination of nearly every aspect of the newspaper and its
significance to the historian.
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Shaw, Donald L. and Zack, Sylvia L. "Rethinking Journalism History: How
Some Recent Studies Support One Approach." Journalism History 14 (Winter
1987): 111-117.
Examines the literature, looking for a positive response to Carey's
challenge. Considers the earlier methods important, as they illustrate
how journalism history was considered at the time. Claims that
journalism history can be organized along a chronological theme as
the research begins to take a cultural approach.
Notes:
1 Allan Nevins, "American Journalism and Its Historical Treatment."
Journalism Quarterly 36 (Fall 1959): 419.
2 John J. Pauly, "New Directions for Research in Journalism History," in
Guide to Sources in American Journalism History, ed. Lucy Shelton Coswell
(New York: Greenwood Press, 1989), p. 36.
3 James W. Carey, "The Problem of Journalism History," Journalism History 1
(1974): 27.
4 Pauly, "New Directions," p. 42.
5 Sidney Kobre, "The Sociological Approach In Research in Newspaper
History," Journalism Quarterly 22 (March 1945): v.
6 Sidney Kobre, Development of American Journalism (Dubuque, Iowa:
William C. Brown Company, 1969), p. v.
7 Ibid., p. v.
8 Ibid., p. vi.
9 Ibid., p. vi.
10 David Paul Nord, "Intellectual History, Social History, Cultural History...and
Our History," Journalism Quarterly 67 (Winter 1990): 647.
11 Ibid., p. 645.
12 Lucy Maynard Salmon, The Newspaper and the Historian (New York:
Octagon Books, 1976), p. xliii.
13 Ibid., p. xlii.
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14 In the article, many of the New York Times stories referred to are dated
1851 even though they appeared in 1852.
15 James Fulcher, "Murder Reports: Formulaic Narrative and Cultural
Context," Journal of Popular Culture 18 (Spring 1985): 31-42.
16 Hazel Dicken-Garcia, Journalistic Standards in Nineteenth-Century
America (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989), p. 68.
17 Marion Marzolf, "American Studies -- Ideas for Media Historians?"
Journalism History 5 (Spring 1978): 15.
18 Kobre, Development, p. vii.
19 Kobre, "Sociological," pp. 12-22.
20 Gunther Barth, City People (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 59.
21 Frank Luther Mott, "Facetious News Writing, 1833-1883," Mississippi
Valley Historical Review n29 (June 1942): 35.
22 Donald L. Shaw and Sylvia L. Zack, "Rethinking Journalism History: How
Some Recent Studies Support One Approach," Journalism History 14 (Winter
1987): 114.14
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