Journalism and the Press in America

Journalism in America was born in the form of a newsletter published in 1608. It was written by John Smith, a captain famous for his exploration of the new world, and was titled "Newes from Virginia." It was a far cry from what we today know as a newspaper and did not gain very wide circulation, but it is significant as the inception of what eventually became journalism (7). The first proper periodical in the colonies was published by a man named Benjamin Harris, who was also responsible for the British newspaper "Domestick Intelligence" (1). It was called "Publick Occurences, Both Foreign and Domestick," and was first printed in 1690 (7). It, however, only lasted for one issue, due to the fact that the presses responsible for printing it were unlicensed, which was a violation of a law passed in 1662 in the state of Massachusettes where they were located. The first lasting, daily newspaper in the colonies was the "Daily Courant," which was founded in 1702 and continued to be published for thirty years afterward (5).

These first papers were short and simply made. They usually consisted of a mere four pages, which included no art, pictures, or headlines. The only thing depicted other than text was whatever the publisher used as his or her trademark and occasional decorations around the border of the page. The paper material itself was not made from wood pulp as it is today, but was instead made from rags and strips of clothing. Though wood pulp was commonly used to make paper at the time, the pressing machines were expensive and had never been brought over from England. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington issued a request to all women to save as much cloth as they could in case of a shortage (7).

Most newspapers in this time period were called "gazettes," a word borrowed from European publications along with much of the journalistic style. The word "reporter" comes from the English phrase "to report," which means to write in shorthand or in an abbreviated style (1).

In 1721 the few existing newspapers began to diversify in their content ever so slightly. The "New England Courant," a paper published by James Franklin, the brother of founding father Benjamin Franklin, was the first paper to offer literature in addition to the news (7). A few years later in 1729, Ben Franklin took over the "Pennsylvania Gazette," which his work eventually made the biggest and most successful paper in the colonies at the time. It had the most pages, widest circulation, and thus made the most money (7).

By 1750 fourteen weekly papers were being read throughout the colonies. These early papers served as sounding boards for the personal opinions of their publishers, and consequently were notoriously partisan. Most either argued for or against the Federalist position, depending on the publisher's political views. At the time it was not considered anyone's responsibility to provide truthful, unbiased information, and thus the truth often took a back seat to passionate screeds (5).

During the Revolutionary War, the first instance of journalists being embedded with infantry battalions occured. The "Massachusettes Spy" published a first-hand account of the first major battle of the American Revolution (7).

By the 1770s, eighty-nine papers were being regularly published in thirty-five different cities (5). In 1776 twenty newspapers printed the text of the Declaration of Independence in its entirety (7). Shortly thereafter, in 1783, the first ever daily newspaper in America, the "Pennsylvania Evening Post," was published (7).

"Congress shall make no law . . .abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." (8). This most famous of phrases, the portion of the First Amendment protecting the freedoms of free speech and the press, was passed with the rest of the Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789 and ratified December 15, 1791 (7). Later, some of the founding fathers passed a sedition law decreeing that antigovernment journalism was a crime and would be punishable, but it expired in 1801 and was never renewed (3). Even during the American Confederacy, prior to the Bill of Rights, the constitutions of nine of the thirteen newly-formed states guaranteed freedom of the press as a right (3).

By the turn of the century the journalism industry was growing rapidly. Twenty-one papers were in circulation to the west of the Appalachian mountains as America expanded farther and farther toward the Pacific Ocean (7). A total of 234 newspapers were operating in the liberated American colonies by 1800 (5). In 1827, three reporters became the first correspondents designated specifically to Washington, D.C., with the task of covering the political happenings of the nation's headquarters. This was the inception of the White House press corps, which has grown into what we know it as today (7).

With the advent of newer, faster printing technology, the "New York Herald" became the first major "penny paper" (as opposed to the normal newsstand price of six cents) under James Gordon Bennett in 1835 (5). Prior to penny papers, most newspapers were sold by subscription at around $6 to $10 per year. The money was always due up front in a lump sum. Because of the price, which was what the average worker made in a week, only the wealthy could afford to subscribe (7).

The "Herald" was the first paper to take hold in a modern city and have a modern organizational structure. It was the first to have several different reporters covering specific areas or "beats" of the news, and was the first to split its conents into catagorical sections for each news subject (7). It also had the first foreign correspondent (5). Following the example of the "Herald," the "New York Sun" also began selling on the street for one cent (7). The "New York Tribune," founded in 1841, became the first newspaper to have a national readership, printing 6,000 copies to be sent to Chicago alone. The "Tribune" was run by Horace Greeley, a well known "liberal reformer," who employed amongst his news staff a man named Karl Marx. Marx was the correspondent to London at the time (5).

In 1848 the six largest newspapers at the time formed a "cooperative," and created a news gathering service to make easier the process of gathering news in Europe and bringing it back to the Americas (7). This organization was the predecessor to the Associate Press (5).

When the Civil War broke out, photographers embedded with the infantry brought the visual brutality of war to the front of the public's mind from 1861 to 1865 (7). The war created competition amongst the current periodicals and inspired them to develop new methods and new technologies to outdo each other, increasing the quality of coverage (5).

From 1870 to 1900 the population of the United States doubled. The average population of its cities tripled and the number of daily news periodicals more than quadrupled (7). Starting in 1880 there were major improvements in printing presses, which became faster and more sophisticated. It became possible to print pictures quickly and put them in wide circulation. With the concurrent advent of telephones and typewriters, methods of gathering, writing, and reporting the news changed. Newspapers could be made faster and more accurately than they could using the previous, antiquated technology (7).

At this point the number of newspapers in the United States reached an all-time high. From 1910 to 1914 a reported 2,600 dailies and 14,000 weeklies were regularly published, arguably making the American population of this time the most well-informed to date. (7). With the new trend of incorporating entertainment into the content of these papers growing rapidly, gossip columns began to appear in 1930 along with the well-known picture magazine "Life" (7).

In the 1950s people began to turn away from newspapers as their source of information for the first time since colonialism. Television grabbed the attention of those seeking news of the world (7). Newspapers became more recognized as a source of entertainment rather than legitimate information. The beginning of the Vietnam conflict in the 1960s and the strong feelings of anti-government and anti-establishment that surrounded it brought about the creation of several "underground" publications, whose task it was to criticize everything they felt was wrong with society in the turbulent political climate of those times (7).

The 1970s saw the growing use of an invention that would revolutionize the world in the years to come: the computer. Computers changed the way news was recorded, the way stories were filed, and the way the whole media industry was structured. The tumult of the change carried well into the 1980s (7). By this time four cooperative news agencies provided ninety percent of foreign news: the Associate Press, United Press International, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse, a French news organization (7). Gannett, Knight-Ridder, Newhouse, the New York Times, Dow Jones, and Thompson were then, and continue to be now, the largest news publication organizations in the country (7).

America now is home to the largest and most diverse media industry ever in history (6). Now more than ever, news publications have the power to influence the course of events and sometimes make the news rather than simply report it. By running an incriminating story in 1998, the "Star-Ledger" in Newark, New Jersey, forced the state government to produce existing records of racial profiling by state troopers. This set off a crackdown on the fairness of police practices everywhere. A 1999 article in the "Chicago Tribune" reported on scores of alleged death row inmates who claimed to have been beaten into confessing to crimes they had not committed. Shortly after the article was printed, the governor of Illinois suspended all scheduled executions (3). Probably the most famous instance of journalism changing history is the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two Washington Post reporters who unveiled a string of plotted cover-ups by the Nixon White House and ultimately led to President Nixon's resignation (3). These are examples of good journalism. As said by Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert G. Kaiser of the Washington Post, "Good journalism holds communities together in times of crisis, providing the information and images that constitute a shared experience. When disaster strikes, the news media gives readers and viewers something to hold on to - facts, but also explanation and discussion that can help people deal with the unexpected."

Many people believe that print media has become antiquated since television arrived in the American home, but that is an underestimate of the importance of print media. True, it was televisions that Americans were glued to on September 11, 2001, but on September 12 newspaper sales skyrocketed. People wanted elaboration, a more in-depth analysis than the television news programs could offer. The Washington Post sold an additional 150,000 papers on that day alone. The Los Angeles Times' sold an additional 227,000. Spokespeople for both papers said they would have sold more if they had been printed (3).

Journalism and the print media are an integral part of the news industry. At times they have shaped the course of the events being reported, and effectively altered history. There is no more informative or reliable way to get news than reading a newspaper, a staple of America that represents several hundred years of work, development, and ingenuity. Through newspapers, history and the world will be remembered and remain exposed for all to see.

Works Cited

1. "A Call for an International History of Journalism." Mitchell Stephens, ed. New York University. September 13, 2005. .

2. Cohen, Elliot D. and Deni Elliot. Journalism Ethics. Santa Barbra, California: ABC-CLIO, 1997.

3. Downie Jr., Leonard and Robert G. Kaiser. The News About the News. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

4. Ferguson, Donald L. and Jim Patten. Journalism For Today. Skokie, Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1972.

5. "History of Journalism." Dr. Wally Hastings, ed. September 2, 2003. Northern State University. September 13, 2005. .

6. Hohenberg, John. The News Media: A Journalist Looks at His Profession. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1968.

7. "Journalism Time Line." 1996. The Write Site. September 13, 2005. .

8. National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Know Your Rights Under the Constitution. Washington, D.C.