2. Do newspapers still matter in an age of the
Internet, cable, and other hi-tech media?
YES NO
Chapter 4
3. A Brief History of Newspapers
The First Newspapers
• Town criers “posted” notices
• First newspapers in China more than 1,200
years ago.
• 1600s: Gutenberg’s printing press allowed
newspapers to be mass produced in Europe.
• 1640s: Italian newspapers cover local fires and
murders, sell for one Gazetta.
5. A Brief History of Newspapers
• Licensing
• seditious libel laws
• 1735 Zenger Trial
• 1791 First Amendment established
• Partisan Press (Whigs and Tories)
• Mercantile Press
• Similarities with today’s media?
6. A Brief History of Newspapers
Newspapers and revolution
• Colonial newspapers published Thomas
Paine and Samuel Adams.
• The Federalist Papers
• Stamp Act 1765
7. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
• Standard definition of news begins to emerge
• Editorial page becomes place for properly
labeled opinion pieces.
• The front page reserved for hard news.
• Feature stories (a.k.a. soft news), directed
more toward human interest and curiosity.
8. A Brief History of Newspapers
• Ethnic press
• Freedom’s Journal (1827)
• The penny press: New York Sun, 1833
• Profit derived from advertising income, not
subscription rates
• News hole
• Newsprint and steam presses
9. A Brief History of Newspapers
• The Associated Press (1848) leads to
objectivity
• Inverted pyramid
• Yellow journalism: Hearst’s Journal and
Pulitzer’s World
• sensationalism, reached its height in the
Hearst-Pulitzer wars of the 1890s.
• Spanish-American War (1898)
10. A Brief History of Newspapers
The Making of the Modern Press
• The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, and The Christian Science Monitor
presented more balanced, serious reporting
by late 19th century.
• New York Daily News
• The American Society of Newspaper editors
was formed in 1923.
• Today, 80 percent of U.S. daily newspapers
are owner by chains
11. A Brief History of Newspapers
Leading The News Process
• America learned about the 1960s civil rights
battles because of newspaper reporting
• The Watergate scandal (1972-1974)
• Today, newspapers provide more context than
24-hour news channels.
12. A Brief History of Newspapers
• Since the 1960s newspapers have
shifted from mostly afternoon
editions to mostly morning editions.
• Newspapers have historically adapted
to competition from newsreels, radio,
television, cable, and the World Wide
Web.
14. Understanding Today’s Newspaper
Publishing Industry
• The Newspapers
• The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,
The Christian Science Monitor, and USA
Today are distributed nationally and
internationally.
• USA Today specifically designed for national
distribution
• local dailies
19. Understanding Today’s Newspaper
Publishing Industry
• Alternative papers
• 200 Hispanic papers: Chicago’s El Manana
Daily News, Los Angeles’ La Opinion, and
New York’s El Diario-La Prensa.
• Chicano press
• 170 black newspapers: New York’s Amsterdam
News, the Chicago Defender and Baltimore’s
Afro-American
• Gay-Lesbian press: The Advocate, The
Stonewall News
20. Understanding Today’s Newspaper
Publishing Industry
Support Services
• The Associated Press
• Other major wire services include United Press
International (UPI), Agence France-Press, and
Reuters.
• Feature syndicates
• Audit Bureau of Circulation
21. Understanding Today’s Newspaper
Publishing Industry
The Reader
• The average age of today’s newspaper reader is 53.
• Public Journalism: papers should become involved
in, rather than just cover, community issues.
• Citizen Journalism: asks readers to go into the
community and tell stories using consumer-level
equipment
23. Controversies
Lack of Diversity in the Newsroom
• In the 1970s, following several urban riots, the National
Commission on the Causes of Violence pointed out that the
lack of minority viewpoint in the nation’s press was partially
to blame for the alienation felt by many ethnic groups.
• The American Society of Newspaper Editors resolve in 1978
that minority employment should match the percentage of
minorities in the population
• In 1998, 11 percent of daily newspaper journalists were
black, Hispanic, Asian-American and American Indian,
while the Census bureau reported that 28 percent of the
population belonged to those groups.
24. Controversies
Lack of Diversity in the Newsroom
• A number of minority organizations now exist to
promote the interests of these underrepresented
groups including:
• the National Association of Black Journalists
• the National Association of Hispanic Journalists
• the Asian American Journalists Association
• the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists
Association
