1. Chapter 4 NEWSPAPERS: Where Journalism Began Chapter Outline History
Industry
Controversies
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2. A Brief History of Newspapers
The First Newspapers
The first newspaper, printed from wooden blocks, probably appeared in China more than 1,200 years ago. News at that time was bits of wisdom from religious leaders and official notices of government decrees.
In the early 1600s Germans pioneered newspaper production.
By the 1640s Italian newspapers were covering local fires and murders. These papers sold for a small coin called the Gazetta, which is where we get the word Gazette.
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3. A Brief History of Newspapers
The Newspaper in Early America
Boston’s Publick Occurences both Foreign and Domestick, published in 1690 by Benjamin Harris, was the first “newes-paper” in America.
It featured stories about a kidnapping and a suicide, as well as a story accusing the King of France of sleeping with his son’s wife. The colonial government closed down the newspaper after one issue.
Authorities established laws against seditious libel, making it illegal to print derogatory or potentially inflammatory remarks about the government or its members.
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4. A Brief History of Newspapers
In 1704, John Campbell’s Boston News-Letter was published “by authority” of the colonial government. Everything he wrote was submitted to local authorities before publication.
In 1735, Anna Zenger took over as publisher of the New York Weekly while her husband was in jail awaiting trial for seditious libel.
By 1765, the colonies had more than 30 newspapers, including the mercantile press, which provided news of business and shipping.
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5. A Brief History of Newspapers
Colonial newspapers played a major role in publishing the clandestine pamphlets of patriots such as Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams.
The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published serially in several New York newspapers. Many people believe that the U.S. Constitution would not have been ratified without them.
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6. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
The partisan press (newspapers owned or supported by a political party) continued into the 1800s but editors of major, credible papers began to standardize their definition of news.
The editorial page became the place for properly labeled opinion pieces.
The front page was for hard news which was made up of stories about current events that had impact on people’s lives.
Feature news, also known as soft news, was directed more toward human interest and curiosity.
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7. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
The penny press appeared in the 1830s and heralded the era of inexpensive, advertiser-supported newspapers.
An inexpensive paper known as newsprint had been developed and steam presses could rapidly produce copies.
The New York Sun, the first penny press, began the practice of determining the size of the news hole; the total amount of space that can devoted to editorial content according to the amount of advertising sold.
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8. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
Sensationalism, or the practice of stressing human interest stories over hard news, was used by the Sun’s Benjamin Day to increase readership among the common people.
The establishment of the Associated Press in 1848 led to a more objective brand of news.
With the formation of the AP, each paper had to make its articles appropriate for other papers, on all sides of the political spectrum – thus began the journalistic ideal of objectivity; a writing style that separates fact from opinion.
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9. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
The byline, or the line at the beginning of a news story giving the author’s name, was invented by the AP during the Civil War period.
Another journalism practice coming out of the coverage of the Civil War was the inverted pyramid style of hard news writing.
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10. Inverted Pyramid
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11. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News
Yellow journalism, an era in which increased competition among newspapers led to unprecedented sensationalism, reached its height in the Hearst-Pulitzer wars of the 1890s.
Many historians blame lurid, often misleading, headlines in both Hearst’s Journal and Pulitzer’s World for encouraging the U.S. to undertake the Spanish-American War of 1898.
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12. A Brief History of Newspapers
The Quality Press
At the dawn of the 20th century responsible reporting by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor helped cool down the yellow journalism period.
The first tabloid was the New York Daily News which combined the sensationalism of the yellow press with the abundant use of pictures and a smaller, easier to handle, page.
The American Society of Newspaper editors was formed in 1923.
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13. A Brief History of Newspapers
The Quality Press
The ASNE adopted an ethical code called the Canons of Journalism:
Responsibility
Freedom of the press
Independence
Sincerity, truthfulness, accuracy
Impartiality
Fair play
Decency
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14. Top Newspaper Companies
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15. Milestones in Newspaper History timeline
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16. A Brief History of Newspapers
Concentration into Chains
American newspapers began to concentrate into chains around the beginning of the 20th century.
A chain is one company that owns the same type of company in more than one market area.
By 1922, William Randolph Hearst owned 20 daily papers, two wire services, the largest newspaper feature syndicate, a newsreel company, and a motion picture company.
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17. A Brief History of Newspapers
Concentration into Chains
Today 80 percent of daily newspapers are chain owned.
Knight-Ridder, one of the modern great chains, was sold in 2006 because of stockholder demand.
In the same year, the Gannett chain purchased The FS View & Florida Flambeau, the student newspaper of Florida State University – the first time a college paper had been bought by a major chain.
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18. A Brief History of Newspapers
Changing Publication Patterns
Since the 1960s newspapers have shifted from mostly afternoon edition to mostly morning editions.
Newspapers have historically adapted to competition from newsreels, radio, television, cable, and the World Wide Web.
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19. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
The Owners
In the 1980s, chains began to acquire newspapers at a furious rate.
Chains were making record profits, and if they used those profits to buy more papers, they avoided corporate income taxes.
Within the first decade of the 21 century, newspaper chains have become victims of their own success.
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20. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
The Newspapers
The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today are all published for the national market, and also have significant amounts of international distribution.
Most newspapers are local dailies; their strength is presenting in-depth local news, information and advertising not handled as well by other media.
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21. Average Daily Circulation at U.S. Newspapers
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22. Sample Front Page of USA Today
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23. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
Weeklies, sometimes known as shoppers, are free-distributed newspapers that consist mostly of ads but may also contain some news and entertainment to attract extra readers.
Organizational papers include all those published by business entities, religious and educational institutions, and social groups as an integral part of their organizational communication effort.
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24. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
Alternative papers provide a viewpoint that is usually radical or out of the mainstream.
The underground press of the 1960s and 70s offered a radical view of politics and tended to question mainstream, middle-class values as well as many governmental practices.
The original underground papers supported many activities that were illegal at the time, including abortion.
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25. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
The ethnic press is made up of newspapers aimed at a particular ethnic group.
There are 200 Hispanic papers reaching 10 million readers, including Chicago’s El Manana Daily News, Los Angeles’ La Opinion, and New York’s Hoy and El Diario-La Prensa. The Chicano press, which targets Mexican-Americans, makes up the majority of Hispanic papers.
There are more than 170 black newspapers, including New York’s Amsterdam News, the Chicago Defender and Baltimore’s Afro-American.
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26. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
The Editorial Staff
The publisher, often at least a part owner, makes decisions about business and editorial directions.
Editors report to the editor-in-chief or executive editor.
General assignment reporters can cover anything while beat reporters are assigned particular areas.
Advertising includes sales representatives and layout people.
The production department runs the presses.
The circulation department arranges for delivery to newsstands, homes, stores, and vending machines.
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27. The Newspaper Staff
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28. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
Support Services
The Associated Press has hundreds of bureaus in a hundred different countries, distributing news in a half dozen different languages.
Other major wire services include Agence France-Press, United Press International (UPI), and Reuters.
Feature syndicates act as brokers for feature items such as comic strips and crossword puzzles.
The Audit Bureau of Circulation verifies circulation figures for advertisers.
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29. Understanding Today’s Newspaper Industry
The Reader: Changing Patterns of Readership
Changes in readership affect the structure of the industry e.g., afternoon papers died as work schedules changed and people began to look to television for their evening news.
With a lower readership among young people, who are failing to take up the newspaper-reading habits of their parents, the industry is worried about its future readers, especially since advertisers want to sell to people ages
The average age of today’s newspaper reader is in his/her late 50s.
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30. Controversies Concentration of Ownership
Most communities have one chain-owned newspaper. Critics fear that this reduces the diversity of opinions available to readers.
The chains respond that other broadcast, cable, and Internet news sources provide access to a diversity of viewpoints.
According to critics, the typical chain’s bottom-line business orientation means poorer journalistic performance, as veteran reporters are replaced with younger staff right out of college who can be paid as little as possible.
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31. 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 resolved in 1978 that minority employment should match the percentage of minorities in the population.
In 2009, 13 percent of daily newspaper journalists were black, Hispanic, Asian-American and American Indian, while the Census bureau reported that 32 percent of the population belonged to those groups.
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32. Controversies Lack of Diversity in the Newsroom
Newspaper publishers argue that they have difficulty attracting qualified minorities, especially to small papers that don’t pay very well.
Some papers have appointed diversity committees made up of reporters, editors, and outside consultants that do annual “content audits” to assess how minorities and women are portrayed in pictures and print.
Journalism schools produce only around 750 minority journalists annually, about the same number that leave the profession each year.
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33. 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 Native American Journalists Association
The Asian American Journalists Association
The National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association
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