Mass Comm Chapter 5 Quiz

The Beginning of the Modern Press

• First English-language newspaper: Curanto, Amsterdam (1618)

• British Colonial Government attempted to control print media

• Media dynasties in American colonies - Ben Franklin

The Penny Press: Newspapers for the people

• First penny press newspaper was The Sun published on Benjamin Day, 1833

• Steam Engine led to mass creation and distribution

A Different Kind of Journalism

• facts over opinion

• not controlled by political parties

• independent voices

• represented people as equals

A Modern Demographic Society

• 1830s: period of intense growth

• Influence of press on democracy and economy

• Spreading literacy

New Readers: Immigrants and Women

• Use of illustrations, comic strips, and color comics

• Use of women’s pages and romantic fiction

• Ex: Nellie Bly’s insider report on the corrupt system of a New York women’s asylum

Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World

• “if it bleeds, it leads!”

• big headlines

• presented news like a story

The Era of Yellow Journalism

• Hearst v.s. Pulitzer (yellow kid comics)

• William Randolph Hearst was trained under Joseph Pulitzer in The New York World then bought The New York Journal to challenge him, starting their comic war

• sensationalism: loud headers and cartoons

Photojournalism

the use of photographs to portray the news in print

• halftone: an image where photographs where photographs are produced as a series of dots that appear in shades of gray on the printed page

Mathew Brady and Photojournalism

• Civil War photography

Magazines and the News: The Muckrakers

social activist articles/magazine/publications

Earliest examples of investigative journalism

• Samuel S. McClure — McClure’s Magazine

• Lincoln Steffens — Government Corruption

• Ida Tarbell — Standard Oil

Time Life

• Owned Life, Time, and Fortune magazines

  • Photography in Life and Fortune magazines done by Margaret Bourke-White

• Purchased by Meredith Corp. in 2017

National and Metropolitan Newspapers

1. The Wall Street Journal

2. USA Today; News McNuggets

3. The New York Times

4. The Washington Post

5. The Los Angeles Times

The Wall Street Journal

Second largest circulation of any American newspaper

USA Today; News McNuggets

• Struggle with existence

The New York Times

largest circulating newspaper in America

Washington Post

Broke the Watergate Scandal: the systematic sabotage and cover-up of the Democratic presidential candidates by the White House

• Inspired a generation of journalists in the 1970s

The Los Angeles Times

Largest newspaper on he west coast

• Has conflict with Disney

Community press

def: weekly and daily newspapers serving communities or suburbs instead of an entire metropolitan

• Consists of communities of place, ethnicity, faith, ideas or interests

• Published news that readers can’t get anywhere else

Radio News

• In 1938, American journalists in Europe began reporting on the rise of Nazi Germany

• Edward R. Murrow built a team of inside men reporters

TV News

Began with coverage of 1940 Republican National Convention

NBC’s Meet the Press: 1947-present

• The longest running show on TV

• one-on-one interviews with political figures and members of the press

CBS’s See It Now: 1951-58

• See It Now, documentary with Edward R. Murrow that brought an end to the “Red Scare” in 1954

US History:

• Presidential Election of 1960, first live debate

• Moon Landing 1969 - 93% of tv, 650 million worldwide

• Vietnam War - first broadcasted US battle (radio-dominated)

Berhert Gans’s Eight Journalistic Values

1. Ethnocentrism: the idea the US is better than everywhere else

2. Altruistic Democracy: politicians should serve the public good

3. Responsible capitalism: competition is good for everyone

4. Small-town pastoralism: nostalgia for rural society

5. Individualism: the idea that one person can make a difference

6. Moderatism: the value of moderation, not extremism

7. Social Order: the value of a return or elimination of disorder

8. Leadership: the actions and values of leaders often exaggerated

Objectivity

def: “View from nowhere” reporting convention

• Placing reporter between extremes, “netiher-nor” positions

• Balanced and unbiased

• Claim that no bias gives them legitimacy