Journalism in the USA of the 19th Century - Essay Example

The nineteenth century was a period of that witnessed huge rise of importance of the newspapers in the United s of America. Journalism, “which deals with the media presentation of news” (Eadie, 2009, p.31) rose to the level of an important profession. In the begging there were inexpensive newspapers that sold stories of crime and sports. The advancement of the technologies further helped in the circulation of the dailies and weeklies whose publication also shot up to a greater number. New modes of journalism evolved during that period. Press became a part of the commercial community in America (Conboy, 2002, p. 43). Sensationalism over the facts was a method by which readership of the newspapers was increased and also played a significant role in modifying public opinion. “Yellow Journalism” became an important style of reporting (U.S. Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism, 1895-1898, n.d.). This paper deals with the question “how important were newspapers in the United States in the 19th century?” Social changes in Europe: Its validity in the context of contemporary USA The Nineteenth century saw the birth of a new Europe. Political and social changes occurred within the system of the continent and this change involved the common mass. The working class of the European countries was subjected to the ruling patriarchal system in which the government decided the right and wrong for the society. The population of each country was treated as subjects who were considered incapable of taking decisions and maximizing their own profits. The government took decisions for them that a father would take decision for his child. These decisions were imposed upon them from the outside and maximized the benefit of the government. This pattern of system was questioned with the onset of Liberalism in Europe. Changes in relationship between the government and its people The change in the social system made provisions for the commoners to read and write. They were given access to newspapers which helped them to get elaborate information about the happenings in the society. The common people got the chance to enter the political system and started to have access to political tracts. The establishment of the railways enabled the people to move from one place to another. This was a huge turning point. The freedom of movement of the people across different places allowed them to change their patrons and take employment from the employers of their own choice. In a nut shell, the commoners learnt to safeguard their own interests, make decisions of their own and would not again be subjected to the patriarchal system of government (Hamerow, 1983, p. 119). Edward Carrington was “a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788” (“Jefferson’s preference for “newspapers without government” over “government without newspapers”, 1787) sent by Thomas Jefferson. In this convention were the delegates that came from the colonies that later constituted the body to govern the United States of America. During this time, Jefferson expressed the importance of the press and its existence to Carrington in one of his letters. He emphasized “that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them” (“Jefferson’s preference for “newspapers without government” over “government without newspapers”, 1787). Jefferson would prefer to have efficient newspapers without a government in the country. The newspapers would act as effective mode of communication and transfer of information which were the most important necessities for having a stable nation. In his strong opinion, if the government becomes inattentive towards the interests of the public, they become exploitative and the commoners are subjected to exploitation. In this context, it has been aptly described that “man is the only animal which devours his own kind” (Amendment I (Speech and Press), 1787) and the poor becomes the prey of the richer classes. His radical insights probed into the character of the government and provided remedies to correct the abuses of power. The freedom of press is an important factor in keeping checks on the power of the government and its activities. Although Jefferson had made his statements on the pretext of the eve of French Revolution in Europe, in which the government was established at an unquestionable position of power in different countries and a vivid line of division existed between the rich and the poor classes of the society, the insights he had was valid for the developed countries in that period of time. Jefferson’s words held significant importance in the context of the Continental Congress in USA; the new government that was going to be formed in the country had to be aware of the importance of the citizens’ interests and the freedom of press so as to prevent itself from becoming an agency of exploitation against the poor. The phenomenal growth of the press and increase in people’s awareness The later phase of the 19th century brought important waves of change in the North American continent. Newspapers were seen as a significant method of communication as well as marketing and a factious newspaper culture came into existence (Baughman, 2011). The purchasing power of the consumers was growing and newer avenues of display were opened up by the new techniques of printing. The English language had already been an important medium of expression for the press since the past four centuries prior to the 19th century. The advent of new technologies brought in new methods in the printing media. The press witnessed an independent growth and was significantly fostered in the States. From about four hundred dailies in the 1850s, the number of newspapers reached two thousand with the oncoming of the new century. There was a growth in the chief news agencies. The invention and popularity of the telegraph further reinforced the importance of the newspapers. In the same period Pau Julius Reuter opened his office in Germany and later moved to London. By 1870 most of the territorial news monopolies were acquired by Reuters. The emergence of the “New York Associated Press” (Gardt & Hüppauf, 2004, p. 32) was another major incidence in the print media. There was a flourish in the transmission of information across the country of United States and also across the other countries of the world. There was a surge of growth in the international market for different commodities. USA was and still is a capitalist country with the forces of the market being the main driving force of the economy. There was a unique connection among advertisement, advertising revenue and profitability of newspapers in the USA in the 19th century (Negrine, 2013, p. 49). In the 19th Century the print media was the most important part of the mass media. The electronic media had not developed well during that period. The newspapers and magazines were the most important constituents of the print media and acted as the “mouth pieces for the partisan politics” (Soifer, 2010, p. 93). Amongst the notable newspapers was the “Gazette of the United States” published by the Federalists along with Alexander Hamilton. By the 1840s there were improvements in technology and literacy rates saw a rise. This led to massive increase in mass circulation of the newspapers. The newspapers earned a pet name, ‘penny press’ and entered the households of the common people at large. Wars started between different newspapers for the acquisition of one another and increase one’s sales (Sloan& Parcell, 2002, p. 120). The reports published in the newspapers acted as windows of information for the people and increased awareness among them. The Civil War: newspapers on high demand The debate between slavery and abolition surfaced in the USA in the 19th century. The civil war in America during this period was one of the greatest stories that the newspapers covered. The common citizens were that worst affected in this war and parties on both side of the war were equally hungry for getting the updated information. During such contingency the newspapers play a vital role in the economy. The journalists gather information from different sources and publishers expose them to the people through their newspapers and magazines. In such a situation an economy would become crippled without the effective existence of the newspapers (Stovall, n.d.). Newspapers acting as agents in shaping public opinion Some of the newspapers in the late nineteenth century “turned to sensational reporting” (Soifer, 2010, p. 93). William Randolf Hearst was one of them. The sensational style of reporting in the newspapers was employed by the two major newspapers, New York World and New York Journal, and covered the various developments around the world. During that period, particular focus was put on the incidents in Cuba. This practice came to be known as ‘yellow journalism’ (Skog, 2007, p. 11) and gave boosts to increases readership for the newspaper and played an important part in shaping public opinion. Newspapers became affordable and available to anyone that could read (Chamberlain, 2009, p. 99). Yellow journalism is held responsible for pushing the United States of America and Spain into the conflict with “Cuba and the Philippines” (U.S. Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism, 1895-1898, n.d.) and finally the outbreak of war. Thus in the nineteenth century the need to influence public opinion in the backdrop of political events spurred the growing importance of newspapers. Political connections of the press Public opinion has always been the dominant part of the political scenario of a country. The press and the politics were not mutually exclusive. Partisan newspapers played a major role in the organization of the political ‘juntos’. Any remark published in a newspaper about any politician would draw responses from all the members of the group (Chamberlain, 2009, p. 64). This also strengthened the relationship between the newspapers and the political parties. Newspapers set the field for developmental exposition (Bazerman, 2008, p. 249). In a democratic country like the USA, the opinion of the public counted the most in the decision making process of the government. Around fifty labor papers were started in the 1830s (Vaughn, 2008, p. 249). The educated personalities of the country, such as, “Alexander Hamilton, Noah Webster, and Phillip Freneau” (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 3) visualized the print media as the prospective way to mould public opinion. Political leaders expected the newspapers to endorse the ideals of their parties (Hutton & Reed, 1995, p. 76) and these newspapers were often funded by them (McChesney, 2010, p.127). Between 1783 and 1832 there was a phase of huge growth of the daily and weekly papers which grew from one daily newspaper and thirty five weekly papers to sixty five dailies and one thousand and one hundred weeklies (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 3). This growth rate in the newspapers of USA was greater than that of any other country in the world. The number of magazines increased from one in 1780 to five hundred in 1840 (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 3). The journalists became the ““common carriers” of information” (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 3) and with passage of time occupied the centre stage in the common American Life. There was a call for interpretive reporting which emphasized that reporting skills had to be used to dig out the facts and place them in a context which would give them a true meaning. Journalists were encouraged to depend upon their own skills and memories for making reports (Harcup, 2009, p. 127). Journalists were now leading the social institutions in America. The other traditional institutions like the church and educational institutions, which acted as barriers to modernity, were diminished in power with the newspapers rising to power. The increasing involvement of journalism had high obligations to society and its democracy. The press and the journalists were “responsible for the lifeblood of a huge nation’s public information flow” (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 10). Thus the importance of newspapers grew during the nineteenth century to encourage and nourish modernism and the changing social frame. Conclusion The professional attitudes that grew in the field of journalism helped this profession to rise to importance in the 19th century in the United States of America. In this period ‘modern journalism’ took birth (Stovall, n.d.). Frank Luther Mott, a distinguished historian, attributed this growth to the rising standards of education and emergence of specialized organizations in the sector of journalism. The journalists held the notion of public opinion in high esteem and believed that the role played by the opinion of the commoners would have a big impact the government of the country (Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991, p. 144). The reviews in the newspapers had tints of political inner meanings and purposefully grabbed mass attention (Thompson, 1935). They factually and sometimes purposefully intended to mould the thought process of the citizens. The Civil War significantly pushed the importance of newspapers to a soaring high level. Therefore newspapers in America became indispensable in the 19th Century. References 1. Hamerow, T. (1983). The Birth of a New Europe: State and Society in the Nineteenth Century. UNC Press Books. 2. Gardt, A. & Hüppauf, B. (2004). Globalization and the Future of German: With a Select Bibliography. Walter de Gruyter. 3. “Jefferson’s preference for “newspapers without government” over “government without newspapers” (1787), retrieved on January 18, 2013 from http://files.libertyfund.org/pll/quotes/302.html. 4. Amendment I (Speech and Press) (1787), retrieved on January 18, 2013 from http://files.libertyfund.org/pll/quotes/302.html 5. Soifer, P. (2010). CliffsNotes AP U.S. Government and Politics. John Wiley & Sons. 6. Weaver, D. H. & Wilhoit, G. C. (1991). The American Journalist: A Portrait of U.S. News People and Their Work. Indiana University Press. 7. 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