Comm455/History of Journalism

Nazi Propaganda

Posted by: bbeben | October 4, 2010 | No Comment |

“Propaganda‘s task is not to make an objective study of the truth; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.”

– Adolf Hitler, 1924

In electoral campaigns, Nazi propaganda probed voters’ needs, hopes, and fears. Then they carefully tailored their themes, messages, and language to blue- and white- collar workers, housewives, youth, etc.

To win votes, the party propaganda played up or down the Nazi’s strong anti-Semitism, depending on the audience.

Propaganda helped increase popular appeal of the Nazi party.

It was inescapable, and pervaded all of German society: in classrooms, athletic fields, museums, cinemas, and theatre. Germans encountered messages on the streets, in the workplace, and at home via radio and newspapers.

Cover of Der Sturmer. 16 January 1938. "The Jewish Businessman: He Harms the People and the Merchants."

From the 1920s onward, the Nazi party targeted youth and educators. Organizations were created to emphasize that the party was dynamic, forward-looking and a hopeful movement.

Members of the League of German Girls paste up a recruiting poster. Bundesarchiv (Bild 133-130), Koblenz, Germany

By January 1933, tens of thousands of teachers and students had been recruited by the Nazi party.

Nazi Propaganda Machine: In March 1933, Hilter named his propaganda chief, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels as the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Over the next few months, Goebbels built his ministry to exercise significant control over culture and mass media.

Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels. Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 to 1945.

“Propaganda is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert.”

-Adolf Hitler, 1924

under: Uncategorized
Tags: anti-semitism, Beben, culture, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, dynamic, electoral campaigns, hopeful movement, mass media, Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, newspapers, Propaganda, radio

Near vs. Minnesota – how censorship was banned in America

Posted by: bellen | September 29, 2010 | No Comment |

front page of the Saturday Press

The Saturday Press was established in 1927 in Minneapolis by Jay Near and Howard Guilford. The Saturday Press wrote stories which claimed that there were ties between organized crime, the police and city officials.

Every issue in the Saturday Press attacked some aspect of the government in Minneapolis, especially the city and county officials. When the Saturday Press attacked county prosecutor, Floyd Olson, he filed a complaint under the Public Nuisance Abatement Law charging that the Saturday Press had defamed various politicians, the county grand jury and the Jewish community.

The Public Nuisance Abatement Law was known as a gag law because it authorized prior restraint. Prior restraint allowed officials to stop a newspaper from publishing any article of which officials disapproved. This action effectively shut down the Saturday Press.

Jay Near first looked for help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), but received most of his help from Robert McCormick, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune. While the Chicago Tribune was a large newspaper, McCormick did not

Robert McCormick at his Tribune company desk

want to run the risk that the Minnesota law would come to Illinois and shut his paper down too.

Jay Near’s case went to the Supreme Court which found that the Public Nuisance Abatement Law violated both the First and the Fourteenth Amendments. Government officials could not prevent newspapers from publishing stories they did not like. Officials could only object to stories once they had been published.

Because of this court case, the United States has more freedom of the press than any other country in the world.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: bellen, Ellen Black, first amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Press freedom

Royal Weddings: Gossip from print to television

Posted by: gpelkofski | September 29, 2010 | No Comment |

In Chapter Seven “Human Interests (Faits Divers)–Such a Deal of Wonder,” Stephens recounts the details surrounding the news coverage of England’s King Henry VII’s daughter Mary to Prince Charles, “heir to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire,” in 1508.

Charles V

Mary Tudor

Despite the wedding not taking place for political reasons, a printed pamphlet of the announcement of the ceremony containing minute information about the wedding was released.

The information included the seating arrangement for guests in relation to where King Henry VII was to be seated.

Stephens says that the reason for all these details about royal weddings is because “the events depicted were more extravagant and magnificent than anything else in their readers’ experience.”

This can still be seen today on TV coverage of modern day royal weddings of famous celebrities and politicians. The most example would be Chelsea Clinton’s wedding over the summer.

During the coverage the wedding, there was much speculation as to what was going on during the ceremony and reception because the Clinton’s did not allow any press inside. However, all major new outlets still had reporters and camera crews ready to film any celebrity sighting or glimpse of the bride and groom.

It seems not much has changed in 500 years and we are still fascinated by our very own “royal weddings.”

under: Uncategorized
Tags: Gossip, gpelkofski, Television

Crime Sells

Posted by: bkiml | September 29, 2010 | No Comment |

: Picture retrieved from OliverAlex’s photostream and found by way of Creative Commons

Since before newspapers were first began being made, crime has been reported. One of the earliest crime reports were written in cuneiform and on clay tablets. Today, the language and the medium may be different, but the draw of a crime report remains the same in its appeal as a human interest story.

Ironically enough, even though crime is considered a human interest story, reports are usually of crimes that have very little (if any) direct impact on the people who read these stories.

What makes it human interest is the way that uncovering crime in higher or far removed society demonstrates how much can be learned about people when they are caught violating the law. Though these stories don’t reflect standard behavior, they do offer glimpses of emotional aspects of ordinary life, aspects that would have otherwise remained hidden.

4 things that reporting information on a crime can result in:

Assist in the apprehension of the criminal
Deter other potential criminals
Clarify and reinforce lines of acceptable behavior in society
Strengthen political bonds

The elements that comprise stories that most appeal to readers are female or child suspects or victims, a famous or well-known victim or suspect, some doubt about the guilt of the suspect and intimations of the promiscuous behavior by the victim or suspect.

The line of thinking that seems to justify the reading and writing of these reports, which can bring to light some of the most intimate details of victim and/or suspects life, is this: criminals and their victims surrender all rights to privacy.

The method of reporting crime now has not so much changed as it has expanded. Crime is written about, but it’s also televised on popular programs (such as Cold Case Files and 48 Hours), reported on broadcast radio, blogged and (of course) heard by word of mouth.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: bkiml, Brenda Kim, crime, crime reporting, crime sells, reporting

The penny press revolution

Posted by: dpierce | September 27, 2010 | No Comment |

Imagine something as ubiquitous as a newspaper being too expensive for the average person to afford. This is exactly how it was for many Americans prior to the invention of the penny press.

Credit: janeheller.mlblogs.com

Newspapers were set at an average of 6 cents per copy prior to the introduction of the penny press. Because of this, only the wealthy could afford most newspapers. Historic Pages claims that newspapers prior to the introduction of the penny press sold yearly subscriptions that usually had to be paid in advance. The website also says that these subscriptions cost about the same as an average middle class American’s paycheck for one week.

Benjamin Day published the first penny press newspaper, The (New York) Sun, in 1833.

CSU Professor Matthew Blake has outlined the major newspaper changes that the penny press has provided for the newspaper industry, some of which are:

Distribution moved from subscription-only to what we have today (street and store-based sales.)
Political-neutral reporting became the norm.
Sports reporting emerged.
The trend of sensationalism in journalism started to appear.
Readership changed from an elite few to the general public.
Newspapers began to hire reporters to cover local stories.
The introduction of daily publication of newspapers.

The New York Sun. Credit: Wikipedia

The revenue of newspapers also changed considerably with the introduction of the penny press. Prior to the 1830s, newspapers relied on individual sales to survive. In contrast, penny newspapers relied on advertisements for a lot of its production costs. Jennifer Vance claims on her website that this shift in revenue allowed for the newspapers to sell for only a penny. Vance also says that the same practice of advertisements paying for a lot of the newspaper’s production costs continues today.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: penny press, Pierce

Evolution of word of mouth…

Posted by: ndemmel | September 27, 2010 | No Comment |

A voice for women

Posted by: bbeben | September 27, 2010 | No Comment |

On 8 January, 1868, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (an editor of the paper) launched one of the best-known suffrage newspapers, “The Revolution” in Manhattan.

It was an assertive weekly that advocated controversial issues such as marriage reform, divorce laws, and women’s suffrage. The paper only survived 2 years, but it gained public exposure for women’s suffrage, and Anthony, who was one of the movement’s most influential leaders.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; c1900; Library of Congress

As the women’s suffrage movement began to grow, in 1870, the “Woman’s Journal” was founded and published in Boston by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell.

The first issue was published on 8 January, the two year anniversary of the first issue of “The Revolution”. The “Woman’s Journal” refused to carry advertisements for tobacco, liquor, or drugs.

Advertisement for the “Woman’s Journal”, published on in Park St. Boston

In 1910, the “Woman’s Journal” took over “Progress” and operated in that way until 1912, when the American Woman Suffrage Association renamed it “Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News”.

By 1915, circulation had reached 27,634 from 2,328 in 1909. The issue below was published in 1915 and reported progress in the struggle for women’s voting rights.

Saturday, 13 February 1915 issue of "Woman's Journal and Suffrage News"; photo taken at Newseum

In 1917, “Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News” merged with two other suffrage papers to become the “American Citizen”.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: American Woman Suffrage Association, Beben, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Woman's Journal and Suffrage News, women in the media

Evolution of sports reporting

Posted by: nplum | September 26, 2010 | No Comment |

It was just 31 years ago that the most famous sports network, ESPN, launched. Before that, the most reliable way to receive your sports news and scores would have been through the daily newspaper or the radio.

Before that, the majority of people could not have imagined a TV channel dedicated to sports reporting.

Now, there are hundreds of television channels around the world that strictly broadcast sporting events or report about them.

There are also websites dedicated strictly to covering sports like espn.com, foxsports.com, sports.yahoo.com…the list goes on and on. There are sports radio stations as well, like 106.7 The Fan, ESPN 980 that only cover sports.

ESPN and Yahoo! dedicate part of their websites to the coverage of fantasy sports. Nevermind the fact, that fantasy sports didn’t exist 31 years ago, no one would have imagined that there would be websites, television segments, books and magazines focused solely on the coverage and preparation of fantasy sports.

Shows like Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn cover a small part of the games, but focus more on the off-the-field issues of sports around the world.

With the advent of technology now, sports reporting has become just as much about entertainment as it has about covering sport itself.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: ESPN, fantasy sports, nplum, radio, Sports Reporting, Television

The battle of the declarations

Posted by: gioiahm | September 22, 2010 | No Comment |

Jean Jacque Rousseau wrote The Social Contract before the American and French Revolutions took place, its contents were

Rousseau's Social Contract

so influential that the documents that were to fallow both Revolutions would attempt to mirror many of Rousseau’s beliefs. The problem, which was the solution to all the struggles, Rousseau stated was, “To find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before.” But was a true solution ever found? Rousseau died as the American Revolution was underway not allowing him to see the outcome of either the American or French Revolutions; so now the question posses, would Rousseau have been pleased with the outcomes of these Revolutions or would his work seem to have been a giant waste of time? As the Revolutions came to an end and documents stating the way things would then fallow Rousseau’s word seemed to live on. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man model ideas that Rousseau had previously written about in his Social Contract.

“MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains” –The Social Contract

The Declaration of Independence

How to free man from chains that society places him in was an issue that both the French and Americans tried to achieve. “Social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights. Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions,” was stated by Rousseau in The Social Contract.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” –The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Rights of Man

But if all men are born free with these rights, why must they be written in one of the most important documents in American history? For the same reason that the French felt the need to include, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good,” –Declaration of Rights of Man

The Declaration of Independence states that, “It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it [the government], and to institute new government.” However the French took a different approach to the rights that men had in regards to their government., “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body not individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.”

“All justice comes from God, who is its sole source,” –The Social Contract

Both documents address God and religion as something that should be separate from the state. However the Declaration of Independence states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” while the Declaration of Rights of Man says that no man will be judge on his religious views or actions “provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.”

Both documents also divide the government into three branches of power and attempt to give men there god given rights back.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: american revolution, Declaration of the Rights of Man, equal rights, French Revolution, gioia, jean jacque rousseau, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, man is born free and everywhere he is in chains, men are born and remain free, religion, rousseau, the declaration of independence, the social contract

“BABY IN BURKE BORN WITH TWO HEADS!” — Made ya look!

Posted by: bbeben | September 22, 2010 | No Comment |

Yellow journalism, also known as yellow press, is a type of journalism whose sole purpose is to use eye-catching headlines in order to sell more newspapers. Stories offer news that is hardly, if at all, researched. Techniques of Yellow journalism include exaggerating news stories and sensationalism.

The term yellow journalism was named after the “Yellow Kid”, a character from the comic strip Hogan’s Alley, printed in the New York Journal.

A sketch of the Yellow Kid. New York Journal, 1800s.

The man credited with the creation of the term “yellow journalism” is William Randolph Hearst. In 1887, he acquired the New York Journal and began circulation with Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Once he combined work on these two papers, yellow journalism began to emerge.

Below are two examples of yellow journalism in the New York Journal, created by Hearst. Hearst exaggerated stories about big events that were taking place and made them out to be more than they were.

Example of yellow journalism by William Randolph Hearst, New York Journal, 15 Feb 1898

The image below is an exaggerated report about the Spanish-American War. The report was highly imaginative and claimed that Spanish ships were nearing the American Coast. New York Evening Journal, sister publication of the morning New York Journal. May 1898.

Example of yellow journalism. New York Evening Journal, sister publication of the morning New York Journal, May 1898.

The term “yellow journalism” is now used to describe news that is presented in an unethical or unprofessional way.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: Beben, hearst, New York Journal, the Yellow Kid, yellow journalism

Where would the first amendment be without John Peter Zenger?

Posted by: bellen | September 22, 2010 | No Comment |

front cover of The Printer's Trial by Gail Jarrow

There is no free society without a free press. Why were James Madison and George Mason adamant that freedom of the press was necessary in the newly formed America? They may have remembered the trial of John Peter Zenger.

John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who was a printer. He supported himself mainly by printing religious pamphlets, but would take on other jobs if asked. It was one of these side jobs that led to his arrest, imprisonment, and his place in history.

A corrupt government official, Governor William Cosby began his new assignment as Governor of New York Province on August 7, 1731. One of his first tasks was to demand half the salary of Rip Van Dam during the time he had served as acting governor of New York. When Van Dam refused to pay, Cosby sued him.

The lawsuit ended up in the Supreme Court and Cosby won with 2 judges voting for him and 1 against. Cosby demanded that the dissenting judge (Chief Justice Lewis Morris) explain why he had voted against him. Morris wrote a letter of explanation which he asked Zenger to print and publicly distribute. Cosby fired Morris and replaced him with James Delancey.

Cosby’s enemies began working against him. Rip Van Dam, Lewis Morris and an attorney named James Alexander banded together to form the Popular Party to threaten Cosby politically. Alexander thought they needed to inform the public of Cosby’s corruption. When asked, Zenger agreed to publish a weekly newspaper called the New York Weekly Journal.

The Weekly Journal was first published on November 5, 1733. Every week brought the public more stories about Cosby’s corruption. Cosby retaliated by attempting to have the Weekly Journal shut down. In both January and October of 1734, he brought charges of “seditious libel” against the Weekly Journal but the Grand Jury refused to convict because they could not be sure if it was Alexander or Zenger who were writing the stories about Cosby.

To get around the Grand Jury’s refusal to convict, Cosby ordered his attorney general, Richard Bradley to file “information” with Justices Delancey and Philipse. Based on the information, Zenger was arrested on November 17, 1734. He spent the next 8 months in jail, but the Weekly Journal missed only one issue, the one to come out on November 18, 1734. Zenger continued to write “letters from prison” to his readers.

The trial began on August 4, 1735 with Zenger being tried for libel. His attorney Andrew Hamilton did not dispute the claim that the Weekly Journal was publishing stories that were unflattering to Governor Cosby. Hamilton said that the Weekly Journal should be allowed to publish these stories because they were all true.

Chief Justice Delancey ruled that Hamilton could not use the truth of the stories in the Weekly Journal as evidence. The law was clearly on Cosby’s side. Chief Justice Delancey told the jury that they must find Zenger guilty. The jury came back with a verdict of Not Guilty.

Although the law did not change at that time, it became very difficult to prosecute a libel case when attorneys could not be sure the jury would vote to convict. The public had spoken and the attorneys would listen. James Madison and George Mason made sure that the press could not be prosecuted for telling the truth.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: bellen, Ellen Black, John Peter Zenger, Press freedom, reporters, reporting

Twitter accounts are like assholes…

Posted by: gpelkofski | September 22, 2010 | No Comment |

…everyone’s got one and they all stink. Or is it opinions? I get them confused seeing how interrelated having a twitter account and broadcasting your opinion can be.

Professor Klein considers Twitter to be the new word-of-mouth when it comes to spreading the news, but if you’re going to spread news, then sooner or later you’re going to spread your opinions of the news.

A quick trend search for “Christine O’Donnell” on Twitter is enough to see that many people use the social networking site as an outlet for their political views. Here’s just a few that came up (I omitted all Twitter account names for confidentiality):

“After finally watching Christine O’Donnell speak, I don’t understand what people see in her. She comes across like an idiot.”
“HEY DELAWARE!!! Coons wants to RAISE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES 25%!!! STOP him by casting YOUR vote 4 CHRISTINEO”DONNELL!!!”
“This person is wrong, and an idiot. “Christine O’Donnell can win: http://gop2112.com/archives/217?ghghg=iiifif“
“Christine O’Donnell, Sarah Palin, Lisa Murkowski – icebergs to the GOP’s Titanic? I can almost hear the tear in the hull. I like it. A lot.”
“You have to give ‘CHRISTINE O’DONNELL‘ a lot of credit. She is talking about the issues. PET COON DOG is side-stepping the issues!”

If you look at the statistics, you see just how hugh opinions are on twitter.

According to GigaTweet, a website that is constantly counting the amount of tweets on Twitter, there are now over 25 billion tweets.

Now, if you go to Hubspot Blog, you can see an amazing 100+ Twitter statistics that they compiled in June. Way down their list, they give a pie chart for the most frequent types of tweets.

If you take the 6% from the “Politics, sports, current events” category (which most likely contains political and social opinions), and take that out of the current 25 billion tweets, you get that 1.5 billion opinionated tweets over 106 million twitter users, as of June.

However, it will still be a while for anyone to be able to accurately use Twitter to study public opinion, according to SmartBlog on Social Media.

under: Uncategorized
Tags: gpelkofski, Opinion, Spoken news, Twitter, word-of-mouth

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