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With a free press, all is safe.

Posted by: | November 5, 2009 | No Comment |

Journalism students must shake their heads in disbelief when they hear the Iranian government shut down its leading business paper ,or laugh in amazement when they hear the government of China blocked – of all things – a Twitter site dedicated to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.

The level of government suppression and control of news is almost unbelievable – almost.  History, however, shows that even freedom loving countries can, and do, try to control and suppress the dissemination of news.

In 1789, the United States and France produced two documents of freedom – the American Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Source: americaslibrary.gov

Bill of Rights/americaslibrary.gov

(Source: portal.unesco.org)

Declaration of Rights of Man/portal.unesco.org

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was in France serving as the American ambassador.  Not only was he a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights; he was also instrumental in framing the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, authored by Marquis de Lafayette.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Thomas Jefferson/Wikimedia Commons

Both nations, seemingly dedicated to liberty, would undermine those documents of freedom within 10 years.

In 1798, President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law.  The Sedition Act made it a crime to “write, print, utter or publish” attacks against the “government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President.”

John Adams/Wikimedia Commons

John Adams/Wikimedia Commons

Sedition Act/earlyamerica.com

Sedition Act/earlyamerica.com

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in France, rescinded the freedoms of the press and slashed the number of newspapers from 335 to only four.

Napoleon Bonaparte/Wikimedia Commons

Napoleon Bonaparte/Wikimedia Commons

In 1800, however, Thomas Jefferson, then president of the United States, took another stand for freedom and allowed the Alien and Sedition Acts to lapse, restoring freedom of the press to America.

France, however, would not see freedom of the press restored until the French Press Law of 1881.

“The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.”-Thomas Jefferson

The opposite is also true.  Where the press isn’t free, all isn’t safe.

freedomhouse.org

freedomhouse.org


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What Makes News?

Posted by: | November 5, 2009 | No Comment |

The elements of news don’t change. All that changes is the way, and the speed with which, news is disseminated. What makes news today is no different than what made news a century or two ago. The difference is just the techonlogies that we use to distribute the news. In the olden days, for example, stories were reported by way of word-of-mouth. Today they are broken and distributed online, on paper, and even by phone.

There are six important elements that make a story news-worthy. They are:

1.  Prominence: If President Obama does something it’s important. If I do something it isn’t.
2. Proximity: How close is the event to you? Do people care? We want to know about what affects us.
3. Timeliness: News changes all the time, so the story must be relevant and current.
4. Unusual: If something occurs that takes place every single day, it’s probably not news at this point.
5. Impact: Who is affected? Will anybody care? A fire on a campus matters to everybody on campus.
6. Importance: Does what took place matter? Do people care?

We are ‘damingly’ interested in what affects ourselves and those around us. Too much so at times, because on occasion we don’t pay enough attention to important news that is taking place in parts of the country or world that has no immediate impact on what we are doing.

We’d rather watch the local news …

Leon Harris of ABC-7, WJLA

Leon Harris of ABC-7, WJLA

Than world news …
Charlie Gibson of World News Tonight

Charlie Gibson of "World News Tonight"

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Sports reporting on the radio: Where it all began

Posted by: | November 5, 2009 | No Comment |

Almost everyone who is a die hard sports fan around the globe has listened to a sports game on the radio before.  Whether it be basketball, baseball, football, or soccer, millions of people listen to sports radio.  The most popular broadcast on sports radio is arguably our national pastime, the sport of baseball.

Major league baseball being broadcasted over the radio has been an ongoing tradition for almost 80 years and has never died down.  People like Mel Allen, Harry Caray, Red Barber, and Harry Kalas are just a few of the greats that broadcasted baseball games for years.

St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs great radio broadcaster Harry Caray, who broadcasted Cardinals games over the radio from 1945-1969.

St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs great radio broadcaster Harry Caray, who broadcasted Cardinals games over the radio from 1945-1969.

Does the radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh ring a bell? Of course it does, because we learned about it in class being the first commercial radio station ever.  This station also broadcasted baseball games, the first one ever being the Pittsburgh Pirates versus the Philadelphia Phillies on August 5, 1921.  It was broadcast by Harold Arlin, KDKA’s announcer.  Arlin became known as the first play-by-play announcer in radio history.

Harold Arlin, the first play-by-play announcer.

Harold Arlin, the first play-by-play announcer.

Harold Arlin was a twenty-five year old Westinghouse foreman and nighttime studio announcer and is very unknown in the sports radio broadcasting industry, not even baseball. Arlin sat on a ground-level box seat in Forbes Field and used only a converted telephone as a microphone and other poor equipment set up behind home plate to call the world’s first baseball game broadcast on KDKA.  Little did he know was that this would become a historic day.

That year, KDKA and WJZ of Newark, New Jersey broadcasted the first World Series on the radio, with Grantland Rice and Tommy Cowan calling the games for KDKA and WJZ.  What is interesting about this is that the broadcasters were not actually present at the game, but rather gave reports from a telegraph wire.  The next year, WJZ broadcast the entire series, with Rice doing play-by-play.

What was very interested about most announcers in the earliest days of radio was that they were not permitted to identify themselves over the air, because the stations apparently feared that radio announcers might become too popular and harder to control.  We all know that this is not the case anymore.

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Rise of the paper haters

Posted by: | November 5, 2009 | No Comment |

Disdain for the news media is a theme that runs through the fabric of our society. Think of the various ways the flow of information ticks people off:

  • Unrelenting coverage of smear campaigns touches off firestorms of political analysis.
  • Various political figures today (and throughout history) think the media are out to get them.
  • Many organizations or entities accuse entire news outlets of being biased. The Obama administration is engaged in a full-out assault against FOX News, a stance which many believe gives FOX more viewers and higher ratings. The Washington Redskins football team believes the Washington Post is a bloodthirsty paper, and absolutely nothing is wrong with the team.
  • Think about the all-time greatest sports stars. Steve Carlton. Jim Rice. Barry Bonds. Yep, you guessed it. They hated the media.

It is not surprising that such hatred for the media existed throughout the journalism history we are studying in History of Print Journalism. Think of some of the early forms of journalism,  and the unreliable/sensational nature of early papers.

Early papers were unreliable

Early papers were unreliable, which led to discontent and response.

Picture taken from “For The First Time” blog.

The Roman politician Cicero is said to have complained about sensational and human interest news in the early actas, calling them “tittle tattle,” according to “A History of News” author Mitchell Stephens.

Many early papers, including the acta and the tipao, were controlled by the government, restricting publication circulation. These papers, besides being forbidden from criticizing government officials, were meant for an elite audience, limiting the common folks’ access to news.

This led to:

  • The mercantile press
  • Citizen journalism
  • The penny press

All of these were born out of a sense of revolt against the early forms of news. So it’s easy to trace the rebellion in early journalism.

Some of the clearest examples Stephens mentioned followed  a discussion about Theophraste Renaudot, the French “father of the newspaper.” Renaudot, editor of the “Gazette de France“, was paid off by the king and, in return, did not criticize the government in his writing. In fact, his bias in favor of the government was obvious while he was covering the trial of Galileo. Renaudot called Galileo’s ideas “absurd and false.”

Stephens presented this event as a sort of blueprint for a couple of sentences he laid out right after this example. To sum it up:

  • Leonardo Da Vinci hated the printing press.
  • Nicholas Copernicus hated publicity.
  • Isaac Newton wrote in a “cryptic and complicated manner to discourage ignorant quibblers.”

Look for the direct excerpts from the work Stephens quoted.

So the next time you see a public figure express discontent toward the media, know that this has been a common practice for hundreds of years.

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Read this blog, you good American

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

The relationship between propaganda and journalism could be characterized as somewhat ambivalent. That is to say that, it is good for circulation and bad for credibility; it is great for stirring up patriotism and bad for creating a global image in the modern day.  First, it is very important to distinguish between propaganda and yellow journalism. Propaganda is a style of presenting selective facts in a manner that is exaggerated or inflammatory, in order to achieve a desired agenda-usually political. Yellow Journalism shares similar attributes, but the only agenda is circulation. There is a fine line being walked here, and it can be distinguished by one common event: war. Conflicts provide yellow journalists with an opportunity to turn their sensationalistic style of reporting into a movement that rallies or breaks the enthusiasm of the public.

Courtesy of henzeldesign.com

Courtesy of henzeldesign.com

So what does Propaganda have to do with the History of Journalism? Is it a good thing for the media? Does propaganda elicit unprofessional or unethical reporting? Let us see…

 The history of propaganda dates back into ancient history, but the use of journalism in mass media could be placed on British involvement with the Indian subcontinent. During the so called Indian Rebellion of 1857, British Newspapers like The Times were seizing on false reports of mass rapes of British women by Indian rebels. According to historian Karen Beckman, the media was playing up isolated or even false incidents in order to further the agenda that Indians were in need of pacification by British imperialists. Eventually, the British people were able to rally behind this propaganda and suppress the rebellion. This is clearly and example of where  propaganda has that double-edged effect. It was able to rally the British imperialists behind what they then viewed as a worthy cause, but at the cost of a global image. Ultimately, India did gain independence but the seeds of mass media propaganda had been planted.

Later on in the 19th century, there was a pre-dreadnought ship by the name of the USS Maine that happened to sink in Havana Harbor during a tense political situation. For those unfamiliar with what ensued, it involved a little conflict. Okay, quite a big conflict that altered the United States influence globally for the upcoming 20th century. People like Hearst and Pulitzer with their circulation battle in progress went so far as to make up false stories that it was Spanish armaments that sank the Maine when in reality it could very well have been an accident sparked on board by U.S. sailors. But because these media moguls of the 19th century were putting out whatever sensationalistic stories they could to increase circulation, American opinion soon swayed and the Spanish American War ensued. Now while it is safe to say that the propaganda produced by the media directly after the sinking of the Maine did have an effect on American opinion, it was not the sole factor in going to war with Spain. It did prove a very powerful tool as the government soon found out.

The sinking of the USS Maine was not the sole instance in American history where agitation of the public fostered by media propaganda led to a war. In April of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public Information, also known as the Creel Committee. Its sole purpose was to find ways by which the government could influence American public opinion in favor of joining World War I. If you think some of the stuff the government tries to shove down your throats in the modern day is bad, it pales in comparison to what was going on in 1917.  As Robert Jackall points out, “This raw propaganda included complete fabrications, such as images and stories of German soldiers killing babies and hoisting them on bayonets.” In addition to their print media the CPI had several other mediums of influencing public opinion such as posters, radio, movies, and a volunteer corps. But most effective were the newspaper accounts, radio ads keeping Americans alert for German spies, and influential posters.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Courtesy of Wikipedia

With these three examples of propaganda in relation to conflict, it is possible to see a theme forming. Though there are many ways to reach the public in the 19th and early 20th century, newspapers  remain effective because they are popular. Word of mouth has virtually disappeared, telegraph can get the news to the people quickly, but only print can explain or persuade the people. Movies could not have the same effect because long production schedules could not keep pace with printing and radio was present but not nearly as affordable or prevalent as newspapers were.

So now the inevitable question: what was the use of propaganda in the history of journalism? In this writer and historian in training’s opinion: it had no use, other than eliciting a base of support for a political agenda. Sure, it is good stuff when it is used on our own side during the conflict or during the  political campaign, but afterwards if we really step outside of our ethnocentric bubble, things like this can seem a bit silly.

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A great American journalist

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

Once denied the right to learn to read because he was told he “should know nothing but to obey his master, to do as he is told to do,” Frederick Douglass did well to become one of the greatest journalists in American history.

douglass

Douglass was born a slave in Maryland and separated from his mother as an infant. He lived most of his childhood with his grandmother. After at least two unsuccessful attempts to escape slavery, he successfully found freedom in 1838.

It did not take long after that for his career in journalism to begin. By 1940, he was editing and writing for “The Ram’s Horn”. The “Horn” was an abolitionist paper developed by Willis Hodges. Unfortunately, this paper had a short lifespan.

In 1841, Douglass was attending an abolishonist meeting when he heard William Lloyd Garrison speak and was immediately inspired. He once said, ” No face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments as did those of William Lloyd Garrison.” The respect between the two wasd mutual, and just one year later, Douglass was hired to write for Garrison’s “Liberator“.

Next, Douglass broke off and started his own paper. The “North Star” was much more successful than the “Horn”. Douglass wrote that “the object of the “North Star” will be to Attack Slavery in all its forms and aspects.”

north_star

 

Not only was Douglass one of the leading spokesman in the abolitionist movement, he also was a leader in the women’s rights cause. He attended the Seneca Falls convention for women’s rights in 1848. This was the first convention of its kind in the country. All of the leader’s in the movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, were in attendance.

Throughout the rest of his life, and literally until the day he died, Douglass worked for the causes he believed in. Ib 1895, while attending a women’s rights conference, he suffered a heart attack and died. He will forever be remembered for his masterful speaking and writing matched by only a select few and the work towards causes that he truly believed in.

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Some Forms of Censorship in Newspapers

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

Throughout the Pre-20th Century era, newspapers had a love affair covering wars, and the reporters often report the story without any concern from a highly ranked official. However, during wars like the French Revolution, they were censorship from officials in France.

French journals and Gazettes could not publish their stories without a privilege from the king, and were prohibited on criticizing the authority of the French government.

French Journalists who violated these rules will face jail time for life. An example would be a publisher, who was locked in a cage at Mont-Saint-Michel until he died.

Wow, these laws for French journalists is the so-called death penalty.  Then in 1807, the Alien and Sedition Act came into the play. The law states that  Proponents claimed the acts were designed to protect the United States from to prevent attacks from weakening the U.S. government.

However, even with the Sedition Act, they are current areas of no free press in certain stories, especially in the U.S.  During the Civil War,  southern states outlawed abolitionist newspapers. They were several restrictions, crackdowns, and prohibitions. It range from temporary shutdown of pro-South and Northern newspapers to preventing any independent reporting from the U.S. military invasion of the Caribbean island back in 1983.

Socialist newspapers had even poorer treatment of their coverage of  World War I.  In 1918, the Espionage Act was enforced. It replaced the Sedition Act of 1918, and it forbid any profanity language that was intended to cause contempt for the U.S. Government, the military, or the uniform of the armed forces.

While these laws violated the 1st amendment, it shows  the prohibitions and laws reporters dealt with while reporting news from the battlefields. Just imagine whether if these laws stay intact in the Iraq War and the War on Terror.

-yasin

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Penny press presents

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |
The cost of Benjamin Day's newspaper. caimages.collectors.com

The cost of Benjamin Day's newspaper. caimages.collectors.com

 

In the dark world of the constant price increases, there was a man who sought to slaughter these prices and to make things reasonable.  He created a newspaper which would attract a larger class of people and did so in one of the busiest cities in the United States, New York City.  The man was Benjamin Day, the year was 1833 and the paper was The Sun, the price was a mere one cent, a penny.

 

Just imagine paying $32,000 for the Porsche 911 G2 with the msrp of $194,000 or  paying $408 for the Gucci ‘G Wave’ purse with an online price of $2450.  That is exactly what Benjamin Day, William M. Swain, Arunah S. Abell, Horace Greeley, and Henry J. Raymond were offering to the public of the United States with their penny papers.  They were offering the news on printed paper for 1/6 the price of most other papers in America.

The Sun. Wikipedia.org

The Sun. Wikipedia.org

 

One of the biggest differences between the penny papers and those other expensive newspapers was the language used in the writing.  It was still English, but most penny papers used a more simplistic way of writing which would be read easier by the general public.  The boom in education during this time and the increased literacyrates also helped the penny press gain popularity.  It is reported that during this time the illiteracy rate fell to 9 percent among twenty year old caucasians.  This meant that roughly 90 perfent of the white population could read and no doubt had a desire for the news. 

While the printed word reflected the news fairly well, Benjamin Day was not above a little sensationalism.  In 1835, Benjamin Day saw his paper have the largest circulation in the world up to that point.  This 19,360 newspaper circulation owed her success to a made up story of a man-bats living on the moon.  The whole country was enthralled by this story and waited for the next series when, after the forth, it was reported that the telescope used to see these man-bats was destroyed

 
While newspapers like The Sun of New York and the Philadelphia  Public Ledgerwere successful for a time, some newspapers survive to this date including the New York Times and the  Baltimore Sun which also came out of this penny paper era.  According to refdesk.com, the New York Times ranked number 3 in the list of 100 top US newspapers.  That is not bad for a paper which started out costing a penny to where it is today. 
 
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The touch, the feel of newspaper

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

There is a lot of talk of the newspaper going into extinction.  The internet can give us everything we could ever want for free with the click of a mouse.  So then why would we possibly miss the newspaper?  One answer:  feel.

There is nothing that feels quite like a crinkly newspaper, rustling as you flip it open.  Made from recycled paper and wood pulp a newspaper glides between your fingers like an old, lucky dollar bill that you’ve kept for years.  Though it may seem insignificant, it’s invaluable.

The old reasoning was that you can’t take the Internet to the bathroom, but with the invention of Smartphones this fact is no longer true.

There is also the current need to be “green”.  By buying a newspaper you are, in theory, contributing to the waste of paper.  However, part of the concoction is recycled paper and if all newspapers increased the percentage they would turn it around and save paper.  True, the Internet will always be the “greener” option, but can it replace holding it in your hands?

I continue to argue that nothing beats the sight of a bold headline in print or the literal feel of that unique paper.  Sure, sometimes you get a little ink on your fingers – but that’s the stain of news.

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British contributions to and effects on American journalism

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

The American colonies learned a lot about journalism from their mother country. Early colonial newspapers contained many articles from English newspapers. These were widely circulated in the 18th century.

With the expiration of the British Licensing Act in 1695, England’s press experienced a newfound freedom. The public had access to a variety of different opinions. American journalists in the colonies borrowed this style. Bejamin Franklin set out to imitate British writer Joseph Addison. Americans also became more politically aggressive, like the British. Of course, some British writers like Danial Defoe spent time in jail for their opinions.

Americans inherited the freedom to criticize. But in 1765, the British imposed a Stamp Act. It required printers pay for a stamp on each sheet of paper they used. English newspapers had been paying a stamp tax since 1712. Protests by Americans using their newfound freedom of opinion sprang up.

American newspapers reacted harshly to the Stamp Act.

In 1767, the Townshend Acts were imposed. These compulsory taxes were on American imports of glass, lead, paint, tea and paper. After much American protest, all duties except tea were removed in 1770.

Charles Townshend proposed the Townshend Acts, which were repealed before too much damage was done.

Although a lot of British contributions to journalism angered the colonies, it helped spur early America into action. But in the 17th and 18th centuries, coffeehouses helped stimulate conversation in England. By the 18th century, there were perhaps thousands of coffeehouses in London. People could sit, have their coffee and share news. In fact, conversation in coffeehouses were often more reliable and less speculative.  Runners were sent to each coffeehouse to pass on the latest news.

Each coffeehouse had it’s own character. Some featured political topics, others discussed trade with the colonies. During the later part of the 18th century, tea became more popular and women began to pressure for inclusion. Spoken news was on it’s way out.

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Maria Stewart Leads the Way for Future American Women Journalists.

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

Before the 19th century, women were not given the privilege of having a career in journalism. Jobs in journalism were generally given to white males, or women who had special connections through their male family members or spouses.

However, during the 19th century, Maria Stewart, an African American woman, paved her way into the field of journalism with no such connections.

As a free African American woman, Stewart began writing for the “Liberator” in 1831. The “Liberator” was a weekly Boston, Massachusetts newspaper published from 1831-1865, by William Llyod Garrison. It was a truly influential newspaper because it advocated the freeing of slaves in the United States.

Stewart wrote for the “Liberator” during the first two years of its publication, under a section tiled,“Ladies’ Department.” Stewart’s later public speeches were eventually documented in this newspaper as well.

During the early 19th century, people did not want to hear about what women had to say, especially African American women. In fact, Stewart received a lot of public scorn. Because of this public scorn, Stewart was deprived of her home and forced into poverty when her husband died.

However, this did not stop Stewart’s pursuits of getting her voice heard.

Maria Stewart eventually produced her first publication, “Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality,” in 1831. It was a 12-page pamphlet on political matters and religious persuasion.

This pamphlet was written with the purpose of wanting African Americans to unite and organize against slavery in the South. Stewart used the Bible and the U.S Constitution as a basis for her beliefs on freedom and justice.

In this publication, Stewart says, “All the nations of the earth are crying out for Liberty and Equality. Away, away with tyranny and oppression! And shall Africa’s sons be silent any longer? Far be it from me to recommend to you, either to kill, burn, or destroy. But I would strongly recommend to you, to improve your talents; let not one lie buried in the earth. Show forth your powers of mind. Prove to the world, that: Though black your skins as shades of night, your hearts are pure, your souls are white.”

Along with being considered the first African American woman political writer, Stewart was also considered one of the first African American women to give public lectures.

Maria Stewart had many other accomplishments before her death in 1879. These included the publishing of her collected works in 1835 titled, “Productions of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart,” and establishing a school for children and families that escaped slavery during the Civil War. Stewart’s last accomplishment was in 1879, with the publishing of a follow up edition to her prior “Productions” piece. It added an autobiographical segment titled, “Sufferings During the War.”

Because of her role in aiding civil and human rights, and influencing many future women journalists, Stewart is one of the most influential African American women of all time.

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The role of editors

Posted by: | November 4, 2009 | No Comment |

In chapter 9 of Mitchell Stephens’ “A History of News,” he writes about the development of newspaper editors in England during the 1600s. Editors organize a newspaper into having clarity and direction to the reader. Newspapers with clarity and direction are more credible than those lacking.

One problem newspapers had in the 1600s was how to organize stories from different locations. The early corantos (Dutch broadsheets) would often have incorrect city headings. News from Hungary might have a Amsterdam heading or other wrong locations.

We do not have a byline for him but Stephens says that evidence indicates that Thomas Gainsford, an English military officer, is the first English editor. Gainsford is known for attempting to organize at-times disjointed news stories and for including stories from Continental Europe.

An editor’s main goal then, as it is now, is to create a familiar product that readers turn to for news and views on the world. Newspapers should also have a separate identity from the news itself. Even those who do not read USA Today can recognize its iconic front page at first sight.

In the modern newspaper, editors are held accountable to their readers through the “Letter to the Editor” section. Readers who write the letters can use their space to criticize an article or to praise an article.

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