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Crime sells

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |
Before OJ, before cable news, before the advent of tabloids and even before the Lindbergh kidnapping, there was the murder of Helen Jewett in 1836. Jewett was an upscale prostitute in New York City until her brutal murder in the early hours of April 10.
The next day, New York’s best-selling Sun newspaper published the first account of the crime, including all of the grisly details. The only problem with the story was that it was simply a regurgitation of what the police and coroner said in a public hearing.

The Herald, rival to the Sun, aggressively pursued the story thanks to the hard work of James Gordon Bennett Sr. Bennett started the newspaper only a year prior to Jewett’s murder and he already had a potential blockbuster story to work with.

He delivered the goods by doing his own investigation of the crime. Over the course of a week, he visited the house where Jewett was murdered. His series of stories, “VISIT TO THE SCENE,” published April 12, 13 and 16, put the newspaper on the front foot compared to its rival. The man originally charged with the crime, Richard P. Robinson, was acquitted thanks in part to Bennett’s investigative reporting.

The Herald trumpeted a “rapid increase” in circulation and all the Sun could do was merely report the reaction to what their rivals were reporting. This was a watershed event not only for Bennett and the Herald but for journalism as a whole. Journalists are now expected to get on the front foot in reporting criminal cases.

* Apologies for not separating the first three paragraphs. WordPress is not letting me edit it correctly. Help would be appreciated.

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The circulation battle of Pulitzer and Hearst

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |

At first, Joseph Pulitzer did not have to worry much about competing with other newspapers. He purchased the “New York World” in 1883 and things were going well. Under Pulitzer, the “World” had circulation grow from 15,000 to 600,000. However, things started to change in 1895.

William Randolph Hearst purchased the “New York Journal” and wasted no time in starting a circulation battle. The two papers embellished stories and sometimes made them up all together. This strategy of sensationalizing the news to raise circulation was named “yellow kid” Journalism after a popular cartoon that both papers ran at the time, but was soon shortened to yellow journalism. One of the prime examples is their coverage of the Spanish-American War.

When Hearst heard about tension building in Cuba, he sent an artist down to capture images of the war that was supposedly about to start. However, the artist spent some time in Cuba and could not find the problems he was told to illustrate. He sent a telegraph to Hearst to tell him there were no problems and that there would be no war. Hearst responded by telling him, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

The USS Maine exploded on February 15, 1898, and both papers jumped at the opportunity for a story. Despite the fact the cause of the explosion was unknown, the “World” ran a story about the ship being blown up by an enemy torpedo along with a picture of a violent explosion. The “Journal” ran a similar story, claiming they would give a $50,000 reward to anyone with information on the attack. This was obviously just to pull in readers since there was no actual attack on the ship.

 

However, the pair’s shared reputation of being yellow journalists hurt both of them in the end. Pulitzer began to feel bad about his exaggeration of the news and claimed to be bothered by his “yellow sins”. He spent the rest of his life working toward making the “New York World” a well-respected publication again.

Hearst was an aspiring politician and even looked to gain the Democratic nomination for president at one point. He was unsuccessful because Journal had two different writers print stories suggesting the assassination of President McKinley. Hearst was accused of persuading the assassin to kill McKinley through his yellow journalism and he became irrelevant in the world of politics.

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The Stationers’ Company

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |

The Stationers’ Company is a Livery Company that resides in London.  It was originated back in 1403 with control over the publishing industries and  in charge of enforcing copyright regulations of all books in England, except those printed by Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Book authors could not be part of the guild and therefore they could not officially self-publish and they did not get any payments on the books that sold well. Most of the members were booksellers and bookbinders, who copied and sold manuscript books and writing materials. People that were in any way involved with the book-trade had to become a member of the company.

The Stationers were lawfully provided with the power to seize “offending books” that violated the standard rules of the Church and State; the offenders were taken before religious authorities including the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

A Royal Charter of Incorporation was given to the Stationer’s Guild in 1557, providing them with a greater influence over the trading business. Anybody that wanted to print anything and sell it within the monarchy, had to be either a member of the guild, or exempt by some type of privilege.

This Royal Charter gave the government control over which type of books could be printed without affecting the image of the King or Queen. However, in 1695, the monopoly authority of the Stationers’ Company diminished and in 1709 was replaced by the Statute of Anne (also known as the Copyright Act 1709).

The Statute, (An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned), wanted to prevent any future domination over the book trade. It also granted authors instead of printers the ability to reproduce and print any of their works. 

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First African-American newspaper

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |

“We wish to plead our own cause” was the statement that began Freedom’s Journal, the first African-American newspaper which began in 1827.  The paper was edited by Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm who was the first African-American to graduate from college in the United States.  Not only was this pioneer paper circulated in 11 states, it also spread to the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe and Canada.

David Walker served as a subscription agent to the paper, writing of rebellion in four separate articles in 1829.  One such article included a quote stating “It is no more harm for you to kill the man who is trying to kill you than it is for you to take a drink of water.”

By publishing articles such as Walker’s, the publication served not only as a voice to the African-American public but as a platform for those involved with the abolitionist movement.

Freedom’s Journal featured local, international and national news on current events as well as editorials involving slavery and lynching.  Based out of New York, news of marriages, births and deaths in that African-American community were announced.  Also, biographies of important African-Americans such as Paul Cuffee and Phillis Wheatley were published.

The journal ended in March 1829 after Russwurm became the sole editor.  Many of the readers did not agree with the paper’s support of colonization and readership declined.  Though its term was short, Freedom’s Journal spurred the creation of several other African-American newspapers.  By the time the Civil War began there were over 40 African-American owned and operated newspapers throughout the United States.

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War’d you say?

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |

The history of war reporting is one that can be easily identified by the relationship it has developed between the news and the people seeking that news. War was a contributing factor to the development of preliterate systems of news travel as characterized in Mitchell Stephens book “A History of News”. War reporting grew in tandem with various other journalistic themes such as sensationalism, propaganda,  and technology. While there seems to be a niche for every type of news one seeks, war is still the most sought after story by reporters to this day.

In it’s initial stages war reporting was not such much for information as it was for physical protection from attack. A great example of this is the fact that American schoolchildren grow up knowing the significance of  the phrase “The British are coming”. Well, maybe they found out a different way.  Protection  for the populace of a country necessitated war reporting. Sooner rather than waiting till the last minute like our friend Paul Revere, people started to find it useful to go to the action.

John Bell became one of the first war reporters during the late 18th century when he volunteered himself to report on British and French fighting in Belgium. By the 19th century, newspapers were beginning to see the benefit of sending reporters to cover wars as illustrated by the Times of London in 1807 and 1854. They sent correspondents Henry Crabb Robinson and William Howard Russel to cover the Napoleonic and Crimean wars respectively. War brought in readership because citizens were not only concerned about their boys, but they also wanted to know whether  they needed to worry about being invaded by stuff like this. War reporting provided a sense of security to the populace of a country in these two manners.

War and technology go hand in hand during the development of journalism. During The Mexican War the New Orleans Picayune set out to break the story first by moving their type boards to flat boats in the Gulf of Mexico in order to print immediately upon docking. Samuel Morse’s invention did so much for the Civil War than the first battle between ironclads (which ended in a draw and both ships being knocked out of action for the remainder of the war). People discovered the outcome of battles the following day rather than weeks or months later. Not to trivialize technology, but it is not what I’m trying to harp on here.

What does the development of war reporting mean to the rest of journalism? Well it means many things, for instance it facilitates the development of a specific correspondent for media outlets. This then leads media outlets to further specified news positions such as political coverage, crime, gossip, food, the arts, sports, and so on. War reporting provides that security previously mentioned, and also discussed in Mitchell Stephens book. Most importantly though, war sells. During the Civil War a northern newspaper could sell five times more than normal circulation due to this need of the northern populace to be satisfied. More readers means more money.

War reporting has come a long way from its early origins of necessary protection against invaders, to mental and emotional security of a populace disconnected from the action.  It developed because of these same security issues. But war reporting continues to be a popular subject because it brings home the bacon.

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The Stationer’s Company and British press control

Posted by: | September 16, 2009 | No Comment |

England made a lot of contributions to journalism though The Stationer’s Company and press control was probably not a welcome contribution. Formed in about 1538, this guild helped the English government enforce the licensing of all printed works. The guild was formed out of the Brotherhood of Manuscript Producers and the Brotherhood of the Craft of Writers of Text-Letters. It was established by Royal Charter from King Phillip and Queen Mary to prevent the publication of Protestant propaganda.

The Stationer’s Company helped police the publishing world. After 1538, the guild was given power to license all works in England and search publisher’s shops for unlicensed works. They were allowed to seize and burn all prohibited books and imprison their publishers. They were granted a monopoly on all printing in England.

The Stationer’s Company was expected to enforce the law by not printing banned books and to seek permission before potentially controversial books were published.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, one could be put to death for expressing a dissident religious belief through print. The use of book licensing was meant to try and strengthen the power of the monarchy and the church. The charter issued stated that it was meant to “control scandalous, malicious, schismatical, and heretical” books.

The first reference to The Stationer’s Company being allowed to enforce the system was made in 1559 by Queen Elizabeth. With the accession of James 1, censorship seemed to be used lightly, and by the 17th century, England moved to a period of press freedom.

The Stationer’s Company may have held the press back during the 16th century, but cries for freedoms of people and the press would eventually win out.

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