History of American Journalism – serie

American newspapers redefined journalism after the Civil War by breaking away from the editorial and financial control of the Democratic and Republican parties. Smythe chronicles the rise of the New Journalism, where pegging newspaper sales to market forces was the cost of editorial independence. Successful papers in post-bellum America thrived by catering to a mass audience, which increased their circulations and raised their advertising revenues. Still active politically, independent editors now sought to influence their readers' opinions themselves rather than serve as conduits for the party line.

This work is the fifth volume in the series, The History of American Journalism. By 1906, the nation included 45 states connected by railroads, steamships, wagon trails, the postal system, the telegraph, and the press. The continuing trends of migration and immigration into the cities supported the publication of more newspapers than at any time in the history of the country. From coast to coast, newsgathering agencies knit thousands of local newspapers into the fabric of the nation and larger metropolitan papers routinely considered the relevancy of distant news.

McPherson captures the best and worst aspects of American journalism since 1965. The press has evolved into a conglomeration of entities, that today can be described as pervasive, entertaining, and justifiably mistrusted. In some ways, today's press offers the best journalism Americans have ever seen. In other ways, the modern news media fall short of the ideals held by most of those who care about journalism, and far short of the promise they once seemed to offer in terms of helping create an enlightened democracy. Neither a paean to the press nor an exercise in media bashing, this book finds much to criticize and to praise about recent American journalism, while illustrating that traditional journalistic values have diminished in importance - not just for many of those who control the media, but also for the media consumers who most need good journalism.Chapters are devoted to various themes that include social unrest, the influence of entertainment values, technological shifts, media consolidation and corporatization, issues of content versus context, new kinds of news media, and why the 1970s may have been the high point of American journalism. Events and issues given extra attention include the rise of television news (and later CNN), the Civil Rights Movement and other race-related issues, the Women's Movement, various forms of alternative journalism, wars in Vietnam and Iraq, investigative journalism, the World Trade Center attacks, the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and elections, civic journalism, and journalism scandals.

On the surface, the American newspaper industry appears to have changed little from 1945 to 1965, remaining both healthy and prosperous. The number of newspapers in 1965 was about the same as in 1945, while during the twenty-year period advertising revenues increased substantially despite new competition from television. Just as in 1945, the vast majority of newspapers went to press with improved but old-fashioned letterpress methods in 1965. And newspaper reporters still professed a strong, if now somewhat shaken, faith in the federal government at the end of the twenty years.But the surface appearance of both stability and profitability obscured profound change. In the two decades after World War II, the business of newspaper publishing changed significantly in myriad ways. By 1965, editors and publishers had recognized the extent of these changes and were beginning to adjust. Each of the changes was significant of its own accord, and the range of challenges throughout the period combined to transform newspapers and the nation they served by 1965. This transformation was evident, to varying degrees, in newspapers' content, their production methods, their economic position within the overall media marketplace, and their relationship with government. Newspapers - some more than others - made strides to keep up with and overcome some of these challenges. But in each of these areas, newspapers as a group were slow to respond to the problems facing journalism.

The second book in a six-volume series on the history of American journalism, this book focuses on the 50 years following the end of the Revolution, during which the American press grew and expanded. Newspapers played an important political role as the press became involved in the partisanship that characterized most of this period. As political parties grew in the United States, newspapers became an essential part of the communication network for the dissemination of the ideology of the parties. In this volume, Humphrey clearly presents the changing role of the press in American society—from a vehicle through which to convert people to a particular point of view, to a provider of news and information.

American newspapers redefined journalism after the Civil War by breaking away from the editorial and financial control of the Democratic and Republican parties. Smythe chronicles the rise of the New Journalism, where pegging newspaper sales to market forces was the cost of editorial independence. Successful papers in post-bellum America thrived by catering to a mass audience, which increased their circulations and raised their advertising revenues. Still active politically, independent editors now sought to influence their readers' opinions themselves rather than serve as conduits for the party line.