Chapter 12: Mass Communication Research: From Content to Effects

Early News Organizations Cooperate to Gather News In 1848, six newspapers in NYC decided to share the cost of gathering foreign news by telegraph from Boston.  The New York Associated was the country's first cooperative news gathering association. This cooperative meant the member organizations shared the cost of getting the news, returning any profits to the members. Today's Associated Press (AP) is the result of this early partnership, with several members sharing the cost of gathering the news, domestic and a foreign.

Civil War Brings Accreditation and Photojournalism In the 1860s, interest in the emotional issues of the Civil War sent many reporters to the battlefront. Two important results of Civil War reporting were the accreditation of reporters and introduction of photographs to enhance written reports.

(1)Government Accredits Journalists the issue of government interests versus press freedom surfaced early in the Civil War. President Lincoln intervened to reach a compromise that would balance the needs of the press with the needs of the nation through a process called accreditation. This meant that the federal government certified members of the press to cover the war. (2) Photojournalism Is Born Until the Civil War, photography had been confined primarily to studio portraits.  Matthew Brady became the nation's first news photographer. His 3,500 photographs demonstrated the practicality and effectiveness of using photographs to help report a news story, although newspaper photographs did not become widely used until the early 1900s.