From Radio to TV Ch. 2

Cultural Precedents The lists 5 precedents:  Urbanization  Penny Press  Vaudville  The Phonograph  Motion Pictures

A Closer Look at Urbanization and The Penny Press The “penny press” is the forerunner of modern journalism. Before the Penny Press  Partisan Press  Commercial Press

Before The Penny Press Both types of papers left a legacy  Editorial Pages, “Opinion Journalism”  Business papers/ Business Section

Before The Penny Press “Objectivity” did not exist The audience wasn’t “mass.”  Readers tended to be educated  Subscription Only  Even largest of papers rarely hit 1,500 circulation

Key Dates First North American newspaper (Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick) 1734 John Peter Zenger Case (Zenger is accused of Seditious Libel. Found Innocent. Case lays foundation for Freedom of The Press) a subscription cost about $10-12, more than a week’s wages for a skilled worker (think $1,000-$1,200 for a subscription to a newspaper)

Newspapers Become Mass Media During the 1800’s  People moved to cities (urbanization)  Industrialization (technology)  Increase in Literacy  Social Turmoil  Cheaper paper/technology + Literacy gave rise to a penny press

Penny Press Cost a Penny Steam-Press could produce 4,000 papers an hour Subscriptions still existed, but there were now daily street sales The New York Sun (1833) cut subscription altogether

Penny Press The Sun ran:  Serialized Stories making legends of Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone-- predecessor to celebrity news  Local events  Scandals  Fabricated stories (“scientific” evidence for man on the moon)  Within 6 months of being founded, had a circulation of 8,000 (twice that of its closest competitor)  Initiated a wave of penny papers that featued “human interest” stories (ordinary people facing extrodinary challenges)

Penny Press Other innovations of the Penny Press include:  Crime Reporting  Started to pull away from partisan issues to attract a mass audience (objectivity) New York Morning Herald sought to “free” papers from political parties. It wanted to be an independent paper and targeted the middle and working class.  Ad revenues, classifieds and sales become driving force (market replaced political sponsorship)  Gave rise to advertising as an industry and consumerism  As 1800’s went on, “yellow journalism” developed. Age of sensationalism, but also muckraking. Two legacies: Tabloid sensationalism and gossip Investigative journalism

Penny Press to Modern Press NY papers formed The Associated Press (AP), the first major wire service. Wire services started with telegraph, then radio then digital transmission allowing reports to come from other parts of the region (DC) and then coast to coast (and then worldwide). Developed in the 19th c. (Civil War etc…) “objective” style journalism and the “inverted pyramid” became the norm by the early 20 c.

Some Morals to the Story Although this is a Broadcast class, the story of Newspapers puts modern media in perspective and illustrates the link between market, industry and audience Technology + Market Forces partially determine the role of the press Rise of “opinion journalism” traces its roots to pre-penny press days (although the bar is now lowered for the ability too publish)

Dr. Brinkley nkley.mp3