Mm ch 04newspapers
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Chapter 4 Newspapers: Where Journalism Begins © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Chapter Outline • History • Industry • Controversies
Transcript of Mm ch 04newspapers
Chapter 4Newspapers: Where Journalism
Begins
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Chapter Outline• History• Industry• Controversies
Do newspapers still matter in an age of the Internet, cable, and
other hi-tech media?YES
NO
Chapter 4
A Brief History of Newspapers
The First Newspapers• Town criers “posted” notices• First newspapers in China more
than 1,200 years ago. • 1600s: Gutenberg’s printing press
allowed newspapers to be mass produced in Europe.
• 1640s: Italian newspapers cover local fires and murders, sell for one Gazetta.
A Brief History of Newspapers
The Newspaper in Early America
A Brief History of Newspapers
• Licensing• seditious libel laws• 1735 Zenger Trial• 1791 First Amendment established• Partisan Press (Whigs and Tories)• Mercantile Press• Similarities with today’s media?
A Brief History of Newspapers
Newspapers and revolution
• Colonial newspapers published Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams.
• The Federalist Papers• Stamp Act 1765
A Brief History of Newspapers
Changes in the Concept of News• Standard definition of news begins
to emerge• Editorial page becomes place for
properly labeled opinion pieces.• The front page reserved for hard
news. • Feature stories (a.k.a. soft news),
directed more toward human interest and curiosity.
A Brief History of Newspapers
•Ethnic press•Freedom’s Journal (1827)•The penny press: New York Sun,
1833•Profit derived from advertising
income, not subscription rates•News hole•Newsprint and steam presses
A Brief History of Newspapers
• The Associated Press (1848) leads to objectivity
• Inverted pyramid • Yellow journalism: Hearst’s
Journal and Pulitzer’s World • sensationalism, reached its height
in the Hearst-Pulitzer wars of the 1890s.
• Spanish-American War (1898)
A Brief History of Newspapers
The Making of the Modern Press• The New York Times, The Wall
Street Journal, and The Christian Science Monitor presented more balanced, serious reporting by late 19th century.
• New York Daily News • The American Society of
Newspaper editors was formed in 1923.
• Today, 80 percent of U.S. daily newspapers are owner by chains
A Brief History of Newspapers
Leading The News Process• America learned about the 1960s
civil rights battles because of newspaper reporting
• The Watergate scandal (1972-1974)
• Today, newspapers provide more context than 24-hour news channels.
A Brief History of Newspapers
•Since the 1960s newspapers have shifted from mostly afternoon editions to mostly morning editions.
•Newspapers have historically adapted to competition from newsreels, radio, television, cable, and the World Wide Web.
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry• The Newspapers
• The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today are distributed nationally and internationally.
• USA Today specifically designed for national distribution
• local dailies
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry
Milestones in U.S. newspaper history timeline
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
Industry• Alternative papers• 200 Hispanic papers: Chicago’s El
Manana Daily News, Los Angeles’ La Opinion, and New York’s El Diario-La Prensa.
• Chicano press• 170 black newspapers: New York’s
Amsterdam News, the Chicago Defender and Baltimore’s Afro-American
• Gay-Lesbian press: The Advocate, The Stonewall News
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
IndustrySupport Services
• The Associated Press• Other major wire services include
United Press International (UPI), Agence France-Press, and Reuters.
• Feature syndicates• Audit Bureau of Circulation
Understanding Today’s Newspaper Publishing
IndustryThe Reader
• The average age of today’s newspaper reader is 53.
• Public Journalism: papers should become involved in, rather than just cover, community issues.
• Citizen Journalism: asks readers to go into the community and tell stories using consumer-level equipment
Controversies
• Concentration of Ownership• Lack of Diversity in the
Newsroom• Influence of advertisers in
news coverage
ControversiesLack of Diversity in the Newsroom
• In the 1970s, following several urban riots, the National Commission on the Causes of Violence pointed out that the lack of minority viewpoint in the nation’s press was partially to blame for the alienation felt by many ethnic groups.
• The American Society of Newspaper Editors resolve in 1978 that minority employment should match the percentage of minorities in the population
• In 1998, 11 percent of daily newspaper journalists were black, Hispanic, Asian-American and American Indian, while the Census bureau reported that 28 percent of the population belonged to those groups.
ControversiesLack of Diversity in the Newsroom
• A number of minority organizations now exist to promote the interests of these underrepresented groups including:
• the National Association of Black Journalists
• the National Association of Hispanic Journalists
• the Asian American Journalists Association
• the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association
