Difference between revisions of "Newspaper"
m (→Crisis of 2009: spelling, repeat word, missing period) |
m (→Liberal and conservative: cap, grammar) |
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
==Liberal and conservative== | ==Liberal and conservative== | ||
| − | In terms of prestige newspapers, the ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'', are liberal, while the ''Wall Street Journal'' is conservative. Local newspapers tend to be conservative. | + | In terms of prestige newspapers, the ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'', are liberal, while the ''Wall Street Journal'' is conservative. Local newspapers tend to be conservative. Prominent conservative viewpoints appear in the ''[[The Washington Times]]'', the ''[[Las Vegas Review-Journal]]'', and the ''[[New Hampshire Union Leader]]''. Some newspapers have changed their political slant over time: the ''[[New York Post]]'' has gone back and forth between a liberal slant and a conservative one, depending on its owner at the time, it currently has a conservative slant under the ownership of [[News Corporation]]. It endorsed [[Hillary Clinton]] in 2006, illustrating that newspapers can adapt their editorial views to the local market. Likewise the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' once had conservative editorial positions but is now more liberal. |
[[Image:Nytrib1864.jpg|thumb|left|New York Tribune sample front page 1864.]] | [[Image:Nytrib1864.jpg|thumb|left|New York Tribune sample front page 1864.]] | ||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
===Dailies=== | ===Dailies=== | ||
In 1850-1950 most cities, even small ones, had several daily newspapers, each catering to a political party or faction. The trend in recent years has been toward consolidation as cities are no longer being able to support so many newspapers. [[Washington, D.C.]], for example, now has only two daily newspapers. Another trend in recent years is the [[proliferation]] of free weekly newspapers. These make their money selling advertising and are distributed to readers free of charge. Many of these free weeklies are socially liberal. | In 1850-1950 most cities, even small ones, had several daily newspapers, each catering to a political party or faction. The trend in recent years has been toward consolidation as cities are no longer being able to support so many newspapers. [[Washington, D.C.]], for example, now has only two daily newspapers. Another trend in recent years is the [[proliferation]] of free weekly newspapers. These make their money selling advertising and are distributed to readers free of charge. Many of these free weeklies are socially liberal. | ||
| + | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
===First Party System=== | ===First Party System=== | ||
Revision as of 14:57, April 4, 2009
A newspaper is a regularly printed digest of news stories, investigative journalism, review, editorial opinion and feature articles. Major papers are published daily; minor ones weekly. They contain syndicated news from sources such as Associated Press and Reuters, as well as features, as well as local reporting and advertising. The prestige papers have their own news bureaus in the state and national capital and other major cities.
Contents
Crisis of 2009
The newspaper industry is currently in decline around the world, because of the influence of 24 hour television news channels and the Internet as sources of news. The Recession of 2008 hammered newspapers hard, because their main revenue source is advertising for new houses, jobs, automobiles and department stores, all of which cut back sharply. Since December 2008, numerous major newspapers have entered bankruptcy, including the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and Minneapolis Star Tribune, while Denver's Rocky Mountain News shut down in February 2009 and other major papers may follow it into history.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer in March 2009 became the largest American paper to drop its print edition and become an Internet-only publication. It cut its news staff from 165 journalists to only 20. A part of the Hearst chain, the P-I had a print circulation of 118,000 a day but lost $14 million in 2008 and no one wanted to buy it. Seattle still has a daily print paper, the Seattle Times, but it too is in deep financial trouble. [1] USA Today, which distributes half its papers through hotels and does not depend on advertising, is cutting back as circulation fell from 2.3 to 2.2 million copies a day.
Liberal and conservative
In terms of prestige newspapers, the The New York Times and The Washington Post, are liberal, while the Wall Street Journal is conservative. Local newspapers tend to be conservative. Prominent conservative viewpoints appear in the The Washington Times, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the New Hampshire Union Leader. Some newspapers have changed their political slant over time: the New York Post has gone back and forth between a liberal slant and a conservative one, depending on its owner at the time, it currently has a conservative slant under the ownership of News Corporation. It endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2006, illustrating that newspapers can adapt their editorial views to the local market. Likewise the Chicago Tribune once had conservative editorial positions but is now more liberal.
Newspapers do have one advantage over news channels that have helped them stay afloat: there is no way to send comics over the airwaves. Therefore, newspapers make money by publishing comic strips like "For Better Or For Worse", "Mallard Fillmore", and the popular "Mutts". Another reason why newspapers have remained profitable is advertising. If newspapers had to rely solely on subscriptions and newsstand sales for their income, they would not be profitable. Newspapers suffer from declining sales, and fewer young people read them.
Dailies
In 1850-1950 most cities, even small ones, had several daily newspapers, each catering to a political party or faction. The trend in recent years has been toward consolidation as cities are no longer being able to support so many newspapers. Washington, D.C., for example, now has only two daily newspapers. Another trend in recent years is the proliferation of free weekly newspapers. These make their money selling advertising and are distributed to readers free of charge. Many of these free weeklies are socially liberal.
History
First Party System
During the First Party System, newspapers proliferated because they were sponsored by the two main parties, the Federalists and the Democratic Republican Party (the Jeffersonian Republicans). John Fenno began publishing his Gazette of the United States in April 1789 hoping it would become the official paper of the newly formed national government; soon Alexander Hamilton was encouraging and subsidizing him. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, leading the opposition to Hamilton, persuaded Philip M. Freneau, a brilliant poet, to found the National Gazette in Philadelphia in October 1791. Jefferson even put Freneau on the State Department payroll. The National Gazette at first served as a successful political tool for the Jeffersonians as it defined arguments against Hamilton's policies while rebutting Fenno's editorials. The National Gazette collapsed in 1793 due to weak circulation and the political fallout over Jefferson and Madison's financial involvement in founding the paper.
Hamilton set uip his own stable of Federalist papers. His editor in New York City was Noah Webster. In 1793, Hamilton loaned him $1500 to move to New York City and edit a newspaper for the new Federalist Party. In December Webster founded New York's first daily newspaper, American Minerva (later known as The Commercial Advertiser). He edited it for four years, writing the equivalent of 20 volumes of articles and editorials. He also published the semi-weekly publication, The Herald, A Gazette for the country (later known as The New York Spectator). As a partisan, he soon was denounced by the Democratic-Republicans as "a pusillanimous, half-begotten, self-dubbed patriot," "an incurable lunatic," and "a deceitful newsmonger ... Pedagogue and Quack." Fellow Federalist Cobbett labeled him "a traitor to the cause of Federalism", calling him "a toad in the service of sans-cullottism," "a prostitute wretch," "a great fool, and a barefaced liar," "a spiteful viper," and "a maniacal pedant." The master of words was distressed. Even the use of words like "the people," "democracy," and "equality" in public debate bothered him, for such words were "metaphysical abstractions that either have no meaning, or at least none that mere mortals can comprehend." [2]
By 1796, both parties had a national network of newspapers, which attacked each other vehemently. In 1802 the New York Evening Post, with large amounts of advertising by Federalist merchants, published a daily edition for 1100 subscribers in the city, and a weekly edition that circulated to 1600 subscribers nationwide. The Federalist and Republican newspapers of the 1790s traded vicious barbs. Hamilton's vices, both personal and political, were favorite targets,
Bibliography
- Blanchard, Margaret A., ed. History of the Mass Media in the United States, An Encyclopedia. (1998)
- Brennen, Bonnie and Hanno Hardt, eds. Picturing the Past: Media, History and Photography. (1999)
- Caswell, Lucy Shelton, ed. Guide to Sources in American Journalism History. (1989)
- Emery, Michael, Edwin Emery, and Nancy L. Roberts. The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media 9th ed. (1999.), standard textbook; best place to start.
- Gorman, Lyn. and David McLean. Media and Society in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Introduction (2002) excerpt and text search
- Kotler, Johathan and Miles Beller. American Datelines: Major News Stories from Colonial Times to the Present. (2003)
- McKerns, Joseph P., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Journalism. (1989)
- Marzolf, Marion. Up From the Footnote: A History of Women Journalists. (1977)
- Miller, Sally M. The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical Analysis and Handbook. (1987)
- Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism: A History of Newspapers in the United States Through 250 Years, 1690-1940 (1941). major reference source and interpretive history. American+Journalism:+A+History+of&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=j0Iahd_mg6&sig=0m59AhBEBwXN-N-kgqQ91TLtrgk&hl=en&ei=iu2uSY3rBpK2sAPjmMWXDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result part 2 online
- Nord, David Paul. Communities of Journalism: A History of American Newspapers and Their Readers. (2001)
- Pride, Armistead S. and Clint C. Wilson. A History of the Black Press. (1997)
- Schudson, Michael. Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers. (1978).
- Sloan, W. David, James G. Stovall, and James D. Startt. The Media in America: A History, 4th ed. (1999)
- Starr, Paul. The Creation of the Media: Political origins of Modern Communications (2004), far ranging history of all forms of media in 19th and 20th century US and Europe; Pulitzer prize excerpt and text search
- Streitmatter, Rodger. Mightier Than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History (1997)online edition
1790-1860
- Humphrey, Carol Sue The Press of the Young Republic, 1783-1833 (1996) online edition
- Knudson, Jerry W. Jefferson And the Press: Crucible of Liberty (2006) how 4 Republican and 4 Federalist papers covered election of 1800; Thomas Paine; Louisiana Purchase; Hamilton-Burr duel; impeachment of Chase; and the embargo
- Nevins, Allan. The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism (1922) online edition ch 1-2
- Pasley, Jeffrey L. "The Tyranny of Printers": Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic (2003) (ISBN 0-8139-2177-5)
- Pasley, Jeffrey L. "The Two National Gazettes: Newspapers and the Embodiment of American Political Parties." Early American Literature 2000 35(1): 51-86. Issn: 0012-8163 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ebsco
- Stewart, Donald H. The Opposition Press of the Federalist Era (1968), highly detailed study of Republican newspapers
1860-1940
- Smythe, Ted Curtis; The Gilded Age Press, 1865-1900 Praeger. 2003. online edition
See also
References
- ↑ "Seattle Paper Shifts Entirely to the Web," New York Times Mar. 16, 2009
- ↑ Joseph Ellis, After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture (1979) pp 199, 206.
