The Yellow Press and the Times 1865 1900

The Yellow Press and the Times 1865 -1900

Late 1800 s… • The Civil War had changed America and American journalism. • As historian Shelby Foote put it, the Civil War “made us an is. ” No longer did people say, “the United States are. ” • It would take decades to make the battered nation a truly united one. • What role did newspapers play?

Late 1800 s… • It had been such a bitter war, fought from New Mexico and Tennessee to Vermont and the Florida coast. • Cities in the South were left in ruins, as were their fields of cotton and tobacco, the staples of their economic existence. • Slaves were free, but true equality would continue to evade them.

Late 1800 s… • The new role of the press as the primary source of news was ratified by newspaper coverage of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. • In the post–Civil War era, several characteristics vied for dominance: timeliness, accuracy, exclusiveness, sensationalism, entertainment, and impartiality.

Late 1800 s… • News traveled through telegraph lines that now stretched from Maine to California, fostering evening newspapers and nationwide and sectional press associations. • Also accelerating news transmission was the Atlantic cable, which was laid in 1866. (( Note the video link about this on the course outline. )) • Think about: photography, telephone, wireless, harnessing of power.

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • Politically, corruption rampant throughout the nation in the post–Civil War era. • Newspaper editors saw themselves as the only defense against corruption. • A few examples…

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • James Bennett Sr. at first thought of himself as a public defender, but his idea changed as his wealth and his madness increased, and his son had no regard for the public interest at all.

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • Horace Greeley was a sincerely dedicated public defender, but permitted his personal thirst for the presidency to diffuse his dedication. • Charles Dana could have been one of the most potent public defenders on record if he had not lost his early idealism.

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • Henry J. Raymond was even more a creature of political ambition than Greeley, • But the paper he created was the first to show, after he had gone, what a powerful role the newspaper could play on behalf of the public—the role Thomas Jefferson had envisioned.

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • After Raymond’s death, the Times directed the exposure of the Tweed Ring—one of the finest hours in the development of the Times and a significant episode in media history.

NEWSPAPERS AS PUBLIC DEFENDERS • William Marcy Tweed • On July 8, 1871, the Times published an exposé of the Tweed regime. • The chapter provides details about this case as one example of the role newspapers played as ‘public watchdogs’

The Yellow Press and the Times Learning Objectives q To define the new journalism and sensationalism. q To understand why the new journalism developed when it did. q To explain the contributions of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. q To assess whether Pulitzer and Hearst were positive or negative influences on American journalism.

The Story q. This is a story of two of the greatest editors and media names in American media history at a time when corruption rampant throughout the nation and they saw themselves as the only defense against such iniquities.

The Yellow Press and the Times • Joseph Pulitzer and the New Journalism

The Yellow Press and the Times • William Randolph Hearst

Comparisons q Development of Two Journalisms q Story-Telling Journalism q Information Journalism q Story 1 - Journalism of Pulitzer q Story 2 - Journalism of William Randolph Hearst q Information Journalism of Adolph Ochs

The Gilded Age: 1865 -1900 q Nation’s population doubles q Unprecedented economic expansion q Labor organizes nationally q Politics reflects industrial trends q Advances in education q Newspapers become product of the metropolis q Baseball, plays, and vaudeville become the rage

The Gilded Age: 1865 -1900 q More women read newspapers q Evening editions outdistance morning issues q Sunday editions become popular q Novelists examine problems of the Gilded Age q Scientific progress is notable q Newspaper personnel expands

Story-Telling Model of Journalism q Telling stories= aesthetic function of newspapers q Enjoyability function q Consummatory function q Relates lives to class in which people belong q Actual and proper function: Mead q Reporter sent to get story, not to get facts q Newspaper is a guide to living by framing facts

Information Model of Journalism q Facts unframed; purveys pure information q Prompt verifiability q Incompatible with story telling q. Associated with fairness, objectivity, scrupulous dispassion q. Considered more reliable than story papers

Public Defender #1 “Atlas Joe: Or the fearful responsibility of a selfappointed manager of the universe. ”

The Gilded Age: 1865 -1900 q Tweed Ring and political corruption

Joseph Pulitzer q Definition of news q Rationalization of advertising policies q Advertising develops as an independent institution

Joseph Pulitzer and News q Developed a new type of sensationalism

Pulitzer’s News Formula Exploit crime, scandal or shocking circumstances + spirit of a crusade = Pulitzer’s New Journalism

Pulitzer’s News Formula His chief contribution was the invention of the formula that Hearst later took up and made famous—sex on the front page and a kind of spurious morality on the editorial page.

Joseph Pulitzer and News q Stunts q. Developed &

Joseph Pulitzer and News q. Revitalized the editorial page q Popularized Sunday editions q Developed special women’s pages q Developed entertainment

Nelly Bly

Nelly Bly q Was hailed as the best reporter in the U. S. – male or female -when she died in 1922. q. She had covered a bloody labor strike, political change in the nation, and a world war during a career that spanned two centuries.

Nelly Bly q. A tireless advocate for the underclass … q. More in the chapter. . .

Joseph Pulitzer and Advertising q Rationalized advertising policies q Circulation became public

Joseph Pulitzer and Advertising q Advertising develops as an independent institution q Newspapers become brokers of their columns q Agents bought newspaper space and sold it

Yellow Journalism q. Self advertisement üIllustrations üLarger and darker headlines üPromotion of exclusive features ü Sympathy with underdog

Pulitzer summary q Pulitzer’s journalism affected the character of the entire daily press of the country. q. Upset the status quo and furnished a new formula for the metropolitan daily. q. Crafted a new concept of news, utilized illustrations, developed the technique of the crusade, revitalized the editorial page. q. Rationalized the practice of selling advertising space.

The Yellow Press and the Times 1865 -1900

The Yellow Press and the Times • William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst: Positives q. Made newspapers interesting q. Developed the human interest story q. Developed headline techniques

William Randolph Hearst: Positives q Printed full-page Sunday features q Hired the best writers q Popularized science

William Randolph Hearst: Positives q. Crusaded against corruption in government q Exposed trusts and set people to thinking about the economic system q Became a voice for lower economic class

William Randolph Hearst: Negatives q Reporters exaggerated stories q Twisted facts to gain effect q Aroused war spirit and goaded the U. S. into the Spanish-American War

William Randolph Hearst: Negatives q Emphasized crime and sex news q Developed newspaper as an escape entertainment q Developed comics

Adolph Ochs q News q Circulation q Morality

News q Vendor of information q Decent, dignified and independent newspaper q Devoid of sensational or pornographic or gaudily spiced reports of crime, sex or bloodshed.

Circulation q First to solicit circulation by telephone

Moral War “It does not soil the breakfast cloth. ” q “All the News that’s fit to print. ” q

Conclusion q The Yellow Press demonstrated that: q. Sex, sin and violence sells. q Large circulations guaranteed publishers a powerful voice as “champions of the powerless. ” q Journalists could report the activities of politicians objectively. q Newspapers could be cultural icons and at the forefront of the American consciousness.

Chapter 6 says this event tested the power of the press: the Spanish. American War

He was the first to make the Sunday newspaper readable and interesting. Joseph Pulitzer

Developed the human-interest story, employed skilled writers and was the first to pay high salaries, was a spokesman for the lower economic class, and exposed trusts and set people to thinking about the economic system William Randolph Hearst

_____ came to symbolize the Pulitzer-Hearst brand of sensational journalism. The Yellow Kid

Sex on the front page and a kind of spurious morality on the editorial page was the ______ formula. Pulitzer

This ‘yellow journalism’ era publisher that advocated a socialist platform. William Randolph Hearst

Review questions pending … How are things being developed? By alliances among companies in the industry

Review questions pending … How are things being developed? By alliances among companies in the industry

The ‘yellow journalism’ era publisher that adopted Joseph Pulitzer’s ideas wholesale. William Randolph Hearst

She was called "the best reporter in America" at her death. Nelly Bly

He was the first publisher to use telephone solicitation to attract new subscribers. William Ochs

Review questions pending … More may be added Check back, and see online review materials