Journalism in the United States of America

The first paper to keep going in North America was the weekly Boston News-letter ( 1704) . It was being published by the postmaster John Campbell, and distributed as a public service. In its style and size , it was very much like the London Gazette. In 1721, the elder brother of Benjamin Franklin , James, started the New-England Courant in Boston to challenge the News-letter.

Printed news spread slowly through the old colonies : Philadelphia's first newspaper appeared in 1719, the American Weekly Mercury, founded by Andrew Bradford. Benjamin Franklin, moving from Boston to Philadelphia in 1723 after a dispute with his brother, founded his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1728. New York's first paper was established by Andrew Bradford's father, William, in 1725. The name of the newspaper was New York Gazette.

The right to criticise the government was accepted after John Peter Zenger's acquittal on a charge of libel in his New York Weekly Journal ( 1735). By the War of Independence of 1775, almost forty newspapers were being published weekly or monthly. They were divided into patriot or royalist allegiance.

After independence, the thrice-weekly Pennsylvania Packet turned daily in September 1784. It was much better than London papers in layout and advertisements on the front page. New York's Daily Advertiser followed the next year.

By the end of the eighteenth century, almost all the larger cities of America had their own newspapers. Even the cities comparatively much smaller had their own weeklies.

The War of Independence in America 1770 -1882, provided great impetus to newspapers. Some sensational papers like the Massachusetts Spy or American Oracle of Liberty and the Boston Gazette etc emerged out of it.

Modern journalism began in the United States with the introduction of penny papers including the New York Sun. New York's first penny paper , the Sun of 1883 , was like the most of the other American papers, which had its front page plastered with small advertisements. It was after a popular audience with emphasis on "human interest" stories.

Later, James Gordon Bennett founded the New York Herald in 1835 using new journalistic techniques. This paper provided entertainment first and foremost. The New York Tribunewas founded in 1841. It took the role of the idealistic crusader. However, both of these newspapers followed largely headline-less, small print, news pages.

The Chicago Times of 1854 offered sensation, while the Chicago Tribune of 1847 emphasised civic pride.

The Civil War (1861-65) changed the face of newspaper industry of America. In the 1860s, the "multi-decker" headlines developed with as many as ten or twelve mini-headings "sprawling down half a column". This period produced some of the best early war correspondents. It may be mentioned here that the William Russell of the Times (London) is acknowledged to be the first war correspondent who reported the Crime War. There was also an acute shortage of paper in this period. On July 2,1863, the Daily Citizen of Vicksburg was printed "for the last time" on wallpaper. It supported the confederate cause in that edition in this manner.

"The former editors of the Memphis Bulletin being rather pro-Southern were arrested for speaking the truth when truth was unwelcome to Yankee-dom. This paper at present is ... edited by a pink-nosed, slab-sided, toad-eating Yankee, who is a lineal descendant of Judas Iscariot, and a brother germain of the greatest Puritanical, sycophantic, howling scoundrel unhung - Parson Brownlow.

Deaths of important personalities have traditionally been recorded by special issues with black borders. A striking example is the New York Herald's edition for 15 April 1865 that reported the assassination of President Lincoln.

The Kansas City Star of 1880 investigated and exposed corruption and started a new genre of journalism what is called investigative journalism.

However , the Joseph Pulitzer's St Souis Post-Despatch of 1878 was considered as the foremost crusading newspaper. Pulitzer bought the failing venture of the New York World in 1883. He succeeded in increasing its circulation from 15,000 to 250,000 within a short span of three years. He combined sensationalism with crusading idealism.

Horace Greeley was also known for his popular journalism. In the later half of the 19th century, men like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst brought the journalism for the mass. They sensationalised the reports in the name of idealism. It was the peculiar sensationalism of Hearst, that came to be knowns as "yellow journalism" in the later days. The term yellow journalism was derived from the comic strip carried by one of the Hearst's newspaper under title "Yellow Kid".

The newspaper industry in America grew at a very fast pace, and Leisure Hour reported that there were at least 5,200 newspapers being published in that country at the beginning of 1871, out of them 550 were dailies. 

Nearby pages
Journalism in United Kingdom, Journalists, Jowai Vidhan Sabha Constituency, Joy, Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Kilmer