What is a Newspaper?

1
What is a Newspaper?

• Published regularly (usually more than once per
  month
• Technologically reproduced
• Available to all (who pay)
• Written in the vernacular
• Timely and topical
• Stable
• Of interest to a general public

2
Newspapers Types

1. International and national dailies
2. Metropolitan/regional dailies
3. Local dailies
4. Non-daily general audience papers
5. Minority papers
6. Secondary language papers
7. Religious papers
8. Military papers
9. Other specialty newspapers (e.g., Daily Variety)
10. Student newspapers

3
Newspapers Structure
Advertising/Sales
News/Editorial
Circulation/Marketing
Design/Creation
Selection/Editing
Newspaper Design and Layout
Production/Printing
Inserting/Bundling
Distribution
4
Newspapers Colonial History

• Boston News-Letter (1704) published 1. By the
  postmaster 2. By authority 3. In Boston
  (urban trade center)
• Trial of John Peter Zenger (1733) 1. Truth
  is a defense in a libel case 2. Jury
  nullfication

5
Newspapers 19th Century

• Partisan Press (1789-1830) Political ideology
  as editorial policy
• Penny Press (1833)
• Civil War
• The New Journalism (1865-1890)
• Yellow Journalism (1880-1914)

6
Newspapers 19th Century
Penny Press Developed from the combined forces
of expanded literacy, steam-powered presses (and
other technologies), immigration and the
increased urban working class. First was
Benjamin Days New York Sun, 1833 James Gordon
Bennett, New York Herald , 1835 Sensationalism
Human interest (esp. crime) Sports (Race
tracks) Established news bureaus Use of
telegraph (including trans-Atlantic
7
Newspapers 19th Century
Wire services (news gathering cooperative)
Associated Press, 1840 (formed as the Harbor News
Service in New York City before the invention of
the telegraph) Civil War Censorship
(military v. public) Many reporters Photog
raphy (Matthew Brady) Pyramid style writing
(for telegraph) Bulletins Feature
syndicates (due to lack of help for small
newspaper publishers)
8
Newspapers 19th Century
Yellow Journalism the bridge between the 19th
and 20th century, precursor of 1920s
tabloids Joseph Pulitzer St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, 1878 New York World,
1883 idealist-crusader against
corruption reflected interests of the common
people sensationalism William Randolph Hearst
New York Journal, 1895 used Pulitzers formula
with greater ruthlessness and less compassion.
More aggressive in the circulation wars
9
Newspapers 19th Century
The New Journalism (1865-1914) birth of modern
journalism 1. Emphasis on informing
(Adolph Ochs, New York Times) objective
journalism 2. Reporting as craft
specialization in subject (beats) and
functions 3. Technology improvements
trans-Atlantic cable two-sided
presses telephone electric light
(allows for night work)
10
Newspapers 20th Century

• Progressive Era Reform of the excesses of the
  free-market era -- newspapers played a major roll
• The mass medium for advertisers up to World War
  II
• Development of chains (economies of scale)
• 1920s Tabloids and Jazz Journalism
• 1930s Press-Radio War
• Post-WW II Decline in circulation and
  advertising revenue in competition with radio and
  television -- newspapers failing and merging
• 1972 Newspaper Preservation Act (Joint
  Operating Agreements to bolster local
  competition)
• 1990s The newspaper confronts the Internet

11
Newspapers Alternatives to the main stream

• Literary journalism Tom Wicker on the Attica
  Prison Riot, Tom Wolfe on the counter-culture
• Alternative journalists I.F.Stone and Dorothy
  Day
• Minority newspapers For and about communities
  underserved by the general press, such as the
  African-American press and Alternative Weeklies
  for the young