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Chapter 4

Newspapers

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A Short History of Newspapers

• The Earliest Newspapers

Ø  In Caesar’s time, Rome had Acta Diurna (actions of the day) Ø  It was written on a tablet and posted on wall after each Senate meeting

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A Short History of Newspapers

• Today’s newspapers have their roots in the 17th-century Europe’s Corantos—one-page news sheets about specific events

• Diurnals are true forerunners of daily newspaper—a term that entered the English language by the 1660s

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A Short History of Newspapers

•  Colonial Newspapers Ø  Bookseller/print shops posted broadsides

or broadsheets

Ø  Boston News-Letter published from 1704 until the Revolution

Ø  In 1734 publisher John Peter Zenger criticized that colony’s royal governor and was jailed for seditious libel

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A Short History of Newspapers

•  Newspapers After Independence

Ø 1790: Bill of Rights

Ø First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”

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A Short History of Newspapers

• 1798: Congress passed four laws known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts; they were not renewed when Congress reconsidered them in 1800

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A Short History of Newspapers

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A Short History of Newspapers

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A Short History of Newspapers

• The Modern Newspaper Emerges

Ø  Benjamin Day’s September 3, 1833, issue of New York Sun was the first example of the penny press

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A Short History of Newspapers

• Gordon Bennett’s New York Morning Herald pioneered the correspondent system by placing reporters in Washington, D.C., and other major U.S. cities as well as abroad

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A Short History of Newspapers

• The People’s Medium

Ø  1827: Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper, was published by John B. Russwurum and the Reverend Samuel Cornish

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A Short History of Newspapers

•  Chicago Defender published on May 5, 1905

Ø Most influential African American newspaper after Civil War

Ø First Black paper to be a commercial success

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A Short History of Newspapers

• The Modern Newspaper Emerges

Ø  1948: Six New York papers decided to pool efforts and share expenses

Ø  Other domestic wire services followed: Ø Associated Press (1900) Ø United Press (1907) Ø  International News Service (1909)

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A Short History of Newspapers

•  1883: Joseph Pulitzer adopted a populist approach and an activist style of coverage

•  Yellow journalism Ø Sensationalist news Ø Giant headlines Ø Heavy use of illustrations Ø Reliance on cartoons and color

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A Short History of Newspapers

• Between 1910 and early 1940s, subscriptions doubled, and ad revenues tripled

• Beginning of newspaper chains

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Newspapers and Their Audiences

• Nearly 50 million newspapers are sold daily in the United States

• 104 million people report reading a paper every day

• Circulation rose from 48 to 62 million between 1945 and 1970

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Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

• Over 9,800 newspapers operate in the United States

Ø  15% are dailies

Ø  77% are weeklies

Ø  8% are semiweekly

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• Pass-along readership Ø  104 million people a day in touch with a daily Ø  200 million a week in touch with a weekly

• Overall circulation is falling despite a growing population

Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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• Types of Newspapers

Ø  National daily newspapers

Ø  Large metropolitan dailies Ø zoned editions

Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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• Suburban and small-town dailies • Weeklies and semiweeklies • Ethnic Press • Alternative/Dissident Press • Commuter Papers

Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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• Newspapers account for 17.9% of all advertising spending in the United States

• Biggest advertisers include retail stores and

telecommunications, auto, computer, and entertainment brands

The Newspaper as an Advertising Medium

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• 65% of space is given to advertising • 60% is devoted to local retail advertising and

another 25% to classified—mostly local

Scope and Structure of the Newspaper Industry

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• 35% of the newspaper not filled with advertising

•  Includes content provided by feature syndicates

The News and Feature Services

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Trends and Convergence in Newspaper Publishing

• Loss of competition

Ø  The industry has seen a dramatic decline in competition

Ø  In 1923, 502 American cities had two or

more competing dailies. Today, that number totals fewer than 20, which have separate competing (different ownership) papers

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Trends and Convergence in Newspaper Publishing

• Loss of Competition

Ø  Very few cities could support more than one paper; a result of circulation and revenue numbers leveling out for urban dailies

Ø  1970 Newspaper Preservation Act, allowed

joint operating agreements—today, six cities have JOAs

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Conglomeration: Hypercommercialism, Erosion of the Firewall, and Loss of Mission

• Hypercommercialization

• Erasure of the distinction between ads and news

• Papers may abandon their journalistic mission

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Convergence with the Internet

• Fear that newspapers will fail to successfully combat print’s failing business model, as younger readers turn toward free tabloids and electronic media

• The Internet has proven most directly financially damaging on newspapers’ advertising business

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Convergence with the Internet

• Only 12% of 10–34-year-olds read dailies

• The Internet empowers readers to control and interact with news; which led to the traditional newspaper reinventing itself by converging with technology

• This marriage of Web and newspapers has not yet proved financially successful for the older medium

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Changes in Newspaper Readership

•  The shift in tone of modern newspapers is a direct result of changes in nature of newspaper readership •  What kind of culture develops on soft news rather than hard news? •  What happens to journalistic integrity when front pages are given over to reports of starlets’ affairs, sports heroes’ retirements, and full-color photos of plane wrecks?

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Changes in Newspaper Readership

•  56% of tablet and e-reader owners use devices to read the news •  80% of newspapers make content available for mobile devices

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Changes in Newspaper Readership

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Developing Media Literacy Skills

•  Interpreting Relative Placement of Stories

Ø  Most important on the earliest pages

Ø  Important stories “above the fold” and toward the left of the page

Ø  Relative story placement is factor in agenda setting

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Developing Media Literacy Skills