Newspapers: The Rise and Decline of Modern Journalism Chapter 8

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http://www.newseum.org/exhibits_th/exhibits/ pulitzer_photos/index.aspx?item=pulitzer_onli ne_exhibit&style=c

Niiu.de the personalized newspaper e.g. of a micro medium 

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Enthusiastic newspaper readers will soon be able to use the website niiu.de to compile their own, personalised newspapers from their preferred daily papers. The newspaper will have about 24 pages and will be printed according to readers’ wishes and delivered to them at home. So far, this project includes the German dailies “Tagesspiegel”, the “Frankfurter Rundschau” and the “Märkische Allgemeine”, as well as two Russian papers; seven more are set to follow. Social network sites are also involved with Niiu: by using a Facebook application, personal news can be incorporated into the newspaper.

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Having to juggle multiple national, local, and international papers to find one's interests would inevitably become a chore, especially vis-à-vis the speed and convenience of internet news. The same behavioral phenomenon is in fact the very reason why the internet seems to be ruining traditional newspapers; people, especially young adults and students, are tending find their news and information from a variety of sources on the internet rather than a single source that marked the newspaper's monopoly and success in the 20th century.

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The resulting idea was simple and clear: an individualized newspaper, composed of selected pages and sections from papers, delivered each morning to one's door just like a regular paper. The main idea was to combine all the varying sources of news and information, because it is normal for young people who have grown up with the internet to have not one source of information but many

“A lifetime champion of women and the poor, Nellie Bly pioneered what was then called detective or stunt journalism. Her work inspired the twentieth-century practice of investigative journalism—from Ida Tarbell’s exposés of oil corporations in the early 1900s to the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting...” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRo-lz53_w8 Documentary from National History Day 2009- Made with Final Cut Pro Junior Division, 3rd Place in States Please comment and rate:)

Newspapers Today 

Newspapers have historically acted as chroniclers of daily life. 

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In the digital age, the industry is losing papers and readers. 

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Inform and entertain

2007—Total newspaper ad revenues fell 7% overall, despite 20% increase in online ad sales.

Losses raise big concerns for future of newspaper’s.

The Evolution of American Newspapers 

Colonial papers  Benjamin Harris: Publick Occurrences (1690)

Inflammatory by standards of the times  Not a newspaper by modern standards  Banned by the colony after one issue John Campbell: the Boston News-Letter (1704)  Reported on mundane events that took place in Europe months earlier James Franklin: the New England Courant (1721)  Stories that interested ordinary readers 

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Colonial Papers (cont.) 

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Benjamin Franklin: the Pennsylvania Gazette (1729)  Historians rate among the best  Run with subsidies from political parties as well as advertising John Peter Zenger: the New-York Weekly Journal (1733)  Arrested for seditious libel  Jury ruled in his favor, as long as stories are true.  Decision provided foundation for First Amendment. By 1765, about thirty newspapers in American colonies

Partisan Press   

1784—first daily newspaper Two types: political and commercial Parties shaped press history.  Anti–British rule 

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Political agendas shaped newspapers.  Partisan press forerunner of editorials  Commercial press forerunner of the modern business section

Circulation in hundreds, not thousands Readership: the wealthy and educated

Penny Press 

1833—Benjamin Day’s New York Sun   

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Human-interest stories 

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Local events, scandals, and police reports Blazed the trail for celebrity news Fabricated stories Ordinary individuals facing extraordinary challenges

Success spawned wave of penny papers.

Penny Press Contributions 

Developed a system of information distribution  

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Promoted literacy among the public 

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Modern technology to mass-produce and cut costs Wire services Middle- and working-class readers could afford the papers and were attracted to true-crime and human-interest stories.

Empowered the public in government affairs 

Articles about politics and commerce

Yellow Journalism  

Pulitzer and Hearst Sensational, overly dramatic     

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Crimes Celebrities Scandals Disaster Intrigue

Provided roots for investigative journalism 

Exposed corruption in business and government

Competing Models of Print Journalism 

Objectivity 

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Ochs and the New York Times, 1896  Distanced itself from yellow journalism  Focused on documentation of major events  More affluent readership  Lowered the price to a penny, so middle class read as marker for educated and well-informed Inverted-pyramid style  Answer who, what, where, when (sometimes why and how) at top  Less significant details at bottom

Limits of Objectivity

• Can news ever be objective? • Are facts alone enough? •What is a verifiable fact?

• What do we need from newspapers?

Newspapers Undergo Change 

USA Today  

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Color Mimics broadcast news in use of brief news items

Online journalism changes the news landscape. 

January 1998: The Drudge Report broke Lewinsky story before Newsweek.

 Reduced standards for journalistic accuracy?

Economic Demands vs. Editorial Opportunities 

Newshole = 35 to 50% of paper 

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Newsroom staff     

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Remaining space devoted to advertising Publisher and owner Editors Reporters Photographers Copy editors

Wire services and feature syndicates important sources of material 

Staff cannot possibly produce enough or cover the world.

Ownership, Economics, Technology, and Innovation   

Decline in readership End of competing newspapers in cities Joint operating agreement (JOA) 

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Two newspapers keep separate news divisions while merging business and production operations. In 2007, JOAs were still in place in 10 cities.

Newspaper chains  

Gannett nation’s largest Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. multinational

What Gannett Owns Newspapers • 85 daily papers and 900 nondaily publications – USA Today – USA Weekend – Asbury Park Press (N.J.) – Detroit Free Press – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) – Arizona Republic (Phoenix) – Cincinnati Enquirer – Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) – Des Moines Register (Iowa) – Honolulu Advertiser – Indianapolis Star – News Journal (Wilmington, Del.) – Tennessean (Nashville) – Army Times Publishing Company (newspapers) – Newsquest plc (newspaper publishing, United Kingdom)

– Texas-New Mexico Newspaper Partnership (41%, community newspapers) Television • Captivate Network (advertising-based television in elevators) • 23 TV stations – KARE-TV (Minneapolis) – KNAZ-TV (Flagstaff, Ariz.) – KSDK-TV (St. Louis) – KTHV-TV (Little Rock, Ark.) – KTVD-TV (Denver) – KUSA-TV (Denver) – KXTV-TV (Sacramento, Calif.) – WATL-TV (Atlanta) – WBIR-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.) – WCSH-TV (Portland, Me.) – WGRZ-TV (Buffalo, N.Y.) – WJXX-TV (Jacksonville)

– WKYC-TV (Cleveland) – WTLV-TV (Jacksonville) – WTSP-TV (Tampa) – WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Internet • CareerBuilder (40%) • Classified Ventures (24%, online content publishing) • Planet Discover • ShopLocal.com (42%) • Topix.net Magazines and Printing • Clipper Magazine (direct mail advertising) • Gannett Healthcare Group (periodical publishing) • Gannett Offset (commercial printing)