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Quiz for Thinking Like a Historian: Making Mass Media: Newspaper Empires

Question

1. Based on the sources included in this feature, why do you think “yellow journalism” was popular and profitable around the turn of the nineteenth century?

Working-class New Yorkers were eager to read stories about their communities.

The strategies employed by newspaper boys were aggressive and also highly effective.

Wealthy and middle-class New Yorkers found working-class antics very interesting.

Newspapers informed New Yorkers about the important news stories of the day.

Correct. The answer is a. These sources show that urban newspapers contained stories and other material (such as sources 1, 3, and 4) that addressed the lives and experiences of the working class.

Incorrect. The answer is a. These sources show that urban newspapers contained stories and other material (such as sources 1, 3, and 4) that addressed the lives and experiences of the working class.

Question

2. The evidence presented in source 1 (“The Yellow Kid” comic) supports which of the following conclusions about the conditions of life in New York at the turn of the nineteenth century?

Lack of regulation in urban areas meant that children regularly rode on top of trolley cars.

Public transportation was so inefficient that it was easier for New Yorkers to travel by bicycle.

The population in urban working-class areas was both dense and extremely diverse.

A baby boom at the end of the nineteenth century created a glut of children in urban areas.

Correct. The answer is c. The comic is fanciful in that it portrays children climbing and riding all over the street car, but it also depicts the realities of an urban population that was both dense and diverse by age, race, and ethnicity.

Incorrect. The answer is c. The comic is fanciful in that it portrays children climbing and riding all over the street car, but it also depicts the realities of an urban population that was both dense and diverse by age, race, and ethnicity.

Question

3. What message might a middle-class reformer have taken away from a newspaper that contained sources 1, 2, 4, and 5?

Mass-market newspapers employed sensationalist practices in order to build audiences and sell papers.

Urban life presented many dangers and corrupting influences to the children of the working class.

Urban life made working-class children strong and resilient and prepared them to be industrious adults.

Mass-market newspapers served an important political purpose by educating workers about the issues that concerned them.

Correct. The answer is b. Reading this combination of sources, a middle-class reformer would likely have taken note of the articles’ focus on urban children. Sources 1 and 3 suggest that children in New York lacked adult supervision and engaged in dangerous behavior. Sources 4 and 5 indicated the economic pressures faced by newspaper boys and the corrupt strategies they pursued to sell their papers.

Incorrect. The answer is b. Reading this combination of sources, a middle-class reformer would likely have taken note of the articles’ focus on urban children. Sources 1 and 3 suggest that children in New York lacked adult supervision and engaged in dangerous behavior. Sources 4 and 5 indicated the economic pressures faced by newspaper boys and the corrupt strategies they pursued to sell their papers.

Question

4. What do these sources reveal about how newspapermen like Pulitzer and Hearst viewed their role as publishers of urban papers?

Hearst and Pulitzer believed it was important to provide New Yorkers with information about their city.

The publishers were businessmen whose primary goal was to run successful and profitable companies.

The men aimed to expose the dangers of urban life and to spark activism among the city’s concerned citizens.

Recognizing the stresses of urban life, the publishers sought to provide an activity for Americans’ leisure and recreation.

Correct. The answer is b. This collection of sources, which emphasizes the sensationalism of mass-media newspapers and their circulation statistics, reveals that the publishers were primarily businessmen who sought to run successful and profitable companies. They did not publish their papers primarily to convey information, but did so to make a profit.

Incorrect. The answer is b. This collection of sources, which emphasizes the sensationalism of mass-media newspapers and their circulation statistics, reveals that the publishers were primarily businessmen who sought to run successful and profitable companies. They did not publish their papers primarily to convey information, but did so to make a profit.