CHAPTER ESSENTIALS

• The social impact of news—the process by which people gather information and create narrative reports to make sense of events surrounding them—accelerated with the invention of the printing press, leading to the creation of the first colonial newspapers. Known as the partisan press, these papers critiqued government, spread the views of different political parties, and offered commercial information to businessmen (pp. 71–73).

• Paper and production advances made during the Industrial Revolution as well as a rising middle class set the stage for a more inclusive press, leading to the creation of penny papers—priced at an affordable one cent—which enabled papers to become a mass medium (pp. 73–74).

• The proliferation of penny papers caused many papers to begin accepting ads, which further expanded the industry and led six New York newspapers in 1848 to form the Associated Press, the first news wire service—a commercial and cooperative organization that relayed news stories and information around the country and the world using telegraph lines (pp. 75–76).

• In the late 1800s, a new brand of papers arose, ushering in an era of yellow journalism, which emphasized sensational stories and also laid the foundation for investigative journalism (pp. 76–78).

• In the late 1800s, as readership expanded nationwide, many papers, such as the New York Times, began presenting so-called objective journalism, or factual, balanced coverage, via the inverted-pyramid style—a story form that packaged and presented reports based on answering who, what, when, and where (pp. 76, 78–79).

• As newspapers in the early twentieth century started moving toward the objective journalism model, universities started offering advanced journalism degrees, transforming journalism from a trade into a profession with values and established practices (p. 79).

• Amid the complex national and global events of the early 1900s, interpretive journalism grew out of the public’s need to put events and issues in context, becoming more widespread in the 1950s and 1960s (p. 80).

• First with radio, and later with television, the culture of journalism grew from the printed page of newspapers and magazines to the airwaves, and later to the Internet. This brought a new speed to reporting, while also bringing new logistical and ethical dilemmas to journalism (pp. 85–86).

• As radio, television, and later the Internet entered the scene, the practice of journalism moved into each new realm, drawing upon and adapting earlier approaches (pp. 80–81).

• The coverage of Civil Right Movement in the 1960s, with the way televised news documented the plight of Southern blacks in evocative moving images, demonstrated the power of this visual medium to connect with audiences in new ways (pp. 81, 84).

• The rise of cable news in the 1980s amplified the need for a steady stream of content and led to major changes in what is considered news, with a growing reliance on “talking head” hosts and pundits (pp. 84–85).

• We define news as the process of gathering information and making reports that use a narrative framework. A key part of a journalist’s job is determining what information is newsworthy—that is, what merits transformation into news stories (pp. 87–88).

• A number of values define the practice of American journalism. These include neutrality (which leads to greater credibility); newsroom diversity; the drive to get a good story, to get the story first, and to get the story right. In addition to professional standards, scholars have found a number of underlying values that influence journalists and the news, including ethnocentrism (which involves judging other countries and cultures according to how they live up to or imitate American practices and ideals), responsible capitalism (which assumes that businesspeople compete with one another to increase prosperity for all), small-town pastoralism (which causes journalists to favor the small over the large and the rural over the urban), and individualism (which favors individual rights and responsibilities over group needs or institutional mandates) (pp. 88–93).

• Journalists face a variety of ethical dilemmas. For example, they must decide whether or not to use deception to gain information or whether to invade someone’s privacy, all the while trying to avoid situations that present conflicts of interest or situations in which they may benefit personally. In an effort to resolve these dilemmas, journalists have developed guidelines based on ethical principles (pp. 93–95).

• Whether traditional broadcast, cable, or print news, one all-too-common characteristic is that newsrooms are shrinking due to budget cuts and layoffs (pp. 95–96).

• The majority of newspapers’ revenue comes from selling advertising space, which can take up as much as one-half to two-thirds of large newspapers’ pages. The newshole, which has shrunk in most newspapers today, refers to the space left over for news content after all the ads are placed (p. 96).

• Several news sites have switched to some form of a paywall system, which requires users to pay either to access news reports or to access more than a set number of articles per month (pp. 96–97).

• Journalists are trying to adjust to a rapidly changing news experience as they work in shrinking newsrooms and compete with, or adapt to, social media, blogs, citizen journalism, and an ever-more-polarized political sphere (pp. 99, 102–105).

• As the fate of print journalism is called into question, we must ask ourselves where we will get the best information, based on strong reporting, that we need to make informed choices and receive multiple points of view (pp. 106–107).

1. Question 3.1

   How did newspapers emerge as a mass medium during the penny press era? How did content changes make this happen?

2. Question 3.2

   What different forms of journalism developed? What are their characteristics? What are their strengths and limitations?

3. Question 3.3

   What are some of the differences between the practices of print and broadcast journalism? How might the changes to journalism as it entered the broadcasting age be similar or different to the changes currently happening to journalism in the Information Age?

4. Question 3.4

   Describe and discuss some of the business challenges faced by newspapers today.

5. Question 3.5

   How might the “echo chamber” and “fake” news be changing the way the public views, and uses, the news?

6. Question 3.6

   What is journalism’s role in a democracy?

• DESCRIBE the current financial situation of your local newspaper, including its circulation and advertisers, and the online version of the paper. Ask others to comment on the current problems facing newspapers.

• ANALYZE trends and patterns in the data. What problems are noted most often? What do people seem to like or dislike about your local paper? What are the main points people make about your local paper and its online edition?

• INTERPRET what these patterns mean. For example, who is being best served by the newspaper in your community? Are there people in your community who are not served well by the newspaper?

• EVALUATE what you have discovered. Which criticisms and ideas are good or bad, and why?

• ENGAGE with your community on your findings. What problems and solutions are noted most often? What new business models are suggested? Brainstorm with the people you have been talking to about two or three specific ideas for improving the news in your community.