Start with historical approach

1) history is important

2) what happened in past shapes evolution of media

3) way to gain perspective on contemporary period

Book Rise and Fall of Media Establishment lays out thesis
1) there have been systematic differences in media stages over last 200 years in United States
2) media of 19th century different from 20th and 21th centuries

3) media behavior and organization have consequences for campaigns, governance, and power of media in political system

4) you can gain better appreciation of contemporary challenges and issues facing media by understanding how things have evolved

-our political system was characterized by a partisan press

-I mean that in different way than today when people say media have liberal bias or conservative bias or that media do not reflect my personal values

-newspapers financed, sponsored, and run by party leaders

-direct tie between press and specific parties

-each party had favored press outlets that reflect its point of view

-opposition press criticized everything the other side did (book details)

-Video: A and E Biography on Thomas Jefferson

-negative campaign in 1800

-political victory

-later allegations of sexual misconduct

Case of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in 1802
-local gossip monger, James Callendar, applied for postmaster position at local post office (patronage job)
-turned down by Jefferson Administration
-Callendar starts writing columns critical of administration
-Jefferson's allies responded by accusing the man of spreading syphilis and being unfaithful to his wife
-At that point, Callendar got really mad
-reported that he knew a secret about Jefferson
-said it was common knowledge among Jefferson's neighbors that the widower Jefferson was sleeping with his slaves and had fathered several children with a slave named Sally Hemings

-charges spread by opposition press along with bunch of other negative information about Jefferson

-footnote: allegations now found to have been genetically documented thru DNA testing of Jefferson and Hemings descendents

-accepted as a true fact

Controversy illustrates key features of press of that time (organization and behavior)
-newspapers were quite partisan and scurrilous
-reported much personal information and innuendo
-heavy reliance on rumor and mud-slinging (shows current era has no monopoly on that kind of coverage)
-press was partisan tool designed to be party mouthpieces
-financed, sponsored, and controlled by party politicians through printing contracts, lists of uncalled-for letters (before home delivery), patronage jobs, and secret news leaks

Parallels with European press of today where newspapers often tied to particular parties
-Christian Democrats, Socialists, and Catholics have own newspapers which express their point of view
-less true in United Kingdom, but Times considered Tory paper, Guardian is more leftist, and Independent conveys centrist point of view

Political perspective: this style of coverage had important consequences for power of press and way newspapers viewed by public
1) newspapers were not very powerful in first few decades of our country's existence
-elite audience--only 2% of adults subscribed to a newspaper in 1790s and early 1800s
-seen as partisan so content taken with grain of salt by readers
2) few worries about overall influence in political system

-newspapers not seen as very dangerous

-protection in large numbers
-people read more than one paper so as to get alternative perspectives

3) In case of Jefferson and Sally Hemings, scurrilous charges had no political consequences
-scandal was reported in 1802, but Jefferson re-elected by big margin in 1804
-no discernible impact on his ability to govern

-strong reputation as successful president

-considered one of top five presidents (Jefferson Memorial)
-demonstrates weak power of partisan press to alter political standing

-book reviews other cases illustrating partisan press, but will leave the details for you to read

Flash-forward to 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s (middle of Commercial Press era)
-press different in certain respects from partisan press

-several historical changes since turn of century:
-rise of mass circulation--subscriptions rose from 2% in 1790s to 20% in 1870s

-less of an elite activity (consistent with democratization of America)
-price dropped through power of penny press (used to cost six times as much--a week's pay for average person)
-technological innovations altered structure and behavior of press

-telegraph in 1844 (improved speed of news transmission)

-railroad in middle of century (increased delivery times)

-improvements in printing process (cut costs and allowed for bigger audiences)

-two major changes:

1) nationalization of press

-growth in circulation levels broadened audience and outlook

-less provincial than in earlier period

-more likely to take national perspective

2) commercialization of newspapers
-need to appeal to broader set of readers introduced commercial pressures
-Government Printing Office created in 1860--cut off lucrative printing contracts for many newspapers (decline of party sponsors)
-rise of powerful editors such as William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer altered power between politicians and journalists
-commercial revenues from ads and subscriptions liberated journalists from partisan subsidies
Consequences of Commercial Press: Tabloidization

-tabloid coverage, but not necessarily along party lines

-introduction of big, bold headlines

-exclusive stories (way to cement niche in competitive marketplace)

-use of color to emphasize points

-not that different from partisan press in terms of media influence
-newspapers not very strong except in episodic cases
-low credibility among readers
-reporters as sleazy creatures who ran from crime scene to crime scene
-not well-educated and not very knowledgeable
-lower social status
-biased and unfair coverage

-limited ability to alter views
Systemic Role: An Amoral Press

-limited ability to act as moral conscience (tragic consequences in late 19th century)
-desire for mass audience led to heavy emphasis on scandal and sensationalism

-period of yellow journalism

-exclusive interest in profit motive and commercial success

-generally a weak media with little independent clout or voice

-did what it could to make money

-period of 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s was crucial time period in American history
-time in aftermath of Civil War when post-war Reconstruction dismantled and the South was brought back into national fold

-period of great change and turmoil for political system and society at large

-how to rebuild country after turmoil of civil war and emotions surrounding slavery

-politically, the period after Civil War was known as Reconstruction period

-in some respects, there were incredible gains

-13th amendment abolished slavery (1865)

-14th amendment guaranteed equal protection under the law (1868)

-15th amendment guaranteed right of male suffrage regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (1870) (female suffrage came around 1920)

-restored civil rights and extended democratic privileges

-many blacks voted

-record numbers of blacks elected throughout the South

-majority in lower chamber of South Carolina legislature

-Mississippi had black lieutenant governor, secretary of state, superintendent of education, and Speaker of the House

-black office-holders through Old South

-14 blacks elected to US House of Representatives and 2 US Senators

-economic panic of 1873 and severe deflation (as bad as Great Depression in terms of business failures)

-controversial election of 1876 (Democrat Sam Tilden got more votes than Republican Rutherford Hayes, but no electoral college majority (contested votes in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina)

-Electoral Commission voted 8-7 in favor of Hayes

-dismantled Reconstruction, restored home rule to South, and pulled back federal troops

-rise of vigilante violence directed against blacks

-from 1882 to 1930, estimate of 2,805 lynching victims in ten Southern states (2,500 were black or 90%)

-beatings, whippings, and verbal humiliations

a) active black press that protested violence, but with little success

-black female editor named Ida Wells Barnett who was very outspoken against lynchings and helped to document abuses

-but not in strong position to stop the violence

-her newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, was firebombed

b) competitive newspaper environment led to weak stance on black voting rights

-New York Times supported black suffrage, but only to those "who could read" (later basis on discriminatory literacy tests)

c) white newspapers reported lynchings as spectator sport

-book by Ralph Ginzburg, 100 Years of Lynchings, described press coverage

-April 28, 1899 Kissimmee Valley, Flordia Gazette described tortune and burning of black man, Sam Holt at a stake, surrounded by mob of 2,000

-accused of murdering a white man and raping a white woman

-newspaper said he "admitted his guilt" Click for Lynching Coverage

-Bangor, Maine Commercial on September 5, 1899 had story about feelings of a Southern reporter assigned to cover a lynching

-reporter said it was disagreeable to attend a lynchings because unlike the mob, he is not overcome with emotion

-covered 12 lynchings (some seemed guilty, while others did not)

-rise of Ku Klux Klan as vigilante movement

-video: History Channel's "Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History"

-problem of community standards in Southern communities hostile to blacks

-assignment: you are a white editor of predominantly white newspaper

-how do you cover a lynching? how can you justify your news coverage?

-personal principles, views of community, opinions of readers, subscribers, and advertisers

-triumph of community values over personal principles

-moral problems of this style of coverage
-standard of majoritarian sentiments within community

Tim Cook, Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution, University of Chicago Press, 1998

Culver Smith, The Press, Politics, and Patronage: The Amerian Governments Use of Newspapers 1789-1875, University of Georgia Press, 1977

John Tebbel and Sarah Miles Watts, The Press and the Presidency: From George Washington to Ronald Reagan, Oxford University Press, 1985

Michael and Edwin Emery, The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media, Allyn and Bacon, 1996

Gerald Baldasty, The Commercialization of News in the Nineteenth Century, University of Wisconsin Press, 1992

Rutgers University Library American and British History Resources on the Internet: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rulib/socsci/hist/amhist.html

Furman University Dept. of History Documents: http://www.furman.edu/~benson/docs