Newspapers bring information to the world – and for more than three centuries, journalists in the United States have informed the public about pivotal events, both good and bad. While journalists report on significant events, it is interesting to consider how it all began – how did journalism take hold in the United States, and how has it changed over time?
As we will soon learn, it does not take a master degree journalism to recognize the role that the media has had in shaping and framing the world around us. From the Civil War to the modern era, let us explore how journalism has helped America understand the world around us and how its evolution continues to shape the way we consume news media.
From Hand to Steam
Journalism has often been linked to the newspaper, and it must be said that for many decades, printed media of current events has often been a vital source of information. The newspaper, in turn, has been linked to the invention of the printing press.
Invented in 15th-century Germany, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press that enabled the mass production of printed media, including magazines, books, and newspapers. While this invention was revolutionary at the time, it had drawbacks. Before the invention of the steam press, large print batches were expensive, limiting newspapers to relatively small batches.
Journalism played a key role in distributing local news, as well as clips from other sources, including other newspapers. Limited to small batches, journalism had a much smaller role than it does today, often limited to those who could afford to purchase the then-expensive medium.
The 19th century saw a seismic shift in the capabilities of printing presses with the invention of the steam-powered printing press. First used in the United Kingdom, the steam-powered press rapidly spread to America, massively increasing the printing capacity of news outlets.
The arrival of the steam-powered printing press had dual implications: it massively increased the reach of newspapers while substantially reducing the costs and time required to produce a newspaper. This moment, known as the Birth of the Penny Press, essentially made news more available to a broader audience at a much cheaper price.
The 19th century continued to see the rapid proliferation of news outlets. Newspapers such as The New York Times and The Boston Globe emerged during this era of cheap news – and remain in circulation to this day.
New Channels, New Voices
For nearly a century, journalism made its way around America almost entirely through printed formats, such as newspapers and magazines. While Marconi invented the first radio in the 1890s (and won a Nobel Prize for it a decade later), it took nearly five centuries for the technology to be effectively utilized by journalists.
One such pioneer of the broadcast era was a man by the name of Edward Roscoe Murrow. Recognizing the limitations of print journalism, Murrow was an early example of a broadcast journalist – using a relatively new medium (radio) to inform the public of goings-on in London throughout World War II.
In a time when bombs were falling on London and the Blitz was underway, Murrow’s broadcasts brought the sounds of war across the Atlantic. Starting on September 21, 1940, Murrow’s broadcasts painted a harrowing view of war, while definitively highlighting the role that broadcast journalism can play in delivering news to the masses.
Radio was not the only new channel to emerge in the 20th century, however – and it would not be the last. Television also appeared in the 1940s as a broadcast force, although with war redeployments causing staff shortages during World War II, television didn’t gain prominence until after the war was over.
Television has become a vital second pillar of broadcast journalism. With print media limited by the time it takes for news to travel from the source to the newsstand, television and radio provided new ways to rapidly disseminate information.
Take, for example, Walter Cronkite’s report on the death of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 – a broadcast of significance, delivered to the American public in a matter of minutes on television.
The role of journalism began to change – no longer the first point for information, newspapers became a place for investigation and opinion, while broadcast channels became the critical path for delivery – the way to get the latest news out, as fast as possible.
The Rise of Digital Journalism
The 1990s marked a pivotal moment in technology. 1991 saw the introduction of the World Wide Web – the early instances of what we know as the Internet today.
The Internet presented a seismic shift in the way that people communicate. All of a sudden, anyone with an internet connection and a compatible device could not only consume but also create news media, all for the world to see. Today, newspapers and broadcast media no longer have a controlling stake in news; journalism has evolved, yet again.
No longer bound to certain forms, the Internet has enabled journalism to flourish. High-speed communication has allowed coalitions of journalists to process data and information on a scale that would have been impossible before the Internet – such as the work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on what is now known as the Panama Papers, an investigation of terabytes of data that unveiled the shadowy world of offshore finance.
The Internet has also enabled journalists to take their craft and share it with the world, often without the limitations of editorial oversight. Some journalists are finding their own audiences, such as the work of Casey Newton on tech newsletter Platformer, bringing light to the world of big tech.
The rise in digital journalism has not left broadcast and print journalism unscathed. As digital channels have evolved, advertising, once a critical pillar for paying for the cost of print, has shifted, forcing publishers to review their offerings and, in some instances, downsize.
Journalism has a long and storied history in the United States. From speaking out about the British, prior to the Civil War, to covering modern events, such as presidential elections, journalism has long been tied to the channels that are available to it.
In today’s digital age, it is exciting to imagine what journalism may look like twenty years from now. With technology evolving at such a rapid pace, it is an exciting time to be a journalist – or to aspire to be one.
Featured image credit: DepositPhotos.com
