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Newpaper: Pioneering Press Freedom
www.americancorner.org.tw | 2013-01-15 13:55
In 1990 the press celebrated its 300th anniversary as an American institution. The first newspaper in the colonies, Publick Occurrences: Both Foreign and Domestick, lasted only one day in 1690 before British officials suppressed it. But other papers sprang up, and by the 1730s the colonial press was strong enough to criticize British governors. In 1734 the governor of New York charged John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, with seditious libel. Zenger's lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, argued that "the truth of the facts" was reason enough to print a story. In a decision bolstering freedom of the press, the jury acquitted Zenger.
By the 1820s about 25 daily newspapers and more than 400 weeklies were being published in the United States. Horace Greeley founded the New York Tribune in 1841, and it quickly became the nation's most influential newspaper. Two media giants, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, began building their newspaper empires after the American Civil War (1861-65). Fiercely competitive, they resorted to "yellow journalism" -- sensational and often inaccurate reporting aimed at attracting readers. Early in the 20th century, newspaper editors realized that the best way to attract readers was to give them all sides of a story, without bias. This standard of objective reporting is today one of American journalism's most important traditions. Another dominant feature of early 20th-century journalism was the creation of chains of newspapers operating under the same ownership, led by a group owned by Hearst. This trend accelerated after World War II, and today about 75 percent of all U.S. daily papers are owned by newspaper chains.
With the advent of television in the 1940s and 1950s, the new electronic medium made inroads on newspaper circulation: Readers tended to overlook the afternoon paper because they could watch the day's news on TV. In 1971, 66 cities had two or more dailies, usually one published in the morning and one in the afternoon. In 1995, only 36 cities had two or more dailies.
Overall, the number of dailies dropped from 1,772 in 1950 to 1,480 in 2000, and the number of Sunday papers rose from 549 in 1950 to 917 in 2000. The combined figure is the highest number of newspapers with the highest total circulation -- 115 million -- in the world. Nonetheless, the largest U.S. newspapers have been losing circulation in recent years, a trend that can be attributed to the increasing availability of news from television and other sources.
The top five daily newspapers by circulation in 2000 were the Wall Street Journal (1,762,751), USA Today (1,692,666), the New York Times (1,097,180), the Los Angeles Times (1,033,399), and the Washington Post (762,009). The youngest of the top five, USA Today, was launched as a national newspaper in 1982, after exhaustive research by the Gannett chain. It relies on bold graphic design, color photos, and brief articles to capture an audience of urban readers interested in news "bites" rather than traditional, longer stories.
New technology has made USA Today possible and is enabling other newspapers to enlarge their national and international audiences. USA Today is edited and composed in McLean, Virginia, then transmitted via satellite to 32 printing plants around the country and two printing plants serving Europe and Asia. The International Herald Tribune, owned jointly by the New York Times and the Washington Post, is a global newspaper, printed via satellite in 11 cities around the world and distributed in 164 countries.
In 1992, the Chicago Sun-Times began to offer articles through America Online, one of the first companies that connected personal computers with the Internet. In 1993, the San Jose Mercury-News began distributing most of its daily text, minus photos and illustrations, to subscribers to America Online; in 1995, eight media companies announced formation of a company to create a network of on-line newspapers. Now, most American newspapers are available on the Internet, and anyone with a personal computer and a link to the Internet can scan papers from across the country in his or her own home or office.
By the 1820s about 25 daily newspapers and more than 400 weeklies were being published in the United States. Horace Greeley founded the New York Tribune in 1841, and it quickly became the nation's most influential newspaper. Two media giants, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, began building their newspaper empires after the American Civil War (1861-65). Fiercely competitive, they resorted to "yellow journalism" -- sensational and often inaccurate reporting aimed at attracting readers. Early in the 20th century, newspaper editors realized that the best way to attract readers was to give them all sides of a story, without bias. This standard of objective reporting is today one of American journalism's most important traditions. Another dominant feature of early 20th-century journalism was the creation of chains of newspapers operating under the same ownership, led by a group owned by Hearst. This trend accelerated after World War II, and today about 75 percent of all U.S. daily papers are owned by newspaper chains.
With the advent of television in the 1940s and 1950s, the new electronic medium made inroads on newspaper circulation: Readers tended to overlook the afternoon paper because they could watch the day's news on TV. In 1971, 66 cities had two or more dailies, usually one published in the morning and one in the afternoon. In 1995, only 36 cities had two or more dailies.
Overall, the number of dailies dropped from 1,772 in 1950 to 1,480 in 2000, and the number of Sunday papers rose from 549 in 1950 to 917 in 2000. The combined figure is the highest number of newspapers with the highest total circulation -- 115 million -- in the world. Nonetheless, the largest U.S. newspapers have been losing circulation in recent years, a trend that can be attributed to the increasing availability of news from television and other sources.
The top five daily newspapers by circulation in 2000 were the Wall Street Journal (1,762,751), USA Today (1,692,666), the New York Times (1,097,180), the Los Angeles Times (1,033,399), and the Washington Post (762,009). The youngest of the top five, USA Today, was launched as a national newspaper in 1982, after exhaustive research by the Gannett chain. It relies on bold graphic design, color photos, and brief articles to capture an audience of urban readers interested in news "bites" rather than traditional, longer stories.
New technology has made USA Today possible and is enabling other newspapers to enlarge their national and international audiences. USA Today is edited and composed in McLean, Virginia, then transmitted via satellite to 32 printing plants around the country and two printing plants serving Europe and Asia. The International Herald Tribune, owned jointly by the New York Times and the Washington Post, is a global newspaper, printed via satellite in 11 cities around the world and distributed in 164 countries.
In 1992, the Chicago Sun-Times began to offer articles through America Online, one of the first companies that connected personal computers with the Internet. In 1993, the San Jose Mercury-News began distributing most of its daily text, minus photos and illustrations, to subscribers to America Online; in 1995, eight media companies announced formation of a company to create a network of on-line newspapers. Now, most American newspapers are available on the Internet, and anyone with a personal computer and a link to the Internet can scan papers from across the country in his or her own home or office.
