Mass Media and Society

Chapter 4: Newspapers

Jan. 29, 2014

Chapter 4:Newspapers• History of newspapers• Different styles and

models of journalism• Access to information and

effect on popular culture• Current industry trends• Online journalism

‘Page One’

• Documentary on New York Times Media Desk and changing landscape of journalism

• Carl Bernstein on journalism today

History of newspapers• First newspapers: 1600s

in Europe following invention of the press

• Colonial newspapers began in 1690

• 1734: John Peter Zenger sued by N.Y. colonial governor

History of newspapers

• 1833: Penny Press• Yellow Journalism:

Pulitzer and Hearst• “Citizen Kane”• Sensationalism and

tabloids

Journalism: Styles and models

• Objectivity: “impartiality in writing”; New York Times, 1896

• “All the news that’s fit to print”

• Inverted pyramid style

Styles and models

• Interpretive journalism• Literary journalism:

Capote’s “In Cold Blood”• Radio and TV threaten

print journalism• Advocacy and precision

journalism

Styles and models

• Advocacy journalism• Consensus and conflict• Niche and underground

newspapers

Control of information

• Deciding which stories to cover

• Role as gatekeeper• Resources• Watchdog journalism

Current trends

• Declining readership and revenues

• Competition from web operations and blogs

• Paywalls, partnerships, individual brands

Revenue sources

• Print advertising: 46%• Circulation (subscriptions

and sales): 27%• Digital advertising: 11%• New revenue: 8%• Niche marketing: 8%

Why is this important?• Most news stories today

originate from print publications

• These are still the largest news operations existing

• Other industries are/will be disrupted by technological advances