Skip to main content

EOTO 2: Modern Journalism


Modern Journalism

What is it? Many say that the three phenomenas that changed American journalism was the penny press, yellow journalism, and muckraking.

The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland on May 12, 1840 · 1
The Baltimore Sun
newspapers.com

The Penny Press 

Created in the1830s, the penny press was cheap, hence the term "penny",  mass produced journalism. This type of journalism could be compared to tabloids that we see all over today. This type of journalism became widespread after the invention of steam powered printing. These papers only  once cent while others averaged at six cents at the time. The middle class relied on the penny press to receive there news and it prevented them from being less informed compared to the higher classes. The most popular forms of penny press were The Boston Herald, the Baltimore Sun, and the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 

Yellow Journalism 

'Fake' image of Kim Jong-un lying in glass coffin (left) and photo of the North Korean dictator in a white shirt
Fake image of Kim Jong Un in coffin
Yellow journalism is a term that was used for press that focused on sensationalism rather than facts and ethics. This type of press lacked factual information or evidence and exaggerated headlines to increase sales. A more modern term of yellow journalism that we use today is "fake news". The term yellow journalism" originated in 1890 when describing the tactics used during a competition between two NYC papers, the New York World and Journal . Unfortunately, today with such a wide realm of press, we see yellow journalism more and more everyday. Examples of modern day yellow journalism include the latest news blast "Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea leader, is Dead", a headline that caught many peoples attention but lacked actual evidence. 

Muckraking 

Julian Assange - Wikipedia
Modern Day Muckraker:
Julian Assange
Muckraking is the action of searching and publishing scandalous information of those in the public eye. This term developed in the Progressive Era, when journalists investigated political, economic, and social corruption caused by big businesses as the United States began industrializing. Today, this type of journalism could be categorized as watch dog/paparazzi or investigative journalism. A  day journalist who may be considered a muckraker is Julian Assange, a journalist who released corrupt government information to the public.    


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Confidential Sources: Press Freedom at Risk

For those of you who do not know, there is a prevalent issue in the world of Journalism today. Our press freedom is at risk everyday that we allow the torturing of Julian Assange to take place.  Julian Assange, who is the founder of WikiLeaks and an Australian journalist, has been charged  with 17 counts of espionage after leaking a host of secrets that the United States government has been keeping from us, those secrets that include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  What brought a great load of attention was a video known as “Collateral Murder ”, this was a video of US soldiers shooting a number of innocent people and laughing about it from a helicopter in Baghdad in 2007. Assange is now being held in confinement in the Belmarsh Prison, one of Britain's most notorious maximum-security prisons by the United States government due to espionage. He is held in solitary confinement 23 hours of  the day and is reported to be in ill conditions, sounds more like tort...

Silence Dogood

Many of us know Benjamin Franklin for a list of groundbreaking finding such as electricity, bifocals, heat stoves, swim fins and many other inventions. However, what people don't realize is how Benjamin Franking changed journalism. Prior to class presentations, I never new Benjamin Franklin was even a journalist. I was shocked to learn that he even had his own newspaper. Benjamin Franklin changed journalism with the use of penn names. At 16 he started using penn name, Mrs. Silence Dogood, to publish his work in the New-England Courant, which was his brothers news paper. Ben Franklin would use many penn names throughout his life, each with a different personality. However, they all shared the same values and point of views. Mrs. Silence Dogoods opinions became very trusted among his readers and he eventually came out as the anonymous writer. Soon after Benjamin left Boston and traveled to Philadelphia where he created his own newspapers and continue his anonymous writing.  I le...

Lincoln vs. The Press

Abraham Lincoln was a man of many talents. From an emancipator, to politician,  a military leader, and many others... but what is not often talked about was his manipulation of media during the civil war. Did Lincoln violate the rights of citizens protected under the constitution or did he do what was best for the nation? During the time of the Civil War, the federal government restricted the first amendment, specifically freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Journalists and newspapers were restricted. You could have even been arrested if you were to speak out against the draft, enlistments, and even income tax. Lincoln and Military General John McClernand history.com During this time union generals believed it was best to restrict the publishing of battle plans to the  for military gain. Lincoln ordered union generals to hinder the release of battle plans and restricted the press from releasing military information and battle plans. This oppression of th...