HOW JOURNALISM DEVELOPED IN AMERICA:

 
 
Initial Newspapers of America:

 

Journalism in the world was started almost under the same purpose. In other words, newspapers were established for the sake of propagation and reformation,  newspapers and journals, apart from the transmission of information  also started presenting comments and analysis on their various aspects, in which the influence of newspapers increased many times.

The most newspapers in the world are currently being published in America, including the world's most large or thick newspapers, whose number of pages has reached several hundred. Before a review of the early newspapers of the United States, let’s discuss the following footsteps of which the American newspapers have flourished. In this regard, we can divide the early newspapers into two historical periods. For historical distribution, just as history influences journalism, journalism also influences history.

(i)-Newspapers before Independence-

(ii) Newspapers after Independence-

 

1- Newspapers before Independence:

 

America was discovered by Columbus, and the British colonized it easily. Thus the United States was under the crown of Great Britain so naturally everything had a British stamp on it.

Something similar was the case with journalism. Benjamin Harris is called the father of journalism. He came to America after receiving the title of a rebel from Britain. Journalism also started with this, but before this discussion, it is important for us to know that,

when did the beginning of the printing started in United States of America?

When and where was the first printing press established and what type of publication originated from these printing houses which later paved the way for regular journalism.

For half a century after the discovery of America, there were no printing houses in America. The first printing house in America was established in Mexico City in 1543. Relation was published from this printing house in 1541, Annual reports and news were published through it. The Spaniards established a printing house  in Peru  which was established around 1584 or 1586. The first printing house was established in 1638 in Cambridge (Massachusetts Bay). In 1539, Reverend Joseph Glover established a printing house in 1674 in Boston.

 

A printing house was established and in the same year B  Green published a pamphlet called "The Present State of New-English Affairs". It was of the size of a normal page and had writing on one side of the paper only. The purpose of this pamphlet was to prevent rumours and misinformation. Similarly, a printing house was established in Philadelphia in 1687, but all these printing houses had not yet published any material that could be called a newspaper or a journal, but it cannot be denied that these printing houses published The newsletters or pamphlets created public awareness and people were attracted towards journalism.

 

First Newspaper of America:

The name of the first newspaper published in America was Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic which was published by Nijman Harris from Boston. It was a newsletter consisting of four pages out of which three pages were reserved for news and the fourth for correspondence. It was a monthly magazine, but in certain circumstances it could be published prematurely. It was published for the first time on 25 September 1690, while on 29 September 1690, the governor banned it. Thus America's first newspaper survived for only four days.

 

First Regular Newspaper:

After seeing the end of the previous newspaper, no one had the courage to bring out a new newspaper for fourteen years. Finally, on April 23, 1714, John Campbell published the first regular newspaper from Boston called the Boston News-Letter, which was supported by the authorities. John Campbell was its editor. He was a bookseller and postmaster. A woman, Margaret Draper, was also its editor for a while. This newspaper was published with the permission of the rulers and was supportive of the government's policy, so it lasted for about 72 years until the war of independence.

Its salient features are as follows:

i-It was supported by the government .

 

ii-This led to the publication of photographs.

 

iii-Advertisements began to be published.

iv- Printing of supplements also originated from the same which were published to convey news of a more important nature.

In 1719, the authorities appointed William Brooker as postmaster in Boston. John Campbell's was not ready to give Boston Newsletter to John Campbell, because of this William Brooker published Boston Gazette in 1719.

 

 In 1719, Andrew Bradford published the American Weekly Mercury from Philadelphia. In 1722, James Franklin published a newspaper called the New England Courant from Boston. In 1725, William Bradford published the Gazette New York, which was New York's first official newspaper. Eight years after that, in 1733, John Peter Zenger published the New York Weekly Journal. Zenger was a rightist, so he boldly criticized the rulers in his newspaper, for which he had to eat air in prison, and no lawyer was willing to fight his case. But later on Andrew Hamilton won this case.

And the path of freedom of press was somewhat paved. In 1728 by Samuel Kemmer published

The Universal Insturctor in All Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette, which was purchased by Nijman Franklin after nine months and renamed it as the Pennsylvania Gazette. In 1727, William Park published the Maryland Gazette. In 1732, James Franklin published the Rhode Island Gazette. Similarly, other newspapers were released in the following years:

 

(a) Virginia Gazette in 1736.

(b) Connecticut Gazette in 1755.

 

(c) North Carolina Gazette in 1755.

 

 (d) New Hempshire Gazette in 1756.

(e) Wilmington Chronicle Gazette 1762.

(f) Georgia Gazette 1763.

 

All these newspapers were weekly or monthly.

 

First Daily Newspaper:

 

The first daily newspaper in America was published by Nijmantown, which was published on June 17, 1783 under the name of The Pennsylvania Evening Post. Apart from this, the Daily Advertiser was also a daily newspaper. Newspapers at that time had two different views. One was those who wanted to break the chains of slavery and the other were those who wanted to remain under British rule. In the eighteenth century, a total of 235 newspapers were published in America, of which 24 were daily newspapers.

 

Salient Features of Post-Slavery Journalism:

 

(Characteristics of Journalism before Independence:)

Since the beginning of journalism in America was done by a British citizen, we will examine the newspapers of that period as a whole to see what kind of characteristics they had. In this regard, we will put forward three points:

 

(1) Apparent characteristics.

(2) Newspaper staff.

(3) Content.

 

Apparent characteristics:

Size:

In the early period, as the newspapers were imprinted with British journalism so, the newspapers clearly believed in British journalism. The size of the newspaper was 10 x 15" and usually consisted of four pages. The number of pages was reduced depending on the content.

 

 Headlines:

 

News headlines were almost non-existent in newspapers and news were written in plain prose, which made it necessary for everyone to read a news story in full, but sometimes a news headline was also given.

 

 Newspaper Staff:

In the beginning, like other countries, the newspaper in America also revolved around one person and , one person does, all the work of the newspaper.

 

Editor:

 

All the responsibility of the newspaper was on the editor, he also performed the duties of the proof-reader and all the steps from the writing of the news to the distribution were done by this person alone. He would also get the local news and then do the proofreading work himself.

 

Honorary Correspondent:

Newspapers used to appoint their own correspondents in different places who would collect news from the surrounding area and send it to the editor. From these news, the important content was selected and used to decorate the newspaper.

 

Matter:

In this era, the means of obtaining news were not so wide, therefore superficial type of material was also given to complete the pages of the newspaper.

 

The content published in the newspapers is described as follows:

 

 News of British Newspapers:

 

During this period, people were more interested in British affairs because every slave wanted to know more about his master, so news of specific interest was selected and published from British newspapers, which was the main source of information for newspapers.

 

 Official Announcements:

 

Official announcements and notifications were also given space in newspapers. There were government measures or public orders on any issue which every newspaper considered as its duty to publish and these announcements were published without any change.

 

 Advertisements:

 

Advertisements were also considered very important during this period and were considered as an important source of income. Advertisements were certainly published in newspapers during that period, but there was nothing attractive about them and they were one  column only.

 

 News Criticism:

 

In that era, there was no editorial page, so on the important news, Editor  would comment on it at the end of the news, and thus, along with the news, commentary were also presented, which showed the importance of news, commentary and analysis. It was well understood.

 

Political Subjects:

 

Since there were two types of newspapers published in America, some of them were pro-slavery while others were in favour of breaking the chains of slavery, so the newspapers were involved in political disputes and they produced a lot of such material for the interest of the readers.

 

 Economics Subjects:

 

Economic problem is the basic problem of man. He is more concerned about improving his economic condition than getting information about around him. The economic problems faced by the enslaved American people of Great Britain were made a topic in the newspapers and the suggestions for the solution were also presented.

 

 Literary Material:

 

Apart from all these types, a half-poem or literary material was presented in newspapers for readers with good taste, that is, even in this early period, there was an effort to make more people read newspapers. .

 

Journalism After Independence:

 

Nijman Franklin, Samuel O. James Gordon, etc. helped a lot in the American people to raise the independence movement from the British rule. Hatred against slavery arose in the minds of the people and they were ready to make all possible sacrifices for the attainment of freedom, but after that when the United States became free from foreign domination, it was necessary to make the newly free nation realize Let it be known that it is now free and work should be done for the construction and development of a newly independent country.

Daily newspapers flourished in the late eighteenth century. They were started with the goal of letting merchants know what kind of goods they could import as ships arrived at the ports of Philadelphia and New York. Penny press also came into use during this period. Apart from this, some famous newspapers came out of New York, of which New York Sun was published in 1833 under the supervision of Benjamin H. Day. Two years later, in 1835, James Gordon launched the New York Herald. "New York Tribune" in 1841 and "New York Times " in 1851,  which continues to this day and is the leading daily newspaper in the United States.

 

Main Characteristics:

 

 

The salient features of the early newspapers of this second period are as follows:

 

Policy:

 

After independence, American journalism was divided into two parts. Each newspaper was the journal of a particular party. In this way, the ideology of this party was clearly visible on its news. Similarly, political newspapers were also published. These newspapers were also involved in political disputes, therefore, instead of transmitting information and experiences and knowledge, they considered it their duty to cultivate their specific ideas.

 

 News Sources:

 

Sources of news were not that wide in this period so news were received from the following specific places

 

Official Announcements:

 

Official announcements were also published in the newspapers, these announcements were circulated in the newspaper offices. Publishing these announcements was considered a duty of every newspaper.

 

 Correspondents:

 

Some newspapers used to appoint their correspondents in specific places who would send the news around them to the newspaper office, in this way important news from distant areas were also published and an effort was made to transmit as much information as possible.

 

 Post:

 

People used to voluntarily send important information by post. In this way, after examining the news received by mail daily, the important news were selected from them, so if the mail is said to be the main source of news in that period, it would not be too much to say this.

 

 

 Local News:

 

During this period local news was mostly published in newspapers. These news were received from around the publishing circle which reporters or other people volunteered to deliver to the newspaper office.

 

Telegram:

 

Wire was considered as a means of obtaining news and correspondents etc, sent the received news through wire to the office of the newspaper, which made it possible to provide the latest news and information and the newspapers published these news for the readers to make them aware of the latest events.

 

 Other Newspapers:

 

Apart from these sources, important news were also selected from contemporary newspapers and the selected content was published in their newspaper. In this way, other newspapers were also an important source of news.

 

 Pattern:

 

In this era, simple and smooth language was used in newspapers and interesting  style of writing was used to create interest in news so that more people could be  interested in newspapers and even less educated people could easily read the newspaper.

 

Yellow Journalism:

 

Since the early newspapers after independence had political affiliations, they also used marketing language against the opponents. This political affiliation brought the newspapers to abuse and the newspapers began to spew venom against each other. Editor's began to use the power of pen for their personal animosity and the turbans of nobles were discarded to achieve individual goals. Instead of neutrality, the news were presented in a specific format. This is how yellow journalism began, which is  rise in the era of William Randolfh Hearst.

 

 Penny Press:

 

At the beginning of the second period, the price of newspapers was high, due to which people bought less newspapers. The publication of newspapers was very less. The solution was that the number of pages in newspapers would be reduced and at the same time the price of the newspaper also came down. Old newspapers sold for six pence, while new newspapers reduced their price to two pence. Only the New York Sun retained its former value. These newspapers became very popular and people became aware of reading newspapers.

 

Staff:

 

Before independence, the newspaper was edited by only one person, but during this period, the editor was limited to the newspaper, while separate persons were appointed for advertising and publication, and trained persons started working in each department, which made newspapers Towards technical development.

 

 Sources of Income:

 

Expenses of Newspapers were very little  during this period, so the sources of income were also specific which are as follows:

 

 Government Advertisements:

 

Government advertisements were also the main source of newspaper income during this period, so newspapers did everything possible to please the authorities in order to obtain advertisements, and advertisements were placed to cover the newspaper's expenses.

 

 Company Advertisements:

 

Along with government advertisements, semi-government and private organizations also used to advertise in newspapers which were main source of earning after the  government advertisements.

 Newspaper Income:

 

Apart from advertisements, the money obtained from the sale of the newspaper was also an important source of newspaper income, so every possible effort was made to increase the publication of the newspaper so that the maximum income could be obtained and the expenses of the newspaper could be paid well.