Newspaper Press Apogee in the Early 20th Century

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Introduction

Newspapers have been used in different parts of the world as one effective means of communication that is widely used. The newspaper press has been in effect as early as the 17^th century, with civilizations using it to pass information to the mass population. The first English newspaper was first published in England in 1622 and for the following decades, small sheets and pamphlets became the main source of passing printed information to different parts of England and America. The first newspaper to be published in America was known as Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic and was mainly focused on business issues. The early newspapers later developed into concrete publications that became available on a more regular basis in different parts of the countries (Curran, 2003).

According to Routledge (2008), the American newspaper press grew significantly over the next century, and they changed their focus from business matters to the day to day political issues. The growth in the newspaper press had become significant by the end of the 19^th century with the publications gaining great publicity and the advancement in technology making them more reliable and better. The New York Sun was one paper that had gained widespread readership in different parts of New York by the late 18^th century and the beginning of the 19^th century.

The development of more effective and quick printing methods resulted in the rise of the use of newspapers all over the world and the newspaper press was at all times prepared to capture any events that were taking place which were of interest to the readers. By the beginning of the 20^th century, the press had become well versed with the appropriate ways of capturing news and putting it on print. This study focuses on the factors that led to the rise of the newspaper press and in turn caused its climax in the early 20^th century (Routedge, 2008).

Reasons why the newspaper press was at its apogee in the first half of the 20th century

The beginning of the 20^th century was not just significant for the print media, but also for the changes that were taking place in the society at large. The major forces that drove the press to its apogee in the first part of the 20^th century were industrial revolution and urbanization. Technological development, which had been improving since the 1880s, had its major impact in the newspaper press rooms in most of the countries. The tedious and time-consuming process of typesetting manually was replaced by a more advanced typesetting machine that enabled its user to type entire lines from a keyboard (Engel, 1996).

Engel (1996) also notes that, an engraving method of converting drawings into etchings also led to widespread use of pictures in the newspapers which would be used to pass information more clearly. The process publication was also made faster and this resulted to more people having access to the papers at reduced prices. Thus, by mid 20^th century, the high rate of technological achievements had given the newspaper press a productive capacity as well as great power over the lives of its readers. Printing methods continued to improve as the technology improved in different parts of the world and especially in U.S and this saw a dramatic rise in the publication of newspapers.

Technological advances in the newspaper press would not have been meaningful if there were not a mass number of readers having access to the newspapers. The development of metropolitan cities and other urbanized states through industrialization gave the newspapers a wide coverage and created their populace. In the late 19^th century, the US economy, for instance, had expanded and new metropolitan states were formed, which resulted in the newspapers having a mass audience of readers. Papers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were established in the 20^th century with an aim of informing people about the political and economic aspects of the different states in the country; all this as a result of the development and expansion of the metropolitan states and cities (Routledge, 2008).

According to Engel (1996), another factor that led to the climax of the newspaper usage in different parts of the world was the improvement in the nature of their contents. With the use of the technology, the press was able to release different types of papers that were focused more on the local issues than on international affairs. This resulted to more people developing interest in having to use the papers to become well updated on local issues. The press, with its diverse publications was able to target all regions and hence make the publications more popular.

The high levels of literacy in different parts of the world especially in the developed countries raised the number of users of newspapers and this made publication more profitable and the press was able to release more papers and reach out to more people in the different regions. With the subsequent changes in the worlds economic and political aspects, people developed the desire to be informed on the progress and since the press provided more detailed information, the high number of literate people opted for the newspapers to gather the information they needed (Routledge, 2008).

The number of papers that were printed on daily basis greatly increased as the industrial revolution continued to take impact. Engel (1996) notes that, the printing process was made faster and more effective by the industrial revolution and as the newspaper press continued advancing, it was able to publish pictorial newspapers and therefore attract more readers. The industrial revolution also facilitated more accurate news reporting on events that were taking place; the events of American Civil War in the late 19^th century were accurately published in the local and international newspapers due to the industrial revolution that had made newspapers a dynamic means of communication.

The newspaper press power in the 20th century

Consciously or unconsciously, the world has been experiencing a major standardization process brought about by the print media, which many countries especially the developing are yet to adapt to. With the rise in the dominance of the use of newspapers, many countries have been made to enforce the standards that are needed in printing newspaper and this has greatly affected the free usage of the local language. Culture has been replaced with rigid standards that must be taken into consideration while enhancing the quality of newspapers (Williams, 1998).

Curran (2003) argues that, the end of the 19^th century brought with it significant adjustments in the role of the newspapers in different parts of the world. Due to their wide coverage, newspapers were easily used to influence the political structure of most countries and this brought a new dimension on the perception that people had to the print media. The colonial press, for instance, had become a powerful tool in America that it was used to make the colonialists revolt against the English people. Before the beginning of the 20^th century, newspapers hardly had any impact in the development of public opinion. However, after the year 1900, the newspapers became the key determinants of every public opinion. By 1900, newspapers had become the key generators of most of the worlds culture.

According to Curran (2003), the newspaper press significantly gained power in the cities and states that were developed through urbanization. By identifying the diversified way of life in the developed countries cities, the metropolitan newspaper press helped to make that diversity appreciated in different parts of the world. The news and stories that they covered was directed to the modern city life and people desired to have this information. Any changes that arose were brought out in the newspapers and the society became dependent on the papers to embrace any events that took place. This attitude of the society towards the newspapers made their information more plausible and gave them the means of taking control over the mass media.

In earlier years, newspapers were considered by their readers as a channel for extending and sharing ideas and information. However, with the change in the social structure of people in the urban areas, the daily papers were taken to be interpreter of the readers own experience. The papers seemed to have taken control of the peoples way of perceiving things. The newspaper technology had begun to omit the direct and physical aspect of life and most users became passive in their way of reasoning and creating new ideas (Routledge, 2008).

According to Routledge (2008), some areas of culture that were not directly controlled by the newspaper, like sporting events, became dependent on the press for their economic existence. The press had to come in to promote their commercial success through advertising and creating awareness to the mass audience. The newspaper resulted in the idea of enhancing public relations and through its exposure in the newspaper media, new ways of cultural and political ideas that were emerging became accepted and more clearly understood.

Impact of the newspaper press on politics during the first half of the 20th century

The newspaper development in the 20^th century did not only influence the social aspect of people but the political aspect as well. With the indigenous popular culture in most parts of the world before the beginning of the 20^th century, the peoples political way of life was characterized by a body of regulations and observances that had been formulated from the peoples culture. Towards the end of the 19^th century, the political structures were altered by the popularization of the newspapers as people tried to adapt to the new developments. The press was able to control the way people acted towards the existing government through the information put on paper (Curran, 2003).

The persuasive power of information and ideas in newspapers was given greater force by the rise of display advertising that combined verbal ideas with pictorial illustrations. The press was able to display political events that were likely to affect the masses attitude towards the government in pictorial representations to make the event more real. The New York World, for instance, was used to combine both the good news and the sensitive issues in pictorial images to direct peoples ideas towards making a decision or acting in a particular manner. It focused on political news and it could cover all events including those of the Americas civil war (Curran, 2003).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be argued that the newspaper press was able to gain formidable power in most of the developed countries in the continent and the penetration of the press into the culture of people can be seen to have had a significant impact. Before the beginning of the 20^th century, not much had taken place in the press media and there was not much influence on the peoples cultures. However, with the beginning of the 20^th century, industrial development and urbanization greatly enhanced the medias power and this in turn resulted to the media influencing the political as well as social way of people during this period.

The earlier decades of the 20^th century were therefore of significance for the history o media. The period saw the rise of the newspaper to a dominant state in the media industry until new forms of communication were later invented. The results of the apogee of the newspaper press in the first half of the 20^th century can therefore be said to have resulted in the growth of mass media.

Works Cited

Curran, J and Seaton, J. Power without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting in Britain: UK; Routledge, 2003.

Crisell, A. An Introductory History of British Broadcasting: UK; Routledge, 2002.

Engel, M. Tickle the Public: One Hundred Years of the Popular Press: New York; Phoenix, 1996.

Payne, G. History of Journalism in the United States: New York; D. Appleton and Company, 2007.

Routledge, J. Chapters in the History of Popular Progress: Chiefly in Relation to the Freedom of the Press and Trial by Jury: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2008.

Williams, K. Get Me a Murder a Day! A History of Mass Communication in Britain: Arnold, 1998.

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