History of American Journalism and communications technologies, First Amendment in Journalism, High School Journalism 1,

1. www.HuckabeeClassroom.com

2. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

3.  Religion: you can believe what you want, belong to
any religion, or no religion
 Speech: you can voice your opinions using words,
symbols or actions
 Press: the government cannot censor information
in newspapers, online news sources, TV news
broadcasts, etc.
 Assembly: you can gather in a group
 Petition: you can criticize the government, and you
can complain about policies that affect you
negatively and ask for change

4.  1690- Publick
Occurences, published in
Boston by Benjamin
Harris. The British
Colonials oppressed the
paper after just one issue
on a technicality because
they didn’t like what it
printed. (Reported on
scandal involving King of
France).
 1704- The Boston News
Letter started by John
Campbell became the first
continuously published
newspaper.

5.  Early newspapers had to step carefully. Any
government criticism was considered
“sedition” which means the stirring of
rebellion and could result in jail time.

6.  In 1735 New York
Weekly Journal’s
publisher John Peter
Zenger was charged
with “seditious libel”
and thrown in jail
after criticizing the
governor of New
York.
 The courts ruled in
favor of Zenger,
establishing the truth
as a solid defense
against libel.
 For more information
click here

7.  The leaders of the
revolt used the
press to incite the
public to join their
cause.
 Almost all
newspapers
favored the
Revolution
because they
supported the
rights and
freedoms of the
press.

8.  After the Revolutionary War was
won, the leaders of the new
country put into place the Bill of
Rights, granting the press more
freedoms than ever before.
 “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to
petition to the Government for a
redress of grievances.”
-First Amendment to the
United States Constitution

9.  The period following
the Revolutionary War
early U.S. leaders
fought bitterly over
how the new
government should
be run.
 Partisan newspapers
attacked their
opponents fiercely.
 They mixed news and
opinion
indiscriminately.
 This period was
known as the Partisan
Press

10.  http://www.newseum.org/digital-classroom/
video/45-words/default.aspx
 http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/s
pring03/journalism.cfm Early American
Newspapers – a more in-depth article

11.  In 1835, The New York
Herald became the first
“modern newspaper” It
was:
◦ Free of government/ party
control
◦ Had simple wording,
making it easy to read for
the public
◦ Organized in a modern
pattern covering regular
beats (or topics) and news.
◦ It came about shortly after
the development of the
Penny Press

12.  New technology
brought about the
cylinder press,
capable of printing
4,000 copies of a
newspaper in an hour.
 This reduced costs to
1 cent a paper
creating the first truly
mass media papers.
 Thus the “Penny
Press” was born
paving the way for
modern newspapers.

13.  The steamboat, the Pony
Express and the railroads in
the mid 1800’s made news
cheaper and allowed
information to travel faster.
 1861- reporters began
using the telegraph utilizing
Morse Code as a means of
covering the news during the
Civil War.
 This led to the invention of
the inverted pyramid (modern
“hard” news style. It allowed
information to be transmitted
information to be submitted
quickly, but at a cost. The
fewer words used the better.

14.  Inverted pyramid
style
 Objectivity
 Photojournalism
 Press credentials
 War
correspondents

15.  By the end of the 19th century, newspapers
were the nation’s main source of information.
 As huge newspaper empires grew, so did
competition and circulation wars
 “Yellow journalism” used sensationalism as a
way to increase readership. This resulted in
loud headlines on questionable behavior.

16.  Joseph Pulitzer-
 owned the St. Louis Post
Dispatch and took over New
York World
 Crusader for hard news but
liked to sensationalize
 The prestigious Pulitzer prizes
are now awarded to journalists
every year.
 Founder of Columbia
University School of
Journalism

17.  William Randolph
Hearst-
 Owner of the San Francisco
Examiner, bought New
York Journal
 Loved politics and planned
to run for president
 Competed against Pulitzer
 Paper emphasized crime,
scandals and violence

18.  Nellie Bly a.k.a.Elizabeth
Cochrane-
 Used publicity stunts to create
news or expose injustice
 Once had herself committed to
an insane asylum in order to
investigate conditions from
the perspective of a patient
 Pulitzer once sent her to travel
around the world like the Jules
Verne novel “Around the World
in 80 Days”.

19.  The end of Yellow
journalism ushered in
the “golden age” of
journalism.
 Muckraking:
Investigative, socially
conscious reporting
 Upton Sinclair’s The
Jungle leads to new,
much more stringent
food and drug laws

20.  Industrialization led
to slums and
terrible conditions
for the poor.
Journalists exposed
these problems and
helped start
sweeping reforms:
 Better working
conditions
 Sanitation
 Laws to protect
people
 Honest government
 Regulation of big
business

21.  1901: first wireless
signal sent across
ocean by Marconi
 1920: first radio
station- KDKA in
Pittsburg
 1926-27: national
radio networks-
NBC and CBS
 1930’s-40’s: FDR’s
fireside chats

22.  1939 first TV
broadcasts made,
but WWII delays
progress
 By 1950’s powerful
networks emerge.
 Edward R. Murrow is
the first network
news “star”
 Challenged Senator
McCarthy’s
communist hunts.
 He set the standard
for later news
anchors

23.  It was hard to
compete with TV’s
speed and visual
appeal
 Newspapers strike
back with:
 Tighter, more concise
writing
 Better formatting
 Improved design
 In-Depth reporting
 Shorter stories
 Lots of color and
graphics

24.  The Pentagon
Papers proved U.S.
government had
lied to the public
about Vietnam War
 1972, Washington
Post reporters
broke the
Watergate story
that led to
President Nixon’s
resignation.

25.  Watch these national news anchors discuss
what the “@” symbol means and what
“Internet” means.
 This was 1994 by the way. Don’t laugh at
them. It was a brand new time for technology.
Seriously – we had no clue what this was all
about in 1994.

26.  The Internet is
the number one
news source in
the world while
other news media
continues to
decline.
 The only solution
to the decline of
newspapers Is
convergence.

27.  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4
901034n

28.  The way we deliver and receive news is
changing but Journalism isn’t dead.
 The public will ALWAYS require news.
 Journalism is going to survive, but in different
forms.
 Convergence is key

29.  Slideshare by Jackie Scott
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1
mNjI
 Student Press Law Center