The Big Ideas of Print Media

Print media - while still something of importance - is not relied upon as much today as it was in the past. While reading the chapter on print media, I learned a number of new facts that I found to be important and interesting. The purpose of this blog post is to offer up what I felt were the 5 big ideas that were touched upon or explained throughout this chapter. These are not necessarily what everyone might consider to be "big"; it is just my opinion.

So, without further ado, let's start!

1. One of the first topics in this chapter grabbed my attention immediately. It was concerning the idea of who the first newspaper publishers were. Did you know they were just printers and editors? They added on the task of publishing to their agenda as a way to increase their profits. If a single printer could not do it alone, they would team up with someone of the wealthy and educated class. In return, the wealthy person would offer financial support and provide opportunities for the printer/editor to offer up editorials.

2. Learning about how magazines began, finding out just how different they were from today, was another topic I found to be of great importance. While magazines today are quite small, they were originally between 60 and 70 pages, making it incredibly difficult for postmen to carry. The words were printed incredibly small, and pictures were a rarity. Instead, woodcarvings or engravings were used as illustrations. Sometimes, when there was not enough important information to print, large sections of books would be published in their place!

3. George Creel, who was head of the Committee on Public Information, chose to divide news into three categories. This was something else I found to be important. The first category was called "dangerous news". It included news about military movements in the U.S. or possible threats from other countries. This news was not printed. The second was known as "questionable news". These were rumors about actions made in or by the U.S. and needed approval before it was printed. Finally, the third category was "routine news", or any news that did not fit into the previous two categories. This was the only area of news that did not require authorization to be printed.

4. Also concerning the topic of news, I found the three varying news formats to be of interest as well. Commercial press reported on trade and business; it received it's financial support from the sale of advertisements and promotion of products. Partisan press was mainly concerned with political topics, acting as the voice of the political parties. This type of press received support from the political contributions it received. The penny press was what I found to be the most interesting. Each paper only cost a penny! It was more geared towards the entertainment area of the news, featuring advice columns and fiction articles. It's funding came from the sale of it's papers - it paid for itself!

5. The final topic that caught my attention was the invention of the telegraph and the way in which it affected the newspaper publishing business. Obviously, telegraphs were quite expensive in their infancy. When owners of newspapers wished to use a telegraph to print, they were often charged by the  word! This led to articles becoming shorter, often causing interesting facts to be cut out in favor of what was necessary. It led to the inverted pyramid structure of writing to be discovered, where the most important facts are listed first and everything else flows from that.

Like I said before, you may not agree with me on the topics I chose, but these are the 5 ideas I felt to be "big". They grabbed my attention and had me wanting to learn more. Although print media may not be relied on or used as much as it was, it is still something interesting to learn about. It is a part of our history and it is what led to all that we have today.