THE AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
VOLUMEXXIX NOVEMBER 9 23 NUMBER3

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER

ROBERT E. PARK
The Universityof Chicago

ABSTRACT
The naturalhistoryofthepressis a historyof a survivingspecies. It is one of the
most characteristicfruitsof enlightenment, due to the extensionof the opportunities
of educationto the masses of the population.
The modernnewspaperis a productof citylife; it is no longermerelyan organ
of propaganda and opinion,but a formof popular literature. The journal of opinion
was largelya businessman's newspaper. The so-calledindependentpressadded to its
public the so-called artisan class. The yellow press was created mainly to capture
immigrants, and women.
It was thisincreaseofcirculationthatmade thenewspaper-formerly a subsidized
organ of the parties-an independentbusinessenterprise,an envelopeand carrierfor
advertising.

I. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

The newspaperhas a history;but it has, likewise,a natural
history. The press,as it exists,is not,as ourmoralistssometimes
seemto assume,thewilfulproductofanylittlegroupoflivingmen.
On the contrary,it is theoutcomeof an historicprocessin which
manyindividuals participated withoutforeseeingwhattheultimate
productoftheirlaborswas to be.
The newspaper, like the moderncity,is not whollya rational
product. No one soughtto make it just whatit is. In spiteof
ofindividualmenand generations
all the efforts ofmento control
it and to makeit something aftertheirownheart,it has continued
to growand changein its ownincalculableways.
273

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 274 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGY

The typeofnewspaperthatexistsis thetypethathas survived

underthe conditions of modemlife. The menwho may be said
to have made the modernnewspaper-JamesGordonBennett,
CharlesA. Dana, JosephPulitzer,and WilliamRandolphHearst-
are themenwhodiscovered thekindofpaperthatmenand women
wouldreadand had thecourageto publishit.
The naturalhistoryofthepressis thehistoryofthissurviving
species. It is an accountoftheconditions underwhichtheexisting
newspaper has grownup and takenform.
A newspaperis not merelyprinted. It is circulatedand read.
Otherwiseit is not a newspaper. The struggleforexistence,in
thecase ofthenewspaper, has beena struggle
forcirculation.The
newspaperthatis not read ceases to be an influence in the com-
munity. The powerofthepressmaybe roughly measured by the
numberofpeoplewhoreadit.
The growthof greatcitieshas enormously increasedthe size
ofthereadingpublic. Readingwhichwas a luxuryin thecountry
has becomea necessityin the city. In the urban environment
literacyis almostas mucha necessityas speechitself. That is
one reasonthereare so manyforeign-language newspapers.
Mark Vilichur,editorof theRusskoyeSlovo,New York City,
asked his readershow manyof themhad read newspapers in the
old country.He foundthatout of3I2 correspondents onlyi6 had
regularly readnewspapers in Russia; io othersfromtimeto time
read newspapersin the Volast,the villageadministration center,
and I2 weresubscribers to weeklymagazines. In Americaall of
themweresubscribers or readersofRussiannewspapers.
This is interestingbecause the immigrant has had, firstand
last,a profound influenceon thecharacterofournativenewspapers.
How to bringthe immigrant and his descendantsinto the circle
of newspaperreadershas been one of the problemsof modern
journalism.
The immigrant, who has, perhaps,acquired the newspaper
habit fromreadinga foreign-languagenewspaperis eventually
attractedto the nativeAmericannewspapers. They are forhim
a windowlookingoutintothelargerworldoutsidethenarrowcircle
of the immigrant communityin whichhe has been compelledto

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 275

live. The newspapershave discoveredthat even men who can

perhapsreadno morethantheheadlinesin thedailypresswillbuy
a Sundaypaperto lookat thepictures.
It is said that the most successfulof the Hearst papers,the
New YorkEveningJournal,gainsa newbodyof subscribers every
six years. Apparently it getsits readersmainlyfromimmigrants.
They graduateintoMr. Hearst'spapersfromtheforeign-language
press,and whenthe sensationalism of thesepapersbeginsto pall,
they acquire a taste forsome of the sobererjournals. At any
rate,Mr. Hearsthas beena greatAmericanizer.
In theirefforts to make the newspaperreadableto the least
instructed reader, findin the daily newsmaterialthat would
to
thecrudestintelligence,
th-rill publishershave madeone important
discovery. Theyhave foundthatthedifference betweenthehigh-
browand thelow-brow, whichonce seemedso profound, is largely
a difference in vocabularies. In short,if the press can make
to the commonman,it will have even less diffi-
itselfintelligible
culty in being understoodby the intellectual.The character
of present-day newspapershas been profoundly influenced
by this
fact.
II. THE FIRST NEWSPAPERS

Whatis a newspaper? Many answershave beengiven. It is

thetribuneofthepeople; it is thefourth estate; thePalladiumof
ourcivilliberties, etc.
On theotherhand thissamenewspaperhas been characterized
as thegreatsophist. Whatthepopularteachersdid forAthensin
the periodof Socratesand Plato the presshas done in modern
timesforthecommonman.
The modernnewspaperhas been accused of beinga business
enterprise."Yes," say the newspapermen "and the commodity
it sells is news." It is the truthshop. (The editoris the phi-
losopherturnedmerchant.) By makinginformation about our
commonlife accessibleto everyindividualat less thantheprice
of a telephonecall we are to regain,it is urged-even in the
complicated lifeofwhatGrahamWaliascallsthe" GreatSociety"
somesortofworking democracy.

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 276 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGY

The advertising manager'snotionis again something different.

For himthenewspaper is a mediumforcreating advertising values.
The businessoftheeditoris to providetheenvelopewhichencloses
the space whichthe advertising man sells. Eventuallythe news-
papermaybe conceived as a sortofcommoncarrier, liketherailway
or thepostoffice.
The newspaper, accordingto the authorof theBrass Check,is
a crime. The brasscheckis a symbolofprostitution." The brass
checkis foundin yourpay envelopeeveryweek-you who write
and printand distributeour newspapersand magazines. The
brasscheckis thepriceofyourshame-youwhotakethefairbody
oftruthand sellit in themarketplace,whobetraythevirginhopes
ofmankindintotheloathsomebrothelofbigbusiness."
This is the conceptionof a moralistand a socialist-Upton
Sinclair.
Evidentlythe newspaperis an institution thatis not yet fully
understood.What it is, or seemsto be, foranyoneof us at any
timeis determined by our differing pointsof view. As a matter
of factwe do not knowmuchabout thenewspaper. It has never
beenstudied.
One reasonwe knowso littleabout the newspaperis that as
it existstoday it is a veryrecentmanifestation.Beside,in the
courseofitsrelatively briefhistory,ithasgonethrough a remarkable
seriesof transfigurations. The press todayis, however,all that
it was and something more. To understand it we mustsee in its
historicperspective.
The firstnewspaperswere writtenor printedletters; news-
lettersthey were called. In the seventeenthcenturyEnglish
countrygentlemen used to employcorrespondents to writethem
once a week fromLondon the gossip of the court and of the
town.
The firstnewspaperin America,at least the firstnewspaper
that lastedbeyondits firstissue,was theBoston News-Letter. It
waspublished bythepostmaster.The villagepostoffice has always
been a publicforum,whereall the affairsof the nationand the
community were discussed. It was to be expectedthat there,
in close proximity to the sourcesof intelligence,if anywhere,a

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 277

newspaper wouldspringup. For a longtimethepositionofpost-

masterand the vocationof editorwere regardedas inseparable.
The firstnewspapersweresimplydevicesfororganizing gossip
and that,to a greateror less extent,theyhave remained. Horace
Greeley'sadviceto a friendwhowas aboutto starta country paper
is as goodtodayas it was then.
Beginwitha clearconception thatthesubjectof deepestinterest to an
averagehumanbeingis himself;nextto that,he is mostconcerned abouthis
neighbors.Asia and the TongoIslandsstanda longwayafterthesein his
regard. It doesseemto me thatmostcountry journalsare obliviousas to
thesevitaltruths.Ifyouwill,so soonas maybe,securea wideawake, judicious
correspondentineachvillageandtownship ofyourcounty, someyounglawyer,
doctor,clerkina store,orassistantin a postofficewhowillpromptly sendyou
whatever ofmoment occursinhisvicinity, andwillmakeup at leasthalfyour
journaloflocalmatterthuscollected,nobody inthecounty canlongdowithout
it. Do notlet a newchurch be organized,or newmembers be addedto one
a farmbe sold,a newhousebe raised,a millbe setinmotion,
alreadyexisting,
a storebe opened,noranything ofinterest to a dozenfamiliesoccur,without
havingthefactdulythough brieflychronicled in yourcolumns.If a farmer
cutsa big tree,or growsa mammoth beet,or harvestsa bounteous yieldof
wheatorcorn,setforth thefactas conciselyandunexceptionally as possible.

What GreeleyadvisesfriendFletcherto do withhis country

paper the cityeditorof everynewspaper,as faras it humanlyis
possible,is still tryingto do. It is not practicable,in a cityof
3,000,ooo and more to mention everybody's name. For that
reasonattentionis focussedupon a fewprominent figures.In a
citywhereeverything happenseveryday,it is notpossibleto record
everypettyincident,everyvariationfromtheroutineof the city
life. It is possible, however, to select certain particularly
picturesqueor romanticincidentsand treat them symbolically,
fortheirhumaninterestratherthantheirindividualand personal
significance.In thisway news ceases to be whollypersonaland
assumestheformof art. It ceases to be therecordof thedoings
of individualmenand womenand becomesan impersonal account
ofmannersand life.
The motive,consciousor unconsious, of thewritersand of the
pressin all thisis to reproduce,
as faras possible,in the citythe
conditionsof life in the village. In the village everyoneknew

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 278 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

everyoneelse. Everyone called everyoneby his firstname. The

village was democratic. We are a nation of villagers. Our institu-
tions are fundamentally village institutions. In the village, gossip
and public opinionwere the main sourcesof social control.
"I would rather live," said Thomas Jefferson, "in a country
with newspapers and without a governmentthan in a country
with a governmentand withoutnewspapers."
If public opinion is to continue to govern in the futureas it
has in the past, if we propose to maintaina democracyas Jefferson
conceivedit, thenewspapermustcontinueto tellus about ourselves.
We must somehow learn to know our communityand its affairs
in the same intimateway in which we knew them in the country
villages. The newspaper must continue to be the printed diary
of the home community. Marriages and divorce, crime and
politics, must continue to make up the main body of our news.
Local news is the very stuffthat democracyis made of.
But that, accordingto Walter Lippmann, is just the difficulty.
"As social truthis organized today, so he says, "the press is not
constitutedto furnishfromone edition to the next the amount of
knowledgewhich the democratictheoryof public opiniondemands.
. . ..When we expectit to supplysuch a body of truth,we employ
a misleadingstandardofjudgment. We misunderstandthe limited
nature of news, the illimitable complexityof society; we over-
estimateour ownendurance,public spirit,and all-roundcompetence.
We suppose an appetite for uninterestingtruthswhich is not dis-
covered by any honest analysis of our own tastes.... . Uncon-
sciously the theory sets up the single reader as theoretically
incompetent,and puts upon the press the burden of accomplish-
ing whatever representativegovernment,industrial organization,
and diplomacyhave failed to accomplish. Actingupon everybody
forthirtyminutesin twenty-four hours,the press is asked to create
a mysticalforcecalled 'public opinion' that will take up the slack
in public institutions."'
It is evident that a newspaper cannot do for a communityof
I,000,OOO inhabitants foritself
whatthevillagedid spontaneously
throughthe medium of gossip and personal contact. Nevertheless
' WalterLippmann,
Public Opinion,pp. 36I-62.

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 279

of the newspaperto achievethisimpossibleresultare

the efforts
chapterin the historyof politicsas well as of the
an interesting
press.
III. THE PARTY PAPERS

The firstnewspapers, the news-letters,werenot partypapers.

Political journals began to supersedethe news-letters at the
beginningof the eighteenth century. The news withwhichthe
readingpublicwas mostconcernedat that timewas the reports
ofthedebatesin parliament.
Even beforethe rise of the party press certainpryingand
curiousindividualshad made a businessof visitingthe Strangers'
Gallery,duringthe sessionsof theHouse of Commonsin orderto
writeup frommemory, or fromnotestakendownsurreptitiously,
accountsofthespeechesanddiscussions duringan importantdebate.
At this timeall the deliberations of parliamentweresecret,and
it was notuntilIoo yearslaterthattherightofreporters to attend
the sessionsof the House of Commonsand recordits proceedings
was officiallyrecognized.In the meantimereporters were com-
pelledto resortto all sortsof subterfugesand indirectmethodsin
orderto get information.It is upon thisinformation, gathered
in thisway thatmuchof ourpresenthistoryofEnglishpoliticsis
based.
One of themostdistinguished of theseparliamentaryreporters
was SamuelJohnson. One eveningin I770, it is reported, Johnson
witha numberof othercelebrities was takingdinnerin London.
Conversation turneduponparliamentary oratory. Someonespoke
of a famousspeechdeliveredin the House of Commonsby the
elder Pitt in I74I. Someone else, amid the applause of the
company,quoteda passage fromthisspeechas an illustration of
an oratorwhohad surpassedin feelingand beautyoflanguagethe
finesteffortsof the oratorsof antiquity. Then Johnson, who up
to thatpointhad takenno partin the discussion,spokeup. "I
wrotethatspeech,"he said,"in a garretin ExeterStreet."
The guests were struckwith amazement. He was asked,
"How couldit havebeenwrittenby you,sir?"
"Sir," said Johnson,"I wroteit in Exeter Street. I never
was in thegalleryoftheHouse of Commonsbut once. Cave had

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 280 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGY

interestwiththedoorkeepers;he and thepersonsemployedunder

himgotadmittance;theybroughtaway thesubjectsofdiscussion,
the names of the speakers,the side theytook,and the orderin
whichthey rose, togetherwith notes of the variousarguments
adducedin the courseof the debate. The wholewas afterward
communicated to me,and I composedthespeechesin theformthey
now have in the Parliamentary Debates, forthe speechesof that
periodare all printedfromCave's magazine."'
Someoneundertookto praise Johnson'simpartiality, saying
thatin hisreportshe seemsto have dealtout reason and eloquence
withan equal hand to bothpoliticalparties. "That is not quite
true,"was Johnson's reply. "I saved appearancestolerablywell;
but I tookcarethattheWhigdogsshouldnothave thebestofit."
This speechof WilliamPitt, composedby Johnsonin Exeter
Street,has long held a place in schoolbooks and collectionsof
oratory. It is thefamousspeechin whichPitt answeredtheaccu-
sationofthe"atrociouscrimeofbeinga youngman."
PerhapsPitt thoughthe deliveredthat speech. At any rate
thereis no evidencethathe repudiated it. I mightadd that,Pitt,
was not
if he was the first, the last statesman who is indebtedto
thereporters forhisreputation as an orator.
The significantthingabout thisincidentis that it illustrates
the mannerin which,underthe influenceof the parliamentary
reporters,somethinglike a constitutional change was effected
in the characterof parliamentary government.As soon as the
parliamentary oratorsdiscoveredthat theywere addressingnot
onlytheirfellow-members but,indirectly,through themediumofthe
press,thepeopleof England,thewholecharacter ofparliamentary
proceedings changed. Throughthenewspapers thewholecountry
was enabledto participatein the discussions by whichissueswere
framedand legislation was enacted.
Meanwhile,the newspapersthemselves, underthe influence of
theverydiscussions whichtheythemselves had
instigated, become
partyorgans. Whereuponthe partypress ceased to be a mere
chronicleofsmallgossipand cametobe whatwe knowas a "journal
ofopinion." The editor,meanwhile, no longera merenewsmonger
I Gallery.Pp.
MichaelMacDonagh,TkeReporters' I39-40.

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 28I

and humblerecorder of events,foundhimselfthemouthpiece ofa

politicalparty,playinga rolein politics.
During the long struggleforfreedomof thoughtand speech
in the seventeenth century, populardiscontent had foundliterary
expressionin the pamphletand broadside. The mostnotableof
thesepamphleteers was JohnMilton,and themostfamousofthese
pamphletswas Milton'sAreopagitica:A Defenceof theLibertyof
UnlicensedPrinting,publishedin I646; "the noblestpiece of
Englishprose"it has beencalledby HenryMorley.
Whenthenewspaper became,in theearlypartoftheeighteenth
century, a journalofopinion,it tookoverthefunction ofthepolitical
pamphlet. The opinionthat had formerly foundexpressionin
a broadsidewas now expressedin the formof editorialleading
articles. The editorialwriter,who had inheritedthe mantleof
thepamphleteer, now assumedtheroleof a tribuneof thepeople.
It was in this role,as the protagonistof the popularcause,
thatthenewspapercapturedtheimagination ofour intelligentsia.
When we read in the politicalliteratureof a generationago
references to "the powerof the press" it is the editorand the
editorialratherthan the reporterand the news of which these
writersare thinking.Even now,whenwe speakof thelibertyof
the press,it is the libertyto expressan opinion,ratherthan the
libertyto investigate and publishthefacts,whichis meant. The
activitiesof thereporter, uponwhichany opinionthatis relevant
to existing conditions
is likelyto be based,are moreoftenregarded
as an infringement of ourpersonalrightsthan an exerciseof our
politicalliberties.
The libertyofthepressforwhichMiltonwrotetheAreoptagitica
was the libertyto expressan opinion. "Give me the liberty,"
he said, "to know,to alter,and to arguefreelyaccordingto con-
science,above all liberties."
Carlylewas thinkingof the editorialwriterand not of the
reporter whenhe wrote: " Greatis journalism! Is not everyable
editora ruleroftheworld,beinga persuaderofit ?"
The UnitedStatesinheritedits parliamentary government, its
partysystem,and its newspapersfromEngland. The rolewhich
the politicaljournalsplayedin Englishpoliticswas re-enacted in

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 282 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

America. The Americannewspapers werea powerwithwhichthe

Britishgovernment had to reckonin the struggleof the colonies
forindependence.AftertheBritishtookpossessionofNew York
City,AmbroseSerle,whohad undertaken to publishtheNew York
Gazettein the interestof the invaders,wroteas followsto Lord
Dartmouthin regardto thepatriot-party press.
Amongotherengineswhichhave raised the presentcommotion,next to
the indecentharanguesof the preachers,none has had a more extensiveor
strongerinfluencethan the newspapersof the respectivecolonies. One is
astonishedto see withwhat aviditytheyare soughtafter,and how implicitly
theyare believedby the greatbulk of the people.'

It was nearlya centurylaterin thepersonof Horace Greeley,

editorof the New YorkTribuneduringthe anti-slavery struggle,
thatthejournalofopinionreacheditshighest inAmerica.
expression
Americahas had betternewspapermen than Horace Greeley,
althoughnone,perhaps,whoseopinionsexercisedso widean influ-
ence. "The New York Tribune,"says CharlesFrancis Adams,
"duringthoseyearswas the greatesteducationalfactor,economi-
callyand morally,thiscountry has everknown."
IV. THE INDEPENDENT PRESS

The powerof the press,as represented by the oldertype of

newspaper, restedin thefinalanalysisupontheabilityofitseditors
to createa partyand lead it. The journalof opinionis, by its
verynature,predestinedto becomethe organof a party,or at
anyratethemouthpiece ofa school.
So long as politicalactivitieswere organizedon the basis of
villagelife,thepartysystemworked. In thevillagecommunity,
wherelifewas and stillis relatively fixedand settled,customand
traditionprovidedformost of the exigenciesof daily life. In
sucha community, whereeverydeviationfromtheordinary routine
of lifewas a matterofobservation and commentand all thefacts
wereknown,thepoliticalprocesswas,at anyrate,a comparatively
simplematter. Underthesecircumstances theworkof thenews-
paper,as a gathererandinterpreter ofthenews,was butan extension
of the functionwhich was otherwiseperformedspontaneously
I GeorgeHenry Payne, HistoryofJournalismin theUnitedStates,p. I20.

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 283

by the community itselfthroughthe mediumof personalcontact

and gossip.
But as our citiesexpandedand life grewmore complicated,
it turnedout thatpoliticalparties,in orderto survive,musthave
a permanentorganization.Eventuallyparty moralebecame a
greatervalue than the issuesforthe determination of whichthe
partiesare supposedto exist. The effect uponthepartypresswas
to reduceit to thepositionof a sortof houseorganof theparty
organization.It no longerknewfromday to day just what its
opinionswere. The editorwas no longera freeagent. It was of
thissubjugatedTribunethatWalt Whitmanwas thinking whenhe
coinedthephrase,"the kepteditor."
When,finally, theexigenciesofpartypolitics,underconditions
of lifein greatcities,developedthepoliticalmachine,someof the
moreindependentnewspapersrevolted. This was the originof
the independentpress. It was one of the independentpapers,
theNew YorkTimesofthatday,thatfirstassailedand eventually
overthrew, withtheaid of a cartoonist,ThomasNast, theTweed
Ring,thefirstand mostoutrageousof thepoliticalmachinesthat
partypoliticsin thiscountry has so farproduced. Presentlythere
was a generalbreakingaway, particularlyby the metropolitan
as distinguishedfromthe countrypapers,fromthe domination of
theparties. Partyloyaltyceasedto be a virtue.
Meanwhilea newpoliticalpowerhadarisenandfoundexpression
in the press. This powerwas embodied,not in the editorialand
the editorialwriter,however,but in the news and the reporter.
In spiteof thefactthattheprestigeof thepress,up to thistime,
had restedon its role of championof popularcauses, the older
newspapers werenotreadby themassesof thepeople.
The ordinaryman is moreinterestedin news than he is in
politicaldoctrinesor abstractideas. H. L. Menckenhas called
attentionto the fact that the averageman does not understand
morethantwo-thirds ofwhat"comesfromthelips of theaverage
politicaloratoror clergyman."
The ordinary man,as theSaturdayEveningPosthas discovered,
thinksin concreteimages,anecdotes,pictures,and parables. He
findsit difficultand tiresometo read a long articleunlessit is

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 284 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

dramatizedand takestheformofwhatnewspapers call a "story."

"News story"and "fiction story"aretwoforms ofmodern literature
that are now so like one anotherthatit is sometimes to
difficult
distinguish them.
The SaturdayEveningPost,forexample,writesthenewsin the
formof fiction,whilethe dailypressfrequently writesfictionin
theformofnews. Whenit is notpossibleto presentideas in the
concrete, dramaticformofa story,theordinary readerlikesthem
statedin a shortparagraph.
It is said thatJamesE. Scripps.of theScripps,McRae League,
whichspecializesin afternoon papersin secondarycities,builtup
hiswholestringofpapersuponthebasisoftheverysimplepsycho-
logicalprinciplethat the ordinary man willread newspaperitems
in theinverseratioto theirlength. His methodofmeasuring the
efficiency of his newspapers,therefore, was to countthenumber
of itemstheycontained. The paper thathad thelargestnumber
ofitemswas thebestpaper. This is justthereverseofMr.Hearst's
methods;hispapershave feweritemsthanotherpapers.
The old-timejournalistwas inclinedto have a contemptfor
news. News was forhimsimplymaterialupon whichto base an
editorial. If God let thingshappenthatwerenot in accordance
withhis conceptionof the fitnessof things,he simplysuppressed
them. He refusedto take theresponsibility oflettinghis readers
learnabout thingsthathe knewoughtnot to have happened.
MantonMarble,whowas editorof theNew YorkWorldbefore
JosephPulitzertookit and madeit yellow,used to say therewere
noti8,ooopeopleinNewYorkCitytowhoma well-conducted news-
papercouldoffer to addressitself. If thecirculationof thepaper
wentabove thatfigure he thoughttheremustbe something wrong
withthepaper. BeforeMr. Pulitzertookit over the circulation
had actuallysunkto io,ooo. The old New YorkWorldpreserved
the type of the old conservative high-brow paper down to the
eighties. By thattimein thelarger citiesthepoliticalindependent
newspapers had becometheacceptedtypeofjournal.
Long beforethe rise of what was later to be called the
independent press,therehad appearedin New York twojournals
that were the of thepresent-day
forerunners newspapers. In I883

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 285

BenjaminDay, witha fewassociates,starteda paperfor"mechanics

and themassesgenerally." The priceofthispaperwas i centbut
the publishersexpectedto make up by largercirculation and by
advertisingthelosssustainedbythelowerprice. At thattimemost
of theotherNew Yorkpapersweresellingfor6 cents.
It was, however,the enterpriseof James GordonBennett,
the founderof theNew YorkHerald,who set thepace in thenew
formofjournalism. In fact,as WillIrwinsaysin theonlyadequate
accountthat has ever been writtenof the Americannewspaper,
"JamesGordonBennettinventednewsas we knowit." Bennett,
likesomeotherswhohave contributed mostto modernjournalism,
wasa disillusionedman,and forthatveryreason,perhaps,a ruthless
and cynicalone. "I renounceall so-calledprinciples," he said in
his announcement of thenewenterprise.By principles he meant,
perhaps,editorialpolicies. His salutatorywas at the same time
a valedictory.In announcing thepurposesof thenewjournalism
he bade adieu to theaimsand aspirations of theold. Henceforth
the editorswereto be newsgatherers and the newspaperstaked
its futureon its abilityto gather,print,and circulatenews.
What is news? Therehave been manyanswers. I thinkit
was CharlesA. Dana, whosaid, "News is anything thatwillmake
peopletalk." This definition suggestsat any ratetheaimsof the
new journalism. Its purposewas to printanythingthat would
makepeopletalkand think,formostpeopledo notthinkuntilthey
beginto talk. Thoughtis afterall a sortofinternalconversation.
A laterversionof the same definition is this: "News is any-
thingthatmakesthereadersay,'Gee Whiz!"' Thisis thedefinition
of ArthurMcEwen,one of the menwho helpedmake theHearst
papers. It is at thesametimethedefinition ofthelatestand most
successfultype of journal,the yellowpress. Not all successful
journalsare,tobe sure,yellow. The NewYorkTimes,forexample,
is not. But theNew YorkTimesis notyeta type.
V. THE YELLOW PRESS

Thereseemto be,as WalterLippmannhas observed, twotypes

ofnewspaper readers. " Thosewhofindtheirownlivesinteresting"
and "those whofindtheirownlivesdull,and wishto live a more

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 286 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

thrilling existence." There are, correspondingly,two types of

newspapers: papers edited on the principlethat readersare mainly
interestedin reading about themselves,and papers edited upon
the principlethat theirreaders,seekingsome escape fromthe dull
routine of theirown lives, are interestedin anythingwhich offers
them,what the psychoanalyistscall "a flightfromreality."
The provincialnewspaperwith its recordof weddings,funerals,
lodge meetings,oystersuppers,and all the small patterof the small
town representsthe firsttype. The metropolitanpress, with its
persistentsearch in the drab episodes of city life for the romantic
and the picturesque,its dramatic accounts of vice and crime,and
its unflagginginterestin the movementsof personages of a more
or less mythicalhigh society,representsthe latter type.
Up to the last quarter of the nineteenthcentury,that is to say,
up to about i88o, most newspapers,even in our large cities,were
conductedon the theorythat the best news a paper can printis a
death notice or marriageannouncement.
Up to that timethe newspapershad not yet begun to break into
the tenements,and mostpeople who supporteda newspaperlived in
homes ratherthan in apartments. The telephonehad not yet come
into popular use; the automobile was unheard of; the city was
still a mosaic of little neighborhoods,like our foreign-language
communitiesof the present day, in which the city dweller still
maintainedsomethingof the provincialismof the small town.
Great changes, however, were impending. The independent
press was already drivingsome of the old-timenewspapers to the
wall. There were more newspapers than either the public or the
advertiserswere willingto support. It was at this time and under
these circumstancesthat newspapermen discoveredthat circulation
could be greatly increased by making literatureout of the news.
Charles A. Dana had already done this in the Sun, but there still
was a large section of the population forwhom the clever writing
of Mr. Dana's young men was caviar.
The yellowpress grewup in an attemptto capture forthe news-
paper a public whose only literaturewas the family story paper
or the cheap novel. The problemwas to write the news in such
a way that it would appeal to the fundamentalpassions. The

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 287

formula was: love and romanceforthewomen; sportand politics

forthemen.
The effect of theapplicationof thisformulawas to enormously
increasethe circulationof the newspapers, not onlyin the great
cities,butall overthecountry. Thesechangeswerebrought about
mainlyunder the leadershipof two men, JosephPulitzer and
WilliamRandolphHearst.
Pulitzerhad discoveredwhilehe was editorof the St. Louis
PostDispatchthatthewayto fight popularcauseswas notto advo-
cate themon theeditorialpage but to advertisethem-writethem
up-in the news columns. It was Pulitzerwho inventedmuck-
raking. It was this kind of journalismwhichenabledPulitzer,
withina periodof six years,to convertthe old New YorkWorld,
whichwas dyingofinanitionwhenhe tookit,intothemosttalked
aboutif not themostwidelycirculated, paperin New York City.
Meanwhile,out in San FranciscoMr. Hearsthad succeededin
galvanizing theold moribund Examinerintonewlife,makingit the
mostwidelyreadnewspaperon thePacificCoast.
It was underMr. Hearstthatthe"sob sister"cameintovogue.
This is her story,as Will Irwin told it in Collier's, February i8,
I9II:
Chamberlain(managingeditorof the Examiner)conceivedthe idea that
the city hospitalwas badly managed. He picked a littleslip of a girlfrom
amonghis cub reportersand assignedher to the investigation. She invented
her own method; she "fainted" on the street,and was carriedto the hospital
fortreatment. She turnedout a story"with a sob fortheunfortunate in every
line." That was the professionalbeginningof "Annie Laurie" or Winifred
Black, and of a departurein newspaperwriting. For she came to have many
imitators,but none othercould ever so well stirup the primitiveemotionsof
sympathyand pity; she was a "sob squad" all by herself. Indeed, in the
discoveryof this symphathetic"woman writing,"Hearst broke throughthe
crustinto the thinghe was after.

With the experiencethat he had gainedon the Examinerin

San Franciscoand witha largefortunethathe had inherited
from
his father,
HearstinvadedNew Yorkin I896. It was notuntilhe
reached New York and started out to make the New York Journal
themostwidelyreadpaperin theUnitedStatesthatyellowjournal-
ismreachedthelimit.

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 288 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGY

Pulitzer'sprincipalcontribution to yellowjournalism was muck-

raking,Hearst's was mainly"jazz." The newspaperhad been
conductedup to thistimeupon thetheorythatits businesswas to
instruct.Hearst rejected that conception.His appeal was
frankly not to theintellectbut to theheart. The newspaperwas
forhimfirstand last a formofentertainment.
It was aboutthetimetheyellowpresswas engagedin extending
thenewspaperhabitto themassesofpeople,including womenand
immigrants-who up to thistimedid not read newspapers-that
thedepartment storewas beginning to attractattention.
The department storeis, in a sense,a creationof the Sunday
newspaper. At any rate,withouttheadvertising thattheSunday
newspaperwas able to giveit, thedepartment storewouldhardly
havegainedthevogueit has today. It is important in thisconnec-
tionthatwomenreadtheSundaypaperbeforetheydid thedailies.
The womenare buyers.
It was in the Sundaynewspaperthat the methodsof yellow
journalismwerefirstcompletely workedout. The men who are
chiefly responsibleforthemare MorrillGoddardand ArthurBris-
bane. It was Goddard'sambitionto make a paper that a man
wouldbuy evenif he could not read it. He wentin forpictures,
firstin blackand whiteand thenin colors. It was in theSunday
Worldthatthefirstseven-column cutwas printed. Thenfollowed
thecomicsectionandall theotherdeviceswithwhichwearefamiliar
forcompelling a dull-mindedand reluctant publicto read.
Afterthesemethodshad beenworkedout in theSundaypaper,
theywere introducedinto the daily. The finaltriumphof the
yellow journal was Brisbane's "Heart-to-hearteditorials"-a
columnof predigestedplatitudesand moralizing, withhalf-page
diagramsand illustrations to re-enforce the text. Nowherehas
HerbertSpencer'smaxim that the art of writingis economyof
attention beenso completely realized.
WalterLippmann,in his recentstudyofpublicopinion,calls
attentionto the factthatno sociologisthas everwrittena book
on newsgathering.It strikeshimas verystrangethatan institu-
tionlike thepress,fromwhichwe expectso muchand get so little

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 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 289

of what we expect,shouldnot have been the subjectof a more

disinterested study.
It is truethatwehavenotstudiedthenewspaperas thebiologists
have studied,forexample,thepotatobug. But thesamemaybe
said of everypoliticalinstitution,
and thenewspaperis a political
institutionquiteas muchas TammanyHall ortheboardofaldermen
are politicalinstitutions.We have grumbledabout our political
institutions, sometimeswe have soughtby certainmagicallegislative
devicesto exerciseand expelthe evil spiritsthat possessedthem.
On thewholewe have beeninclinedtoregardthemas sacredand to
treatany fundamental criticism ofthemas a sort of blasphemy.
If thingswentwrong, it was not theinstitutionsbut thepersonswe
electedto conductthem,and an incorrigible humannature,who
wereat fault.
What then is the remedyfor the existingconditionof the
newspapers ? Thereis no remedy. Humanlyspeaking, thepresent
newspapers are about as goodas theycan be. If thenewspapers
are tobe improved, it willcomethrough theeducationofthepeople
and theorganization ofpoliticalinformation and intelligence.As
Mr. Lippmannwellsays,"the numberof socialphenomenawhich
are now recordedis small,the instruments of analysisare very
crude,and the conceptsoftenvague and uncriticized."We must
improveour recordsand that is a serioustask. But firstof all
we mustlearnto look at politicaland social lifeobjectivelyand
cease to thinkofit whollyin moralterms! In thatcase we shall
have less news,but betternewspapers.
The real reasonthat the ordinarynewspaperaccountsof the
incidentsofordinary lifeare so sensationalis becausewe knowso
littleofhumanlifethatwe are not able to interpret theeventsof
lifewhenwe read them. It is safe to say that whenanything
shocksus, we do notunderstand it.

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