The year that defined American journalism : 1897 and the clash of paradigms / W. Joseph Campbell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Campbell, W. Joseph.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Journalism--United States--History--19th century.

Journalism.

United States.

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 317 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, [2006]

Summary:

The Year That Defined American Journalism explores succession of remarkable and decisive moments in American journalism during 1897-a year of significant transition that helped redefine the profession and shape its modern contours. This defining year featured a momentous clash of paradigms pitting the activism of William Randolph Hearst's participatory "journalism of action" against the detached, fact-based antithesis of activist journalism, as represented by Adolph Ochs of the New York Times, and an eccentric experiment in literary journalism pursued by Lincoln Steffens at the New York Commercial-Advertiser. Resolution of the three-sided clash of paradigms would take years and result ultimately in the ascendancy of the Times' counter-activist model-which remains the defining Standard for mainstream American journalism. The Year That Defined American Journalism introduces the year-study methodology to mass communications research and enriches our understanding of a pivotal moment in media history.

Contents:

An 1897 Timeline: Pivotal Moments of a Decisive Year xiii

The Clash of Paradigms 5

The Centrality of Newspapers 9

Parallels, Then and Now 12

Introducing the Year Study 16

The Merits of Year Studies 20

Death of the "Pope" 23

Chapter 1 1897: America at an Hour of Transition 31

"Something out of the Common" 36

New Journalism, New Woman 42

An Instrument of Social Control 60

Violence in Sport 63

Chapter 2 The Clash of Paradigms 69

"Wonderfully Able & Attractive" 75

New Year's Eve 1897 87

The Motto Contest 95

Why the Times Model Prevailed 103

Why the "Journalism of Action" Failed 106

Chapter 3 Exceptional Journalism in Journalism's Exceptional Year 119

A Hard-Luck Field 122

A Diffident Embrace 130

Incongruous Timing 133

On Assignment to Cuba 135

Scovel the Fearless 143

To the Klondike 150

Chapter 4 Not a Hoax: New Evidence in the New York Journal's Rescue of Evangelina Cisneros 161

No Evidence of Bribery 171

The Clandestine Accomplices 173

Barker: the "Fighting Consul" 181

Testing the Internal Evidence 184

From Hiding to the Seneca 187

Conclusion: How 1897 Lives on 195.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-301) and index.

ISBN:

0415977029

0415977037

OCLC:

62679816

Publisher Number:

9780415977029

9780415977036

Online:

Publisher description