American press

“ But nothing can be done without the Press;—enterprise must stop here, and the skill of the wizard be hushed in darkness, unless the Press will publish it to the world. But the American Press allows no man's light to be hidden under a bushel, so long as he has the necessary means to bring it out, and always manifests a readiness to embrace any cause that has sufficient pecuniary merits. In all other respects the managers of the Press appear about as unscrupulous as the engines themselves. ”

“ There is much that is ridiculous in the every-day tone of American newspapers, in their thirst for sensations and réclame, in their petty interviews. But here everything was suddenly swept aside, and the dominant tone of the American press became deep and significant. ”

“ The magic power of the press cannot be too highly appreciated nor its abuses too deeply deprecated. The newspapers of the day have become the controlling power of public opinion. No course of reading so fully presents the present aspect of society. Were all our editors governed by lofty patriotism, sound logic, strict justice, enlarged philanthropy, universal charity, moral courage, sterling integrity and undeviating courtesy—a harmonious tone would be given to community that would usher in the day-spring of transporting harmony. ”

“ Taken all in all, the American press very worthily represents the energy, prosperity, and greatness of the American nation; and at the same time with its superficial haste, its vulgarity and excitability, 151with its lively patriotism and irrepressible humour, it clearly evinces the influence of democracy. The better the paper the more prominent are the critical and reflective features; while the wider the circulation, the more noticeable are the obtrusive self-satisfaction and provincialism, and the characteristic disdain of things European. ”

“ Just as we chose the American daily paper for the model of a newsgathering and news-presenting organization, so here we must admit that, as an organ for expressing instructed opinion not only on politics but on general topics, the distinctively English type of paper is a far more potent and more highly-developed instrument. In this respect the American press suffers severely from the general democratic contempt prevailing on that continent for expert opinion of all kinds. ”

“ That the American press from 1790 to 1800 was probably as powerful in its influence as at any time in its history, is not to be denied. But the violence and vituperation of the party press led to the first attempt on the part of the American Government to regulate the newspaper press. ”

“ For several years the newspaper press had been rapidly growing in political importance, and the vehicle of mere general news became the channel of political and social enlightenment. In proportion to the development of its power and the creation of public opinion favorable to its views, was the increase of its boldness, and at the beginning of 1770 the American press was not only united in sentiment, but almost as fearless in the expression of political and religious opinions as the newspapers of the present day. ”

“ The English know the power of the great modern newspaper, not only to reflect but to form public opinion. They have watched the American press because they know to what extent it influences American policy. ”

“ The greatest praise of the American press is, after all, but a dubious testimony of an author’s merits, even with a great portion of the American public; while its censure becomes doubly severe from the circumstance of its rare occurrence, and the great ease with which it may be avoided. ”

“ The truth of this proposition becomes evident, from the close connection that exists between the press and the public, from the action and reaction, the efflux and reflux, from the true corporate unity which brings into the press the life-blood of the country. We depend upon the newspaper for distributing knowledge, as well as creating it; it is an instrument by which the opinions and feelings of the people may be guided and developed, as well as communicated and ascertained. It is in fact an essential element in the peculiar spirit and tendency which characterizes our modern civilization. ”

“ They are most able men, a credit to the American Press. They are trustworthy. That is the opinion formed by the people who know in England. I am glad to be able to repeat this opinion here to-day. If the Press wants to unite countries it can. [48] If it wants to disunite them, it can. But the Press is just like a person in this. If someone tells you constantly of another’s shortcomings and faults and extols his own virtues, you begin sooner or later to avoid that person. ”

“ The American daily papers are more important as a medium for influencing public opinion than as a mirror for reflecting it. The United States is the land of propaganda par excellence! Every important enterprise, of no matter what nature, has its Press agent; the greatest of all is the propaganda lasting for months, which is carried on before the biennial elections, and of the magnitude of which it is difficult for the average European to gain any conception. ”

“ Yet they are all in turn set upon by the press or public opinion and hounded like criminals. They try (somebody tries) to drive 'em out of office every once in a while. If there's anything I'm afraid of, it's the newspapers. The correspondents are as thick as flies in summer—all hunting sensations—especially the yellow American press. I play the game with these fellows always squarely, sometimes I fear indiscreetly. ”

“ The American press is nothing if not enterprising. Why, if King Edward were to fall downstairs tomorrow and break his meerschaum pipe, New Yorkers would know of it, through their newspapers, five hours before he knew it himself! ”

“ It is frequently asserted by Americans that their press is very largely controlled by capitalists, and that its columns are often venal. On such points as these I venture to make no assertion. To prove them would require either a special knowledge of the back-lobbies of journalism or so intimate an understanding of the working of American institutions and the evolution of American character as to be able to decide definitely that no other explanation can be given of the source of such-and-such newspaper actions and attitude. ”

“ If the press be a corporation, it is a public service corporation with all of the social responsibility that this implies. The American press reflects the life of all of us, and it affects the life of all of us. We must all share the com- mon task of raising slowly, steadily, courageously this life to a higher level of truth, of justice, of good will. We, the people, make the press what it is. The press can help us to make it and all our national in- stitutions more nearly what they should be. ”

“ Naturally, politicians bitterly opposed this new press, and did what they could to prevent it from feeding at the political crib of State and National advertising. Nevertheless, the new journalism, opposed to politics and independent in spirit, continued to thrive. It was said that in ten years it did more good by exposure of municipal scandals than the older press had done in twenty. In the birth of the penny newspaper may be found the beginning of the independent press in America. ”

“ This young lady, as will be seen from an extract of a letter to the author which we take the liberty to produce, is fully alive to the work of the press and the demand for active laborers. She writes: "Allow me to say, that I think my work as a writer but barely begun, for, God helping mo, I mean to become one of no mean caliber. I regard the press as one of the mightiest factors that more this universe of ours. So great is its influence, so powerful its results, I verily believe that if we, through any unseen force, should lose our free press, our republic would be shattered. ”

“ The pretty little tale, the interesting note of popular science, or the able sketch of some contemporary political condition is, however, so hidden away amid a mass of feebly illustrated and vulgarly written notes on sport, society, criminal reports, and personal interviews with the most evanescent of celebrities that one cannot but stand aghast at this terrible misuse of the powerful engine of the press. It is idle to contend that the newspaper, as a business undertaking, must supply this sort of thing to meet the demand for it. ”

“ The American newspapers are conducted with talent, and warmly encourage and keep alive the spirit of energy and progress, from which the country’s greatness springs; their moral tone generally is good, and the amount of useful information they disseminate renders them of great value to the greater proportion of readers; but it is to be deplored that so many are connected with the press, whose feelings prompt them to keep alive a jealousy and hatred of the mother country. ”

“ I believe I am not altogether wrong in asserting that the American daily press, though its influence on national politics is prodigious, is nevertheless in its composition, character, and moral force, scarcely to be compared to the mass of talent employed in this branch of literature in Europe.
There is scarcely a paper in any of the large cities of the United States which has a decided political character—advocating some great historical principle, and employing in its warfare other weapons than common-place dialectics, and constant appeals to the passions of its subscribers. ”

“ And I believe that the position of the American Press is in this regard quite singular. The English newspapers are so far from being thus independent and self-sufficient powers,—a law unto themselves,—in the politics of the empire that they are constrained to do homage to the political orator whether they will or no. Conservative editors must spread before their readers verbatim reports not only of the speeches of the leaders of their own party, but also of the principal speeches of the leading Liberal orators ”

“ The display of a representative selection of newspapers and the cost of maintaining the department would occupy a large space, and the funds would be spent to a considerable extent in providing one of the least healthy forms of literature. But perhaps the real reason for the American indifference to the newsroom is the sensational and vulgar tone of a considerable portion of the newspaper press. ”

“ The Associated Press from the time of its organization and establishment in business sold the news reports to various newspapers who became members, and the publication of that news became of vast importance to the public so that public interest is attached to the dissemination of that news. The manner in which that corporation has used its franchise has charged its business with a public interest. ”

“ Possibly The Sun of New York was the first to use news boys in this way. Almost at the start that paper contained a notice :
TO THE UNEMPLOYED. A number of steady men can find em- ployment by vending this paper. A liberal discount is allowed to those who buy to sell again.
For the first time journalism was brought directly to the people. By making the daily papers easy to buy, the penny press brought something of a revolution into American journalism. ”

“ We are much cheered by the somewhat unexpected, and perhaps unmerited plaudits of a large portion of the periodical press, and especially that part of it which has heretofore enjoyed a kind of literary monopoly—but which generously merges every thing like a feeling of rivalry in the more honorable and patriotic sentiment of devotion to the great cause of American literature. ”

“ There had been an investigation by the President of the United States of one of America’s greatest industries, and I had been tacitly commissioned to make the results known to the public, for the benefit of the public, whose physical health was at stake. I came to the great press association, an organization representing at that time some seven hundred newspapers, with scores of millions of readers, hungry for news. The Associated Press was the established channel through which the news was supposed to flow; and in this crisis the channel proved to be a concrete wall. ”

“ Critical period in American history—Greater interest in the news—Prominence of journals and writers—Press held in contempt as the representative of the people—Characteristics of papers—Bareness of life of laboring class—Russell and the Massachusetts Sentinel—Loyalty of Russell shown — First daily in America—Thomas Greenleaf—His office wrecked.
The war is ended, and there has come into existence a nation in which the liberty of the press is one of the canonical principles. ”

“ but while the newspaper press of America is in, or near, its present abject state, high moral improvement in that country is hopeless. Year by year, it must and will go back; year by year, the tone of public feeling must sink lower down; year by year, the Congress and the Senate must become of less account before all decent men; and year by year, the memory of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged more and more, in the bad life of their degenerate child. ”

“ One chief reason, perhaps, of the comparatively small influence of our press is that the people know the fact that the papers are run from motives of personal profits, and that the policy of the paper is largely determined by the amount to which its opinions will affect its sales and advertising. ”

“ But apart from these impediments to American literature, there is another. It glares in the face of every one. It lies in the periodical press. The benefits and glories of the press are familiar to every mind. Disseminating knowledge with unexampled rapidity, its influence is spread over and reaches the extreme borders of society. Being a universal mental aliment, it moulds, and fashions, and directs the thoughts and feelings of the man. ”