telegraph, cheaper printing methods, population growth leads to dramatic increase in newspapers, include civil war coverage of 1860's.
journalism & the civil war
The civil war was a revolution for what was already a huge buisiness, the newspaper. The telegraph toed in by being able to transfer news quickly from one place to another. By 1860 there was already 50,000 miles of telegraphy lines. News was expensive to tranfer, so there was usually a limit on words to be sent, but it was normal for news from a distant city to be delivered in the newspaper the next day, not a week later. The quantity of US news increased dramatically as the 1860 presidential campaign and the events at Fort Sumter seemed to presage serious trouble. The "Citizen" coverage of U.S. news during the War fell into four broad categories: First: There were reports gleaned from U.S. newspapers, usually un-named. These were received in Ottawa by mail and train. They were summarized, and the stories appeared with a date and city of origin but no other identification as to source and the name of the reporter did not appear. There were also occasional reports from the embryo Associated Press. Second: There were reports by corespondents of the better-known U.S. newspapers (New York "Herald" or the "Times"). These appear to have been reprinted in full. In the case of the "Herald" they were often sensationalist. Again the correspondents were not named. Third: In the autumn of 1860 the "Citizen" retained its own Washington and New York correspondents who provided regular reports by telegraph. The correspondents were not identified by name and could, presumably, have been several people, each reporting independently. They were probably reporting for one or more other papers as well as the "Citizen". Fourth: There were editorial assessments and opinions prepared in Ottawa by the "Citizen" editors from all the information available. These usually appeared on the left-hand side of the second page of each issue.The editiors and journalists who reported in newspapers during the civil war seemed to be extremely biased one way or the other. the writers, though impossible to identify especially now, were clearly american and clearly pro-union.The position of slaves could be viewed in issues of The "Citizen." The slaves, who had just seen The Fugitive Law Act pass, which meant that run-away slaves must be returned to the owners, had a voice that was projected every so often in the press. The "Citizen" editorialspoke out about the flow of "colored citizens" since John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. It statedthat the white population was "inconvenienced" by the blacks though it said that in the West Indies they "fill the offices of the state with credit and efficiency". The editorial commented that maybe in later years, the blacks may "mingle up" in white society. It went on: ''there is (in Kent County) a tendency to separation without persecution" and suggested that the newcomers "rights are rigidly regarded and in courts of justice, with which they are seldom connected...their citizenship claims are scrupulously observed".But then, in a sudden change of attitude says that "they (the blacks) assume an independence of manner which, at first simply amusing, becomes in a short time offensive". And then it finishes: "We consider them (the blacks) in a transition state and believe that in no long time their principal locality, Chatham in Kent County, will be merely a receiving place from whence they will be drafted off to...the West Indies or to Siberia". This piece seems to go from acceptance through plain and simple racism with a touch of arrogance.
Civil War Coverage
Civil War Coverage 1860: The civil war was a turning point for Journalism. It was the time period where YEllow Journalism was introduced. Yellow journalism is a technique that journalist used to catch the attention of readers, they made catchy headlines to appeal to the readers emotion. Papers like the Liberator, The North Star, and the Harper Weekly are examples of newspapers that used Yellow Journalism. Different papers like the New York Journal, and New York Times published civil war information. The civil war was really the first time in history that journalists and reporters were allowed to enter the lives of not only the people in the community, but the people of war, who shared their families and stories with them.
cheaper printing methods
The cylinder press was a steam powered way to print newspaper in a mo
re quick fashion, it was also a cheap alternative to the methods used previously. The cylinder press was first used in the USA in 1825, but Richard Hoe, an inventor, changed it several years later. Hoe imporved the speed by adding a second cylinder and a first rotary. The price of paper went down significantly with the use of the cylinder. The newspaper became known as the “penny press” because the paper was more affordable. The printing of the “penny press” changed the face of journalism. Journalists began to realize that the interests of the people who bought the “penny press” paper differed from the interests of the people who bought more extensive papers.
telegraphin 1825, William Sturgeon showed the electromagnet. Sturgeon displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wires through which the current of a single cell battery was sent. in 1830, joseph henry sent an electric current over 1 mile of iron wire to activate an electromagnet to cause a bell to ring. while a professor at NYU, samuel morse found that the electromagnet would move a pen tied to it, creating dots and dashes, but it was not until 1843 that congress funded $30,000 to create an expiremental line from washington to baltimore, a distance of 40 miles. the first message was sent to the capitol, saying that the whig party had elected Henry Clay.
