Why was the 19^th Century the real beginning of news as mass communication?

The 19^th century brought advances to the world of news like no other era. The developments of new technology and the dawn of free speech for the press meant that the 19^th century brought an innovative type of news to the people that had never been seen before, unlike the decades and centuries that had passed this information given to the masses was infact new and current. It was this defining century that had shaped modern journalism and print today and it continues to do so. The 1800’s were the dawn of mass communication and efficient fast news production, but this blossoming world of media could not have happened if it was not for the innovators of news from the previous centuries as they were the spark that ignited the modern news production.  The 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th century began to mould the new beginnings of news that eventually led to the rise of technological advances in the industrial age meaning that the communication of news could finally reach its potential and go global instead of just local.

The 15^th century was the very early beginnings to the modern distribution of mass communication. This was very confined as the cultural and political status of nations was stuck in a hierarchy the purpose of making religious books in Latin (Jackie Harrison 2006). Although this was very basic and not for the masses it remained a tool for the people of power – the churches rule over the populous. This did however establish the roots of modern communication (Williams 1998), It played the important role of setting a precedent for printing which now could only lead to further development as the shift in power and opinion changed year by year. The development of the Gutenberg printing press was just one-stepping stone on the way towards mass communication of the 19^th century. Printed material gradually began to replace handwritten manuscripts and books they were being replaced by printed books and newspapers meaning that circulation grew, even the illiterate could begin to benefit from the printing press as people would go to the lengths of reading it aloud (Jackie Harrison 2006) this progression was on a small local scale but was the start of a snowball effect of communication across districts, counties and countries.

The journey to the mass communication boom of the 19th century was one of gradual progression.  One of the reasons that mass communication truly began in the in the 1800’s was because restrictions were getting fewer by the day the rise in literacy and education meant that more people could infact read and benefit from the news. With more people being literate it started a larger scale of news circulation than ever before (Thompson 1995).  The period of 1853 to 1861 saw the abolition of advertisement, stamp and paper duty (Jackie Harrison 2006).  This meant that the press was no long restricted by laws that affected them financially; newspapers could expand and truly have the freedom of press that had never been accessible before. With the lack of duties inflicted on the paper this also meant that the actual cost of the paper could be reduced furthering it’s appeal and accessibility to the news hungry population.

Secondly the improvements occurred through technological developments the printing press of the 17^th and 18^th century were costly and needed a lot of manual labour in order for it to print correctly, not only that but the it was very time consuming and not an adequate way to embark upon communicating to the masses. The invention of Keonig’s steam press of 1814 and the rotary press of 1848 revolutionised print press due to its speed of production and the quantities that they could produce. Such a development caused a stream of news that could be made quickly and on a large scale making news that was current and interesting to its readers. The development of the electro magnetic telegraph made by Samuel Morse in 1835 allowed information to travel through electrical cables on land and under the ocean such a development meant that news could be obtained almost instantly or as soon as an event had occurred. The 19^th century inaugurated and embraced technology it made completely changed the way news was acquired it opened up completely new doors for journalists and for newspaper owners. Mass communication was now here to stay with little expense and was only going to improve.

Not only did the 19^th century bring technological advances that have changed the world of communication forever it also made took the first steps to see newspapers as a commercial outlet. Laws and restrictions had gone and media moguls began matching news with business. Advertisement was now key for money making and as the majority of people now read papers it had shifted from and upper/middle class indulgence to a source for the ordinary man as well, this type of press was one that promoted capitalism (Jackie Harrison 2006). The age of the press baron had begun before there was no need for such power in newspapers as they were not a popular well publicised or accessible commodity, but the 19^th century brought with it an age of consumerism. Arguably the first press barons were Lord Rothermere and lord Northcliffe. They brought a totally new concept to the newspaper seeing it as a way to communicate news to the public and as a way to reinvent newspapers to yet again expand its readership for the purpose of obtaining advertisers. This is a prime example of why the 19^th century is the turning point for mass communication due to the fact that in the past they could only just manage to produce a small amount of papers with a small amount of relevant or old news, but now papers had space to advertise they included news from around the world and it had become a business. This transformation into a money-making establishment has certainly grown exceedingly from the days of pamphlets.

Differing from the style of news that had past the 19^th century brought more personal news that people were actually interested in reading thanks to the new editorial heads and barons. Newspaper layouts were bigger and better with headlines and subheadings to catch the customer’s eye. News was now a fight for custom instead of merely reporting, with access to print houses and easy contact of news home and abroad, papers had to fight for their readers. Editors now gave “soft” and “hard” news to access to make it a diverse enticing read for current and perspective customers. From the start of the 19^th century to the beginning of the 20^th century circulation of newspapers had quadrupled. The number of papers in the UK and Ireland increased from 274 to 2205; news had never been so efficient or accessible to the public.

In conclusion the 19^th century was the real beginning of news as mass communication because it catapulted itself out of the dark ages and into a new technological world. Restraints removed. Technology had now allowed communication across the globe, within minutes news from continent to continent could be extracted, the development of the steam press meant that more papers could be made and produced at lower cost thanks to the abolishment of governmental duties. The 19^th century became a realisation of what was possible and how to communicate news on a large scale without the developments of this era communication, as we know it today would not exist.  Finally mass communication began in the 19^th century through progress technologically and in the running of newspapers it is the main reason we today can access high quality news easily and affordably.

Bibliography

 Williams, K. (1998) Get me a murder a day! A history of mass communication in Britain, London; Arnold.

 Thompson, J.B. (1995) The media and modernity; a social theory of the media, Cambridge, Polity press.

 Conboy, M (2004), Journalism: a critical history, London, Sage.

 Harrison, J (2006),  News, Oxon, Routledge.

Scotland’s rural housing monopoly

The Rural Affairs and Environment Committee raised the rural housing issue to Scottish parliament. After a lengthy inquiry the Committee concluded that the issue of the lack of rural housing was “of national importance” and yet again brought this serious issue to parliament after years of struggling to get this crucial issue recognised.

Maureen Watt (North East Scotland, Scottish National Party) as a member of the Rural affairs and Environment Committee opened the debate voicing her and the committee’s opinion that the government needed to do more in the area of rural housing. The inquiry that began in the September of 2007 has raised concern amongst the committee that families who live in a rural community can no longer afford to stay in their family homes or stay in their local villages to start families of their own due to the rising prices of houses.  “Tight knit rural communities cannot survive in the long term if young people are prevented from building their lives there and if key local jobs are left unfilled. More needs to be done to increase the availability of rural housing”.

The demise of the rural community as Maureen Watt has described has led to an increase in the number of families that are forced to move into the cities which has had a detrimental effect on local family run businesses as the young leave and the old stay causing the local villages and towns to remain stagnant. One of the main problems discovered in the inquiry was that councils were reluctant to condone planning and to expand on help struggling families find affordable homes. Mrs Watt went on to say “we need to overcome the assumption that the countryside should remain empty”. The suggestion by the committee was that more houses should indeed be built in unused land that was unsuitable for agricultural purposes. “More radical approaches are needed for some of the country’s worst hit areas in this housing crisis”.

The worst hit areas in this shortage of living space amongst the rural community are in Highland Perthshire, East Lothian and the isle of Arran.  Alex Neil the minister of housing communities congratulated the committee on such a report and went on to commit 136 million pounds towards helping turn the dire housing situation into a success. It was clear however that more effort was needed he stated that “we need the public pound to go further concerning housing”. 

The bank’s annual Rural Housing Review stated that the prices across housing rural Scotland fell by 11% over the past 12 months compared to an average 13% drop in the urban areas of Scotland. First-time buyers purchased 28% of all homes sold in rural areas but the rise was still significantly lower than the 41% for urban houses. Suren Thiru, economist at Bank of Scotland, said: “Over the past year, house prices in rural Scotland have declined by less than in urban areas, largely reflecting the quality of life benefits associated with living in the countryside”.

The goal for new better housing to sustain the local communities of rural Scotland will take time and with more debate and less action this will inevitably lead to more families being left out on a limb with no choice but to abandon their rightful rural homes.

Journalist profile: Paul Dalgarno

Writer, editor, father, husband and he can play the piano. This is the profile of the weekend supplements editor for the herald, Paul Dalgarno.

Paul has not however always been a journalist it was not until 34 year old Paul turned 27 that he realised he wanted to join the wild world of the media business. After studying at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh he became an English teacher in foreign schools mainly in Italy where he met his wife and mother of his son. “I didn’t want to teach any more, I didn’t know whether I wanted to be journalist but I was pulled towards writing”.  This pull towards writing and away from teaching turned Dalgarno into a student at the Scottish school of journalism in Strathclyde.

Now Paul Dalgarno, is deputy weekend features editor at the Herald and Times Group, whose work mainly involves The Herald Magazine (Saturday supplement) and the Sunday Herald Magazine. When I asked how after such a short time in the industry how he became and editor of a national papers weekend features he said that the honest answer was that after a total re-shuffling of the media company Quest that is the cooking pot to which the Herald bubbles nicely in new jobs were available. “After writing for a few years I wanted something new to do”.  When asked about being and editor he remarked that “I have been editor since March, you really don’t realise how much work has to go into a piece before it up to a high printable standard. Editing is not hugely glamorous at the end of the day it is a job. Taking away the romantic side of it an editor is there to fill spaces and look for relevant stories, it’s a constant push against the clock.”

Paul’s tongue and cheek approach to writing makes him one of the most popular journalists in the herald, but with the current crisis within the journalism industry relation to the declining sales of print news, some journalists do see print having a future, however Paul states that although the decline in sales is everyone’s concern however he feels that through columns, and cultural expertise writing about news or just debates that effect the reader are what will keep print news going.

Though being in the journalism industry Paul recalled his first celebrity interview with no other than mother earth’s prodigy David Attenborough he tells me the nerves were running high and he was under strict instructions not to ask David any personal questions and only refer to the exhibition paintings and with the clock ticking getting a story was quite a mission!

Paul Dalgarno is a devout father who hilarious take on his days and nights with his son leave readers laughing at this truly natural, honest, funny parenting. “With a young son it’s pretty full on I don’t have really have time for hobbies, I would love to say I was a hill walking enthusiast but I’m not. I really need to start exercising; sitting typing at a desk all day is not the best way to keep in shape.”

What part does entertainment play in the history of journalism down to the present day?

Entertainment has been an ever-growing force in the journalism industry. Since the mass communications boom of the 19^th century the developing focus of newspapers was attract readers. As the journalism industry grew this was the major focus entertainment in journalism is more prominent in papers today than ever before. The 21^st century has been the dawn of the cult of celebrity, the columnists, provocative news and the home and lifestyle pages. The aim to entertain plays a big part in the selling of papers or the watching of news due to the fact that the more entertaining, the larger the number of viewers or buyers of the paper as people want to read things and watch things that can relate and interest them as well as absorb the local, national and international news of the day.

As newspapers grew in size they were confronted by the problem of filling the space and by the end of the 19th century they could be used for news and information, record, advertising, entertainment, gossip and comment (Kevin Williams 1998).  The 19^th century due to technological advances of the printing press, led to quickly printable and efficient papers, this meant that news was being presented in a more modern and eye catching way but it was expensive. People were not willing to purchase a paper filled with information that the majority of people could not relate to. Journalism was soon to become an industry for the masses, it was not merely about presented news it was now a need for money making in order to fund the mass printing. It certainly worked the “popular” approach to reporting the news sold a high number of newspapers through “connecting” with the ordinary person and became established as part of the professional rationale of journalism hence making it a dominant role that is still present today (Jackie Harrsion 2006).

The world wars helped develop the entertainment aspects of journalism. It went through many changes in the heat of war. At the start the wireless broadcasted news, news and more news. These first months of war all normal programmes had gone and were replaced with repetitive bulletins. Basil Dean, who ran the entertainment national service association (ENSA), the organisation responsible for the entertainment of the troops wrote; “ public anxiety was not lessened by the forces gaiety of variety artists whose personal jokes and excessive use of each other’s Christian names-syndicated familiarity- savoured of self-advancement and was out of key with the national mood” (James Curran and Jean Seaton 1997). However public opinion tolls disagreed with this, as 35% of the public were dissatisfied with the BBC with a further 10% who switched off all together (James Curran and Jean Seaton 1997). 1939 was the turning point of the realisation that entertainment was a much-needed ingredient to keep the media industry cooking away. By 1945 programmes on the wireless such as ITMA, Hi Gang, and Worker’s playtime brought back humour and entertainment to the population. Humour became part of a protective self image in the midst of the air attacks and the possible invasion by the Germans. People did not want to be wearied with more tales of woe or to be consistently reminded of their dire situation. People power demanded entertainment and entertainment is what they got.

Since then entertainment in the media has grown and grown, the invention of the computer in the early 90’s has meant that the means of mass communicating has been made more accessible leading to the necessity of good entertainment for readers otherwise mass sales would be unlikely. Entertainment is like a huge umbrella for all its specific factors. The first objective of the media has always been to attract an audience. Hence press and broadcasting have sought to provide instantly appreciable material of entertainment for the masses (James Curran and Jean Seaton 1997). There are many arguments as to whether entertainment is a good thing, as it begs the question as to whether it is of social or political importance on the other hand it may ponder whether entertainment is a device used to sway the masses to a particular mindset. The universally accepted opinion is however that entertainment is important as a means of communication to the populous and that it does infact have a lot of political consequences (James Curran and Jean Seaton 1997). Gitlin has argued that entertainment “provides a legitimation of depoliticised forms of deviance, usually ethnic or sexual, and a delegitimation of the dangerous, the out of bounds, the violent”. This quote underpins the issue of the use of entertainment in the media the need for viewers and readers is now more than ever a catalyst for journalists to go further than ever before to get the story that will catch the audiences imagination. Barriers no seem to have been knocked down in the war for the most outrageous and weird stories. Controversy seems to be the key to success.  Nothing reiterates this more than the rise of the tabloid newspaper.

The final report of the royal press commission of (1974-77) stated; “newspapers and periodicals serve society in diverse ways. They inform their readers about the world and interpret it to them. They act as both watchdogs for citizens, by scrutinising concentrations of power, and as a means of communication among groups within the community, thus promoting social cohesion and social change. Of course, the press seeks to entertain as well as to instruct and we do not dismiss this aim as trivia, but it is the performance of serious functions which justifies the high importance which democracies attach to a free press” (royal commission 1977 p.8). This report was brought about thanks to the increasing unrest about the failing democratic values of the press (David Berry 2000).  Broadsheet papers who represented the true British journalistic qualities were totally dismayed by this apparent change in favour but the fact was that the public was not interest in solid news tabloids offered the public what they wanted and that was informal, relatable variety in their papers which offered them news as well as entertainment.  This has often been seen as a “dumbing down” of the media, which leads to the next matter whether the search for entertainment has gone too far.

The problem now could be seen as this development of entertainment has led to and untameable beast that no matter how much murder, gossip or scandal will ever be enough to satisfy its hunger? “Get me a murder a day!” Northcliffe’s infamous motto of 1896 is still relevant in today’s media. Each tabloid paper is always full of scandal or horrific crimes and vivid images in the hunt for readers. Not only do scandalous stories seep over the pages but there are also factors that have arose that can arguably not quantify as news at all but merely a means to get more popular. The cult of celebrity is a phenomenon that has infiltrated journalism in this modern age of glossy magazines such as heat, ok or now. People seem to be more interested in what the latest columnist can reveal on the latest celebrity. This was the rise of “yuck journalism” (Brian McNair 1994) the aim to shock and please is most commonly represented in the form of the page 3 model. From the outset the leading market group the mirror company decided that sex was going to be their major selling point for their papers. The 70’s brought the era of “bonk journalism” the mirror the sun and the star down graded their content to upgrade the amount of customers. Now the page 3 girl is a dominant feature still in the papers. They may not have any relevance to what is happening but further fuels more debates to whether the strive to entertain has gone too far. The main constituent of bonk journalism was, as the phrase suggests, a focus on sex, preferably with a hint of scandal and involving celebrities. These could be of the majority variety, such as members of the royal family or the lesser stars of the music and media industries (Brian McNair 1994). This use of shock tactics is arguably to risk the undermining the essence of true journalism, due to the fact that a high percentage of the newspapers content focuses on fashion, scandal and sex. This sensationalism may question media ethics but it sells product.

For journalists the question of ethics is often brought into the need to get entertainment news, for example the mirror groups phone tapping of government officials is a prime example of lengths that journalists feel they must go to in order to get the sensational front page story. But no matter how people may argue scandal sells and the journalist must decide what they are prepared to do to satisfy the publics insatiable hunger for scandal. The public are the main reason why entertainment news is now so powerful. Hard hitting news is often harsh and serious people in their spare time do not want to read about all the awful things that have happened they want to read something that they can relate to without the seriousness. Entertainment news offers a surreal reality that informs and entertains an audience about the weird and wonderful in the world.

In conclusion journalism has been an industry that is always fighting, whether that be fighting the establishment, ratings, sales or for viewers. Like in many ways journalism is constantly morphing and evolving into new forms. Entertainment has always been a extremely a prominent factor in journalism but now in the 21^st century with the impulsive and obsessive infatuation with the surreal reality of celebrity entertainment is a necessity in media now and without it sales would drop. Entertainment in the past acted as a tool to attract more audience this is still true for today the difference being that today’s thirst for entertainment news has led to a boom in magazines, celebrity based programmes, reality TV and opinion pages people now see entertainment news is a must for the masses it is part of the news now and will continue to be so. Mass communication has never been easier technological advances have meant that it is easier to obtain information from around the world with internet, satellite, computers and digital television entertainment news is an unstoppable force that is here to stay. Entertainment is now a hugely successful business unlike in the 19^th century entertainment news is no longer there to fill in spaces where there were no more hard hitting stories now sensationalist news makes the front page each and every day all year round.

References:

Williams, K. (1998) Get me a murder a day! A history of mass communication in Britain, London; Arnold.

 Harrison J (2006) News, Abingdon, Routledge

 Berry D, (2000) ethics and media culture practices and representations, oxford, Reed Educational and professional publishing

 McNair B, (1994)  news and journalism in the UK, London, Routledge           

 James Curran and Jean Seaton,(1997), power without responsibility, the press and broadcasting in Britain, London, Routledge

 Charles T Meadow, ink in bits, (1998) Kent, jewels in ashes.