Putnam patriot., 1928-11-22

paper as socioi institution in this country woule involve consideration of all the many changes that have oc- cured since the day in 1890 when E. Harris issued the first number of Publick Occurrences. A comparison of the modern daily with the typical papers of the late t700's and the ear iy years of the nineteenth century makes it clear that the study of the American newspaper then, as compar~ ed with what it now is. serves as a study in striking contrasts.
 Many of these contrasts come quickly to mind: in physical appear ance the modern paper bears little re- semblance to its predecessor. It's page size has grown, and its bulk has in- creased. The solidly set type has been replaced by elaborate display, coupled with its extensive use of headlines and pictures. Striking as these contrasts in Appearance may he, they are less important than those contrasts in- voiving the contents of the papers. It is not possible to discuss here all of these changes in contents They cov- CT the advertising contents, what may be designated as the margarine con- tents, and the news contents. All three have undergone profound modifica- ton since, the Colonial and post-Rev- oiutionary War period.
 The changes within the category covered by the word nsics have been twofold, as careful examination of papers will show: first. there has been marked change in the selection of what events shall be written about, and the importance attached to certain classes of news material; second, there has been a most striking change in the way in which news is presented to the reader--in the style of news writing. All three of the types of change just mentioned are important. but here 1t is proposed to limit attention to the matter of style in news presentation There is justification for this narrow ing of the subject here if for no other reason than that critics of the modern newspaper frequently point to the ten dency toward sensational presentation of news as one of the most serious of the faults of the newspapers Let us. then, inquire into the tendency to pre- sent news in the modern paper in a striking and graphic manner.
 Presentation of News
 Two methods of presenting news are possible. What is written of any event may be in manner that is high ly impersonal and devoid of vividness in expression. On the other hand, the use of descriptive words, and words charged with the power of creating vivid imagery, makes t possible to re- cord the features of the same event in manner calculated to stir the emo tions of the reader. Just as a single news story may fall between these extremes in the style of presentation, so similarly papers as whole may be graded on the basis of their tendency @ present their news in an emotional
 non-emotional manner. Papers diff fer from each other with respect to their emotional tone. If We were to devise scale for rating newspapers with respect to this matter of news style. we should have at one end of the series those papers in which the contents. in the news class. were pre- sented in as matters style as possible, and in which q simple state ment of details is given without any attempt to do more than present the necessary and essential facts. At the other end of the series would stand those newspapers that have developed style in news presentation that is de- signed to interest large numbers of readers, and to interest them by re- sorting to a news style that is filled with symbolism and imagery evoked through the skillful use of stereotypcd words and phrases highly charged with emotional connotation.
 Bearing this in mind for a moment it can be said that taken as . group, taken as type. the early papers in this country tended to present their news material in an impersonal and non-emotional manner. while modern papers tend to present their news in an emotional, or as is sometimes said. sen sational manner. Modern papers. as was just pointed out, vary among themselves, but taken as class, in contrast to papers of century or more ago, the generalization holds that there has been steady trend away from the news style of the early lS00's Co the more exciting and live Her presentation of the present. In the modern extreme this has given rise to a type of journalism that can be described only by the word titrid. l Virtually all papers. however. are pulled in greater or less degree in this same direction. Wherein is the ex- planationg
 Influence of Cities
 There Is no simple answer, and the factors. admittedly, are many. Un- 1 occasionally the desire to attract read CTS in large numbers has made editors stress the emotional appeal in record ing events. The desire to pull circu- lation from lower strata in the popu- lation undoubtedly had part. It may be, as has sometimes been suggested. | that exciting news offers workers in l modern society a chance to escape the l monotony of machine age. These l and many other explanations have been offered But alone they are not convincing. Editors have always wanted Co make money. as even the most casual reading of the beseech- ! ings of early editors makes clear. And i just how much more monotonous mod ern society is as compared with earlier society, is not yet established. There