EOTO #1 Reaction

The impact of the first newspapers

Even though I have dreamt of becoming a sports journalist and pursuing a degree in journalism since the seventh grade, I have never thought about how journalism began. 

It seems silly to think that I have never thought about this before because if Benjamin Harris didn't fight for the creation of newspapers in 1660, my dream profession may have never existed. I found this presentation to be extra interesting because I had no idea how difficult it was to start a paper and to keep it running. It was also mind-boggling to me that censorship has continued to impact journalism from the creation of the first newspaper to reporters being sent to jail or silenced currently for going against government beliefs.

As I mentioned, Benjamin Harris created the first ever newspaper in the colonies in 1660 called Publick Occurrences. This made the colonists happy, because it gave them the ability to read someone else's perspective other than the perspective of the government. Publick Occurrences opened the door for colonists to read about topics, see what others had to say and discuss situations that typically were off limits for colonists to discuss. 

The British government did not like what Harris was doing because they felt threatened by the power a newspaper would give to colonists to express their thoughts and get them talking about everyday issues. Freedom of Speech did not exist in the colonies for this reason because the British government wanted full control and didn't want to risk colonists realizing that others felt the same way they did because that could cause people to start getting together and have them want to figure out ways to distance themselves from the control of the government. 

Harris's paper could only remain with the British government's stamp of approval, but they didn't want the paper to run because it challenged their ability to deceive the colonists who could originally only get their news from the government. Therefore, the paper did not stand a chance against the government at the time, and it was banned. 

The government still tries to silence us, but we have Freedom of Speech luckily, so it is more challenging for the government to insert themselves into our everyday conversations. However, I have learned that the government still tries to control the conversations of its citizens and that it is important for us journalists to continue to hunt for the truth, or else we will be left in the dark and only hear the government's side. Benjamin Harris demonstrated that being a voice for the public and having a platform is essential in society because even after having the Publick Occurrences shut down he tried again in 1690.

This edition was shut down immediately in 1690, but I learned during the presentation that I have Harris to thank again for jump starting journalistic style writing. Harris added descriptive details and introduced the four-page format that had never been seen in any form of governmental press. Without Harris showing the significance of people being aware of what is going on outside of the information provided from the government and without adding this new format to journalism, the way that journalism is conducted in today's age may have never become a thing. 

I appreciate Harris's work because my passion for journalism has stemmed from wanting to share the truth with people and allow peoples' voices to be heard through my writing. If Harris had not provided us with this platform many years ago, I'm not sure that I would be pursuing a journalism career without knowing that it was possible to go against the status quo and take risks to start the flame of change.

The first newspaper to be continuously published in the U.S. was created by John Campbell on April 24, 1704, and was called the Boston News-Letter. This paper also impacted my future career because it proved that people want their voices heard and want to be in the know, especially when social issues are occurring. This paper played a huge role in the lead-up to the American Revolution and the publicity around the revolution made people come back to the paper for more. 

The sports industry has issues which are consistent with ones that are going on in the world and this paper demonstrates that people want to stay informed. Therefore, they need platforms that provide multiple viewpoints on situations to see the full picture and understand the situations on a deeper level. 

Both papers have demonstrated the core reasons why I've gotten into this profession, and they have given me hope that even with censorship from the government, media consumers will continue to look to journalists to provide them with the proper information so that we can continue to make change and have a say in the way our world looks and runs.

Blog #2- EOTO #1

The Associated Press: History and impact

I thought May 22 was a special day only in the year 2004 because that is the day that I was born. 

All jokes aside, I have now learned that an important news agency was born many years before me, which has an impact on my future profession in journalism. On May 22, 1846 the Associated Press was created in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative. Five newspapers: The Sun, the New York Herald, the New York Courier and Enquirer, The Journal of Commerce and the New York Evening Express, banded together to afford to transmit news of the Mexican-American War. This joint effort to spread news did not stop in 1846. 

Two years later, in 1848, six papers worked together to finance a telegraphic relay of foreign news brought by ships to Boston. This made Boston the first U.S. port of call for westbound transatlantic ships. The New York Associated Press got its name in 1856, and it sold its work to numerous regional newspaper organizations. Midwestern newspaper publishers created the Western Associated Press in 1862, after being pressured by regional customers to make some changes in the control of the NYAP. The Western Associated Press separated itself from the NYAP in 1892 and was established separately in Illinois as the Associated Press.

The regional organizations did not stay apart for long and merged in 1900, where the modern AP was formed. Issues occurred when a newspaper that was not a member of the AP, called the Chicago Inter Ocean, filed an anti-monopoly suit against AP. The Associated Press moved from Chicago to New York City after the Illinois Supreme Court decided that AP was a public utility that was operating in restraint of trade. 

New York City was the place to be in 1900 for the Associated Press because corporation laws were more favorable to cooperatives there. AP was targeted by the Western Associated Press as well for their monopolistic news gathering and price setting practices, so it was best for them to stay on the east coast. The AP was not protected by New York corporation laws for long, when Marshall Field III, who created the Chicago Sun, fought his exclusion from the AP service in the early 1940s. Under the federal antitrust laws, prosecution put an end to AP's restrictive practices.

As technology continued to advance, so did the Associated Press. They partnered with Dow Jones & Co., Inc., to create the AP-Dow Jones Economic Report. This partnership, which formed in 1967, allowed for news about business, economic and financial information to be spread across the world. 

In the '70s and '80s, the AP created DataStream, a highly efficient news transmission service;  LaserPhoto, which established transmission of the first laser-scanned photos; the "electronic darkroom," which electronically formatted, cropped and transferred photos; and LaserPhoto II, the first satellite color-photograph network. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law came out in 1977 and became the rulebook for news writing in the U.S. 

They continued to make advancements in television, radio and video. In the '90s the Associated Press Television (renamed Associated Press Television News), a London-based global video news platform; AP All News Radio (a 24-hour radio news network); and the WIRE (an online news platform that had continuously updated audio, photos, video and text) were all created. 

These advancements helped consumers become more aware of information and events developing and occurring around them. In the early 21st century AP switched their focus to including more activity from readers, such as creating a blog; asap, a multimedia news service for younger subscribers; citizen journalism; and the Mobile News Network for individuals with mobile phones.

The Associated Press has impacted the way we gain news, allowing us to gain more news from around the globe at a faster rate on various platforms. On the journalism side of things, they became a role model demonstrating what good journalism looks like, as they strive to gather and publish news efficiently, accurately and factually. They have won 58 Pulitzer Prizes, with 35 being for photography since the award was established in 1917. 

The Associated Press has extremely high standards and has proven themselves to be the trailblazers of the news, with many news organizations and journalists trying to keep up with them. 

Their stylebook is acclaimed by many, with a lot of organizations turning to it, to run their organizations properly. The work of the Associated Press has ultimately gotten the ball rolling to make the news clearer and more concise for readers, by being a standard of good journalism practice, that other organizations strive to be like. 

I will certainly use the Associated Press Stylebook in my future profession, and I look forward to reading the AP as reference to work on configuring efficient, accurate and unbiased news pieces for many audiences around the world.