Abstract: The of The News: A History Kevin G. Barnhurst and John Nerone Now York: Guilford Press, 2000 Hardcover, 326 pages, Illustrated, one color, $35. ISBN 27337-8 Abstract The evolution of the modern American is a complex development that took place over a period of two-hundred years through revolution, civil war, prosperity, depression and the age of television. Its modern form is the result of changes engendered by social, political, economic and cultural forces. Its readership changed from the literate gentleman of the late eighteenth century to the multi-cultural audience today, some of which get their newspapers delivered online. In their book, The of the News, authors Kevin G. Barnhurst and John Nerone, both at the time professors at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, explore the emergence of the we read today. They adopt a non-traditional approach interrelating design with cultural shifts. It is not only design, but the implications of the design, that they examine in academic detail. (The book as it appears is intended to be a textbook.) They build their case about form from the earliest newspapers published in America (c. 1750) to the electronic by studying specific newspapers over a period of time and investigating changes in these news sheets in tangent with the changes in culture. In addition they examine in one chapter the influence of American design on European newspapers, which was considerable, and in another the internet. They have divided the development of the American into several categories-each marked by social, cultural, economic and or political subtexts depending on the historical period. They then proceed to examine these forms for their content, design and voice and how those values intersect with ownership, the means of production, division of labor and targeted readership. Their primary thesis is that newspapers in the United States are an instrument of democracy and examine how they have lived up to that mission. Populist in their views, they see the as a place for public discourse. is defined as what makes each distinct and recognizable. Form is everything a does to present the look of the news, they contend. And that includes typography, content, layout, illustration. They proceed to examine factors that affect form-mainly the distribution of power. For example, lack of news about women's accomplishments (except in society) and those of African-Americans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is notable. People who have access to power and authority have access to the people in the news business and can influence public discourse. In some eras, this discourse was more open and democratic though even then disenfranchised groups were excluded. Eventually the itself assumes its own cultural authority to guide readers to what the editors and publishers proclaim as the most important news of the day. Design evolved to reflect this. The authors begin with the newspaper dating from the late colonial era (c. 1750) designed to look like a book (using booklike typography and even columns of type) and meant to be read like a book by the privileged gentlemen readers ensconced in their libraries or pubs-men who were expected to participate in the political process. The printerly paper was craft based-made by hand. There was no reporting of the news as we know it. Content relied on an assemblage of bits of news collected from other print or oral sources in addition to letters, essays, government reports, local news of note and shipping news. And the news was often weeks late. There was no reporting as we know it and no illustrations except perhaps a woodcut in the masthead. The function of this form of the was to acquaint gentlemen and merchant readers with the latest, though somewhat stale, political and shipping news. …
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 6
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