Just because America wasn’t known for
creating many masterful pieces of literature doesn’t mean it wasn’t well versed
in the novels that were considered “real literature.” The loose copyright laws
fostered a “culture of reprinting” that made the American reading public the
largest and most up-to-date in the Western world.
America had “liberty of the press” that
was guaranteed by state and federal constitutions. The government made sure that the press had
few obstacles in its way and, therefore, contributed to the flourishing of
newspapers in the early 1800’s. The ease
of circulation and freedom of the press soon made America a “nation of
newspaper readers.”
Also, in the early nineteenth century
newspapers were used as a primary tool for both politicians and political
parties alike. A good number of
newspapers could be credited to the many political parties of the time and
publicizing many official documents. There was less news for the common person
than there was rhetoric and subsequently edited political speeches.
I thought the section about the penny
press was interesting because it seems similar to many free mobile news apps
(i.e. Yahoo news, HuffPost) we have today: portable, concise, affordable, and
catered towards everyday people.
My question deals with tabloids, specifically.
The reading says that the tabloid emerged covering human interest stories of
the day like crime, violence, sex, and high society much like today. Were tabloids then the same as what we’ve come
to know as tabloids today where the truth is often stretched, if not entirely
made up? How did this switch in credibility occur and also how can tabloids
today legally get away with this?
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