PINE NUTS: A Short History of News Reporting
It might be safe to say that Moses, the prophet, was the first reporter of record. When Moses received the Ten Commandments, well, this was some heavy news to deliver to an unsuspecting public. I can only imagine the reaction those Commandments might have had in France…“No adultery? Hey, I’m French!”
Moses lived to be 120 years old, an estimable age that all reporters strive for to this day, and continue to fall a little short.
Before newspapers came along in the early 17th century, potentates provided edicts that were circulated by a courier who would climb up onto a haystack and shout out the latest law. He would then describe the attending punishment should you decide to break that law – pillory being the customary sentence.
Paul Revere might well have been America’s first notable reporter. Revere and his noble ride would stand pretty much atop the notoriety polls until the arrival of Edward R. Murrow during World War II. Murrow delivered a live broadcast from Europe that was so compelling as to create an army of dedicated listeners to CBS Radio News.
One thing has changed dramatically over the decades. In Mark Twain’s day our legislators did their drinking, they did their gambling, they did their womanizing, yes. But they did it with the press. The day a reporter discovered he could sell his story to somebody else's newspaper, well, legislators and journalists stopped drinking at the same watering holes.
News reporting, since its inception, has tried to answer the five W’s: who, what, when, where and why. Up until the 19th century, reporters tried to answer those five W’s with objectivity. Then William Randolph Hearst added a shade of color to the five W’s by introducing yellow journalism. Hearst fomented military adventurism in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. When artist Frederic Remington cabled Hearst from Cuba in 1897, “There will be no war.” Hearst fired back, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
The 20th century gave birth to the tabloid: TWO HEADED BOY FOUND IN JUNGLE! And the paparazzi began gassing up their Vespas…
Then along came USA TODAY, the newspaper for people who found television news too complicated.
If your news outlet is owned by an entertainment company what do you expect to get? MSNBC and Fox were quick to learn that there was more money to be made in providing a shaped aggregate of news than there was to be made in providing boring facts. Competition in shaped television context would elevate news conglomerates from the fourth estate to the first estate. News reporting in America without political bias would become a thing almost impossible to find, even with a seasoned hunting dog.
I have to believe in closing, that the majority of the dedicated reporters we have today are some of the most decent, caring, committed public servants on the planet. Pat Hickey comes to mind. I for one take my hat off to them all, and close here with a low sweeping bow…
Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO
