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Rhetoric and Writing in the Public Sphere: An Introduction/The Role of Print Journalism in the Evolution of the Public Sphere

Chapter 1
Like any other product, the printed word has been subject to the supply-and-demand of the public. First came books, next came newspapers, and last came magazines. Like the English, the American public reserved magazine reading as a mostly a pastime of the upper class.

Credit for the creation of the first magazine is often given to Benjamin Franklin, who titled his periodical The General Magazine. However, three days before Franklin pulled his off the printing press, his rival Andrew Bradford came out with his own magazine entitled American Magazine.

The early magazine printers set the tone for future endeavors in magazine publishing. However, at the time there was little need a barely an audience for this new medium.

The early entrepreneurs of the magazine industry had no intention of creating an entirely new American product. They merely set out to copy popular British magazines. Then, with a rising feeling of patriotism in America came an urge to prove to the British that the colonists were not uncivilized barbarians. However, many early attempts failed due to a lack of funds. Bradford’s first magazine folded in three months and Franklin’s went under in six.

On the eve of the Revolution, a magazine emerged that better represented America. Royal American was produced by the master publisher Isaiah Thomas, who was already famous in the newspaper and book industries. Thomas’s magazine was the first periodical to use illustrations freely.

Tebbel and Zuckerman considered the best periodical of the Revolutionary age to be H.E. Brackenridge’s United States Magazine. Brackenridge was an accomplished writer and contributed a lot of the magazine’s material, which was distinctively American in character.

Between 1741 and 1794, there were never more than three magazines in the country at a time. Despite the small amount of publications, publishers were already finding more specialized audiences within the American public. These early magazines typically covered topics such as manners, fashion, social life, religion, morals, and politics.

However, the earliest magazines never included long fiction. Instead, the periodicals featured “character sketches” or “fragments”, which later evolved into the short story we know today. They sought to reinforce the patriarchal moral values of American society. The most popular subject of the time was women, which men explored from every angle. Other, more controversial topics were covered also, such as education and slavery.

In terms of content, the line between magazines and newspapers was still blurred well into the late eighteenth century. However, from the beginning magazines held up the mirror to national life.

Chapter 2
Between 1800 and 1825, there was a huge surge in the number of American magazines. This was due to the invention of the cylinder press (a technological breakthrough in printing) as well as the growth of a more literate American public. Although specialized audiences also grew, the biggest rise was in general magazines. During this rise of the general magazines, political issues began to get more attention than literature. One of the most notable magazines was Joseph Dennie’s weekly magazine, Port Folio. The magazine’s success was mostly due to the popularity and charisma of its publisher, Joseph Dennie.

However, an obstacle to the growth of the magazine industry was its struggle with postal regulations. Thanks to the Post Office Act of 1794, postmasters general were given the power to accept or refuse any magazine without having to give a reason. Most of them disliked magazines because they felt the periodicals crowded their mail sacks. However, overtime postmasters became more accepting of magazines. By 1825, the number of magazines in circulation in America grew from a dozen to nearly a hundred. One magazine that stood out was the Saturday Evening Post, which evolved from Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper Pennsylvania Gazette. The appearance of fiction in magazines was still rare. Also rare was writers receiving payment for their work. In 1824, the Monthly became the first magazine to promise payment to contributing writers. Editors typically made more money than writers, but their payment was dependent on how much money the magazine was making at the time.

After 1825, the magazine industry began to change rapidly in an age of upheaval around the world. This period was termed as the “Golden Age of Magazines”. It was an age where magazines were truly realizing their potential as a medium. Between 1825 and 1850, there was an explosion of the number of magazines being published in America. The number of magazines grew from roughly one hundred to about six hundred. However, there were thousands of starter magazines during this period, those periodicals with an average life of two years. While weeklies fell to the background, general monthly magazines took center stage during this time. These magazines were created by different kinds of entrepreneurs, such as George R. Graham. His Graham’s Magazine grew steadily and eventually became a sort of roll call of the best American writers and poets. Graham became the first publisher to pay his writers well. He understood that there would never be a short supply of great writers if you paid them well for their contributions. The two magazines of this time period with the greatest longevity were the North American Review and the Youth’s Companion, which sought to entertain as well as instruct children. A major ingredient of the magazine’s success was its ability to appeal not only to children, but to the whole family. During this time magazines also began using an increasing amount of illustrations, employing the method in which the pictures are engraved on copper and steel.

By the 1850s, the magazine industry had acquired many of the features that still characterize it today. American magazines were giving readers a glimpse of national life during the 1850s.

Chapter 15
The Saturday Evening Post, published by the infamous George Horace Lorimer, was one of the most popular periodicals of its time.

The magazine’s trademark was undoubtedly its covers, which were illustrated by Norman Rockwell. The covers were upbeat, everyday scenes that the American public could easily identify with. However, in the 1930s, Rockwell’s work became more complex. He no longer simply painted figures against a white field but began to use the whole canvas. Throughout this time, Rockwell’s covers stood out more and more from other magazines. Rockwell was considered the master of idealization and was able to hit the pulse of the American public time and time again. His technique was especially reflected through one of his characters, Willie Gillis, who embodied the everyman in uniform. However, Rockwell’s covers reflected the changing times rather than the actual content of the Post. Even so, Rockwell was able to achieve what no other magazine cover artist could.

Characteristics of the Post like the Rockwell covers reflected the true genius of George Horace Lorimer. Even if he didn’t personally believe in the content he was printing (such as feminist issues), he understood that he needed to roll with the times. For example, the magazine was the first publication to print a picture of a woman smoking a cigarette. Lorimer would simply ask himself if his audience would like it when he was considering accepting material for each issue of the Post. Although the magazine was typically aimed at middle-class interests, the publisher understood that he had to include the entire spectrum of the American public. Lorimer’s instinct was nearly foolproof. He had a knack for knowing what his audience would consider acceptable and unacceptable.

There were few articles in the Post that had any other purpose than to entertain. However, the magazine also sought to teach the public through biographies. The magazine’s articles were divided into political and nonpolitical, although the political pieces were typically the most effective. The publication even featured articles by presidents. Many of the Post’s articles resembled fiction. They were faithful representations of what the average American public were thinking and talking about. As with other businesses, the major factor in creating change in the magazine industry was the shift in the national mood from the expansiveness and optimism of the 1920s to the traditionalism and conservatism of the 1930s.

Lorimer’s method with the Post was to transform old formulas employed in the publication time and time again. Dewitt Wallace took a different approach when he created Reader’s Digest, which is considered another revolutionary magazine of the time. Wallace’s major ingredient for success was to make an art out of standard publishing practice of shortening copy. He would preserve the main point of the article but trim off any commercial ornamentation. However, Wallace still demanded that all of the articles met three criteria; applicability, lasting interest, and constructiveness. Another element of the magazine’s success was that Wallace condensed articles from other popular publications and offered them at a bargain price. However, along the way, Reader’s Digest began developing its own articles. By mid 1969, approximately 65 percent of the periodical was original work. Despite these fundamental changes, the circulation of Wallace’s magazine grew and grew.

Another popular magazine of the time was David Smart’s Esquire. However, this periodical was quite different from its predecessors. It offered an array of risqué cartoons and more intellectual articles of fiction and nonfiction. Later, Esquire Inc. developed another new magazine known as Ken. It was overly liberal and soon became the magazine that everybody loved to hate. While Esquire celebrated the good life, Ken sought to fight against the fascists of the world. However, despite the publisher’s best efforts, Ken soon faded into oblivion like so many other magazines.

With the exception of Esquire and Ken, most magazine of this time used basically the same formula, with the Saturday Evening Post as their template. In the course of one issue each magazine sought to provide information, entertainment, escape, opinions, a reinforcement of moral values, and a growing consumer’s showcase through advertising.

Then came the birth of the family magazine. Today, looking back at these periodicals gives an accurate social history of the times. Family magazines were able to establish a solid rapport with their audiences that was difficult for other publications to match. The leader of the family magazines was E.T. Meredith’s Better Homes and Gardens. Meredith wanted to appeal to both men and women of average incomes who could benefit from suggestions on how to improve their homes. Meredith’s publication was one of the few magazines of the time that didn’t include fiction, fashion, or sex. And yet it still thrives today. Unfortunately, Meredith died shortly before the Great Depression and the magazine was in the hands of a new editor, Elmer T. Peterson. He steered the magazine towards providing readers with information they could apply during hard times. Amazingly, Better Homes and Gardens survived the Great Depression in fairly good shape and entered the postwar period in better condition than most magazines.

The entrepreneur Bernarr Macfadden then introduced a completely different area of the mass market. His publications grew from his idea to make magazines out of the two biggest mass-market ingredients, physical culture and sex. Macfadden created the confession magazine and greatly improved the crime magazine by transforming it into the true-detective periodical. At their peak in 1935, Macfadden’s magazines had a combined circulation of more than 7 million people, which was more than any other publisher at the time.

Another addition to the magazine industry was the pulp Western. It was a twentieth-century expression of the American public’s great love affair with the Great West. The pulp Western could be divided into two broad categories, the super-hero magazine and the love-story Western. The golden age of Western pulp fiction was between the mid-1920s and the mid-1940s, but this era came to an end by the early 1950s. The pulp Western was unique than other categories of magazines developed for the mass market. It established a closer relationship to its readers than any other type except for women’s magazines.

Chapter 25: The Established Leaders of the New York Press
In this chapter, Motts chronicles the growth of New York City’s earliest newspaper press successes. By the end of the nineteenth-century, there were more than 10,000 newspapers in the U.S. The American newspaper press was booming.

One of the biggest changes of the time was journalism’s emergence from the domination of political parties. This change brought objectivity to reporters and took responsibility from politicians. The nation’s widespread relaxation of party bonds also contributed to the newspaper industry’s newfound independence. This meant that reporters now had the freedom to criticize political leaders and their policies within their own political party. Freedom of the press had truly taken effect. The newspapers that exercised this new freedom typically found more success. Many newspaper editors believed that readers disliked being manipulated into one political party or the other. However, a majority of the newspapers were still under party discipline. But when newspapers did exercise this freedom, the race to cover political crusades against municipal misgovernment usually replaced the old partisan activities.

After his father’s death, James Gordon Bennett, Jr. took over the New York Herald. Under Bennett’s management, the newspaper found initial success with his many expeditions to make news if he wasn’t able to find it. The most famous of the publisher’s travels was the expedition of Henry M. Stanley to the heart of Africa to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone. However, Bennett’s only real contribution to the industry was this idea of wealthy newspapers sponsoring large-scale expeditions.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the New York Herald and the New York Sun were in a close race in terms of circulation. However, it was during this time that the Sun’s (which was also considered an independent newspaper) popularity peaked, and it was unable to sustain this momentum. Greeley’s New York Tribune also hit hard times in the late 1800s when its circulation dropped by almost half. However, the city’s Evening Post remained one of the most distinguished newspapers throughout the period.

The New York Times and its editor George Jones also fought a rapid decline in circulation and popularity in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, when Joseph Pulitzer bought the World and began transforming New York journalism, he left out the Times because it was nearly free from sensationalism. However, eventually later editors of the Times were able recover and prove the resiliency of the newspaper industry.

Infamous Scribblers (a summary of Eric Burns piece)
Though the early years of American journalism created great documents, these formative years led to a great deal of muckraking gossip columns as well. Some may argue that although controversial, it was this type of reporting that made this period an important time in shaping American journalism.

Many of the colonists that traveled to America were well-educated and seeking independence. They set up school systems, such as Dame Schools taught by single widows in the neighborhood to guarantee their children the ability to read and write. This education prepared them for advanced work in the major universities such as Harvard, William & Mary, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers. The upper class of this time period, both men and women appreciated music, art, dancing and literature. However, the portrait they painted of themselves was far more glamorous in comparison to their behavior. Early Americans were well-kept, well-informed, and well-mannered. This was true for the majority of upper-class citizens, but the lower-class citizens gambled, drank, fought and were disorderly. It was the rich aristocracy who had the financial ability to afford printing presses and publish the “news”. This influenced the reporting of this time period a great deal. “There was no tradition at the time of an impartial press, either in the colonies or in Europe. In fact, insofar as there was a tradition in journalism at all, it favored bias; newspapers were printed either to indulge the whims of the owner or to serve the political causes with which he had aligned himself.” As a result of this, there was less of a feeling by the publisher to provide a civic duty.

Another reason for the harshness found in the print of the time period was likely due to the underlying intensity between Americans and Europeans. Although usually bound by the status quo, print was a place to release feelings about the events taking place. One quote that summarizes the journalistic style of this time period most fittingly is that if a group of colonists read the newspapers of today “they would be startled by, and perhaps not altogether approving of, the extent to which we have tamed the wildly inglorious impulses of their journalism.”

John Campbell- “Boston’s sour-faced Scottish postmaster”
Campbell’s job in a post office allowed him to listen to customers as they sent out letters. He encouraged them to stay and talk more, asking questions as they went along. He started taking notes and turned those into a newsletter. By 1704, four years after beginning his newsletter, Campbell found that he needed more space for all of the information he was acquiring. Campbell found himself a printing press started the “Boston News-Letter”. This newsletter was described as “sluggish but trustworthy”. However, the “Boston News-Letter” was invaluable for its reporting of events such as the Molasses Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, the Intolerable Acts, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

Since journalism of this type was still a novelty, the newsletter at its peak reached three hundred subscriptions. However, advertisers realized that although there were only three hundred subscribers, many people were reading the publication and realized that this new form of media was an outlet for advertising. Advertisements would include the purchase of slaves, searching for missing slaves, as well as other issues of concern.

Paper in the early American journalism era was pricey and difficult to obtain. The paper was made out of linen rags that were donated by the women readers. Furthermore, it was difficult to find ink, especially large quantities, as needed for newspapers. The ink smelled awful and was very thick. The last obstacle a printer had to overcome was finding type. Whether it be having enough money to buy a new type set with larger letters or replacing the worn out letters, this was a hassle. A final problem was finding news to put in the paper. There were no reporters to assist Campbell and as a result sometimes news was difficult to obtain, or was reported much later.

Parting from problems in production, the printers had a problem with their audience. Although many were interested in the paper, few people could speak English and few could afford to purchase a newspaper. Distribution was difficult due to the poor infrastructure system available at the time. However, by the mid-1600s, a mail delivery service had become prevalent and this assisted in the distribution of newspapers. The Boston Post Road opened and it similar to a UPS service. It delivered parcels and letters.

Benjamin Harris
Harris started the newspaper “Publick Occurrences both Foreign and Domestic”. The paper began in Boston. Due to Boston’s growing population, as well as urban setting, it was the ideal place to create a paper. Harris became the first publisher in North America. Due to the papers efficient use of paper, there was no wasted space; it would “be the style of virtually all American journals during the colonial era.”

In this paper the first two or three pages contained the news articles and the last page was blank so readers could make their own assumptions and comments before passing it along to another reader. The style was very concise and condensed, getting the most information as possible into each paper. Harris was not looked favorably upon in the public eye, being called a racist and crude. He failed to get the proper license for his paper and its circulation was shutdown.

The Courant
This was the fourth newspaper in Boston, as well as the fourth in America. It was published by James Franklin, the cousin of Benjamin Franklin. This paper was the first to employ reporters on its staff. Because the paper could not pay a staff, these reporters were volunteers. Franklin was the first “crusading journalist”. He crusaded against inoculation; for fear that it would spread small pox instead of curing it. Later, ironically, James nephew would die of small pox from lack of inoculation. James Franklin criticized the government as well. These actions eventually led James to be placed in jail. After being placed in jail, James eventually handed his publication over to his apprentice and younger brother, Benjamin Franklin.

John Fenno
Fenno attended Holbrook’s Writing School in Boston and became a publisher who devoted himself to federalism, particularly the ideas of Alexander Hamilton. Little is known about Fenno and he was once referred to as the “historical John Doe.” He started the “Gazette of the United States”. This paper was the first federal journal that had influence in the United States. His motto was “He that is not for us, is against us” and that became the same motto as the Gazette. Alexander Hamilton was the primary contributor to this paper, giving it articles, thoughts, and sometimes funds.

Thomas Jefferson & Philip Freneau
Upset at what was being printed in the papers, Jefferson decided to create a paper of his own for republicans called the “National Gazette”. Philip Freneau, a recognized writer and poet became the editor of the “National Gazette” after receiving a great deal of pressure from both Jefferson and James Madison. James Madison thought high of Freneau’s work and intellect. Madison often contributed to this paper as we

Joseph Pulitzer’s Influence on New Journalism
“There is room in this great and growing city for a journal that is not only cheap but bright, not only bright but large, not only large but truly democratic.” – Joseph Pulitzer

Born wealthy and with education from the best private schools, Joseph Pulitzer’s future looked bright from the start. He joined the American army have many traumatic events took place in his life. The death of his father and the crumbling of his immediate family shortly after left Pulitzer wanting to leave and find his own path in life. When he moved to St. Louis later in his life, he had a very dramatic welcome with rain and sleet falling on his head.

St. Louis helped Pulitzer find more direction in his career and he ended up working with German youth. After finding more friends and networking, Pulitzer was hired in his first reporter job in the Mid-West. He was unpolished and naïve but stuck with the journalism trade. His youthful nickname, Joey, did not do his journalistic abilities justice and many of his peers were instructed by editors to be like him.

After he rose in the journalism industry he was elected as a state legislature. This hate suited him well and he dove into it in St. Louis. He started looking over the local newspaper situation. After settling in his career, he married and sought after other opportunities in the trade.

Pulitzer took over much of the newspaper world. He acquired a list of newspapers that he bought after his many successes and he improved on them. The St. Louis Dispatch was one of his most demanding purchases. It became very profitable however in 1882 a libel controversy ended in tragedy as the conflict ended in death in the Dispatch offices. Pulitzer also had The Union, The Post, and New York World under his belt of purchased papers. He thrived on hard-work and accepted nothing less from each publication.

Colonel Cokerill, the new publisher assigned to New York World, got new staff and taught them new ways of journalism. This and many other reasons are what gave him the nickname of the “Father of New Journalism”. He wanted no more “gossip” and more “human-interest”. Other changes were adopted in a neater typography and smaller headlines. At this time the use of “ears” began at the end of nameplates.

From all of this journalistic development came a sixfold program for New Journalism. This program was implemented in the New York World.

 * 1) A modern news policy formed that focused on finding stories that are legitimate and would interest the public.  The use of cable was increased and all types (serious and novelty stories) began to be reported more.
 * 2) Crusades and stunts were largely important to this program.  Setting up news stories and making a big deal of things that would not be without media attention was this steps main focus.
 * 3) The editorial page had to have high character.  Pulitzer considered this the “heart of the paper and the chief reason for its existence.”
 * 4) Adding more pages and more stories for less money was of high importance to this program.  With more pages came more opportunity for audience interest and this would cause the audience to grow.
 * 5) Illustration in newspapers was lead by the “World”.  The more illustration in a paper, the more it sold.
 * 6) Promotions were implemented by coupons and voting contest.  This added customer involvement and brought in money.

After contributing so much to the newspaper and governmental society, Pulitzer had a breakdown and never fully recovered. He over-worked himself. He still followed progress in the World and tried hard to emphasize the importance of accuracy. Unfortunately, sensationalism had already begun to rise and take over. Sensationalism can be defined as the detailed newspaper treatment of crimes, disasters, sex scandals, and monstrosities.

The use of stunts brought media attention and news stories became commodities. This is still happening. The coverage of sports also rose as entertainment news rose in popularity. With the rise in entertainment news, gossip and sensationalized celebrities became news commodities and are still under constant scrutiny.

Chapter One
First Newspapers in “The New England”

When newspapers began emerging in the “New England”, as the United States was referred to when colonists originally came over, many things guided the style of these new publications. First, newspapers were patterned like the newspapers of England, because the newspapers from England were still being sent over to the new settlers by relatives still living in England. A second factor pushing the concept of a newspaper in the New World was the colonist’s immediate fascination with the other colonists scattered along the east coast.

Despite the desire for newspapers, it was difficult to begin a successful paper at the beginning of colonial time. There were many other things the colonists need to focus their efforts on, “they had few luxuries and, since the frontier is by its very nature always undersupplied with labor, they had no leisure for the cultivation of aesthetic and purely intellectual values.” However, eventually newspaper publications began in the colonies.

In 1638, Harvard received the first printing press that the colonies had seen. Although the printing press was a new advantage, the government was weary of the press, because the government was aware of the power of the press to reach the masses. At this time period, free speech as well as freedom of the press had not been established as a luxury in the colonies.

In time news developed. At first news was disseminated through letters written to merchants or correspondence between friends. Meeting places such as courts and taverns were often locations where news was exchanged as well.

The first American newspaper was “Publick Occurrences”, published by Benjamin Harris. “Publick Occurrences” was three pages, with a blank fourth page attached for readers to add their thoughts before they passed the paper on to the next reader. Topics included the King of France as well as the French and Indian War. Unfortunately, the government stopped the publishing of “Publick Occurrences” after only one issue. The government claimed the paper had been published “without the least privity or countenance of authority.”

Fourteen years following Harris, Campbell created his newspaper, the “Boston News-Letter”. Campbell was the head of post and heard a great deal of the news that was occurring and took notes on the events. These notes eventually led to the creation of the “Boston News-Letter”. Although Campbell was criticized for being dull, his publication offered a great deal of news. Campbell had many correspondents telling him of news, but sometimes it took a great deal of time for the news to be published. However, Campbell felt that it did not matter when news was reported “so long as important events were recorded in due time.” Newspapers became a luxury during this time period. One report claims that men would present ladies they were courting with copies of the newspaper as a gift, rather than things such as candy. The newspaper perished at the beginning of the American Revolution, but had an impressive run of seventy-two years.

The “Boston Gazette” was created by William Brooker. The “Boston Gazette” was similar to the “News-Letter”, but the printing and the quality of writing had greatly improved. The publication became one of the most famous papers of the American Revolution.

The “New-England Courant” was started by James Franklin. The paper lasted five in and half years, but is considered “one of the most brilliant and interesting of the eighteenth century American newspapers.” The Courant was more for entertainment and did not claim to be published by an Authority like the other papers of this time period. The Courant garnered fame after publishing a great deal of opposition about the small pox vaccination. The paper was used to campaign against the idea of inoculation and as a result “won the attention of the town, gave a one-sided story, and built circulation, and it made the paper bitter enemies.” James Franklin’s younger brother Benjamin was his apprentice. Benjamin set type for the paper as well as anonymously contributed a set of essays known as the “Dogwood Papers”. Unfortunately, when James Franklin targeted the governor in his paper, the governor did not find this amusing and James was placed in jail. Although released, the Courant became tamer than before and eventually was discontinued.

There were a few other newspapers worth mentioning in Boston during this time period. Samuel Kneeland’s “New-England Weekly Journal” was considered the successor of the “New-England Courant”. Although the newspaper printed a great deal of news, much of the paper focused on entertainment. Many considered this paper equal or superior to any newspapers seen in the colonies by that time period. Eventually the Journal bought out the Gazette and formed one large paper.

The “Evening-Post” was another newspaper during this time period. It was created by a young lawyer named Jeremy Gridley. Gridley quickly passed the paper over to a printer named Thomas Fleet who eventually made the “Evening-Post” the best and most popular newspaper in Boston.

Chapter 3
Newspapers more so started devoting themselves to coverage of the news after the 1835 advent of the New York Herald. Before that, they were propaganda organs to political parties on which they were dependent. Magazines became forums for public opinion because they offered more variety and provided more of an intellectual sounding board than newspapers. However, it was hard to draw a line between the two.

Reforms, such as slavery became a preoccupation of magazine editors. Anti-slavery magazines were religious and sentimental, as well as humanitarian. The problem with these magazines was that they were single-issue periodicals, so they were overshadowed by more popular publications.

Although much of the magazine business shunned politics in their magazines, there was a rapid increase in publication of political papers and periodical magazines between 1850 and 1860. It went from 1,630 publications in existence in 1850, to 3,242 in 1860. Major general magazines, such as Harper’s and Graham’s, remained afloat without the presence of politics in their publications through the tumultuousness and violence of the 1850’s. Upon war, however, these magazines all became embroiled in politics in one way or another.

Magazines became a place to debate serious issues or partisan salvos. They discussed a broad variety of topics from slavery to views on controversial national issues to presidential debate. The slavery debate helped to narrow the difference between newspaper and magazines. Both had partisan views, but newspapers worried less about the consequences of publishing them. The pace of the abolitionist movement picked up with the publication of anti-slavery magazines. The Panic of 1857, however, interrupted this because economic problems implied a resulting war.

In 1855, U.S. picture periodicals began with Frank Leslie and his Leslie’s Weekly. They contained large pictures and short stories covering news, music, art and book reviews. Leslie’s Weekly found competition in 1957 with the publication of Harper’s Weekly, and as a result dropped the price of each issue to six cents, or two dollars for a year. This upped Leslie’s circulation, making him unstoppable. From this, Frank Leslie established a publishing empire with the publication of Frank Leslie’s New Family Magazine in 1857, Frank Leslie’s Budget of Fun, and even more after the war. He was on a crusade to fight injustice even though most of his stories were sensationalized.

Harper’s New Monthly, published in June of 1850, contained 144 pages, costing twenty five cents an issue, or three dollars a year. This magazine was intended for the educated and upper class who were politically minded. It became a forum for the governing class, and upon becoming the leading national monthly, was described as “a mirror of American life and ideas.” In 1857, Harper’s Weekly was launched; it claimed to have a greater accent on politics, and even further fuzzied the line between newspapers and magazines. Also published in 1857, the Atlantic Monthly emerged as Harper’s Monthly’s greatest rival, with contributions and support from some of America’s most talented writers.

Chapter 10
From 1895 to 1915, the goal of the muckrakers was to reform print, a system they saw as corrupt and economically unbalanced. These reformist magazines were politically influential. Politicians were compelled to respond to the expression of populist demand for reform in these major reformist magazines.

Low-priced magazines were nothing new but became revolutionary in magazine publishing and reading at the end of the century. The arrival of the half tone was a major factor in this revitalization. It provided economic motivation to the masses through its making rich color available at the same low price.

The popularity of these ten cent magazines was due to the ability to reach out to the less educated and less wealthy middle class. In these publications they received fiction and non-fiction stories, learned of new developments in science and transportation, and read about railroading and exploration. Many social reforms resulted in part from investigative reporting by muckrakers in these ten cent magazines. These muckrakers were a national media voice, in which the common theme of their stories was betrayal.

McClure’s magazine led the way in terms of muckraking by creating a pattern of scandalous revelations, combined with the concern for serious social issues. In 1892, Ida Tarbell was hired to expose the monopoly on the oil industry and Standard Oil’s operations, and as a result was considered the first great muckraker. Her investigative reporting helped to break up Standard Oil’s power in 1910 with the help of a Supreme Court decision. She also inspired antitrust suits in twenty states.

Corporations fought back at these accusations brought about by the muckrakers. In 1906, Senator John F. Dryden, president of Prudential Insurance Company, used his power while campaigning to persuade the editors of Cosmopolitan to remove negative articles pertaining to him. He also flooded magazines with self-serving propaganda by buying ad space and filling the ad spaces with these positive articles written about him by famous and greedy muckraking journalists.

The decline of the muckraking movement began with the publication of “The Treason of the Senate” by David Graham Phillips in Cosmopolitan. The story proved to be too bitter and resulted in President Teddy Roosevelt himself denouncing muckraker journalism. Many began to see that the truths the muckrakers were unearthing were not as bad as they had been portrayed.

In 1906, the talented and well-known writers of McClure’s, along with some editors resigned from the magazine. They bought Leslie’s Monthly Magazine and renamed it American Magazine, with the promise of being uplifting and positive. Soon it was as if there was nothing left to “rake,” for journalists had left no issues unturned. A flaw found in muckraking journalism was that these journalists had no solution for that which they had uncovered. In 1912, muckraking seemed to have worn out its welcome, and as a result, magazines responded to this loss of interest by rapidly changing their format.

The abandonment of muckraking left remaining radicalism in the hands of three publications: the Nation, the New Republic, and the Masses. The Nation was modeled after London’s Spectator and Saturday Review. It had many famous and not-so-famous contributors, but all were published as anonymous. For its modest circulation, it had much influence with its intellectual content. It remained a low-circulation publication, but had a trickle down influence on large numbers of people.

The advent of the Nation’s rival came in 1914 with the founding of the New Republic by Herbert Croly. His influential first book, “The Promise of American Life,” indirectly led to the founding of this publication.

The Masses, founded in 1911 by Piet Flag differed from the Nation and the New Republic in that its staff and contributors were working class people. This publication was considered Socialist, and all worked for no pay and made all decisions collectively. In order to survive in the United States’ capitalist society, some writers wrote for the Metropolitan, a monthly magazine that had opened its pages to socialist writers. The Masses found serious socialist rivals in the Comrade and the International Socialist Review, so they had to raise money to keep the publication afloat. The staff of the Masses was able to make it a free publication for the next five years until the Associated Press filed a criminal libel suit against them in 1916. Internal strife between the publication’s editors Eastman and Dell, and the resignation of its writers and artists resulted in the loss of its artistic and expressionistic spark. In December of 1917, the Masses gave up after being deemed unmailable by the Espionage Act, and then soon after losing its 2nd-class privileges.

Introduction and History
Contrary to what the movie Forrest Gump portrays, Forrest himself did not discover the Watergate scandal. It was actually the Washington Post that ran the story, specifically written by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate scandal. Watergate was discovered on June 17, 1972, with a burglary in the Watergate building, the home of the Democratic National Committee. A security guard named Frank Wills discovered the burglars. The five burglars, Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James W. McCord, Jr., Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis, were linked to presidential candidate Richard Nixon, were all convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. They all went on to serve lengthy jail times. As a result, on July 30, 1974, Nixon became the first president to resign from his position. Although Watergate happened in 1972, it has had a lasting impact on the decades succeeding, such as presidential and governmental standards and the role of investigative journalism. People think that investigative journalism often pry into their personal life, however, investigative journalism helps protect them from scandal.

The people that were involved in the scandal had various benefits to gain. Even though the Watergate scandal was discovered Nixon still became president. However, the burglars involved could have had great political gains at stake. On the opposite side, the journalists also had much to gain. With the reporting of the Watergate scandal, Woodward and Bernstein created the story of lifetime. The public learned of them about the scandal and were drawn into the whole process of the investigation.

There are many theories about why the Democratic National Committee's office was burglarized, ranging from Nixon's apparent ties to the mafia and to the possible killing of Fidel Castro. The most likely reason according to J. Anthony Lucas of the New York Times, The Nixon forces were trying to determine what Lawrence F. O'Brien, the chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, knew about some shady dealings between Nixon and Howard Hughes, particularly $100,000 passed from the multimillionaire to the President's friend Charles (Bebe) Rebozo, part of which was apparently later spent on furnishings and jewelry for the President and his family. Although no motive has ever been confirmed for the burglary as far as I know, logically, people thought that the break in had something to do with the Republican committee trying to get the edge on the Democratic committee.

With the President of the United States uttering the famous line, "I am not a crook", Nixon also stated, "You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I am innocent. You have to believe I am innocent. If you don't, take my job." Nixon tried to deny all involvement with the scandal. Once acknowledging his role in the scandal, the country was questioning the role of the president. How could someone cheat while trying to run for the most powerful position in the United States? How could someone be so dishonest with the citizens of his county? The truth is simple: Nixon wanted to win and he would do practically anything to make that dream a reality. The people involved in the crime had a lot to gain, as well as the people reporting on it. Nixon would become president, the five burglars probably all had something to gain being a part of the Nixon staff, and the reporters found a once in-a-lifetime story.

Impact of Watergate on Investigative Journalism
With the resignation of Nixon, many people lost faith in their government. As a result, according to Christopher Cacace, "Several new laws were drafted to prevent further campaign-funded scandals from happening, laws such as the Freedom of Information Act of 1976, which granted exposure of previously disclosed government documents and files." After the next election, the country was put into the hands of Jimmy Carter, a democrat, who would later have to face the Soviets in the Cold War. In other words, with the unrest between the American citizens and the Republican Party, a Democrat would take over the White House. Also as part of the Freedom of Information Act, the president was given less power. People were now able to view record and evidence that were previous not available to them, although, Nixon never released those now infamous Watergate tapes to the public. This allows people in society to become more knowledgeable about a person. In addition, along with citizens being able to gain knowledge, newspaper reports could easily build more interesting and intriguing stories.

Along with American politics changing, the role of journalism changed as well in a number of ways. First, journalism became a media "watchdog". According to Christopher Cacace, "Journalists more than ever were now responsible for being a "watch dog" to government actions and acting as a "check and balance" to keep government actions in order. A new wave of journalism started which resulted in a more in-depth look at the lives of people in positions of power, a change that was welcomed by the public, as current journalists are able to catch scandals and illegalities, which they previously were not ready for. This means that people of substantial power are put under a spotlight where their every move is followed and critiqued by the press and by the public." Kellner explains, "The Press was conceived in this system as the "fourth estate" and freedom of the press was provided by most Western democracies as a fundamental right and as a key institution within a constitutional order based on separation of powers in which the media would serve as a check against corruption and excessive power in the other institutions." In other words, these ideas, both the "media watchdog" and the media being described as the fourth estate assist in helping the public gain knowledge to make important decisions about their government. Knowledge is power for those who know what is going on inside their government, and action can be taken if change is thought to be needed. Media gives knowledge to people by giving them the facts they need to be informed.

The mainstream media went to task in discovering the truth about what happened during Watergate. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein worked relentlessly to uncover the facts for the public. However, Nixon would be throwing a curve ball into all of this. According to Carl Bergetz, "The mainstream media at the time may have won the battle against Nixon, but Nixonian politics won the war… Nixon understood that politics could be theater. They developed a media plan focused on emotion and impression, not reason". Nevertheless, in the end, Nixon still came out as the bad person. He misplaced the trust of the people and the people choose a different man and party for the next President of the United States. With Woodward and Bernstein attending the hearings of the Watergate scandal, they provided valuable information to the masses. The Washington Post reporters were able to relay information to the people who could not be present at the hearings. By providing this information to the public, people were able to educate themselves on the topic and were later able to make informative decisions for their country.

Another way that investigative journalism advanced is the high-profile use of anonymous sources. Woodward and Bernstein used an anonymous person to gain insider information on the scandal. This journalistic anonymous source was named "Deep Throat" and was a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent named Mark Felt. According to David Von Drehle of the Washington Post, "As the bureau’s second- and third-ranking official during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the means and the motive to help uncover the web of internal spies, secret surveillance, dirty tricks and cover-ups that led to Nixon’s unprecedented resignation on August 9, 1974, and to prison sentences for some of Nixon’s highest-ranking aides." In addition, anonymous sources have become more widely used by journalists today they help aid in their investigations. It took Mark Felt thirty years to acknowledge that he is in fact, the journalistic "Deep Throat" of the Watergate scandal. Insider information is valuable in changing opinion because it brings more information to the people that may influence their views.

Conclusion
Throughout history, the Watergate scandal has left its mark on the government, as well as investigative journalism. Through Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's hard work and dedication, they proved that no crime goes unpunished, even if the person at fault held the highest position in the land. Nixon thought he could get away with it, all in the goal of winning the presidential election. However, through strategies such as anonymous informants and the "fourth estate", the truth eventually prevailed. Investigative journalism led to the people being able to make informative decisions on their own when they are presented with the truth, reaffirming once again that knowledge is power. With knowledge being used as power, if enough people educate themselves, change can happen.


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Rhetoric and Writing in the Public Sphere: An Introduction/The Impact of Technology on the Development of the Public Sphere

Chapter Three: The Impact of Technology in the Public Sphere
Print technology increasingly plays a central role in the mediation of social networks. Any socially grounded theory of the public sphere will have to take into account these social network structures and the communications systems that bind them.

Habermas discusses how the “public sphere” emerged in bourgeois society in the 18th century. He sees the public sphere as a kind of mediator between society and state, between public and private interests, through which the public can categorize its opinion. Therefore, the public sphere is a forum in which people are “unrestricted” in what they say and are guaranteed freedom of expression in all of its forms. The new public sphere permitted people (for the first time) to shape public opinion. The public could make their private concerns known through several means, but print became extremely imperative. During the periods of the American and French revolutions, Habermas observed that people were fast to gather and grab newspapers as political tools. Upon allocation, the more private publications showed an unbelievably loud voice of the public in response to the state publications. Karl Bucher describes the situation that unfolded as an outcome of the changing press, “Newspapers changed from mere institutions for the publication of news into bearers and leaders of public opinion – weapons of party politics. This transformed the newspaper business. A new element emerged between the gathering and publication of news: the editorial staff. But for the newspaper publisher it meant that he changed from vendor recent news to a dealer in public opinion.”

The state of newspapers described by Bucher seems ideal, because it is a forum that is open to and certainly created by the joint voices of the public. Yet, this state of journalism was brief. “Although the liberal model of the public sphere is still instructive today with respect to the normative claim that information be accessible to the public, it cannot be applied to the actual conditions of an industrially advanced mass democracy organized in the form of the social welfare state.” Habermas continues with, “Because of the diffusion of press and propaganda,” the public sphere lost its voice. Groups of people have had to alter their voice and their stances in order to obtain any voice at all in the media. If their plan doesn’t please the political authorities (which are closely connected to media supervisors), then it’s just not fit to print.

Developmental Milestones in Print Technology and how they relate to the Development of the Public Sphere
The creation of the Printing Press is observed as the formal beginnings of mass media. Often referred to as the bridging of “The Great Divide,” its creation in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg opened up the possibilities of a public sphere in a way that never before existed. With increasingly fasted creation and distribution of ideas and information, the public not only had an increase in material, but also an incentive to become literate, and the public sphere owes its existence to a literate population.

Jurgen Habermas, leading scholor on the emergence of the public sphere explains that the development of the press allows the public to become more active and critical, to more easily express its acceptance or rejection of policies and laws. This process came about in three main stages:

 * Stage 1- The press first supported the needs of large merchants and traders, protecting their economic interests.
 * Stage 2- Later, the press became responsible for informing the public of policies and laws, and was used by the public authority to communicate with the general population.
 * Stage 3- Finally, the press became a voice that allows the public to communicate its concerns with the state. This development allows for discourse between parties.  The initial forms for this communication were (and continue to be) newspapers, gazettes, and pamphlets which resulted in social interaction, connections, the formation of opinions, and reflection.

Following the progression of the above stages, the first newspapers were more closely related to today’s catalogues, than to contemporary newspapers. They were used to advertise products, and simple announcements. The continuing decades would see the emergence of local news, and then national and world news.

The emergence of magazines as a part of the public sphere grew to target several audiences. General audiences were targeted for news regarding entertainment, special interests, news, and shopping. Specialized audiences were reached through journals, serving a particular, targeted audience who shared a specific field of interest, occupation, or political affiliation. In the era of the printing press, before the invention of more advanced media via radio and television, idea were processed in a linear fashion. Of utmost importance was the standardization of the written word. Therefore, uniformity was dictated by the creation of dictionaries, thesauri, and grammar books which popularized standard spelling, punctuation, and abbreviations.

The extent of the written word contributed to its linearity, with a plot and natural progression, and a continuality of ideas.

Among the many developmental milestones in the creation of the developing newspaper and magazine is the decade of the 1930’s, which prided itself on representing life as it really was lived, with faults, and recreation. Also popular of the time was the explosion of “how to” articles, greater informing the public on standard living. This idea continues today as greater variety emerged in the following centuries with the creation of the confessions magazine and a greater focus on sex and politics for entertainment’s sake. A more detailed progression of magazine journalism follows below:

The Impact of Developments in Print Technology on Journalism
Today, magazines, in their secular context tend to report on current events, trends, issues, and prominent people in society and around the world. However, the progression up to this point is complicated and full of its own trends. After the invention of the printing press, the first newspapers followed in the years 1605-1690. A half century later, the public demand rose, and their prominence in the public sphere has not lost its weight.

The beginning of the 1700’s was paired with an increased interest in the arts, as a higher class grew in America. Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Bradford were the editors and creators of the first prominent magazines in their areas of the country. Although most of the population was occupied with work and could not give their attention to the emerging science, medical, and agricultural magazines being published, their popularity exploded in what is known as the Golden Age of Magazines, when it became profitable to write. 10 cent magazines of the 1890’s emerged, well illustrated, colored, and supported by a rise in advertising. The less educated middle class became a targeted audience, as the idea of self-improvement raged, and national events gave way to Muckraking. McClure’s magazine from 1903-1912 employed writers Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffins, among others, and magazines became the national media voice of the time. The magazine became the weapon of political struggle as corruption was reported for the public, and investigative journalism began.

As the Muckrakers completed their purpose, and the American public felt that the issues were addressed politically through Progressivism and the election of Wilson, magazines went back to publishing personal interest stories, fiction, and romance. However, the Muckrickers had set the stage for a continuing tradition of radicalism in the public sphere, and made an easy transition to new forms of journalism. Magazines became the carriers of mass popular culture, although today’s special interest journals have taken on the radical nature of radical journalism, while popular magazines today are the carriers of mass popular culture.

The Impact of digital technology on the public sphere
We have thus far seen the impact of technology on print media as well as radio and television media. The changes seen in these fields are followed in the realm of digital media, which is used to define a "system is one that uses discrete numbers, especially binary numbers, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (an analog system) or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons," according to Wikipedia.com. The prevalence of digital technologies has become greater and greater over time; the origin of this movement lies in the digital revolution of the last half of the 20th century.

Digital Revolution
The impact of digital technology on the public sphere first became palpable towards the latter half of the 20th century. At the revolutions' center was the rapid drop in costs and improvement in digital devices such as the computer. This facilitated the development of devices that were previously unthinkable, such as the World Wide Web (WWW, or Internet). The WWW now is a central characteristic of the contemporary public sphere. Indeed, one of the greatest benefits of the WWW has been the ease with which people can gain access to information. As many writers studied in class would say, the public sphere is built on information and information accessibility.

Digital technologies stemming from the digital revolution have also raised concerns. One such concern is that digital code is very easy to create and very difficult to get rid of. Thus, the potential to pirate information is improved and increased. From a historical perspective, digital technology enables the manipulation of data not possible in previous times (for example, the U.S. Constitution was not written on a Dell laptop in Microsoft Word to be edited, but rather on paper where its effect would be permanent).

The impact of digital technology on journalism
In specific regard to the impact on journalism that digital technology has had, it is accurate to say that many fields – journalism not being an exception – have been affected by the digital revolution. The field of journalism and the duration of the news cycle have been most seriously affected. Digital technology has allowed for instant transmission of news from across the globe. Additionally, the same benefits and concerns expressed over the digital revolution parlay into the journalism field. In a rush to be first to present news or information, important facts and details can be left out, misrepresented, or simply be false.

McLuhan would argue that this allows for a corporatization of the media to the end that news business can be "make-or-break" by being the first to break a particular story. Digital technology provides news media with an avenue to do their jobs better, and this technology is used to make their business more profitable.

However, big news media are not the only entities that profit. Many argue that bloggers and investigative websites stand to benefit the most from digital technology due to resources that the WWW and other digital technologies provide. Bloggers, who lack "journalisitic integrity", deserve mention because they have an impact on the journalism field. The Dan Rather/George Bush incident and TheSmokingGun.com/James Frey revelation reveal the effect that bloggers and investigative websites can have on the public sphere.

Conclusions
While a basic snapshot of the impact of digital technologies on the public sphere and on journalism in particular, it is clear that the future will hold more of the same as the beginning of the 21st century. Technologies will continue to develop that enable information sharing and access while also exposing questions in the factual basis of what we read. The authors we have read point out these integrity issues and highlight developments in the digital world that have forever changed our concept of the public sphere.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Rhetoric and Writing in the Public Sphere: An Introduction/Corporate Media and the Public Sphere

The News as Spectacle
McLuhan and Compton provide the most interesting evidence about the development of the media and its drastic effect on the public sphere. McLuhan explores the inherent value of technology and how new technologies continuously effect the pace of human function, and therefore changes human function itself. In class, we discussed the example of the microwave. According to McLuhan’s understanding of the media, the microwave can be considered an extension of us. As a technology, the microwave changes the pace of cooking and the patterns of cooking; therefore, the patterns of eating and the scale of cooking are also changed. This view of technology has changed the way I view the new inventions that emerging everyday. New cell phone technology, internet technology, and technology in household appliances are changing the pace of our lives and the way in which younger generations are learning and learning how to communicate. The question remains: will these fast paced changes in technology lead to conflicts among generations as time moves on?

As time moves on, technology remains a constant factor in our lives. However, the presence of the media is also becoming one of the most influential factors on the public sphere. Compton discusses the effects of the media in his book The Integrated News Spectacle: A Political Economy of Cultural Performance. Compton investigates the media’s control over news and the way in which it is presented to us through the public sphere. The manipulation of factual information shapes the way in which society receives this information and the way we then shape our opinions about the world. In Chapter 2 of The Integrated News Spectacle, Compton discusses the “promotional fulcrum”, promotion to increase public interest in the reported events. Compton uses the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal as an example: “the scandal was a story that was rationally constructed and administered by individuals and organizations concerned with promoting their own interests and who did so by using the logic of promotion-the wheels of the media machine are greased by creating a commodity-sign that can be used as a site of promotion for disparate interests, whether they be personal, political, or commercial” (Compton 50). Although the scandal was a serious and historical event in Clinton’s presidency, the event transpired into a career launcher and publicity stunt for Monica Lewinsky. She became the center point for the story’s public appeal, making appearances on television shows and becoming famous for her blue dress. Her involvement in the presidential scandal led to a rise in fame and an increase in popularity within the entertainment industry. In actuality, the story between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky was not actually about sex, “but about the honesty and integrity of the president” (Compton 49). However, the media’s manipulation of the story forced the coverage into the realm of Lewinsky’s story and the sex appeal of the entire incident.

Compton also discusses the area of “spectacular storytelling” and “flexible production”. These terms mean that the stories are flexible enough to provide full time coverage and the importance of these full coverage stories are integral to the success of the media. Spectcular stories provide the material for 24-hour news stations such as, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. The media manipulates these news stories by incorporating popular culture into what the audience sees and understands. Compton provides three main reasons why spectacular stories are essential to journalism: transposibility, efficiency, and anchors for broader strategies of capital accumulation. Transposibility refers to the spectacular stories flowing easily within the news format because these stories usually contain related themes and events. For example, “the tragic loss of a mother, the plight of a terrorized young boy, and the infidelity of a husband resonate easily and powerfully across cultural, class, and demographic boundaries”(Compton 54). Efficiency then refers to the different possibilities in coverage, news specials, and publicity that each story offers. These spectacular stories are also easy to use within different forms of media and presentation. Finally, these spectacular stories act as anchors for broader strategies of capital accumulation because they are able to “repurpose” the information. The regeneration of information presents prime subjects for 24-hour news coverage. A recent example of this media manipulation is the Natalee Holloway disappearance. When the teenager disappeared from Aruba last May, the media coverage immediately took off. Networks such as CNN and MSNBC featured hours and hours of continuous coverage on the “story” when in reality, there was no progression in the case. However, headlines, interviews with experts on kidnapping, and stories of Natalee Holloway’s life provided more than enough material for continuous coverage of the disappearance. Soon, the coverage was manipulated into a manhunt and the search for those responsible for the disappearance. Because the story was made so spectacular, the focus began to switch to several topics stemming from the disappearance, and the media was able to manipulate the story to cover hours of on-air time.

The effects of this type of media manipulation are present everyday. Our attention to celebrities and our news presentation are just minor examples of the effects that technology will have on our ability to receive “real news”. Compton and McLuhan both provide interesting interpretations of these progressions in technology.

Censored 2006 by Project Censored is a valuable resource to consult when studying the corporatization of mass media. Two specific chapters of relevance include chapter five, titled "Junk Food News and News Abuse" and chapter six, titled "Corporate Media is Corporate America." “Junk Food News and News Abuse” presents the top ten “over-reported, empty-calorie news stories" from 2005. Instead of discussing news stories being reported incorrectly, this chapter focuses on frivolous stories about celebrities taking the forefront in news.  The authors discuss the change in television and radio moving from education to entertainment, and the shift from providing a service to being obsessed with ratings.  Television and radio were originally intended to “keep people informed of politics and events that affect their lives." The authors attribute this shift to people “hiding from the real and inescapable issues that can only get worse.” They also think that the acceptance of the current media coverage is due to “our expectation of news [having been] reconstructed by the media to advance ratings and corporate profits.”  The chapter goes on to critique the news coverage of the top ten “Junk Food News stories of the year.”  Following this section is a critique of various forms of News Abuse that occurred in mainstream reporting in 2004 and 2005. Chapter six, titled "Corporate Media is Corporate America," has listings of "big media interlocks with corporate america and broadcast news media ownership empires." Censored 2006 is Project Censored's newest publication, but even more up-to-date information is continually posted on their website at www.projectcensored.org.


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Python Programming/Extending with C

Python modules can be written in pure Python but they can also be written in the C language. The following shows how to extend Python with C.

A minimal example
To illustrate the mechanics, we will create a minimal extension module containing a single function that outputs "Hello" followed by the name passed in as the first parameter.

We will first create the C source code, placing it to hellomodule.c:

Then we will need a setup file, setup.py:

Then we can build the module using a procedure whose details depends on the operating system and the compiler suite.

Building with GCC for Linux
Before our module can be compiled, you must install the Python development headers if you have not already. On Debian and Debian-based systems such as Ubuntu, these can be installed with the following command: On openSUSE, the required package is called  and can be installed with  :

Now that  is available, we can compile the module source code we created in the previous section as follows:

The will compile the module to a file called hello.so in build/lib.linux-i686-x.y.

Building with GCC for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows users can use MinGW to compile the extension module from the command line. Assuming gcc is in the path, you can build the extension as follows: python setup.py build -cmingw32

The above will produce file hello.pyd, a Python Dynamic Module, similar to a DLL. The file will land in build\lib.win32-x.y.

An alternate way of building the module in Windows is to build a DLL. (This method does not need an extension module file). From cmd.exe, type: gcc -c hellomodule.c -I/PythonXY/include gcc -shared hellomodule.o -L/PythonXY/libs -lpythonXY -o hello.dll where XY represents the version of Python, such as "24" for version 2.4.

Building using Microsoft Visual C++
With VC8, distutils is broken. Therefore, we will use cl.exe from a command prompt instead:

cl /LD hellomodule.c /Ic:\Python24\include c:\Python24\libs\python24.lib /link/out:hello.dll

Using the extension module
Change to the subdirectory where the file hello.so resides. In an interactive Python session you can use the module as follows. >>> import hello >>> hello.say_hello("World") Hello World!

A module for calculating Fibonacci numbers
In this section, we present a module for Fibonacci numbers, thereby expanding on the minimal example above. Compared to the minimal example, what is worth noting is the use of "i" in PyArg_ParseTuple and Py_BuildValue.

The C source code in (fibmodule.c):

The build script (setup.py):

Usage: >>> import fib >>> fib.fib(10) 55

Using SWIG
SWIG is a tool that helps a variety of scripting and programming languages call C and C++ code. SWIG makes creation of C language modules much more straightforward.

To use SWIG, you need to get it up and running first.

You can install it on an Ubuntu system as follows: $ sudo apt-get install swig $ sudo apt-get install python-dev

To get SWIG for Windows, you can use binaries available from the SWIG download page.

Once you have SWIG, you need to create the module source file and the module interface file:

hellomodule.c:

hello.i:

Then we let SWIG do its work: swig -python hello.i

The above produces files hello.py and hello_wrap.c.

The next step is compiling; substitute /usr/include/python2.4/ with the correct path to Python.h for your setup: gcc -fpic -c hellomodule.c hello_wrap.c -I/usr/include/python2.4/

As the last step, we do the linking: gcc -shared hellomodule.o hello_wrap.o -o _hello.so -lpython

The module is used as follows: >>> import hello >>> hello.say_hello("World") Hello World!

title: Python Programming/Extending with C


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Category:Summer ingredients

Ingredients that are in season in the summer. For more detailed information on seasonality, consult the seasonality page or the relevant paragraph on the ingredient page.

title: Category:Summer ingredients


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Category:Autumn ingredients

Ingredients that are in season in autumn. For more detailed information on seasonality, consult the seasonality page or the relevant paragraph on the ingredient page.

title: Category:Autumn ingredients


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Complex Analysis/Residue Theory

Note: In mathematics, there is no field called "Residue Theory". There is only a "Calculus of Residues", belonging to the field of "Complex Analysis".

Residue Theory is fairly short, with only a few methods; and is basically a glorified way of saying, "Finding the coefficients when expanding fractions." Although this small subject blossoms into other areas of mathematics, particularly in simplifying integrals, and in analyzing singularities in limits, the real-number system, or the complex number system.

Knowing the following ideas is more-or-less required:

 * Power/Taylor/Laurent Series
 * Limits/Derivatives/Integrals

And for the more advanced techniques in sections 3 and 4:

 * Complex Number Algebra
 * Line Integrals in the complex plane
 * Cauchy's Integral Formula

Chapter 4: Residue Theory

 * 1) /The Basics/
 * 2) /Partial Fractions/
 * 3) /A More "Complex" Solution/
 * 4) /Some Consequences/

title: Complex Analysis/Residue Theory


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Talk:Complex Analysis/Residue Theory

Hey, if you want to help or contribute more, give me a ring on my discussion board. I just started this book btw. --Fephisto 19:58, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

In mathematics, there is no field called "Residue Theory". There is only a "Calculus of Residues", belonging to the field of "Complex Analysis".

-- A. Slateff

I was taught the same way, either way I didn't think it would make so much difference, but I'm contacting the complex analysis book guys to possible fit this in as a module there. Fephisto 16:14, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I added that as a note on the intro. Fephisto 06:21, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Complex Analysis/Residue Theory


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US History/2008 Vote

No Incumbent
The 22nd Amendment prevented George W. Bush from running for a third term as President, and Vice-President Dick Cheney declined to seek the presidency. Thus, for the first time since 1928, there was no sitting president or vice-president running. The public campaign began quite early, with a wide field of candidates jockeying for position for the primaries during 2007. The Iowa caucuses were on January 3, 2008, an early date which prompted other states to move up their primaries.

Republican Primary
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney led the early Republican field. Rudy Giuliani was mayor of NYC during 9/11, was seen as a strong choice in urban areas, and at one point had a 20 point lead. Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson joined the race later. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee appeared to be in the lower tier, but eventually surged in polls.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses. Romney placed a disappointing second, while Thompson and McCain placed a distant third and fourth. Giuliani had not campaigned in Iowa, concentrating on other early states instead. Likely Giuliani supporters, however, increasingly looked elsewhere, especially to McCain. McCain won the New Hampshire primary; Romney placed second, but was steadily losing momentum. In a serious setback for Huckabee, McCain then won South Carolina. Giuliani still hoped to win the Florida primary, but quickly lost momentum and placed well behind McCain and Romney in Florida. Giuliani then dropped out and endorsed McCain.

McCain had strong momentum after winning Florida, and secured enough delegates for the nomination on March 4.

John McCain
Both McCain's grandfather and his father were Admirals in the United States Navy. McCain graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, becoming a naval aviator, flying attack aircraft from carriers during the Vietnam War. On his twenty-third bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He then endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.

Retiring from the Navy in 1981 and moving to Arizona, McCain entered politics. In 1982 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. Surviving the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passing of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.

Sarah Palin

Alaska governor Sarah Louise Heath Palin was chosen as McCain's running mate. She became the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing the Republican Party and the second female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major political party.

Palin was born in Idaho and raised in Alaska. In 1984, she was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, receiving a scholarship that allowed her to attend the University of Idaho, where she received a degree in journalism. After working as a sports reporter at an Anchorage television station, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla (population 5,470 in 2000) in 1996, and ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 2002.

Palin was elected Governor of Alaska in 2006 on the theme of governmental reform, defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic Alaskan governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She gained attention for publicizing ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders.

Democratic Primary
For the Democrats, New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton was the decisive front-runner, but former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and Illinois Senator Barack Obama also generated enthusiasm, which they hoped would result in momentum as the primaries approached. Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also pursued the nomination, but got little attention.

The Democratic Primary featured much more controversy and complexity than that of the Republicans. The Democratic Convention features unelected "superdelegates," who are party officials who may cast their vote for the candidate of their choice. In the early stages of the race, Senator Clinton held an overwhelming lead among superdelegates, while Senator Obama led the popular vote. This disparity, and the possibility that unelected officials could decide the outcome of the nomination was a point of contention among Democrats.

Additionally, the Democratic National Committee penalized the states of Michigan and Florida for changing their primary dates to be ahead of schedule. The DNC decided that the delegates from these states would not be seated at the Convention, effectively nullifying the votes of these states. Senator Clinton (who coincidentally won both states' vote) was a constant proponent of reversing this decision and allowing the delegates to be seated. Eventually a compromise was reached, and all of each states' delegates were allowed to vote, but they were only allowed half a vote each.

As the primary season wore on, the difference between the delegate count of Senators Obama and Clinton changed little. As other candidates dropped out and endorsed one of the two, it became clear that this primary would be a historic one- whether it be the first nomination of an African-American or a woman by a major party for the office of President of the United States. In the end, Senator Obama garnered enough delegates to secure the historic nomination, and he chose Senator Biden to be his running mate.

Joe Biden
Joe Biden had represented the state of Delaware in the United States Senate since 1972, when he was elected at the age of twenty-nine.

Election Controversy
The issues of caging lists and other techniques of voter suppression which gave rise to many 2004 United States election voting controversies have not been addressed by further legislation or a regulatory crackdown, and are predicted by Greg Palast (a reporter who has investigated these controversies) to recur to the extent that they could swing the result.

Voter list purges using unlawful criteria threaten election integrity in at least six swing states: Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.

On October 5, 2008 the Republican Lt. Governor of Montana, John Bohlinger, accused the Montana Republican Party of vote caging to purge 6,000 voters from three counties which trend Democratic. These purges included decorated war veterans and active duty soldiers.

An allegation that the Republican Party in Michigan plans to challenge the eligibility of voters based on lists of foreclosed homes has led to a lawsuit from the Obama campaign and a letter from the House Judiciary Committee to the Department of Justice calling for an investigation.

Libertarian candidate Bob Barr filed a lawsuit in Texas petitioning to have Obama and McCain removed from the ballot in that state. The suit alleged that both the Republicans and Democrats missed the deadline to file, and were present on the ballot contrary to Texas election law. The Texas Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit without giving an explanation.

Voter Fraud
The liberal activist group ACORN came under fire for allegedly filing a few thousand fake voter registration forms in several states. John McCain declared ACORN to be possibly trying to conduct a massive voter fraud campaign, and following the election a poll showed that over half of Republicans polled believed that ACORN stole the election. A 2009 inquiry by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found that ACORN had not filed any fraudulent ballots or committed financial fraud in the five year period leading up to the investigation, though some Republicans found the report unconvincing. Shortly following the election controversy, edited videos were released showing ACORN members engaging in illegal activity. Though the videos were shown to be intentionally edited to be misleading, the soured public opinion of ACORN ultimately caused the organization to fold.

Obama wins
On November 4, with 364 Electoral votes, Obama won the White House.

Barack Obama did more than thump John McCain in the Electoral College tally; he also handily won the popular vote and redrew the great divide between red states and blue states.

Riding a Democratic tide that bolstered the party's presence in both houses of Congress, Obama snared about 63 million votes to McCain's 55.8 million, according to early totals.

According to exit polls, Obama did well compared to McCain among women voters (56 percent to 43 percent); voters under 30 (66 percent to 32 percent); African-American voters (95 percent to 4 percent); Latino voters (66 percent to 32 percent); first-time voters (68 percent to 31 percent); and voters making less than $100,000 a year (55 percent to 43 percent).

"I think this is the passing of an old order," CNN senior political analyst David Gergen said as the results rolled in Tuesday night and the outcome became increasingly evident.

"I think what we see ... is a new coalition, a new order emerging. It isn't quite there, but with Barack Obama, for the first time, it's won. It is the Latino vote we just heard about. It is the bigger black vote that came out. Very importantly, it's the youth vote, the 18-to-29-year-old," said the Harvard University professor and former presidential adviser.

title: US History/2008 Vote


text:
US History/Third Parties

Third Parties of the United States
Though the United States government is overwhelmingly based on a two-party system, there have been times in history when minor third parties have rose to prominence and affected the government.

title: US History/Third Parties


text:
User talk:216.7.254.254

US History/Contents/2008 Vote
I see in US History/Contents/2008 Vote you listed a bunch of potential candidates who might run in the 2008 presidential election. My guess is that Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has 2008 aspirations. My guess is that his chances are not good (fortunately, given my political views), but that he's at least as likely to try as some of the others you've mentioned. Also, you might create links to Wikipedia pages for these characters. --JMRyan T E C 20:51, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Ancient History
Thank you for contributing to this book. When creating pages, please remember to stick to the format "Ancient History/chapter." If you sign up for an account, you will be able to move pages. Also note that I have not written any of the little content in the book. I hope that you will continue to work on it and bring the content up to a respectable level. --Hagindaz 01:52, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

US History pages
Subjects such as Wikipedia and E3 are not notable enough to be included in a survey course of US history. You should not just copy encyclopedic entries from Wikipedia, but write a textbook on US history. Things like the Internet, which had a great cultural and societal impact, and the Space Race, which had important political ramifications would gladly be accepted. --haginძaz 14:34, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

why not make an account? =)
I recently made a list of wikibookians ordered by number of edits. You've made over 600 (the highest of anybody without a screenname)! Why not make an account? Hoogli 15:12, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:216.7.254.254


text:
Talk:PHP Programming/MySQL

What is with the excessive single quotes/apostraphes in the code examples where they are not needed? This for example:

"your_database_host", "your_user_name"

Does not need to have so much, why not stick with "your_db_host" as the example? It's also inconsistant as some places have 2 single quotes and others have 3.

I suggest someone clean this up.

167.1.120.20deselect

Mysql/mysqli
It seems that the whole page up to the 'putting it all together' section uses mysqli_* functions, whilst everything after it uses mysql_* functions. Is it supposed to be this way? --W-dueck (talk) 22:19, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

 * The mysql_* functions should not be used at all as they are now deprecated. 81.187.215.34 (discuss) 22:53, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Parameters
This section is missing examples of parameterized queries. These would be quite common in real programs so should be included. 81.187.215.34 (discuss) 22:56, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:PHP Programming/MySQL


text:
Cookbook:Mexican Tomato Soup

| Soups

Mexican tomato soup is a very simple dish that can be made hot if wanted. It is very nutritious for a soup too.

Ingredients

 * About ½ litre tomato sauce, tomato purée, or similar
 * 2 large onions or equivalent
 * 2 red bell peppers
 * 2 tomatoes
 * Onion or leek greens
 * 1 can of sweet corn
 * ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable or olive oil
 * Salt
 * Sugar
 * More vegetables according to your taste

Procedure

 * 1) Cut onion fine and fry lightly in a large saucepan with a bit of oil.
 * 2) Add vegetables, roughly in the order you find logical (ie, tomatoes don't take long, peppers can be there from the start).
 * 3) Add about ½ teaspoon salt, adjusting to taste. The salt will extract water from the vegetables and make them 'stew' faster. You can cover the pot if it goes slowly—once again, this slows the evaporation and allows the vegetables to cook in the water they lose themselves.
 * 4) Add tomato sauce and corn.
 * 5) Add salt and sugar to taste. Be bold; tomato sauce takes a lot of salt and at least a heaping teaspoon of sugar to taste right. If unsure, separate a small amount and try adding more salt—you will see the tastes changes significantly.
 * 6) Serve with tortilla chips, or toasted bread if not available.

title: Cookbook:Mexican Tomato Soup


text: Template:How to use a Motorola DVR/TOC a


text:
Effective Reasoning

Outline

 * 1) /Introduction/
 * 2) /Recommended Resources/
 * 3) /Effective Reasoning/
 * 4) * /Informal and Formal Reasoning/
 * 5) * /A History of Reasoning/
 * 6) * /Why Informal Reasoning?/
 * 7) * /Kinds of Informal Reasoning/
 * Critique/Analysis
 * Argumentation
 * Problem Solving/Decision Making
 * Analogical Reasoning
 * Causality and Correlation
 * Scientific Reasoning
 * Probabilistic Reasoning
 * Aesthetic Reasoning
 * Moral Reasoning
 * 1) * Need for Reasoning
 * Organizing Information (Deduction)
 * Solution of Problems
 * Resolution of Controversies
 * Discovery of Truth
 * 1) /Elements of Reasoning/
 * 2) * /Assumptions and Conclusions/
 * 3) * /Deduction and Induction/
 * 4) * /Truth and Falsity/
 * 5) * /Validation, Fallacy, Reliability/
 * 6) /Language/
 * 7) * /Verbal and Nonverbal Reasoning/
 * 8) * /Semantics and Syntax/
 * 9) * /Functions of Language and Forms of Discourse/
 * 10) * /Content/
 * 11) * /Agreement and Disagreement/
 * 12) * /Information, Concept, Reality, Virtual Reality/
 * 13) * /Fact and Opinion/
 * 14) * /Subjective and Objective/
 * 15) /Memory/
 * 16) * /How Memory Works/
 * 17) * /How Memory Works with Reason/
 * 18) * /How to Use Memory/
 * 19) /Sources of Appeal/
 * 20) * /Empiricism/
 * 21) * /Force/
 * 22) * /Origin and Agreement/
 * 23) * /Circumstance/
 * 24) * /Relationship and Relevancy/
 * 25) * /Nihilistic Arguments and Other "Dead-End" Arguments/
 * 26) /Definition and Focus/
 * 27) * /Definition and Problem Solving/
 * 28) * /Definition and Discourse/
 * 29) * /Kinds of Definition/
 * 30) * /Meaning/
 * 31) * /Defining/
 * 32) * /Ambiguity/
 * 33) /Deduction/
 * 34) * /Proof, Support, Evidence, and Warrant/
 * 35) * /Forms of Deduction/
 * 36) /Inductive Reasoning/
 * 37) * /Reasoning from Parts to Whole and from Whole to Parts/
 * 38) * /Analogical Reasoning/
 * 39) * /Correlation and Causal Connection/
 * 40) * /Mill's Methods/
 * 41) * /Commonplaces and Arguments from Form/
 * 42) * /Hybrid Forms of Inference/
 * 43) * /Science/
 * 44) * /The Scientific Method/
 * 45) * /Experimentation and Ad Hoc Hypothesis/
 * 46) * /Sociological/Anthropological Methods/
 * 47) * /Probability/
 * 48) * /Probabilistic Method/
 * 49) * /Expected Value/
 * 50) * /Intuition and Reasoning/
 * 51) /Doubt/
 * 52) * /A History of Doubt/
 * 53) * /Systematic Doubt, Certainty and Uncertainty, and Chaos/
 * 54) * /Existentialism, Relativism,and Postmodernism/
 * 55) /Argumentation/
 * 56) /Literary Criticism/
 * 57) /Aesthetic Criticism/
 * 58) /Moral Reasoning/
 * 59) /Apologetics and Religious Criticism/

title: Effective Reasoning


text:
Talk:Effective Reasoning

Well, it's begun. Anyone is welcome to (and desired at) my party. I don't mind being corrected or sharpened. If you want to write a page, go ahead.

Although I've gone through a lot of course work in this area and engaged in many debates (both formal and informal) I am still in the learning process, so I hope to teach and be taught.

I also plan to generate an argument (with participant knowledge and permission) to use as an example in the procedings).

WolfVanZandt 00:03, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Effective Reasoning


text:
User:S Andrew Monson

= Biography = Software Engineering student at Auburn University. Rabid Wikipedia/books/source fan. Linux lover. Chief programmer for King of the Earth Productions(tm), his start(ing)-up company (currently consisting of himself) that is currently collaborating with Byronic Entertainment(tm), his friend's start(ing)-up company, on an as yet untitled PC Strategy Game built from scratch. Unfortunately, it will require windows, or at least an implementation of the winAPI and DirectX9c, and will not be open-sourced. Dern food and internet and power costing money. Open-Source Electricity, now that's the wave of the future.

= Contributions = See my meager but helpful (I hope) contributions @ Special:Contributions/S_Andrew_Monson

title: User:S Andrew Monson


text:
Talk:Game Maker Programming/Variables

Nick: I put a disputed tag in because the article currently up looks like it's only a collection of random statements, not a tutorial.

title: Talk:Game Maker Programming/Variables


text: User:GofG

title: User:GofG


text:
User talk:GofG

Messages for me?
thank you very much for the help with the EQ wikibook. much appreciated :) --Kajolus 14:31, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Algebra
I was trying to do a large rewrite of the algebra books, and I went so far as to create an outline for the books HERE on my user page. Because of school and work (I work at school, ironically), I have very little time leftover to single-handedly manage a project that large. If you want to help with this, it would be great! A few other users have expressed some interest in making this happen, maybe we can all work together. post your two cents on my outline, so we are all on the same page, and then we can start work ASAP!. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 01:54, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:GofG


text:
Wikijunior:Languages/Konkani

Where is this language spoken?
Konkani is a language spoken in India, mainly the state of Goa and the surrounding costal areas of Karnataka and Maharastra.

What is the history of this language?
There are several dialects spoken, for example the dialects of southern and northern Goa vary slightly.

title: Wikijunior:Languages/Konkani