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RahmaJerad
“American Journalism,” a presentation by W. Joseph Campbell
Sep 13 2009, 4:18 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 13 2009, 4:18 PM EDT
In his latest book, W. Joseph Campbell considers the year 1897 to be defining for US journalism. He first enumerates important events that took place in 1897 and convincingly shows that historic developments towards modernity marked that year. It is thus hardly surprising that American journalism too started acquiring modern features. Then Campbell delineates the major novelties of American journalism such as the coinage of the expression "yellow journalism." Finally, he deals with “the clash of paradigms.” 1897 saw the emergence of three paradigms set by three young New York journalists. According to the first paradigm, or “journalism of action,” journalists had to be active in public life and take action when the government failed to serve its citizens. The second, “counter activist journalism,” was defined by Adolph Ochs of the New York Times, who considered that activism had no place in newspapers. Their purpose was to provide an impartial treatment of the news. And the third trend was more of a literary approach. The struggle of each to impose its view ended with the victory of the New York Times model. To conclude, Campbell explains that more than a simple exploration of the past his book draws an invigorating parallel because American journalism emerged strengthened from that period.
Overall, what is most fascinating is Campbell's typology of the three kinds of journalistic writing. By addressing the rise of the New York Times model as the result of a struggle to define the most appropriate form of journalism, he gives keys to understand how the current newspapers were shaped. More interesting is the parallel between the past and the present. For we are in a period of great turmoil with the decline of newspapers in Western countries. So Campbell's book helps us put things into perspective, take some distance from the current alarmist forecasts and hope that from the current crisis a new model of journalism will emerge and thrive. Do you find this valuable?    

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