Newspapers And The Industrial Revolution

The United States is a country that is always rapidly changing, along with many other countries all around the world. The Industrial Revolution was not even two hundred years ago, yet we’ve moved so far away from that time when it comes to the press. The Industrial Revolution allowed newspaper companies in America to print more papers at a more rapid speed and it allowed them to circulate to further distances. People had more access to information, they knew what was happening within a reasonable amount of time. The public took newspapers extremely seriously. Articles you would find in the papers were meaningful, well-thought out and heavily researched topics. In today’s world, news is at your fingertips. People have access to a wide array

They allowed people to more actively participate in the political process, because they actually knew what was going on in their town, their state, their country, and even the world. With the emergence of these newspapers, it was possible for the United States to have an informed citizenry who could make informed decisions. An informed citizenry is vital component to a democracy. People should not be electing people if they do not know anything about that person, their party, or what they stand for. Robert McChesney explained, “There should be a basic understanding of the commons -the social world-that all people share, so that all people can effectively participate in the political and electoral processes of self-governance” (2). He went on to say that, “The measure of a free press is how well a system meets these criteria of giving citizens the information they need to keep their freedom” (2). McChesney's feelings on this are echoed by many. Without the press, people do not know what’s going on, so either the will not be able to back up their votes with an educated reason why or they will just completely sit out of the political process. Both of these scenarios are less than ideal, because the elite and educated will control the votes. When there is no media or free press, the citizenry is very easily controlled and manipulated. There are clear examples of this in places that

Before the digital age, the news shaped the people. People read the news, what they read made them think and form opinions. They were interested in what was written in the paper. In this day in age, the people shape the news. People can go anywhere they want for news, so the news has to please the people. Journalists are forced to write about what they think people will want to read, what will align with these peoples opinions. Jeff Jarvis sums up this idea about today’s media, he writes, “No longer will editors and journalists deliver the “products” they think people should have (the Gutenberg Era). Instead news will be a “process” and the people will decide for themselves what classifies” (Taylor, 77). This makes a journalist's job really difficult because they don’t get to write about what they’re educated on or passionate about. It also hurts the readers even though they don’t realize it. It is not a good thing when you’re only reading things that you agree with, new was not made to please people. News is supposed to inform, not validate your