Reporters, Print

Origins

The work of the earliest newspaper employees was, in many ways, a much different enterprise than it is today. During the colonial period, those who produced newspapers were businessmen who largely used their publications as advertising for their printing businesses. Their content included a large amount of advertisements as well as a collection of gossip and information gathered from European newspapers. On the whole, early newspaper printers did not actively engage in news gathering, waiting instead for information to be distributed to them.

While the earliest colonial papers usually steered clear of political news, in the wake of the Revolutionary War, American newspapers became strongly partisan. Many of the earliest newspapers were small endeavors with no distinct lines between what constituted a reporter, editor, printer, or business manager. Indeed, the earliest “reporters” often took on many roles within the newspaper—from editing to printing—in addition to any reporting duties. These earliest journalists were also very beholden to the commercial interests and political parties who financed their newspapers. As a result, editors strictly limited the types of content they produced to appease these powerful influences, who would sometimes take over and write editorials themselves. The majority of this early journalistic work was actually editorial in nature, with a focus on providing opinions rather than in-depth reporting. While some papers hired “correspondents,” these employees were typically friends of the editor with little training or specialty in reporting or writing.

Many scholars point to the 1830s as a dramatic turning point in the nature of both newspapers and print reporting. During this commercial revolution, Benjamin Day's New York Sun became the first paper to sell for a penny (as opposed to six cents), and many other newspapers followed. The “penny press” relied on a large circulation and advertising for their financing, thereby reducing the control of political parties and changing the [Page 1204]nature of newspaper reporting. Newspapers began to seek out news (rather than wait for it to be brought to them) and hired employees whose explicit job was to report. The penny press also created the now-common beat system, where individual reporters were hired to regularly cover specific aspects of the news, such as the police, the courts, or sporting events.

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