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Parallels Between Early 19th and 21st Century Newspapers

Early nineteenth century and twenty-first century newspapers mirror each other in their style of content and their technological developments. The technological developments allowed for direct expression of opinions and ideas straight from the hands of the publisher to the minds of the readers. Due to little or no filters in the form of "professional" editing, content then and now, is characterized by fragmentation and partisan/biased sentiments.

In the early nineteenth century the newspaper existed before the principles upon which modern print journalism defines itself and was characterized by a very explicitly partisan reporting style. Technological developments combined with more widespread use of printing technology, allowed for a proliferation of newspapers from various individual sources, as one or only a few individuals would be printing and publishing a single newspaper. It was a highly competitive time for newspapers; the political, historical and geological conditions presented a rough terrain upon which these early newspapers would be built. Many newspapers would live and die during this period.

Twenty-first century newspapers are characterized by a growing partisanship. With the development of the Internet traditional objectivist philosophy of modern print journalism is being challenged by the democratization of journalistic tools. There's a resemblance between early nineteenth century printer-journalists and the blogger/amateur journalists of the twenty-first century. During the early nineteenth century, anyone with a printing press could write and distribute their own original first person material. Twenty-first century online publishing has allowed essentially anyone to do the same, giving access to the tools formally only available to professional journalists to anyone with an Internet connection. The opening up of editing and news-making processes has influenced the traditional character of newspapers, creating a shift that mirrors early nineteenth century newspaper partisanship.

Early Nineteenth Century Newspapers in Canada

At the very beginning of the nineteenth century a printer-editor could begin a paper if he had a relatively inexpensive printing press. There was a high mortality rate among early papers, but when one went out of business another emerged to take its place. Many printers owned their own presses and would become editors of their own papers. This generated a very partisan and subjective newspaper style because newspapers were a direct representation of the political views of the printer-editor. The barriers for entering into the newspaper industry were very low and as a result it was a highly fragmented market, but had a strong readership growth that could support up to a dozen dailies in major cities. Newspapers reflected their editors’ world view, and readily aligned with political parties; in the absence of rapid information networks like the telegraph and much of the local news spreading by word of mouth, the emphasis was less on journalism and more on commentary.

Until about 1807 newspapers were funded by the government. Their content remained loyal in order to stay in government favour. Newspapers acted as a mouth piece for authority. However, this began to change as opportunities to serve a wider market began to open up. In addition to an emerging new market, cheaper and more efficient presses induced printers to become publishers and start their own newspapers. These non-governmental newspapers were independent and relied instead upon popular support from an increasing readership. The periods from 1807 to 1858 were known as British North America’s second press period . During this time the number of newspapers rose from twenty in 1813 to 291 in 1857 .

Press warfare had begun in Lower Canada in 1806 with the increasing rivalry between the Mercury and Le Canadien and in Upper Canada in 1807 when Upper Canada Guardian contained anti-government criticism . What followed was a concern with the idea of "responsible government" and the debate over this issue continued until the mid 1800’s. The stands newspapers took on the issue of "responsible government" branded them as a certain newspaper. They were labeled as either Reform, or Anti-Reform. Politics and press were interwoven and so was news coverage and editorial commentary. Newspapers were filled with opinions. Reporters were costume to a subjective news treatment with added nasty attacks on political opponents. Newspapers would have open back and forth quarrels over political points, by exchanging insults and inflammatory remarks. Something equivalent to the blogs and bloggers of the twenty-first century. A printer would publish bits on a rival political paper and that newspaper would respond in their next issue with something equally as partisan. For example, in 1829 William Lyon Mackenzie declared his intentions to run in the elections for the 10th Parliament of Upper Canada. Mackenzie was one of four Reformers vying for York County's two seats – the others included, J. E. Small, Robert Baldwin and one radical Reformer, Jesse Ketchum. During the campaign, Mackenzie published a "Black List" in the Colonial Advocate and a series of attacks on his opponents, which lead to the rival Canadian Freeman and the Tories dubbing him "William Liar Mackenzie". Nevertheless, Mackenzie's tactics were successful and he and Ketchum won the seat as part of a landslide that saw the Reformers win a majority of the seats. By the early decades of the nineteenth century newspapers were either allied with the Reformer or the Tories. However, it should also be noted with the above example that newspapers were not simply tools for the political party they supported, but were extensions of the leaders or fractions within the parties, they were the direct mouthpieces of politicians.

The notion of freedom of the press gained a bigger footing during the nineteenth century. Clashes between editors and government authority emerged due to the presses new sense of independence that empowered editors to challenge officials in positions of public power and the right of such officials to dictate what could or could not be published by newspapers. In British North America this movement was not likely urged out of any philosophy of journalism, but came out of a new spirit of independence editors were enjoying due to possessing their own printing presses and the means to distribute their own opinions to the public.

In the early nineteenth century printers were journalists. Journalists often had to set stories as they came to hand, print part of his paper, then clean and return his small supply of type to the case so he would have enough to set up the rest of the paper; this meant there would be little planning of an issue. There was little to no editing process. Type would be set from the printer-journalists hands to the press and then to the reader. To produce the newspaper, one man, perhaps with an apprentice, gathered and wrote the news, clipped the exchanges, solicited the subscriptions, took in the advertising, set the type, printed the paper and sometimes would distribute them. The hierarchical structure of professional journalist of the modern newspapers was non-existent.

William Mackenzie King and the Colonial Advocate

One of the major figures to come out of this period was William Lyon Mackenzie, who had a clear purpose of political reformation of Upper Canada with his newspaper the Colonial Advocate, which was started in 1824. He brazenly affirmed his intentions with his new publication. In his first issue he declared, “Money is in the hands of a few of the persons in government employ, and in the hands of nobody else”, “Far be it from us to desire to bring into disrepute the government of this country; yet we will not fail to point out their errors” and “We would fain hope that… some of the cursed restrictions which short-sighted stupid party minded legislatures, have enacted to fetter, to choke, to destroy the trade, and cramp the exertions of the country may be put down and set at naught”.

Most of the first issue of the Advocate was devoted to a long-winded commentary reflecting on the state of Upper Canada . It was a description of his new publication and a summary of his political beliefs. He presented himself to his readers through his newspaper. It became a mouthpiece to stir up society and point out the injustice of the existing state of things. Mackenzie targeted those he thought were corrupt and authoritarian. For example, his attacks on the Family Compact were out right frank and blunt, some of his comments include referring to them as “tools of servile power, official fungi, pestilential sycophants and villainous despots” . Mackenzie was a quintessential example of the clear-cut partisanship that was typical of the time.

In Mackenzie's attempt to market the Advocate he sent out free copies to men in prominent political positions and was mocked by a rival editor, jesting that he sent free papers all the way to Australia. He was also taunted for not including on his free list Andrew Jackson, the War of 1812 "murderer" who "has a fair chance of succeeding to the Presidency of the land of Democrats and confused politics". This kind of open mockery between editors went back and forth.

Technological Advancements

Newspaper production had improved greatly by 1858. With increase of roads news could be gathered more easily and quickly. One of the big advancements came with the introduction of the electrical telegraph in the Canadas, which aided the transmission of information,linking Toronto, Hamilton, Buffalo, Montreal and Saint John . The first iron printing press was introduced in Upper Canada in 1832 . In 1833 an ink fountain with composition rollers for inking type appeared . The power press came to the Maritimes in 1840. Paper was manufactured in Upper Canada, as early as 1830 .

All these innovations came into general use throughout British North America fairly quickly. They helped speed up dissemination of news, making it possible to include later items than it had thus far been able to include. The developments that improved newsgathering also improved newspaper distribution, while the subjective partisan style remained unchanged. Better transportation and communication increased potential readership. Despite the fact that mailing costs were still high, newspaper readerships were growing at a healthy rate. In the upper province the combination circulation of approximately thirty newspapers was 20, 000 . In the Halifax nine newspapers had around 4,000 subscribers .

Twenty-First Century Newspapers

The unitary mass media space is becoming more fragmented and, perhaps coincidentally, partisan media is returning from the fringe to which it was consigned by the mass media. Partisan media has a distinctive voice in a cluttered and fragmented environment, it allows better targeting of particular demographics, and it costs much less to run commentary than to provide actual journalism. The twenty-first century is witnessing the dwindling of mass media, audience/readership fragmentation and the decline in circulation of newspapers. The defining elements of the institutionalized newspaper built up between the periods of early nineteenth century and the twenty-first century is in decline. The concept of mass media has lost much of its meaning as the environment has become increasingly democratized. The status of institutionalized journalism as an esteemed enterprise is being replaced by a new amateur citizen journalism. These changes can be accredited to the increase and widespread use of digital technologies and the connective force of the Internet. Increasing numbers of people are getting their news from online sources .

The twenty-first century is moving toward a media controlled by amateurs. The audiences not only want access to the news in instant ways, but audiences want to participate in making and sharing the news. New terms such as Citizen Journalist describes individuals with access to digital media who publish "non-professional" material. A new spirit of democracy has come in the wake of the Internet, which makes anyone with possession of it their own media outlet. This new sense of freedom of information dissemination is emerging from a new sense of independent freedom of individual influence. Similar to the early nineteenth century, new access to the medium of the day has become an agency of expression, and exists as a non institutionalized authority of news dissemination.

The Twenty-first century news sector is comprised of outlets that are fiercely independent. Since the barrier for entry is essentially nothing, anyone can join and experiment. The Internet challenges the notion of institutionalized press as the exclusive, privileged, trusted and informed intermediary of the news. "Experts" emerge through recognition of their online peers rather than by anointment by the mass media.

News media no longer has a monopoly on serving as a watchdog on government and private industry. Individuals and citizen groups are stepping in to fill the void they believe has been created by lapses in coverage by big media. For example, FAIR.org scrutinizes media practices that “marginalize the public interest” and highlights neglected news stories and opposes efforts of censorship.

Internet sources, such as Weblogs lack a higher degree of journalistic integrity in the traditional sense because it simply goes from the mind of the blogger directly to the reader without any editing involved, which creates a very cluttered environment of opinions and ideas. In the twenty-first century the Internet has fractured mass media by empowering the audience to take a more active role when interacting with media. People are no longer passive recipients. The Internet does away with the noisy advertiser/silent consumer relationship the mass media relies on because everyone can become their own media outlet. Audiences are becoming stakeholders in the news process. Rather than passively accepting news coverage decided upon by a handful of editors they fire off e-mails, post criticism on weblogs and in forums for editorial errors, or oversights.

In the face of these radical transformations, there is an increasing awareness that in order for newspapers to survive they need to adapt to the multimedia conditions of the Internet. As the newspaper industry struggles with the dying medium of print it becomes more obvious that this is a necessary transition. All major newspapers exist online and are attempting to utilize various parts of multimedia, for example, by including Twitter updates of major events and videos. However, it is the early transition stages and most newspapers still heavily rely on print.

Technological Advancements

The biggest change with the Internet came with web 2.0 bringing about a new level of interactivity. This interactivity has allowed people to exchange information and to produce their own opinions and discussions about what is "news". It is not restricted to a specific group. Anyone can share what they want, have access to essentially anything they want and share what they think about anything they want. Blogs have been a hot spot for this kind of open conversation, but the newer product of social networking with sites such as Facebook and Twitter, video sharing sites like YouTube and information sharing sites like Wikipedia have been extremely important in shaping the future of journalism and newspapers. It seems like democratization of information dissemination has reached its totality. Journalists have lost their monopoly over the tools to send stories, pictures and videos all around the world. The lines separating reporters, editors and audiences have been blurred. Anyone can now participate in the profession of Journalism.

The Future of Newspapers: Journalism in the Internet Age

The public no longer has to rely on a handful of national papers for their news. There are many new channels available to people, with sites such as Google News, that work as “news-aggregates” featuring stories from around the world. The website of The Guardian now has nearly half as many readers in America as it does at home. There is a new kind of “citizen” journalist as blogger. The world of editors and reporters has opened up to anyone with a computer and Internet connection. Hard news reporting is still often left to the professional journalist, as most “citizen” journalism is commentary based and made from the ‘armchair’ as opposed to actually experiencing news events first hand, but there has been a shift towards a more commentary based news style online, rather than traditional "objective" journalism of the traditional twentieth century print newspapers

Social media has made it possible to follow professional journalists and ordinary non-professional journalists on the street, at the front lines, of different stories and social movements. Followers, as opposed to readers of the old newspaper, now have access to a direct first person perspective. The future of high-quality journalism will likely be backed by non-profit organizations. This is already how some respected news organizations sustain themselves, such as The Guardian.

In a fragmenting media environment partisanship flourishes because a well defined brand cuts through better, which can decrease cost pressures making cheaper forms of content, of comment and partisan reporting more appealing. Some questions to consider are whether there is any link between the traditional mass media model of balanced, objective journalism, and democratic disengagement and is the forum of the Internet a model to re-energize democratic engagement in a way that traditional partisan free journalism is not? A twenty-first century model that mirrors early nineteenth century newspapers, which also seemed to have influenced and invigorated democracy in its time.

Developing a new Online Format

There is little certainty among newspapers in what approach should be taken to digital media, it seems more based on experimentation and trial rather than any set of firm principles upon which to operate. There is no sure-fire attitude to what will be successful on a digital format. The old established principles upon which newspapers operated for much of the twentieth century are no longer useful. They are out dated and need to be replaced with a new paradigm, which has yet to be established. The twenty-first century is a return to an unregulated and uncharted territory for newspapers. The medium is new and is too young to have any kind of rulebook for what works best. Canadian newspapers (along with newspapers around the world) are making a slow and steady transition to the new medium, in 2009 the National Post and The Globe and Mail became the first Canadian newspapers available on the Kindle e-book.

In the early 1990s and until around 2002, newspaper companies simply replicated their print editions online. The multimedia character of the Internet means newspapers have to do more then simply abstract the physical paper onto the Internet. A simple replication is not enough to engage readers, there are many specialized sources of information available, readers can just take what they want from different websites and sources; therefore, spending little time on one particular website. Traditional print journalism doesn't appear to work on the new media format. Online newspaper publications don't always stick to traditional journalism as taught in journalism school; for example, relying on social media to bring an involved first person perspective to stories. It's forcing editors and journalists to be more imaginative with the possibilities made available with digital media.

Part of developing a new online format is focusing on how to hold onto readership within a global system of interconnected networks offering any individual access to essentially anything they want at any given time. Twenty-first century newspapers need to make use of all the multimedia resources available on the Internet. For example, OpenFile, which is a community powered online newspaper, makes use of audience and editor/journalist interaction, keeping tabs on what's going on in other media outlets and the idea of an open newsroom. The embracing connectivity seems to be an important feature to the survival of twenty-first century newspapers and to a new successful online format. What is certain is newspapers need to offer more than merely a digital recreation of the print newspaper.

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