The New Journalism

Brief History

Journalism evolved over the years, but it all had to begin somewhere, so lets start with the old journalism.  In America there were The Penny Papers, these could be brought for 1p they were controlled and funded by political parties putting forward a point of view. This was where is started, it was the first written material for the public.

In the Mid 19th century, objectivity becomes more of a factor because of the creation of wire services - The Associated Press. In order to make journalism profitable, it had to be objective and true, or it just simply wouldn't sell!

The late 19th Century brought about The Yellow Press, this was the first real change towards news journalism. It was the idea of making newspapers more sensationalised. By this I mean full of pictures, interesting shocking content, emotive headlines, big striking pictures and exclusive stories. Tabloid press is sensationalised, it is colourful and can be thought of as Frozen Television. The yellow Press was known as the new journalism without soul all the stories were about sin, sex and violence. William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer of The New York World were two key journalists in this period. They hit a news war, when the need for readership became more competitive, the competition to get the best inside scoop of a story, the original quotes and present the real action drama.

Journalists are there to record the events in a formulaic way. As it has been implemented into us also, we have to use the news pyramid and the five W's: who, what, when, where, why? The New Journalism was an attempt to record events that mirrored the language and style of the events, and then let that real representation bleed into the copy.

Political and Cultural Scene 

In the 1960s and 70s in America, there was a great deal of political and social upheaval, there was foreign wars, and serious military threats overseas. The 1960's was a turbulent time, the great hope of John F Kennedy was destroyed when he was assinated in 1963. There were disastrous wars in Vietnam, and huge controversy of the draft. Muhammad Ali refused to be conscripted.

Reasons for turbulence in the 1960s:
Demographics: After World War II there was a baby boom, this spike in the population created a powerful youth culture. The baby boomers hit their teens in the 60s, they would march for civi rights, and be the voice of radical political change. It was the younger people that were changing society.

Sexual Revolution: It was legally accepted in American for woman to use the contraception pill in order to let woman take control of their reproductive system for the first time. This sexual freedom, allowed woman to have the choice, it meant people could have partners and not have children, or have casual sex with many people. This refers to an Existential view point, they believe we are defined by our decisions, and it is the next decision which is the most important. The freedom of choice is crucial, and Sartre believed ignoring the fact you must choose would be living in bad faith.

The Student Movement brought about world wide protests, for civil rights, black power and the use of LSD to access altered thinking of counterculture. LSD became big, it was seen as a way to escape controlling heirachy and have 'real' experiences. Prohibitions of drugs created subcultures, such as the hippies, communes and collectives, much of youth culture was 'other'.

Music was central for Sartre Jazz was authentic  the music of 1960s was a full frontal attack on the norms; it was drug fuelled, and fed the student movements. They were protest songs wit an aim to subvert and be political. - Gill Scott Heron: The Revolution will not be Televised. 

Influence of Existentialism

Key to existentialism is Heidegger's authenticity and Sartre's bad faith. The main ideas were Freedom and choice, for example Fanon's view of a path to freedom via violence. For Fanon the act of violence is essentially the extreme expression of choice, choice that has real immediate impact. Anti-establishment feeling - the idea that a "There is a policeman inside your head
- he must be destroyed" began to seep into journalism and bleed into the copy.

New forms of Journalism began to emerge, Journalists began to focus on setting, plot, sounds, feelings, direct quotes and images, while ensuring that it was all true, and stuck to the facts. Examples of this new breed were journalists such as Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer.    

This alternative journalism was personal and expressed as a point of view. It was a shift in 'Telling' to 'seeing'. There was two types of media according to Marshall McLuhan: hot and cold media. Hot media                     is explicit it is telling you how it is, whereas cold media is more seeing, it's ambiguous and allows you to interpret it more.

Tom Wolfe was an explicit journalist, that was influenced by Emelie Zola. Zola was a master of natural realism, painting the scene vividly. Features dramatically shifted, they were real and included dialogue. The authentic way was to portray the real world and real people, paying extreme close attention to detail. Features should represent the way people speak, including a scene by scene construction, with a third person point of view. They should include realistic dialogue about how they behave paying attention to fine detail such as their everyday habits. This will allow them to express what they are truly like, and allow for the public to interpret it for themselves.