In other parts of the world a familiar cycle took place, with prohibition or strict censorship gradually giving way to the demand for a free press, although colonial governments long exercised an especially tight control on political publications. Canada had its first newspapers as early as the 18th century. These developed regionally and catered to both English and French speakers in Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto. Fine standards of journalism were later set by the Winnipeg Free Press (founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1872).
Parts of India also had an early service, with newsletters being circulated from the 16th century. Under British rule, both English- and vernacular-language papers flourished—the latter under government control—and enviable standards were set by The Times of India (1838, formerly the Bombay Times) and The Hindu (1878).
Several Australian titles date to the early years of settlement, notably the Sydney Morning Herald (1831), the Melbourne Argus (1846), and The Age (1854). Full censorship lasted until 1824 and the stamp tax until 1830, but one title, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, was being published as early as 1803. The first issue of New Zealand’s earliest newspaper, the New Zealand Gazette, was printed by emigrants even before their departure from London. The second issue awaited the installation of printing facilities in Wellington in 1840, when large-scale colonization was begun, but in the same year the New Zealand Advertiser was added to the list. The Taranaki Herald began publication in 1852.
In South Africa a press law was passed in 1828 to secure a modicum of publishing freedom, mainly through the efforts of the editor of the country’s first paper, the South African Commercial Advertiser. Later papers, such as the Cape Argus (1857), were often tied to commercial and mining interests at first, but later their editors began to insist on freer commentary. South Africa’s first Xhosa-language newspaper, Imvo Zabantsundu (“African Opinion”), was founded and edited by John Tengo Jabavu (father of Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu) in 1884. For much of South Africa’s history, however, the racially divided nature of the country worked against the tenets of press freedom; even in modern times, 20th-century newspapers published blacked-out articles or blank pages until apartheid came to an end. Similar restrictions affected publishers in many other African and Asian countries, in eastern Europe, and in Latin America, although the political complexion of the various regimes differed. Era of the popular press
In the industrial era, technological advances were routinely appropriated by the newspaper industry to broaden the geographic reach of a paper’s coverage, streamline news-gathering efforts, or speed the production and delivery of newspapers. Ottmar Mergenthaler’s introduction of the Linotype machine in 1886—first in the United States, then in Britain and other industrialized countries—allowed existing newspapers to increase substantially their production and circulation. The change also spurred the launch of new papers in an increasingly competitive business. In the battle to win more readers, U.S. newspapers set new standards of sensationalism—and frequently announced new sales records—with the birth of the ruthless “yellow” journalism (an expression derived from a cartoon character called the “Yellow Kid,” whose creator, Richard F. Outcault, was at the centre of the competition between American newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer). In Britain the print runs of papers such as The Times and the Daily Telegraph quickly reached the 100,000 mark in the second half of the 19th century. Newspapers were becoming part of mass-market industry, and in so doing they were shaking off many of their former ties with the literary world. This was evidenced in the revolutionary 1890s by the emergence of the “press baron,” a businessman who owned a chain of several newspapers, by the increasing importance of advertising revenue, and by the use of unorthodox methods of winning more readers. The United States
The number of American newspaper titles more than doubled between 1880 and 1900, from 850 to nearly 2,000. In addition to the weekly newspaper serving the smaller community, every major city had its own daily newspaper, and the metropolis had become the site of circulation battles between several titles. In New York City the newspaper business was shaken up by the arrival of Joseph Pulitzer, who is often credited with changing the course of American journalism. An immigrant from Hungary, Pulitzer had proved his ability in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had bought and merged two local papers, the Post and the Dispatch. In New York City Pulitzer bought the failing New York World and in three years raised its circulation from 15,000 to 250,000, at that time the highest figure achieved by any newspaper in the world. With a series of stunts and campaigns, Pulitzer revitalized the established formulas of sensationalism and idealism, taking one step further the qualities of editorial independence and exciting journalism that had been introduced to an earlier generation of New Yorkers by Bennett’s Herald and Greeley’s Tribune (see above).
Whereas Pulitzer was never afraid to unearth public wrongdoing and to crusade against it, the next press baron to influence New York City newspapers, William Randolph Hearst, was prepared to go to much further extremes in creating a headline story. Like Pulitzer, Hearst had learned about newspaper proprietorship in the brash, tough frontier West. His San Francisco Examiner (from 1880) had gained a reputation for exposing and cleaning up political corruption. By the time he came to New York City in 1895, however, Hearst was interested in circulation-building sensation at any price, even if it meant dressing up complete fabrications as news. This approach was revealed all too clearly in 1898, when Hearst’s Morning Journal was challenging Pulitzer’s World in the New York circulation battle. The Journal published exaggerated stories and editorials about the political tensions between the United States and Spain that stirred the country to a pitch of hysteria. Eventually, war—over Cuba—was triggered by the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbour, but Hearst nevertheless claimed credit for the war in a banner headline: “How Do You Like the Journal’s War?” Hearst is reported to have cabled his illustrator in Cuba, demanding pictures of atrocities for the Journal. The illustrator found no atrocities to illustrate and informed Hearst, who replied, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Alarmist headlines and attention-grabbing campaigns were only one of the tactics introduced by Hearst. Equally important in the sensationalist yellow journalism of the era were vivid pictorial designs—photographs, cartoons, graphic illustrations—and the new Sunday supplements, which focused on human-interest stories and comic strips.