BIRD, GEORGE L., and FREDERIC E. MERWIN (Eds.). The Newspaper and Society. Pp. xviii, 627. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1942. $4.00

• Date: 01 May 1942
• Published date: 01 May 1942
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222100185
• Subject Matter: Articles

243

BIRD,

GEORGE

L.,

and

FREDERIC

E.

MERWIN

(Eds.).

The

Newspaper

and

Society.

Pp.

xviii,

627.

New

York:

Prentice-Hall,

Inc.,

1942.

$4.00.

Including

177

selections

by

a

wide

variety

of

authorities,

this

volume

is

complete

with

questions

and

bibliography,

plus

interpreta-

tive

paragraphs

by

the

editors

before

each

chapter.

It

is

primarily

intended

as

an

orderly

array

of

representative

selections

showing

the

&dquo;inside&dquo;

of,

as

well

as

the

&dquo;out-

side

influences&dquo;

playing

on,

the

newspaper

in

its

role

as

an

&dquo;unbiased,

impartial

re-

corder.&dquo;

It

is

not

surprising

that

the

selections

are

weighted

in

opposition

to

governmental

in-

terference

with

the

press,

since

the

editors’

attitudes

in

this

direction

are

distinguish-

able.

Their

three

general

convictions

are:

(1)

critics

of

the

press

have

been

unjusti-

fied

in

their

arguments;

(2)

the

press,

in

the

main,

is

good,

far

better

than

ever

be-

fore ;

and

(3)

the

American

press

is

the

only

great

free

press

(a

notable

exception-

the

English

press).

These

are

well

taken,

but

the

criterion

of

freedom

used

is

the

same

relative

concept

arrived

at

by

making

comparisons

with

the

press

conditions

in

fascist

countries.

,

Particularly

important

at

this

time

is

the

article

by

Professor

0.

W.

Riegel,

&dquo;The

Danger

to

the

Press

in

Defending

the

Status

Quo&dquo;

(pp.

509-10).

The

comprehensive

scope

of

the

work

makes

it

outstanding

as

an

undergraduate

text,

and

for

supplementary

readings

and

bibliography

it

is

adaptable

for

graduate

courses,

particularly

where

library

facilities

are

limited.

PAUL

G.

WILLIS

Indiana

University

MOTT,

FRANK

LUTHER.

American

Jour-

nalism.

Pp.

ix,

772.

New

York:

The

Macmillan

Co.,

1941.

$5.50.

Professor

Mott,

for

fifteen

years

director

of

the

School

of

Journalism

at

the

State

University

of

Iowa,

and

Pulitzer

prize

win-

ner

in

American

history,

has

produced

a

history

of

American

newspapers

from

1690

to

the

present

day.

Students

of

American

journalism

and

others

who

do

work

in

this

field

will

appreciate

the

immense

scope

of

the

volume.

Professor

Mott

showed

a

painstaking

regard

for

minute

detail

in

his

history

of

American

magazines,

and

the

same

research

habits

are

obvious

in

his

new

work.

When

Professor

Mott

got

down

to

the

task

of

transferring

the

material

on

his

research

cards

to

the

manuscript

page,

he

proceeded

on

the

assumption

that

the

his-

tory

of

the

newspaper

is

best

chronicled

by

setting

up

several

periods

of

development

and

filling

them

in

with

prodigious

amounts

of

facts

and

figures

collected

and

arranged

with

the

indefatigability

so

characteristic

of

this

type

of

historical

writing.

The

reader,

thus,

is

taken

back

to

the be-

ginning

when

the

ill-fated

Publick

Occur-

rences

was

established

in

1690.

This

period

runs

to

1795

and

includes

all

of

a

second

and

part

of

a

third:

&dquo;The

Press

in

the

American

Revolution

1765-1783,&dquo;

and

&dquo;The

Party

Press,

Early

Period

1783-

1801.&dquo;

Professor

Mott

divides

the

party

press

into

three

sections:

early,

middle,

and

late.

The

first

(1783-1801)

covers

the

feud

between

Federalists

and

Republi-

cans,

the

second

(1801-1833)

the

so-called

&dquo;black

journalism&dquo;

of

the

subsidized

party

press,

and

the

third

(1833-1860)

the

rise

of

the

penny

newspaper

and

the

advent

of

the

personal

journalists.

Some

authorities

feel

that

this

third

epoch

does

not

belong

with

the

party

press,

and

refer

to

it

either

as

&dquo;personal

journalism&dquo;

or

as

the

&dquo;advent

of

the

cheap

press.&dquo;

From

the

party

newspaper,

Professor

Mott

proceeds

to

an

admirable

and

often

slighted

discussion

of

the

press

during

the

Civil

War

and

the

subsequent

Reconstruc-

tion.

He

dates

the

rise

of

the

&dquo;independent

press&dquo;

from

1872

to

1892,

and

characterizes

the

extremely

interesting

period

covering

the

turn

of

the

century

as

&dquo;the

rise

and

fall

of

yellow

journalism.&dquo;

The

years

from

the

first

World

War

to

the

second

pro-

duced

&dquo;the

modern

newspaper.&dquo;

Professor

Mott’s

method

of

treating

American

newspaper

history

strongly

re-

sembles

that

of

the

late

Professor

Willard

G.

Bleyer

in his

still

valuable

Main

Cur-

rents

in the

History

of

American

Jour-

nalism.

It

differs

sharply,

however,

from

the

&dquo;broad

perspective&dquo;

plan

of

Dr.

Alfred

M.

Lee

in

his

excellent

The

Daily

News-

paper

in

America.

Choice

between

the

two

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