The New Journalism

The New Journalism (this is the final topic for philosophy- EVER!)

American Journalism- brief history

The Penny papers in America- deeply partisan- merchants and politicians. (Papers you can buy for a penny controlled and funded by political parties business men who portrayed their view. Can be useful at times for finding prices of a shovel etc but sometimes could find out about someone who sold rubbish shovels.) Targeted at normal people working class and not the elite.

Mid 19^th century objectivity became a factor in journalism because of the creation of the wire service- The Associated Press needed objectivity to be profitable. The only way you can sell news to a large amount of people is to make it true (news should be objective).

The Yellow Press- Late 19^th century, the first New Journalism. Citizen Kane. The idea of shaking up the news papers making them more interesting and full of big, dramatic pictures.  This was because at the time not everyone there spoke English used simple words. This is where the Sensationalisation of them began where a physical reaction to what you are reading was needed e.g. Shock, loss, crime, dramatic etc. Huge emotive headlines- human interest stories and shocking stories that make the audience react to them. They wanted to appeal to the working class and interest the growing middle class who were wealthy. They made it colour and it looked like television.

The new journalism without soul some people say about Yellow Journalism; all the stories are full of sex, sin and violence.

America 1960s and 70s similar to Hearst and the Yellow Press. Great deal of political and social upheaval, fighting, foreign wars with even more serious military threats building overseas. In the time of Hearst there was the Spanish American War and Citizen Kane moment where a journalist was sent to war but there was no war there. He said if you give me the pictures I will give you the war which he caused to get some decent pictures. Vietnam war happened in the 1960s and 70s.

Journalist recorded the events of the day- normally in a formulaic way- who, what, where, when, why etc. The New Journalism was an attempt to record events mirroring the language and the style of the events. Letting it bleed into the copy (the events of the day).

Political and Cultural scene

1960s was turbulent- great hope for John Kennedy the great speaker president at the time. He was someone everyone looked up to and wanted to be. He was assassinated in 1963, disastrous war in Vietnam. They started to conscript people into the army to go to Vietnam. Most of the wealthy and elite were allowed to avoid this and were protected from going.  Someone like Mohammad Ali refused to go to Vietnam.

Demographic reason- Baby Boom created a powerful youth culture- Baby Boomers hitting their teens in the 1960s making America wealthy as a lot of them went to university in their teens. In the 60s and 70s marched against the war in Vietnam and marched for civil rights. Police weren’t as respected and the voice of change was from the young people in America.

They have changed American society dramatically and are now in retirement and are facing retirement age.

Sexual Revolution- mid 1960s is where it became legally accepted in America for women to use the contraceptive pill. Existentialism links with choice and the fact that women have freedom now and can have casual sex. Reichian: Free Love- links with Freud, bad thoughts shouldn’t be let out. Reich said to be happy you need orgasms and to let it all out. It links with the Feminist Revolution.

 The student movement- worldwide protests of 1968- civil rights, Black Power marches for equal rights, use of LSD drugs introduced by the CIA to access altered thinking of counterculture and to be able to control them easier. Police battered students who kept marching and protesting.

The government wanted to ban LSD and punish people which then created hidden drug taking. Prohibition of drugs created subcultures such as Hippies, communes, collective and established much of youth culture to make it be viewed as deviant.

Music was central for Existentialism and Sartre, jazz was authentic and true (Heidegger phrase). The music of 1960s was a full frontal attack on the norms, drug fuelled when they were written (Doors) and anti-establishment (Bob Dylan) with the aim to subvert and be political. The world is happening out there and you should get involved.

Influence of Existentialism

Ideas informed by Existentialism- Heidegger's Authenticity, Sartre's bad faith. There is no meaning and no path you have to follow you create meaning by your actions. Existentialism scanner when it scans you if wont see your past or where you are now it will just see choices and the choices that you make. The most interesting choice of all that you have is your next one. Key ideas are freedom and choice for example Fanon’s view of a path to freedom and choice. Fanon’s view of a path to freedom is accelerated choice (violence). An act of violence is an extreme expression of choice with real immediate impact. To get to the point of freedom we have to push and use violence to get us to that point much quicker.

Existentialism view- we are not our past its our choices in the future that count. Malcolm X- violence is valid. Anti-establishment feeling, there is a policeman inside your head, he must be destroyed- seeped into journalism.

Journalist question whether basing stories o press releases, press conferences and official statements was really objective and more importantly a true reflection of events (bad faith). New forms of journalism began to emerge 1960s as it started to ‘bleed into the copy’.

Journalists began to focus on setting the plot, sounds, feelings, direct quotes and images whilst still being as careful as before with the facts and if they were true. They tried to reflect what was happening accurately.

This alternative journalism was personal and expressed an individual point of view. It was also unconventional, disagreeable, disruptive, unfriendly and against the power structure. It’s good for journalists to be awkward.

There was no super structure anymore as it started from the Elite in the top before but has now filtered down to the individual. You were allowed to be subjective and write from a view point which you couldn’t before.

Shift in form of narration from DIEGETIC TO MIMETIC

Telling (just telling what happened) to Seeing (attention to detail, inner working of someone mind via their setting, what they wear, how they speak.)

Marshall McLuhan – hot (explicit what it is trying to tell you- Daily Echo- no freedom of choice about interpreting the information yourself) and cold media (this is the scene, ambiguous, interpret the media yourself to bring a meaning).

In New Journalism ‘Objectivity’ was important ‘subjective experience’ accuracy and facts were still important but they paid a lot of attention to detail. – Tom Wolfe is the most famous example.

Wolfe was straight forward in his writing and was a huge fan of Emile Zola who influenced him. Zola is one of the greatest writers of natural realism. A role description of what was happening was the style to let you interpret what happens. The book ‘The New Journalism’ is a good book.

When Wolfe entered journalism the first thing he noticed was the status competition. The competition varied though, the reporters are in the ‘scoop competition’ – First for breaking news- BBC etc.

If you weren’t in the news, you were a feature writer. Wolfe describes the shift in feature writing. It tried to replicate what was happening in the real world to try and put it down on paper exactly how people saw it. It is harder and needs a huge amount of time, to soak up the scene and pay attention to detail. You learn everything that you can and what they do during interviews.

New Journalism P46&47 tell you how to write an excellent feature. He tells you who to read Zola and Dickens.

1-    Scene by Scene construction- telling the story in scenes. You need to be there and you need to soak up the detail to write down exactly what the atmosphere is like.

2- Realistic dialogue- involves the reader more than any other single device. It also defines a character more quickly and effectively. Listen to how people speak and capture their dialogue accurately. This is hard and can take a lot of time.

2-    Third person point of view- giving the reader the feeling of being inside the characters mind. Interview this person, research them to find out how they think and feel etc.

4- Recording of everyday gestures, habits, manners, style of furniture, behaviour. superiors. Concentrate on tiny detail that can open up to give you a picture to explain how this person is like. Symbolic of people’s status life.