In the mid 19th Century, with the creation of wire services, objectivity became crucial to the associated press to make a profit, and changed the nature of the press. Later in the 19th Century, the yellow press was developed, with a tabloid attitude towards the press. The yellow press made news more shocking, sensationalising stories, content increasingly about sin, sex and violence.
The yellow press set the format for tabloid journalism, human interest stories, with the appearance of 'frozen tv', heavy on colour and pictures, lighter on words, seeking to make the reader care, rather than think.
The great social and political upheaval of the USA in the 1960s and 70s saw journalists recording events in a formulaic, predictable fashion. Enter the New Journalism, an attempt to allow the nature of the events being reported to bleed into the copy, replacing formula with feeling.
The social and cultural landscape of the 60s and 70s was a stark contrast to that which came before. The Vietnam war saw the US embroiled in an expensive and ultimately failed military exercise, with conscription seeing many men shipped out to the war against their will. The black power movement was gaining momentum. Their were issues in the US worth fighting for, and into this landscape stepped a powerful youth movement. The baby boomer generation were in their teens, and were rebelling against their parents generation. the drug and sexual revolution of the time created a counter culture in the youth, and the idea of free love contrasted sharply with the foreign wars of their government. Students began to protest, and underground sub cultures created by the prohibition of LSD created a public profile of the youth as deviants.
As a result, the youth came to see themselves as outsiders, and began to attack the norm of society, through their behaviour, and through their music. Artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Velvet Underground and Gil Scott Heron created rebellious, and often drug induced, music, which sound tracked the youthful revolution (see Heron's 'the revolution will not be televised' and Dylan's 'subterranean homesick blues').
This counter-culture movement was informed greatly by existentialism, and the concept of freedom of choice. Malcolm X embodied Fanon's concept of violence as the extreme expression of choice. The approach of the counter culture came to be summed up by the phrase "there is a policeman inside your head, he must be destroyed", and this attitude began to seep into the journalism of the time.
Journalists began to question their existing approach, creating stories from press releases and other such practices were not objective, and as such could be seen as an act of bad faith. This questioning of the established norm affected the way journalists approached their writing. They came to be increasingly determined to truly represent what was happening, with a greater focus on plot, setting, sounds and feelings, as well as the facts themselves. Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe are great exponents of this style. Hunter S Thompson also took a similar approach, but applied it to his own, drug induced adventures, rather than specific news stories, such as in his 'Kentucky Derby' piece.
This indicated a shift in form from telling to seeing. This new school of journalism shifted the focus from objectivity in favour of subjectivity. The new journalism approach adapted techniques of Zola and Dickens to create this new style, which has come to define features writing, with Thompson particularly pioneering the Gonzo journalism style (Dr Gonzo was a character in Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).
As a result, the youth came to see themselves as outsiders, and began to attack the norm of society, through their behaviour, and through their music. Artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Velvet Underground and Gil Scott Heron created rebellious, and often drug induced, music, which sound tracked the youthful revolution (see Heron's 'the revolution will not be televised' and Dylan's 'subterranean homesick blues').
This counter-culture movement was informed greatly by existentialism, and the concept of freedom of choice. Malcolm X embodied Fanon's concept of violence as the extreme expression of choice. The approach of the counter culture came to be summed up by the phrase "there is a policeman inside your head, he must be destroyed", and this attitude began to seep into the journalism of the time.
Journalists began to question their existing approach, creating stories from press releases and other such practices were not objective, and as such could be seen as an act of bad faith. This questioning of the established norm affected the way journalists approached their writing. They came to be increasingly determined to truly represent what was happening, with a greater focus on plot, setting, sounds and feelings, as well as the facts themselves. Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe are great exponents of this style. Hunter S Thompson also took a similar approach, but applied it to his own, drug induced adventures, rather than specific news stories, such as in his 'Kentucky Derby' piece.
This indicated a shift in form from telling to seeing. This new school of journalism shifted the focus from objectivity in favour of subjectivity. The new journalism approach adapted techniques of Zola and Dickens to create this new style, which has come to define features writing, with Thompson particularly pioneering the Gonzo journalism style (Dr Gonzo was a character in Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).
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