The broad term journalism can be defined as primarily those mass-communication activities that pertain to the collection and publishing of news-related material for general and specialized segments of society. (Communication media reaching large, or mass, audiences include newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.) The linkage with news is important. This connection is what keeps advertising, for example, from falling under the rubric of journalism. Such areas as \Tadvertising\t and \Tpublic relations\t, although peripherally related (and in some ways, essential) to modern journalism--particularly in the United States--are not really journalism. Journalism, as an overall enterprise, is big business. It is heavily dependent on advancing communications technology--and upon persons expert in technological fields. At the heart of the enterprise, however, are individual journalists, including reporters, columnists, editors in various capacities, editorial writers, editorial cartoonists, feature writers, photojournalists, correspondents, commentators, news directors, newscasters, and newswriters. Journalism is an activity that is vital to society, at least to industrialized, democratic societies; journalists have been called the \TFourth Estate\t. Journalism serves as a kind of cement for the society, providing the citizenry with essential (and much nonessential) information for the efficient running of social institutions. It contributes to public opinion and provides news and understanding of that news. It entertains the people, watches government and social institutions for the populace, and furnishes grist for the mills of debate and discussion about local news and international affairs. Two types of media (each with two subcategories) have played significant roles in the history of journalism. These are: the print media (newspapers and magazines) and the broadcast, or electronic, media (radio and television). (See also \Tnewspaper\t; \Tperiodical\t; \Tradio and television broadcasting\t; \Ttelevision production\t.) HISTORY The history of journalism can be considered long or short, depending on the scope that one accords the concept. Stone tablets, paintings and carvings on rocks and cave walls, signs on prehistoric trees, smoke signals, drum messages, and hieroglyphics all disseminated news millennia before the emergence of the modern concept of journalism as institutionalized, news-oriented communication with mass audiences. The first journalistic publications were printed in continental Europe in the early 17th century. These "news-oriented" publications might be called the first formalized examples of journalism. Of course, there had been persons who shouted the news in the streets, and there were also balladeers who distributed some news, but they could not meet the demand. Hence the newspaper was born. The earliest newspapers contained information mainly about commerce, business, and shipping--plus varying amounts of political news, much of it from foreign countries. As newspapers spread throughout Europe, to the New World, and to other European colonial areas worldwide, the concept of journalism developed firm roots and grew for at least the next two centuries in the soil of basic newspapering. Magazines, also, found their place in the purview of journalism. \Tphotojournalism\t developed dramatically from its 19th century origins. Then, in the 20th century, radio and television--at least in their news-related activities--took their place in the realm of journalism. Newspapers Newspapers arose, developed, and spread very rapidly. From those crude European newsletters of the 17th and 18th centuries came the sophisticated news journals of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the small sheets published by printers came newspapers with diverse content, veering away from mere notices to in-depth stories and news analyses. An important development came in the 18th century--political pamphlets. People such as John \TDickinson\t, Thomas \TPaine\t, and Samuel \TAdams\t in the American colonies entered into political journalism with a vengeance. Subsequently, in the 1800s, the so-called \TPenny Press\t developed, providing journalism, written and edited for the ordinary person, at a low price. These newspapers were often popular and highly sensational, attracting readers with crime and sex and a wide variety of human-interest material. Representative of the flamboyant Penny Press were James Gordon \TBennett\t's New York Herald, founded in 1835, the Baltimore Sun, and three other New York newspapers--the Sun, the Evening Post, and the Tribune. Such papers courted mass audiences and became extremely competitive. The editorial page, which expressed opinion, was becoming a basic newspaper department, with Horace \TGreeley\t of the Tribune especially influential in its development. Following the Civil War and into the 20th century came a period in journalism history known as the New Journalism. It was exemplified by the outstanding editor Joseph \TPulitzer\t. In this period the newspaper took on its modern form, and circulations grew rapidly. Men such a Pulitzer and William Randolph \THearst\t put a new emphasis on the news function of journalism, although some of the editors and publishers were to overemphasize sensationalism, or \Tyellow journalism\t--especially at the time of the Spanish-American War. Other outstanding New Journalism editors were E. W. \TScripps\t in Cleveland, Charles \TDana\t in New York, Melville Stone in Chicago, William Rockhill Nelson in Kansas City, and Henry W. \TGrady\t, in Atlanta. An important 19th-century development in Europe and the United States was the formation of \Tpress agencies and syndicates\t. These were able to supply subscribing newspapers with news (and later, feature material) that otherwise would have been beyond the individual newspaper's resources to obtain. At the turn of the century a debate began concerning the training of newspaper journalists--one view holding that on-the-job training in a newspaper office was most appropriate, another view maintaining that special courses of study in a school of journalism constituted the best preparation. Although the argument is yet to be settled, academic training in all fields of journalism is well developed in the United States. The first school of journalism on a par with other university schools was founded at the University of Missouri in 1908. In 1903, Joseph Pulitzer agreed to give Columbia University $2 million for another pioneering school of journalism, which opened in 1912. Newspapers in the late 20th century combine the characteristics of earlier periods. They represent many perspectives and exhibit a wide range in subject matter and format. The expression of opinion is still important in the op-ed (opposite-editorial) pages and in various personal columns, reviews, and analyses; distinguished columnists have included Walter \TLippmann\t and James \TReston\t. In the 1960s the term New Journalism was reapplied to a new style of "nonfiction reportage" (appearing in magazines as well as some newspapers). Practitioners of New Journalism include Jimmy \TBreslin\t and Tom \TWolfe\t. The tradition of investigative reporting was vigorously pursued by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward ( see \TBernstein\t, Carl and \TWoodward\t, Bob) in the Watergate affair. But the traits of yellow journalism persist here and there in popular general newspapers (such as the \TNew York Daily News\t) and in gossip-oriented newspapers such as the National Enquirer, a national supermarket-based \Ttabloid\t. Serious news-and-analysis newspapers survive in such journals as the \TNew York Times\t, the Louisville Courier-Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Specialized papers are represented by the \TWall Street Journal\t. A mass-appeal paper with a national scope was inaugurated in the early 1980s with \TUSA\t Today. Throughout the world there are some 8,000 daily newspapers and far more semiweeklies, biweeklies, and weeklies, circulating at least 500 million copies on a regular basis. In the international context the average newspaper is crude, poorly printed, heavy with sensational news, light on antigovernment criticism, and burdened by all types of problems (especially economic). Outside Western Europe and North America there are very few "elite," or ultraserious, newspapers. Although the majority of the world's newspapers are privately owned, some degree of government control is evident in many countries. Magazines It can be claimed that magazine journalism started in the 19th century, for prior to the 1800s journals had small circulations (little more than 500 subscribers), and the life span of most journals was only five to eight years. There were only a dozen magazines in the United States in 1800. By the end of the first quarter of the 19th century there were fewer than 100 magazines in the country, but circulations were growing rapidly. By the mid-19th century some 600 magazines were published, but it should be noted that the majority of them were not significantly concerned with "news." Consequently, many commentators would not associate them with "journalism" at all. After the U. S. Civil War, magazines grew from some 700 (in 1865) to approximately 5,000 at the turn of the century. by the late 1980s there were well over 10,000 magazines published in the United States. Diversity in magazines today is very great and has been since the end of the Civil War. Magazines exist for almost every interest imaginable. The movement toward more emphasis on public affairs was stimulated by \THarper's\t and later by \TAtlantic Monthly\t, and specifically by news magazines such as \TTime\t, followed by \TNewsweek\t and U.S. NEWS AND \Tworld\t REPORT. Political commentary was added to the range of magazines by such journals as The \Tnation\t, New Republic, Progressive, Commonwealth, Commentary, and National Review. Magazine journalism has been a potent force in the United States (and throughout the world), appealing mainly to the elite, the well-educated, and the opinion leaders. At least this is true in the sense of "journalistic" magazines. Generally more incisive, more articulate, more interpretive, and certainly more comprehensive than newspapers, magazines have supplied an important intellectual dimension to news-oriented journalism. Whereas the main function of newspaper journalism is to inform or summarize in brief fashion, the aim of most magazine journalism is to fill gaps--to explain, interpret, criticize, and comment. In short, magazine journalism in its many types and styles supplements newspapers and fleshes out the bare bones of newspaper journalism. Radio Radio appeared in the United States early in the present century. The first U. S. radio news item is attributed to Lee \TDe Forest\t, who in 1916 broadcast the brief news-related prediction that Charles Evans Hughes would be the next president of the United States. Although in succeeding years there was some interest in news, radio's pioneers were mainly interested in providing entertainment. Radio's great boom period began in the 1920s; network radio started during these years with the founding of the National Broadcasting company (\TNBC\t) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). It was really with World War II that radio became a significant news medium, and broadcast journalism entered the vocabulary. Especially prominent radio journalists in World War II were Edward R. \TMurrow\t, Elmer \TDavis\t, Gabriel Heatter, and H. V. Kaltenborn. Also playing important roles in the early journalistic development of radio broadcasting were such men as Walter \TWinchell\t, Lowell \TThomas\t, and Eric Severeid. After World War II, radio journalism's ascendancy was cut short by a rising new medium--television. Television Although television in its experimental form had existed in the United States since the 1920s, it was not until the middle of the 20th century that TV found a significant place among the journalistic media. Television grew rapidly, and many of the established radio journalist transferred their talents to the new medium. News on television at first consisted of newsreels from outside suppliers. Then there were on-the-spot broadcasts of major events, along with some documentaries and special public-affairs reports. In the 1950s television did a significant journalistic job covering the inauguration of President Dwight Eisenhower and the live Army-McCarthy hearings (see \TMcCarthy\t, Joseph R.). In the 1960s with the American involvement in Vietnam; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; and the fiery Democratic convention in Chicago (1968), TV was well-established as a journalistic medium. CBS personalities such as Walter \TCronkite\t, Eric Severeid, Mike \TWallace\t, Dan \TRather\t, Lesley Stahl, Charles Kuralt, Diane \TSawyer\t, Bruce Morton, and Marvin Kalb have made their mark on television journalism (some of them, like other TV journalists, shifting from one network to another). For \TNBC\t there have been such notables as Chet \THuntley\t and David \TBrinkley\t, John \Tchancellor\t, Barbara \TWalters\t, Frank McGee, Tom \TBrokaw\t, Tom Pettit, and Judy Woodruff. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has added to the roster of outstanding journalists with Howard K. \TSmith\t, Frank \TReynolds\t, Harry \TReasoner\t, Peter \TJennings\t, Sam Donaldson, and Tom Jarriel. Outstanding journalists on the Public Broadcasting Service (\TPBS\t) include Robert \TMacNeil\t and Jim \TLehrer\t. In the 1960s satellite news distribution provide a big boost to television news. In 1962 came the first transmission between Europe and the United States. Increasingly since that time, news events have been transmitted worldwide via satellite. Such events as summit conferences, papal visits to various parts of the world, Olympic and other sports festivals, terrorist episodes, and various international crises have been flashed live globally. By the mid-1980s cable television had nearly 6,000 systems in operation, serving some 16,000 U. S. communities. Cable TV has provided the American viewing public with many more channels and much clearer pictures. The news emphasis of much cable TV, especially Ted \TTurner\t's CNN (Cable News Network), adds a new journalistic dimension to television and stresses continuous news and commentary. This cable emphasis on news, by the late 1980s, had caused the three major through-the-air networks to plan new strategies and tactics for news presentation for the closing decade of the 20th century. ISSUES IN MODERN JOURNALISM The journalist is part of an enterprise that is challenged by a multiplicity of problems and issues. Because journalists are formulators and disseminators of "news," they have a great responsibility--ethical and pragmatic. It is through them that the citizens view the world. In a sense they set the agenda for social concern and debate. Journalists provide their audiences with the main view these audiences have of the world. Therefore, many of the issues in modern journalism pertain to the "responsibility" of the journalistic media to society. Must a "free" press be responsible? Just what is press responsibility? Who sets the standards for press responsibility? With such questions, journalism is confronted with the consideration of professionalization of journalism. Is journalism a profession? Should it be one? Talk of professionalization of journalism leads to discussions and debates concerning codes of ethics, entrance requirements for journalists, journalism education, and mechanisms for excluding errant members of the profession. Another issue in journalism revolves around the idea that the public has a right of access to the press. Many people believe that journalism is too "closed," too unsympathetic to eccentric or unpopular opinion and to information coming from minority segments of the society. They propose that people and groups with something to say have the right to say it through the public media, and that the courts, if necessary, should force the media to publish these views. Opponents of this idea see it as just another attempt to undermine the traditional freedom of journalists. Broadcast journalists generally believe that the Constitution's 1\TSt\t AMENDMENT press-freedom rights should apply to them as well as to journalists in the press media. But broadcasters must have licenses, be concerned about broadcasting in the "public interest," and furnish "equal time" to competing federal political candidates. In a decision generally welcomed by broadcast journalists but denounced by various advocacy groups, the Federal Communications Commission in 1987 abolished the Fairness Doctrine as an unconstitutional restriction of fair speech. The Fairness Doctrine for 38 years had required that U. S. radio and television broadcasters present opposing points of view on controversial issues. An important issue that has involved journalists in legal procedures (and even put them in jail) is the matter of protecting the identities of sources. Journalist also tend on principle to resist authorities' demands for notes and other materials used for their stories. Another journalistic issue is the increasing trend toward media consolidation, the possession of a group of journalistic media--from a chain of newspapers to a mix of newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations--by a single owner. Many see this as bad, leading to a shrinking of pluralism, a retreat from individualism and media autonomy, and a spreading of a bland conformity throughout national journalism. Others dispute this, saying that journalistic groupism (multiple ownership of media) results in better journalism because the economic base is sounder. They say that there is no proof that the pluralism of journalistic content--the range of expression--is diminishing with the growth of media chains and groups. The debate is not resolved. The Miami Herald's treatment of Gary Hart in 1987 (in which this leading presidential candidate was implicated in a sex scandal) refocused the public's attention on journalistic ethics. Basic were questions concerning invasion-of-privacy by the press and the irrelevancy of much news reporting. The case provoked other (and also familiar) criticisms of journalistic practices: sensational stories, unnamed sources used in stories, exaggerated (or improper) emphases, media arrogance and power, and failure to acknowledge or to apologize for errors. Journalists often respond to criticisms by citing \Tfreedom of the press\t. Freedom, many say, implies the right of editorial self-determination, and such determination may not please the media critics. Some claim that press freedom even implies the freedom to be sensational, to be biased, to be inaccurate, and to be arrogant. The issue of press freedom is very important and emotional. Does the 1st Amendment protect lewd and pornographic material? Does it protect lying and distortion in the news? Does it protect the owners of the media only--or does it apply also to the individual journalist? Journalism, in the United States at least, is caught between freedom and responsibility, and most of its historical and current concerns gravitate toward these conceptual poles. John C. Merrill Bibliography: Altschull, J.H., From Milton to McLuhan: The Ideas Behind American Journalism (1990); Anderson, D., and Itule B., Writing the News (1988); Baldwin, Thomas F., and McVoy, D. Stevens, Cable Communication (1983); Black, Jay, and Whitney, Frederick C., Introduction to Mass Communication (1983); Bliss, Edward, Jr., ed., In Search of Light: The Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow (1986); Chalmers, David M., The Muckrake Years (1980); Cross, H., The People's Right to Know (1953); Dennis, Everette E., The Media Society: Evidence about Mass Communication in America (1978); Dennis, Everette E., and Merrill, John C., Media and Contemporary Society (1983); Dreiser, Theodore, Newspaper Days (1931; repr. 1974); Emery, Edwin and Michael, The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media, 5th ed. (1984); Fang, Irving E., Television News, Radio News 4th rev. ed. (1985); Ferris, Timothy, and Porter, Bruce, The Practice of Journalism (1988); Head, Sydney W., World Broadcasting Systems: A Comparative Analysis (1985); Hilliard, Robert I., Radio Broadcasting: An Introduction to the Sound Medium, 3d ed. (1985); Hulteng, John L., and Nelson, Roy, P., The Fourth Estate: An Informal Appraisal of the News and Opinion Media, 2d ed. (1983); Leonard, Thomas C., The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting (1987); Lichtenberg, Judith, ed., Democracy and the Mass Media (1990); Merrill, John C., ed., Global Journalism (1983); Schiller, Dan, Objectivity and the News: The Public and the Rise of Commercial Journalism (1981); Sloan, W.D., et al., The Best of Pulitzer Prize Newswriting (1986); Stephens, Mitchell, A History of the News (1988); Walker, M., Powers of the Press: 12 of the World's Influential Newspapers (1984).