E. W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers (History of Communication) [Paperback]

Gerald J. Baldasty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999 | Series: History of Communication

Edward Willis Scripps revolutionized the newspaper industry by applying modern business practices to his chain of more than forty newspapers and creating a telegraphic news service and illustrated news features syndicate. Convinced that big business was corrupting the American press, Scripps actively resisted supporting his newspapers through advertising. He also aimed them at the working class, an audience virtually ignored by most newspaper publishers of his era. Maintaining that the press should support the democratic endeavor by informing its largest constituency, Scripps succeeded in creating a string of small, cheap newspapers that were advocates for the common people: crusading for lower streetcar fares, free textbooks for public school children, municipal ownership of utilities, and pure food legislation, among many other causes. Gerald Baldasty's portrait of this long-neglected entrepreneurial giant is the first major academic study to draw on Scripps' business correspondence. "The Theodore Psalter" is one of the most valuable illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Byzantine Empire. One of only a few "fixed points" guiding the historian's understanding of Byzantine art and society, the "Theodore Psalter's" illumination is a uniquely rich source of insight into monastic organization, spirituality, book production, and a host of other aspects of Byzantine life. This facsimile CD-ROM version of the Psalter, produced from the original text held in the British Library Rare Books collection, offers unprecedented, virtual hands-on access to this precious volume. The innovative electronic format provides a complete display of all 416 pages, with magnified views of every illustration as well as a fully searchable text in the original Greek and in English translation. Complete with hyperlinked descriptions and full identifications of figures on every page, the facsimile is accompanied by three scholarly essays, by Charles Barber and by John Lowden of the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Combining cutting-edge technology with first-rate scholarship, "The Theodore Psalter" (electronic facsimile) serves as an indispensable tool for art historians and affords a fascinating opportunity for other adventurous readers to interact with a rare treasure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Do not be afraid to be called a skin flint or miser. You can acquire no more valuable reputation," Edward Willis Scripps told the business manager of his San Francisco Daily News. He never tolerated "frills" for his staffers, which in his mind included toilet paper, ice in the summertime and even pencils. But his formula worked. From 1870 to 1908, Scripps built an empire of small, cheaply run newspapers that shared Scripps-based wire copy (an innovation in its time), aimed at a working-class readership and shut down in an instant when their market faltered. The effort was a struggle from the first. Scripps had to force himself on his newspaper-executive brothers to get a shot at the businessAand then he outdid them at their own game. He fought off efforts by such rival publishers as William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who had just as much moxie as he did. And he strived to buildAof all thingsAnewspapers that were not beholden to advertisers. None of it was easy, and despite the newly available resource of Scripps's business correspondence, it isn't any easier getting a sense of Scripps as a flesh-and-blood print mogul here. Baldasty paints readers a nice profile of his subject at the book's start; later chapters, however, are all thesis and supporting point, with little in the way of punchy anecdote. Still, the E.W. Scripps Co. thrives today, and is currently involved in a real down-and-dirty newspaper war in Colorado. If Baldasty too baldly lays out the nuts-and-bolts business plan that got the company there, Scripps for one would appreciate his economy.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Today, the daily newspaper that most Americans read is owned by a corporate chain. Since World War II, the shift has been from 80 percent independently owned to 80 percent corporately controlled. E.W. Scripps is credited with establishing the first national newspaper chain at the turn of the century, and his business practices transformed the newspaper industry. Baldasty, a professor of communications at the University of Washington and author of The Commercialization of the News (Univ. of Wisconsin, 1992), draws upon Scripps's business correspondence to detail the development of his newspaper chain. Scripps targeted working-class readers and developed a centralized system of distributing news and managing individual papers. This book offers a specialized examination of Scripps's business practices and assumes a basic background in newspaper history. A welcome addition to academic journalism collections.?Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ., Takoma Park, MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252067509
• ISBN-13: 978-0252067501
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,192,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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