Other functions are to entertain, and through columns and features, to help the reader in his or her daily life. Advertising offers information about goods and services and supports editorial and production costs.
Newspapers, from big-city dailies to small town and suburban weeklies, are a basic source of current and continuing international, national, and local events of interest to every conceivable sector of the public. More than sixty-three million daily papers are sold every day through its daily jobs in publishing. The “paper” in its many forms is a basic communications medium for practically everyone. A newspaper serves its community. How well and in what way depends on the commitment of the owners, publisher, and editor. A newspaper is a business, and it can be a profitable one. But making money - the bottom line - is not the first concern when there is commitment to serving the community.
The print media, to which newspapers belong, are in a unique position: they are the only business protected by the Constitution. This gives them not only freedom and power, but it also places a heavy burden or responsibility on them. This is why dedicated men and women are needed in newspaper publishing, from owners to editors and reporters. Newspapers journalism is an art, craft, and a skill. It can be regarded as a profession. It is certainly a calling. Since their inception, newspapers have had a strong impact on public policy. Thomas Jefferson, though he disliked newspapers and suffered cruel abuse from the press was still able to express publicly the importance of the newspapers. Moreover, producing those early newspapers was a painstaking process of publisher jobs. Each letter had to be hand-selected and placed in a casing. When all of the words were set, individual sheets of a paper were placed under a hand-operated press. Given the difficulty of obtaining news and the limited technology, these newspapers were small compared to today’s newspapers.
Moreover, as technology improved, so did the look of America’s newspapers. The telegraph, the Atlantic cable, and the telephone greatly sped up the gathering and printing of news, and the typewriter quickened its writing. The popularity of newspapers led to the establishment of modern journalism as newspapers became larger and circulation increased, one person could no longer write, edit, and typeset a page, resulting in the emergence of full-time reporters and editors. By the mild to late nineteenth century, new types of presses were developed to increase production, and more importantly, the linotype machine had been invented. At this time, the great newspaper magnates appeared: William Randolph Hearst, Adolph S. Ochs of the New York Times, and Joseph Pulitzer. Each large city had several for readership. Sensationalism, otherwise known as ‘yellow journalism,’ flourished.
Since then, with its publishing careers, the American newspapers have progressed from partisan journals and personal journalism through penny press, sensationalism, and muckraking to the Watergate era of the 1970s, which made investigative journalism the goal of almost every young reporter. Perhaps the most dramatic technological change in the newspaper publishing industry has been the advent of computers. Anthony Smith, in his book Goodbye Gutenberg, credits the computer with bringing about a third great transformation, comparable to the advent of writing and the invention of printing from movable type.
The newspaper industry is made up of several departments that work simultaneously to produce such publication jobs. Since most papers are published daily, the work is fast-paced and often exciting. From writing a story to soliciting an advertisement, producing a newspaper involves a great deal of coordination. People interested in editorial work on a newspaper may aspire to a number of reporting, writing, and editing positions. In covering and interpreting the community, the nation, and the world for their readers, newspapers employ general assignment reporters covering the police department, city hall, the county building, the federal building and various courts. Others are assigned in various public / private offices, and other establishments.
Furthermore, a newspaper advertising job is divided into display and classified departments. The display segment is further divided into national advertisements usually placed through agencies and local advertisements, which the newspaper sales force seeks out. National advertisers and large local retail operations submit advertising copy to newspapers. However, in smaller communities, the advertising department often designs the local ads themselves. Larger newspapers maintain advertising sales offices in other cities.
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