BOOZE FUELED THE EVOLUTION OF THE MEDIA

   Ted McDonald recently posted an article on BCN about Vintage Flags and the Media. Click Here to see that article.  Since I rarely have original ideas, I thought I would take his lead and try to expand on the Evolution of Media in the USA and provide a bit of levity to this occasion.

   There was a time when it took enormous resources to be a part of the media. One must have access to printing presses, ink and a somewhat unlimited source of paper stock. Naturally that mean that only the rich and powerful became newspaper publishers.

   Chief among those was one of our Founders Benjamin Franklin, who was perhaps our fist True Journalist.   

    A selection of American newspaper publishers is below is from 1885, with portraits of their publishers.. An observant person would note one glaring similarity among this AUGUST GROUP. All but two of these titans of Media had Mustaches. Liberals may see other similarities based on their own racial bias. I see it as just a fact of history and a sign of the times.

^{First row: The Union and Advertiser (William Purcell) - The Omaha Daily Bee (Edward Rosewater) - The Boston Daily Globe (Charles H. Taylor) - Boston Morning Journal (William Warland Clapp) - The Kansas City Times (Morrison Mumford) - The Pittsburgh Dispatch (Eugene M. O'Neill).
Second row: Albany Evening Journal (John A. Sleicher) - The Milwaukee Sentinel (Horace Rublee) - The Philadelphia Record (William M. Singerly) - The New York Times (George Jones) - The Philadelphia Press (Charles Emory Smith) - The Daily Inter Ocean (William Penn Nixon) - The News and Courier (Francis Warrington Dawson).
Third row: Buffalo Express (James Newson Matthews) - The Daily Pioneer Press (Joseph A. Wheelock) - The Atlanta Constitution (Henry W. Grady & Evan Howell) - San Francisco Chronicle (Michael H. de Young) - The Washington Post (Stilson Hutchins).}

Click here for a more complete summary of the History of Newspapers.

   Newspapers have always had to dig up content to fill the gaps on the galley page.  Most often that was local information because it was cheap and easily obtained.  While that may not have been the best way to provide context to news it was the cheapest and it also placed an inflated value on the local political, preacher, or busy body.

   Journalist have always been a bit full of themselves because of their exalted position in the Constitution's First Amendment, but a careful reading of the First Amendment indicates that the right to free speech is not limited to just a few rich people with plenty of Ink and Paper. The critical word in the First Amendment is

   To a layman like myself the OR indicates that these clauses are not mutually exclusive. They can occur independently of each other or together in any combination. On second thought, perhaps the important word is NO.

   Quite often I find that quotes from various sources express my ideas much better than I could myself.  That is because there are numerous (ok perhaps millions) better writers than I, who know how to turn a phrase to express ideas.  One series of quotes that seems to encapsulate the High Esteem most members of the Fourth Estate feel for their importance is from the movie "The Natural" from 1984.  The quote is between a player and a newspaper man.

MAX MERCY: I'm here to protect this game.

ROY HOBBS: Whose game?

MAX MERCY: I do it by making or breaking the likes of you.

ROY HOBBS: Did you ever play ball, Max?

MAX MERCY: No, never have. But I make it a little more fun to watch, you see. And after today, whether you're a goat or a hero.you're gonna make me a great story.

MAX MERCY: See you around.

   Having your name appear in the Local Newspaper could either be a cause for celebration or a cause for shame. That was also when it was possible to actually shame someone in the newspapers. Today I doubt that many would care what the newspaper says about them but they are extremely interested in what people say about them on Facebook.

   My own local newspaper used to brag that it "Covers Dixie like the Dew," but I doubt that they were referring to the Nectar that was produced in the North Georgia Mountain and know as Mountain Dew.

   Perhaps the overriding problem with the media today is we are offered too many choices.  I often wonder if the founding fathers knew that technology would change the access to public discourse in such a way as to allow everyone a chance to offer an opinion.  Would they be offended by the fact that it did not take gallons of ink and tons of paper to offer your personal views on any subject?

   But all it takes is a quick look at all the pubs there were on almost every block In Boston to realize that the founding fathers had more faith in public intercourse (careful now) to seperate out the wheat from the chaff. I guess they had faith in Gallons of Beer as opposed to Gallons of Ink. I only regret that they did not include a 1.5 Amendment to include BEER in the protected status.

   Pictures are from the Boston Discovery Guide and used as a enticement for you to visit Boston to sample the Freedom of BEER.

https://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/historic-boston-bars.html

   Here is an example of how Fake News came to be part of our folklore because of Journalism that has no counter balance.

"Who wouldn’t want to believe that one of America’s most important founding fathers — especially one who was known for consuming his fair share of drinks — didn’t also spew wisdom about said drinks? In this case, he did not say this. Bacteria was first observed in 1676 by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, but he called it animalcules. The word “bacteria” become more well-known with Louis Pasteur’s germ theory in 1870, which is a full 80 years after Franklin died."  Fake Drinking Quotes https://vinepair.com/articles/fake-drinking-quotes/

If you really want to see history about America, search for this special by Mike Rowe.

   Have a Happy Fourth of July and remember: