Journalism assignment by William Barkan

Colonial Press

00026863 — 2025-10-06 00:30:53 UTC

The colonial press era was the first era of American newspaper where newspapers found their place in the colonies and the early United States. Newspapers faced the problem of sentiment against free press when they first started, with colonial governments wanting nothing to do with any sort of newspaper or other form of widely available information. The first newspapers were shut down instantly, and only after years of attempts and the eventual freedom of press in the constitution did newspapers become widespread and accepted. Sourcing information was a major problem as most newspapers mostly took from other papers or from word of mouth, and making money was also a problem that newspapers faced. Another big problem faced by newspapers was their purpose. Newspapers were a fairly new concept for the colonists and so they slowly discovered all of the uses and eventually the political capability of the news through trial and error and censure. There were also times when the paper could get too political to the detriment of others.

https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/spring03/journalism.cfm

Penny Press

00026863 — 2025-10-06 00:45:06 UTC

The penny press era was the second era of American newspaper where journalism and the dissemination of information started to boom. The problem penny papers had to address was styling their content and formatting to appeal to random people on the street who could buy and read the paper. In New York, more than 90 percent of penny papers failed to accomplish this, showing the difficulty of this shift in the way newspapers were bought and sold. Newspapers at this time also faced racism and discrimination, and backlash towards whatever newspaper took a progressive stance on contentious topics about people's rights. Additionally, papers in these times found it difficult to source illustrations and thus poorer papers were more blocks of text.

https://www.library.illinois.edu/hpnl/tutorials/antebellum-newspapers-city

Yellow Journalism

00026863 — 2025-10-06 00:51:04 UTC

The yellow journalism era was the third era of American newspaper where sensationalism and headlines that could sell were valued qualities newspapers strived towards, creating mass misinformation and disinformation. Newspapers in this era struggled immensely to sell if they didn't print sensationalist headlines, making any sort of integrity difficult and radicalizing Americans who are only seeing the news blown out of proportion. Some yellow journalism in this era caused wars such as the Spanish American War and created numerous other problems with violence, riots, and terror.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism

Modern Journalism

00026863 — 2025-10-06 00:57:06 UTC

The modern journalism era is the era of American newspaper that we are currently in, and it has had to deal with the slow death of newspapers as a physical medium and the transferal of those companies and ideas to the digital space. Problems of our current era include fake news, which is easier than even the yellow journalism era because there are too many online sources to effectively vet and check all of them for disinformation. Other problems include greater difficulty in making money due to the free nature of websites, time in which to research and write quality articles, and the slow drop off of features they could easily include in paper newspapers.

https://www.mastersincommunications.org/modern-journalism