The American Newsroom

A History, 1920-1960

Will Mari

Published: August 2021

ISBN: 9780826274595

Journalism in Perspective

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About This Book: The story of the American newsroom is that of modern American journalism. In this holistic history, Will Mari tells that story from the 1920s through the 1960s, a time of great change and controversy in the field, one in which journalism was produced in “news factories” by news workers with dozens of different roles, and not just once a day, but hourly, using the latest technology and setting the stage for the emergence later in the century of the information economy. During this time, the newsroom was more than a physical place—it symbolically represented all that was good and bad in journalism, from the shift from blue- to white-collar work to the flexing of journalism’s power as a watchdog on government and an advocate for social reform. Told from an empathetic, omnivorous, ground-up point of view, The American Newsroom: A History, 1920–1960 uses memoirs, trade journals, textbooks, and archival material to show how the newsroom expanded our ideas of what journalism could and should be.
Authors and Editors: Will Mari is Assistant Professor of Media Law & History at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University, and author of A Short History of Disruptive Journalism Technologies: 1960–1990. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Praise For This Book: “A rich and provocative exploration.”—John Nerone, University of Illinois, author of Violence against the Press: Policing the Public Sphere in U.S. History

“The breadth and depth of The American Newsroom reveals a world of hierarchies and rivalries that effectively illuminates our understanding of what many view as the 'golden age' of print journalism. The emphasis on the emergence and consolidation of occupational identities gives this book an appeal considerably beyond the academic world. Mari makes a strikingly original contribution to newsroom history and pushes forwards the boundaries of the discipline.”—Carole O’Reilly, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Salford, UK

“Will Mari offers a fascinating reappraisal of the newsroom, that long-mythologized space where journalism is made. He shows how the newsroom, far more than merely a place for news production, is also a concept, an idea, and a set of relationships, one that helped shape American journalism in the twentieth century and will have an enduring imprint on the future of news.”—Seth C. Lewis, University of Oregon, co-author of the forthcoming News After Trump

“One year into a pandemic that has sent the world ducking for cover into virtual work, virtual schooling, virtual everything, The American Newsroom is a particularly poignant reminder of the crucial role that physical and relational places have played in shaping how journalism is learned and practiced. This narrative of developing routines in the ‘industrial newsroom’ of mid-20th century newspapers is punctuated with revealing anecdotes of the characters that inhabited it—from copy boys to the rewrite desk to reporters and editors making their way through the ranks. A thoroughly documented history of shifting power dynamics, particularly focusing on gender, race, and the role of unions, it brings to life the evolution of a profession finding its identity through its workplace and the relationships forged and performed in it.”—Giovanna Dell’Orto, University of Minnesota, author of American Journalism and International Relations: Foreign Correspondence from the Early Republic to the Digital Era

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