From Nellie Bly to William Randolph Hearst to Benjamin Franklin, millions of people around the world have shaped the future through their journalism. Wether or not some may realize, journalism is the fabric of the world.
In the United States, journalists play a crucial role in ensuring truth, transparency, and trust. Many of the first journalists in the United States struggled to gain notoriety, access to information, and be unbiased. However, their perseverance allows modern journalists to continue their vital work.
Benjamin Franklin, although known by most for his kite experiment, was a pioneer in journalism. As Riley Manion said on his blog, "Franklin was a printer. Franklin was a writer. Franklin was a journalist."
With Franklin's brother being a well known printer, Franklin was introduced to journalism at a young age. Although his brother would not let Franklin publish his work, he would slide his stories under the door each night under the byline 'Silent Dogood', until he eventually admitted it was him.
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| Willian Randolph Hearst, Nellie Bly, and Benjamin Franklin all helped to shape the future of journalism. |
As Gabrielle Barone presented, Nellie Bly was "more than just an amusement park". Bly, a writer on women's issues, got her start after writing a rebuttal to a piece published by The Pittsburgh Dispatch which showed women in a bad light.
Bly tackled issues such as mental health that no other journalists talked about, leading to a new realm of journalism, one which journalists could write about whatever their passion was.
Ally Ortolani talked about William Randolph Hearst, a printing mogul in his time. The owner of Hearst Communications, Hearst held power like nobody else over both thew communications and journalism industries.
Wether it be the New York Journal or one of the almost 30 newspapers Hearst owned across the country, Hearst was committed to publishing top notch stories for Americans to read.
Many wonder: why do these people matter? What effect do they have now? Without these people, journalism as we know it would quite simply not exist.
Mass produced newspapers as we know them would be much different without the past. Investigative journalism and exposés would be drastically different if present at all.
It is key for student journalists to know their past, for the history of journalism is is the foundation of their jobs and lives.
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