Magazines, Muckraking and Public Relations

1. Magazines, Muckraking and Public Relations • 1900-1917 • (subject to some revisions)

2. Today’s Story • Cheap magazines in the progressive era allowed writers of exposure to place the wrongs of the nation in front of the American people.

3. First: Magazines & Muckraking

4. Part 2: Public Relations

5. Magazines, Muckraking and Public RelationsLearning Objectives • Explain why muckraking began when it did. • Explain uniqueness of muckrakers. • Explain contributions of muckrakers to American society. • Understand the role muckraking played in the development of public relations. • Understand the contributions of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays to the development of public relations as a profession.

6. The Progressive Era Introduction to the the Progressive Era

7. Muckraking Period • Progressive era of American history • Inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 until the United States entered World War I in 1917

8. 1900-1917 • Millions of immigrants were living in ghettoes and tenements

9. 1900-1917 • Business tycoons direct industry • One-tenth of the population owned nine-tenths of the wealth • Trust and monopolies dominated business

10. 1900-1917 • Organized wealth dominated politics • Political corruption between big business and political bosses flourished

11. Samuel McClure • Capitalists, workers, politicians, citizens--all breaking the law, or letting it be broken. Who is left to uphold it?…There is no one left--none but all of us.”

12. Progressive Era • Concerns with problems of urban America • Curbing excesses of big government through regulation • Reducing political influence of special interests • Fighting racial discrimination

13. Muckraking Defined • Period, “The Muckraking Period,” named by T.R. • Brand of journalism practiced by the reporter-reformer • Aim was to expose not solve problems of urban America

14. Rise of Muckraking • Parallels rise of nationally inexpensive magazines • Mechanical costs drop • Photoengraving develops • Readership increases

15. Uniqueness of the Era • Writers hammered away at all ills of society • Writing was • Factual • Aimed at the social conscience of the nation • To expose not solve problems of urban America

16. Muckraking Magazines

17. The Muckrakers • Ida Tarbell • Lincoln Steffens • David Graham Phillips • Upton Sinclair

18. Ida Tarbell: Works • “The Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte” • “Early Life of Lincoln” • “The History of Standard Oil Company”

19. “The History of Standard Oil” • Her series of four years capitalized on two interests of Americans: • The infatuation with the rags-to-riches stories of millionaires • The growing increase over the increasing power of trusts and combinations in big business

20. “The History of Standard Oil” • Exposed the illegal or at least underhanded practices that Standard Oil used to drive competitors out of business • Found that Standard Oil’s PR agency had contracted with 110 Ohio newspapers to run editorials and “news” favorable to the company

21. Ida Tarbell: Impacts • Prompted investigations of Standard Oil • Lead to the 1911 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dissolved the giant corporation into smaller companies • Rockefeller responded by hiring PR counsels

22. Lincoln Steffens • Epitomized the reporter-reformer

23. Lincoln Steffens • Wrote • “Tweed Days in St. Louis” • “The Shame of Minneapolis” • Works compiled in The Shame of the Cities

24. Lincoln Steffens • Examined the structure of city politics • Found corruption was political, financial, commercial, and social • Businessmen colluded with politicians to secure privileges from government

25. David Graham Phillips • Employed at Hearst’s Cosmopolitan • Wrote “Treason of the Senate”

26. David Graham Phillips • Nobody in the U.S. Senate had any other reason to be there than his skill in being a valet for some powerful interest • Result: the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

27. Upton Sinclair • Greatest novelist of our time? • Sharpest observer of our time? • Dullest, empty windbag of our time?

28. Upton Sinclair • A different kind of character • Most translated author in the world • Ignored by academics • Novelist turns politician

30. Upton Sinclair • Wrote The Jungle • Result: The Meat Inspection Act of 1906

36. Upton Sinclair’s Race for Governor of California The birth of modern political campaigns in the United States

37. Other Muckrakers and Legislative Reform

38. Ray Stanndard Baker • Wrote “Railroads on Trial” for McClure’s

39. Ray Stanndard Baker • Result: The Hepburn Act of 1906 • Authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to tighten railroad regulations • ICC could prescribe rates and schedule tariffs when required • Imposed severe penalties on railroad rebating and unjust discrimination against shippers

40. Edwin Markham • Wrote “The Hoe-Man in the Making”

41. Edwin Markham • Result: Child Labor Law of 1916 • Exclude from interstate transportation products of factories that employed children.

42. William Hard • Wrote “Making Steel and Killing Men” • Result: Workmen’s Compensation Law

43. Barton J. Hendrick • Wrote “Daughters of the Poor” for McClure’s • Result: Mann Act of 1909 • Prohibited the transportation of females across state lines for immoral purposes

44. Samuel Hopkins Adams • Wrote “The Great American Fraud” (patent medicines) for Collier’s • Result: Pure Food & Drug Act of 1907 • Penalized fraud and misstatements in labeling.

45. Decline of Muckraking • Attention turned to World War I • Wilson’s new freedom solved concerns • Advertisers withdrew support • Public grew tired • Muckrakers went too far • Magazines forced into bankruptcy • PR unsold everything

46. Digests and Newsmagazines

47. Reader’s Digest

49. New Yorker

50. Next Magazines, Muckraking and Public Relations Part 2