Journalism In The 1890s

A man steps out onto the crowded down trodden streets of New York on his way to work at the factory. He cuts through the hustle and bustle of Monday morning crowds as he piles on the bus and begins to skim the newspaper. The cover story is yet another political soiree, which is all the media ever seemed to cover. Pertinent issues such as blue-collar salaries and the lack of much needed labor unions were kept in the shadows of the high-class society. As a result the search was on for writing that deterred from the filtered and artificial stories being printed in the newspapers. This would have been a typical scenario in the 1890s. During this decade a change would occur, the effects of which can be seen in America to this day. Journalism
history. The unprecedented power of the press and publicity was demonstrated through the uprising of newspapers. The influence of the media is well known in today’s day and age, but in the 1890s this concept was new. The fourth estate’s grip on society stems from the newspaper’s substantial demonstration of dominion. The newspaper domain was man made and it took great entrepreneurship to create its evident success. William Hearst is one of the people behind this formidable industry. He arrived in New York with the intent to revolutionize journalism (Rosenthal 1). Hearst was an instigator of yellow journalism; this type of reporting focused on embellished details and over exaggerations (“Milestones” 1). The perspective of yellow journalism was grandiose and was impactful with its far out claims which would have forced readers to seek out insights to gain their own sense of
Aesthetic writing deliberately veered traditional Victorian writing in a way never seen before. Works highlighted sensuality, which was seen as highly distasteful. However what would truly appall the Victorians was the encouragement of sexual, artistic, and political experimenting. This juxtaposed much of what the Victorians stood for in that they believed literature held a virtuous role in society. According to them, writing should encourage moral and reward good behavior or provoke deep and meaningful emotion. Aestheticism stepped out on the edge showing no relation to ethics in the least. This was significant as completely stepping away from the Victorians to present new independent, and over all liberating concepts. Aestheticism argued art for visual and superficial enjoyment not to seek moral. In fact, the main focus of Aesthetic work was to refine taste and strive for aesthetic appeal. This was their focus to go against the Victorians and showcase non-classical ideals (Burdett 1). The writing was euphonic with a plethora of figurative language and presented risqué themes such as desirability, savagery, inhumanity, and savagery. (Burdett 2). Because of this unorthodox style, Aestheticism was mocked by society. Society ridiculed it because they were so focused on appearing prim, proper, and perfect, bold or genuine (Burdett 1). People of the Aesthetic movement held a