Joseph Pulitzer and the Prize That Shaped American Journalism

Introduction

Joseph Pulitzer is remembered variously as a pioneering voice in the newspaper industry and the field of journalism, and as a quasi-robber baron with more greed than conscience and a willingness to sell principles if it meant selling papers. Neither view can be considered wholly incorrect, though both are highly oversimplified — as are all such one-dimensional views of any individual, of especial historical significance or not. Pulitzer, like many men of great wealth and power, did both great and terrible things, and it is only fitting that he should be remembered for all of them. More than anything else, however, he deserves to be remembered for the way that he, and the prize bestowed by the School of Journalism that bears his name — considered by most to be the top honor awarded in the field — continues to shape journalism and journalists.

The Pulitzer Prize does not, of course, directly affect the way journalists do their jobs, but the principles inherent to the work that wins the award provide a clear set of standards and accomplishments to strive for in the industry. Under the guidance of Joseph Pulitzer and later of the Pulitzer Prize board that selects its recipients, journalism has been hugely reshaped from its initial forms in modern society, becoming a profession of increasingly rigorous and refined standards with a distinct sense of responsibility. This is something that, regardless of some of his past actions and politics that perhaps seem to suggest the contrary, Joseph Pulitzer would undoubtedly be proud to see.

To understand Joseph Pulitzer and his often complex relationship with newspapers and with journalism as a whole, it is necessary to understand both the details of his life and what journalism looked like before he came into the picture. Both of these aspects are explored in the following pages, as are the effects of Pulitzer's legacy through the School of Journalism's awarding of the Pulitzer Prize. Due to the combined effects of his own life as a newspaperman and his continued legacy through the Pulitzer Prize, Joseph Pulitzer could possibly be considered the single most influential man in the development of the newspaper and journalism industry. Whatever view is taken of the man as a whole, it must be acknowledged that through his influence on the media he has done an enormous amount to shape our world today.

Media and Newspapers Before Pulitzer

Modern celebrity tabloids — in print and on television — did not create the type of sensationalist news that they continue to profit from in a large way, just as political radio hosts and bloggers were not the first to develop rhetorical styles of extremism and invective. Both of these distinctions — as well as many others — belong to the newspapers of the nineteenth century and even earlier. Unimportant though they usually were to the general populace, duels were a major focus of newspapers for several centuries (Holland). Newspapermen could also become more intimately involved in such stories for printing things — whether true or not — perceived as insulting by men with pistols (Holland).

The sense of objective truth, then, was not really an essential or very secure aspect of the media of the time. Though these principles could never be wholly abandoned if a loyal readership was desired, it was more important for newspapers to be appealing. In the 1830s, the advent of the popular "penny papers" achieved just that. Benjamin H. Day's New York Sun was the first paper to successfully mix a low subscription cost with enough advertising to make the venture profitable, broadening the appeal of the paper considerably (Douglas 5–6). Up until this point, newspaper subscriptions had been prohibitively expensive, and so consisted of stiff and highbrow stories that appealed to the elite upper classes who could afford the product.

Day and his Sun changed this by making the paper somewhat larger as advertising allowed — or demanded, in that much of the additional space was also occupied by advertisements — and including a greater variety of news stories presented in a more engaging manner (Douglas 6). In some ways, this can be seen as the beginning of modern American journalism. The popularity that Day's innovations created also made newspapers more effective mouthpieces for politicians, and thus many newspapers and their editors became little more than clearly biased vehicles for political parties to get their message out, leading to harsh rivalries and competition among editors and journalists (Douglas).

The Civil War and the nationwide implementation of the telegraph, which came at roughly the same time in American history, also did a great deal to change the face of journalism in the country. People became more desperate for news, and the news itself grew more urgent and more readily available (Douglas 55–7). At the same time, the prominence of the war and the division of the nation increased the political importance of newspapers, and their editors and owners were far from oblivious to this fact. Regardless of which side of the Mason-Dixon line a newspaper was located, it could serve as a powerful proponent or critic of the Union's or the Confederacy's policies and practices (Douglas). This increasing clout, spurred on by technological innovations that allowed for speedier national and even international distribution of news, allowed newspapers to grow both politically and economically. This newfound stature did not diminish after the close of the war but has arguably continued to grow almost uninterrupted ever since.

After the close of the war, national news faded in importance somewhat for many newspaper ventures, and regional and rural papers began sprouting up to publish the details of life and events in their specific communities (Smythe). Key in this endeavor was the ability to make money, as newspapers were not cheap to produce or distribute. Much of the credit can be given to the changing roles of advertising agents, who previously made a great deal of money through relationships with advertisers and newspapers that were fraught with conflicts of interest (Smythe 53). When these costs were limited and standardized, newspapers found more advertisers and were able to grow in distribution as more costs were covered.

Joseph Pulitzer: A Brief Biography

All of this set the stage for several changes to newspaper journalism in the late nineteenth century, and Joseph Pulitzer was at the heart of many of these changes. Competition and political views became the most noticeable strains in journalistic endeavors, and both of these can actually be seen as having a united goal: the making of money. But before Pulitzer is judged on the merits of the changes he introduced to the practice and profession of journalism, it is necessary that a basic overview of his life be provided.

Joseph Pulitzer's childhood was rather unremarkable in and of itself. He grew up in a fairly typical Hungarian family — meaning that disposable income was not something easily come by — and wanted to be a soldier throughout his teenage years but was consistently turned away due to his physical weakness and poor eyesight. The latter would continue to plague him for the rest of his life, more severely in his later years (Seitz). At the age of eighteen, he joined a recruiter for the Union Army, sailing for the United States from Germany and jumping ship once it reached harbor so that he could collect his own enlistment bounty rather than having it go to the recruiter (Brian 5). With that, Pulitzer's ascension truly began.

After fighting in the Civil War for eight months, Pulitzer found that jobs were much harder to come by — and to keep — during peacetime. He remained in New York for a time, hoping to find employment, but was rebuffed at every turn. He was not one to forget a grudge: he was denied a shoeshine by a porter at a certain hotel during this period, and over two decades later he had the hotel demolished and built his towering newspaper offices on the same site (Brian 7). First, however, he had to make his fortune, and he did this in St. Louis, where his fluent German was far more useful and where he found enough employment to keep himself housed and fed. He studied English in his spare time, teaching himself the language from books in the library (Brian; Seitz). His dedication and intelligence allowed him to become not simply passable in English but to become a lawyer, a U.S. Congressman, one of the best journalists of his era, and an extraordinarily eloquent speaker and letter writer — not to mention one of the wealthiest men in the world, especially in the field of newspaper publishing (Brian; Seitz).

In 1878, not even fifteen years since his arrival in the country, Joseph Pulitzer bought his first newspaper — the St. Louis Dispatch. The paper was in disarray, but fate intervened in the form of the Evening Post and its owner, John Alvarez Dillon. The two papers were combined and began issuing a joint newspaper that very same day, with Pulitzer immediately taking over the editorial page (Brian 31–3; Seitz). Thus began Joseph Pulitzer's rise to wealth and fame, his full-scale entrance into politics as a voice of criticism and endorsement, and his emergence as a figure of supreme importance in the history of American journalism.

By the end of his life, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and his other major newspaper, the New York World, were both still going strong. Pulitzer did not avoid sensationalism in order to sell newspapers, but — except for one dark period that he later regretted — he insisted on a high degree of integrity and truth in his papers. This was certainly not a standard of the newspaper industry at the time he began his career (Seitz). When Pulitzer died in 1911 from an ongoing heart condition — one of the many ailments that plagued him in his later years — he left behind not only an enormous fortune, much of which went to public or semi-public use, but also a legacy of public stewardship and journalistic integrity that continues to be associated with his name today (Seitz).

Conclusion

Joseph Pulitzer was not exactly a man of consistency, except in his constant determination to succeed in both making a name and a fortune for himself. Though he was personally shy, he certainly enjoyed living large, and his insistence that the first building of the School of Journalism bear his name is certainly an indicator of this fact. But even more important than his personal beliefs and history is his continued legacy after his death. In creating the School of Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize, Joseph Pulitzer more than corrected any sense of lost integrity in his own life and in the field of journalism.