The Idealist Of The Penny Press Period: The Study On Horace Greeley’ S News Ideas

In 1830s-1840 s, the partisan press declined gradually and the penny press which was sold at a low price began to rise. The emergence of the penny press meant the journalism started the way to the independence and popularity. In the early days, large number of penny press are criticized immoral because they published sensational articles and vulgar advertising. However,Horace Greeley, who is the editor of The New York Tribune, have been widely praised. The Tribune as a penny press was compared to “The great moral authority press” by historians.Besides that, the historian praised Greeley as the greatest editor at that time. Michael Emery and Edwin Emery gave a very good appraisal to Horace Greeley in their book named “The Press and The America”. They said that Greeley established a profitable press that led the penny press from the level of sensationalism to the level of promoting social intelligence. Some historians toward the establishment of The Tribune as the symbol of the popular press developed to maturity.This article study on the Horace Greeley’s news ideas. The main contents of the article includes the four aspects contents,which could be listed as follows:Firstly, make a description of the whole process of the life and the career of Horace Greeley.Secondly, summarize the content and the development of Horace Greeley’s news ideas through the crucial events in his news career. Thirdly, describe the formation of Horace Greeley’s news ideas through analyzing the factors associated with political environment, cultural environment, the change of the newspaper market, the life experiences and the virtue of Greeley. Fourthly, analysis of the status of Horace Greeley’s news ideas and the influence to the history of American journalism.