Journalism in Perspective

The Pulpit versus the Press, 1833-1923

Ronald R. Rodgers

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780826274076
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

In this study, Ronald R. Rodgers examines several narratives involving religion's historical influence on the news ethic of journalism: its decades-long opposition to the Sunday newspaper as a vehicle of modernity that challenged the tradition of the Sabbath; the parallel attempt to create an advertising-driven Christian daily newspaper; and the ways in which religion—especially the powerful Social Gospel movement—pressured the press to become a moral agent. The digital disruption of the news media today has provoked a similar search for a news ethic that reflects a new era—for instance, in the debate about jettisoning the substrate of contemporary mainstream journalism, objectivity. But, Rodgers argues, before we begin to transform journalism's present news ethic, we need to understand its foundation and formation in the past.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. The Tangled Web of the Press and the Pulpit
• Chapter 1. Six Apostles of the Reformation of Newspapers
• Chapter 2. The Sunday Newspaper and the Modern World
• Chapter 3. The Press, the Pulpit, and Public Opinion
• Chapter 4. The Call Goes Out for a Christian Daily Newspaper
• Chapter 5. The Sheldon Edition and Journalism’s Responsibility to Society
• Chapter 6. The Social Gospel and the Mission of Newspapers in the Modern World
• Conclusion. The Meanings of Mission
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index