The American Newspaper


The American Newspaper is a critical study of journalism conducted by Will Irwin from 1909 to 1910 spanning fifteen articles that discuss the origins, purposes, and principles that journalists should aspire to. The article series appeared in Collier's in serialized form in 1911.

  1. “The Power of the Press”
  2. The Dim Beginnings
  3. The Fourth Current
  4. The Spread and Decline of Yellow Journalism
  5. What Is News?
  6. The Editor and the News
  7. The Reporter and the News
  8. "All the News That’s Fit to Print"
  9. The Advertising Influence
  10. The Unhealthy Alliance
  11. “Our Kind of People"
  12. The Foe from Within
  13. The New Era
  14. The Press of Two Cities
  15. The Voice of a Generation
In his analysis, Irwin raised awareness among the public as to the corruption and moral decay of newspapers of the era. He covered both negative and positive aspects of newspaper coverage, and even attempted to define what is "news", a topic that is still debatable to this day among journalists in the field. He remarked the role of newspapers, saying that "The newspaper which has absorbed and made systematic many things that went by rule of thumb in cruder stages of society, has generally taken over this legislative power of public opinion, this executive power of gossip."
Irwin's study is still referenced today for students of journalism.