MAGAZINES, MUCKRAKING, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
•1900-1917
Magazines, Muckraking and Public Relations
•Explain why muckraking began when it did.
•Explain uniqueness of muckrakers.
•Explain contributions of muckrakers to American society.
•Understand the role muckraking played in the development of public relations.
•Understand the contributions of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays to the development of public relations as a profession.
1900-1917
•Business tycoons direct industry
•One-tenth of the population owned nine-tenths of the wealth
•Trust and monopolies dominated business
1900-1917
•Organized wealth dominated politics
•Political corruption between big business and political bosses flourished
Samuel McClure
•Capitalists, workers, politicians, citizens--all breaking the law, or letting it be broken. Who is left to uphold it?…There is no one left--none but all of us.”
1900-1917
•Millions of immigrants were living in ghettoes and tenements
Muckraking Period
•Progressive era of American history
•Inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 until the
United States entered World War I in 1917
Progressive Era
•Concerns with problems of urban America
–Curbing excesses of big government through regulation
–Reducing political influence of special interests
–Fighting racial discrimination
Muckraking Defined
•Period, “The Muckraking Period,” named by T.R.
•Brand of journalism practiced by the reporter-reformer
•Aim was to expose not solve problems of urban America
Rise of Muckraking
•Parallels rise of nationally inexpensive magazines
•Mechanical costs drop
•Photoengraving develops
•Readership increases
Uniqueness of the Era
•Writers hammered away at all ills of society
•Writing was
–Factual
–Aimed at the social conscience of the nation
–To expose not solve problems of urban America
Muckraking Magazines
The Muckrakers
•Ida Tarbell
•Lincoln Steffens
•David Graham Phillips
•Upton Sinclair
Ida Tarbell: Works
•“The Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte”
•“Early Life of Lincoln”
• “The History of Standard Oil Company”
“The History of Standard Oil”
•Her series of four years capitalized on two
interests of Americans: The infatuation with the rags-to-riches stories of millionaires
–The growing increase over the increasing power of trusts and combinations in big business
“The History of Standard Oil”
•Exposed the illegal or at least underhanded practices that Standard Oil used to drive competitors out of business
•Found that Standard Oil’s PR agency had contracted with 110 Ohio newspapers
to run editorials and “news” favorable to the company
Ida Tarbell: Impacts
•Prompted investigations of Standard Oil
•Lead to the 1911 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dissolved the giant corporation into smaller companies
•Rockefeller responded by hiring PR counsels
Lincoln Steffens
•Epitomized the reporter-reformer
Lincoln Steffens
•Wrote
–“Tweed Days in St. Louis”
–“The Shame of Minneapolis”
•Works compiled in The Shame of the Cities
Lincoln Steffens
•Examined the structure of city politics
•Found corruption was political, financial, commercial, and social
•Businessmen colluded with politicians to secure privileges from government
David Graham Phillips
•Employed at Hearst’s Cosmopolitan
•Wrote “Treason of the Senate”
David Graham Phillips
•Nobody in the U.S. Senate had any other reason to be there than his skill in being a valet for some powerful interest
•Result: the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Upton Sinclair
•Greatest novelist of our time?
•Sharpest observer of our time?
•Dullest, empty windbag of our time?
Upton Sinclair
•A different kind of character
•Most translated author in the world
•Ignored by academics
•Novelist turns politician
Upton Sinclair
•Wrote The Jungle
•Result: The Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Other Muckrakers and Legislative Reform
Ray Stanndard Baker
•Wrote “Railroads on Trial” for McClure’s
Ray Stanndard Baker
•Result: The Hepburn Act of 1906
–Authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to tighten railroad regulations
–ICC could prescribe rates and schedule tariffs when required
–Imposed severe penalties on railroad rebating and unjust discrimination against shippers
Edwin Markham
•Wrote “The Hoe-Man in the Making”
Edwin Markham
•Result: Child Labor Law of 1916
–Exclude from interstate transportation products of factories that employed children.
William Hard
•Wrote “Making Steel and Killing Men”
•Result: Workmen’s Compensation Law
Barton J. Hendrick
•Wrote “Daughters of the Poor” for McClure’s
•Result: Mann Act of 1909
–Prohibited the transportation of females across state lines for immoral purposes
Samuel Hopkins Adams
•Wrote “The Great American Fraud” (patent medicines) for Collier’s
•Result: Pure Food & Drug Act of 1907
–Penalized fraud and misstatements in labeling.
Decline of Muckraking
•Attention turned to World War I
•Wilson’s new freedom solved concerns
•Advertisers withdrew support
•Public grew tired
•Muckrakers went too far
•Magazines forced into bankruptcy
•PR unsold everything
Digests and Newsmagazines
Public Relations
Ivy Lee
•The First Imagemaker
Ivy Lee’s Philosophy
•Argued that informing the press and public, rather than operating in secret would earn greater public favor, even if the news was not positive
•Issued a “Declaration of Principles”
Ivy Lee’s Declaration of Principles
•All work will be done in the open
•All work will be accurate
•Assistance to editors who need clarification of details
Ivy Lee at Work
•Ludlow Strike and Massacre of 1914
–Turned around image of John D. Rockefeller
–First to sell one side to the public
Edward Bernays
Edward Bernay’s Philosophy
•Engineering of consent based on the principles put forth by Thomas Jefferson that in a democracy everything depends on the consent of the public’s attitude
•PR was “conscious shaping of the public’s attitude”
•People want to go where they are led
Edward Bernay’s Contributions
•First to use the term PR counselor
•Advocated licenses for PR counselors
•First to apply academics to mold opinion
Edward Bernays at Work
•Committee on Public Information (WWI)
•First time U.S. went in business of opinion making
•Effect brought about Wilson as a “godhead figure”
•GOP called PR a partisan propaganda tool of Democrats
Edward Bernays at Work
•American Tobacco Company
•Hills concerned because women wouldn’t smoke in public
•Cigarettes were “torches of freedom”
•East Parade
Edward Bernays at Work
•Light’s Golden Jubilee of 1929
•Celebration of the 50th anniversary of Edison’s incandescent lamp
•PR comes of age
Conclusion
•Muckrakers created a sense of crisis about problems affecting America.
•Muckrakers helped build a political constituency in favor of federal regulation.
•Muckrakers contributed to the growth of public relations.