“Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy!” The life of Joseph Pulitzer
One
of the most famous awards, given annually, is the Pulitzer Prize. The award is
a sign of prestige in the writing world, but who exactly is the man behind the
name dedicated to the award?
Joseph Pulitzer was born in Hungary
in 1847. When his mother remarried, Pulitzer was quite unhappy with his new
stepfather. The remarriage prompted Pulitzer to begin his journey to the free
world.
“Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy!” To
his critics, Pulitzer’s papers were nothing but “yellow journalism,” or
sensationalism, but Pulitzer’s newspapers were much more than the sensational
topics to which they covered. Before Pulitzer, many mainstream New York newspapers
were geared only toward the rich and educated readers. Pulitzer took the newspaper
to the bigger market, the common man. Pulitzer took previously failing papers
like the St Louis Post, Dispatch, and the New York World, and turned them into top selling papers.
Pulitzer’s most successful paper was
the World, which concentrated on
delivering the truth at all cost. Pulitzer was known for pushing his reporters
to “launch crusades, start a fight, or dig up exclusives.” Pulitzer was known
for introducing new “journalistic techniques, including, banner headings,
editorial cartoons, sports, and women’s news.”
In 1896 William Randolph Hearst
became Pulitzer’s first real competitor. Although Hearst was not original, he
had the resources to copy Pulitzer’s techniques and buy out Pulitzer’s writers.
The rivalry came to a head during the Spanish war, when Hearst and Pulitzer’s
papers were blamed for the United States invention in the Spanish War. Pulitzer
later regretted his action.
In his final years, Pulitzer offered
money to Columbia University to establish the nation’s first school of
journalism in an effort to increase the level of professionalism among future
journalists. In his will, Pulitzer established the Pulitzer Prize, recognizing
excellence in the fields of reporting, literature, drama, and history.
Sources:
American
Journalist: Getting the Story. Donald A. Ritchie
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