Lawrence A. Gobright

Lawrence A. Gobright was a trusted journalist in a rapidly evolving time in media history. Gobright was born on May 2, 1816 in Baltimore, Maryland. During his lengthy career, Gobright was a AP Washington correspondent, reporter for the Washington Globe, and a trusted source for Abraham Lincoln. Gobright’s reporting career began during the Civil War, when news was still communicated by boats and wagons, taking days to report. As a reporter for the Washington Globe, Gobright covered the debates in the House of Representatives. Gobright briefly tried to start his own pro-Democratic newspaper in Batavia, Ohio. After the loss of democratic presidential candidate Martin Van Buren forced Gobright’s democratic Ohio based newspaper to fold, he returned to Washington as a correspondent in Baltimore and other surrounding cities. Because of the lack of reporting during Congressional recess, Gobright was the sole reporter sending news out of Washington for a six-week period during the summer. After the birth of the telegraph changed the way news was reported, Gobright was invited to be the newly formed New York Associated Press’ Washington correspondent. In his new job, Gobright covered the House of Representatives and other executive branch departments and sent his news out in telegraphic messages around the country. Gobright made a name for himself as an un-biased and objective reporter, communicating the news without a clear stance. While his fellow Democrats were furious at him for releasing news that occasionally embarrassed their party, Gobright was frequently praised for his neutrality. His strictly factual reporting of the news made him popular with politicians of all parties, President Abraham Lincoln in particular. Gobright was the trusted reporter utilized by the Lincoln administration to communicate news to the American people. Occasionally, Gobright even listened to the news with Lincoln, an intimate and at times tense event. Gobright’s good reputation with the government gave him the upper hand when reporting wartime news. His reports got through the government censors much easier than any other reporters, although Gobright accredits this to his factual, later to be known as objective, reporting style. His good work ethic is responsible for possibly the biggest scoop of his career, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Staying late at the office, Gobright was the only one left when news of the shooting came and was the first one to send the message out and changed the world forever in one telegraph all due to his diligent work ethic.