Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals who Invented the American Newspaper, by Alex Wright
The Internet and Gutenberg’s printing press come to mind when thinking about media revolutions. Less discussed is the Linotype, a typesetting machine, introduced in the 1880s, that slashed costs and sped the production of newspapers, boosting the rise of mass-circulation print media.
In Empire of Ink, the New York Times’ Alex Wright traces the importance of American newspapers from the Revolution (Benjamin Franklin was a journalist-editor, among his many talents) through the media barons of the early 20th century and into the existential crisis of today. He echoes historians (and Alexis de Tocqueville) who held that in a new-born nation, “newspapers played a uniquely formative role in shaping the national character.” The 19th century technology of telegraphs, rotary presses and pulp paper allowed print media to permeate the nation.
Wright is unwilling to compose a paean to the past glories of the papers and bemoans what he calls the standardization that took hold as newspaper chains came to dominate the industry. He sees some value in the upheaval caused by the Internet—“blurring the lines between creator and consumer”—while aware of the risks. “Without a question, much has already been lost,” and it’s unlikely that old models can be restored. Wright hopes that AI will “reduce the cost of creating routine coverage … while freeing up human journalists to focus on accountability reporting, contextualization, and editorial judgment.”
We’ll see.
Get Empire of Ink on Amazon here.
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