Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.
Robinson Gets Pulitzer; Award's "Yellow" History May Surprise You
Hugh Spain
Managing Editor
It was announced this week that Eugene Robinson has won the 2009
Pulitzer Prize for best in Commentary. The news is relevant to ArcaMax
because Robinson is featured in the From the Left section of Politics.
We congratulate him and are honored to run his columns.
Managing Editor
You can read Robinson's most recent column here and more of his columns are available in the From the Left section.
Of course, if you are Right in your political beliefs, this post may not bring about the warm and fuzzy. To get your fix, simply go visit the Right portion of Politics. We have some great commentary there too – including George Will and Kathleen Parker.
Eugene Robinson was honored for his coverage of "the 2008 presidential campaign that focus on the election of the first African-American president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture," according to the description of the award. Robinson writes for the Washington Post and also makes appearances on MSNBC.
The Pulitzer prize is the most prestigious award bestowed on a journalist. According my research buddy, Wikipedia.org, it comes with a $10,000 award (not much compared to the great publicity a Pulitzer brings).
But it's worth mentioning that the top prize for Public Service also includes a gold medal. I can't help but wonder if a winner of the Service award enters the cubed hallways of their newsrooms to standing applause and cheers (all in slow motion). And if they don The Gold for an extended period of time, wouldn't it be nice if the medal doubled as one of those ridiculously expensive medallions that deflect the harmful energy of computers. (It would be of great public service to me if a good journalist could let me know if those things are worth the money).
As I further researched exactly what the Pulitzer honors, I found some surprising background about how the award originated...mainly that:
This prestigious award finds its roots in "Yellow Journalism"!!!
With Wikipedia by my side, allow me to further explain. The news portion of the prize honors the best and boldest of journalism. Watergate for example took the top prize for the Washington Post in 1973. But surprisingly Joseph Pulitzer, (namesake of the award) was at least half responsible for the ugliest of industry terms, "Yellow Journalism."
Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst each owned New York newspapers that competed bitterly for circulation in the late 1800s. Sensational headlines, colorful writing, front-page nudity, etc., were all fair game in the efforts to make newspapers high-powered businesses. A cartoon with yellow demonic characters representing newspapers brought the term to life. Both Pulitzer and Hearst -- not shy in the least about the cartoon's criticism -- re-published the image in their publications.
But Pulitzer also became known as a champion of the people. He was a great believer in human-interest stories and investigative journalism. His publications used sensational tactics to attract attention to important stories. For example, "How Babies Are Baked" and "Burning Babies Fall From The Roof" headlined stories about horrible living conditions for immigrants and their children living in Manhattan during a heat wave in the summer of 1883.
Pulitzer's publications were also feared by governments, which had acquired an unwanted watchdog of the people. Many criticized his tactics to attract readership, but his newspapers made huge gains in circulation during his era. Pulitzer left $2 million to Columbia University when he died in 1911. The money was intended for a School of Journalism. The school was later established and the first Pulitzer prizes were given out in 1917.
Partly because my editing and writing began in journalism, I'll often defend news media, the animal itself, to those who trounce it. Some will go as far to act as if their lives would actually be much more enjoyable if the broad reaches of news never found their doorsteps, TVs or computers. In defense of news, I point to the Eugene Robinsons of the world -- and not the shallow Cable news shows caught up in ratings' battles (today's version of Pulitzer versus Hearst, but where is the Pulitzer-like substance and let me know what time it comes on).
To media detractors, I pose a question I now know is more than a hundred years old -- is sensationalized "yellow" news part of survival in the news world? Feel free to weigh in on this or anything else related (like whether or not those expensive energy medallions really work) by posting a comment.
This news arrived on: 04/22/2009
Printer Friendly Version | Send this page to a friend | Post Comment
Rate This Story:
Great - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Bad
Posted Comments:
02-06-2010 22:29
wrote:
online stock trading rorsGodaKnoma Imparmpreatte
Hey, great blog...but I don’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me, please :)
12-12-2009 10:45
wrote:
Love you work
Hey are you a professional journalist? This article is very well written, as compared to most other blogs i saw today….
anyhow thanks for the good read!
anyhow thanks for the good read!
Comment archive | Comment FAQ's
 |
 |
View Features Blog ezine stories by date or visit the complete archive |
The ArcaMax Politics channel is one of 70 content categories offered by ArcaMax Publishing on this ... |
FIND JOBS
