The penny press, which emerged in the United Sates during the 1830’s, was a powerful agent of mass communication. These newspapers were little dailies, generally four pages in length, written for the mass taste. They differed from the staid, formal presentation of the conservative press, with its emphasis on political and literary topics. The new papers were brief and cheap, emphasizing sensational reports of police courts and juicy scandals as well as human interest stories. Twentieth – century journalism was already foreshadowed in the penny press of the 1830’s.
The New York Sun, founded in 1833, was the first successful penny paper, and it was followed two years later by the New York Herald, published by James Gordon Bennett. Not long after, Horace Greeley issued the New York Tribune, which was destined to become the most influential paper in America. Greeley gave space to the issues that deeply touched the American people before the Civil War – abolitionism, temperance, free homesteads, Utopian cooperative settlements, and the problems of labor. The weekly edition of the Tribune, with 100,000 subscribers, had a remarkable influence in rural areas, especially in Western communities.
Americans were reputed to be the most avid readers of periodicals in the world. An English observer enviously calculated that, in 1829, the number of newspapers circulated in Great Britain was enough to reach only one out of every thirty – six inhabitants weekly; Pennsylvania in that same year had a newspaper circulation which reaches one out of every four inhabitants weekly. Statistics seemed to justify the common belief that Americans were devoted to periodicals. Newspapers in the United States increased from 1,200 in 1833 to 3000 by the early 1860’s, on the eve of the Civil War. This far exceeded the number and circulation of newspapers in England and France.
What is the author’s main point in the first paragraph?
Đáp án đúng: A
What does the author mean by the statement in the first paragraph that twentieth- century journalism was foreshadowed by the penny press?
Đáp án đúng: B
Which of the following would LEAST likely be in a penny-press paper?
Đáp án đúng: D
Who was Horace Greeley (paragraph 2)?
Đáp án đúng: A
The word “remarkable” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ……..
Đáp án đúng: C
The word “avid” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to………
Đáp án đúng: D
The figures concerning newspaper circulation in Pennsylvania in 1829 are relevant because they ……
Đáp án đúng: B
The word “justify” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to …….
Đáp án đúng: A
The third paragraph is developed primarily by means of……
Đáp án đúng: B
IT can be inferred that penny-press newspapers were all of the following EXCEPT…..
Đáp án đúng: D