Scripps Newspapers Go to War, 1914-18

Dale E. Zacher is an assistant professor in the School of Mass Communication at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.

• Acknowledgments   ixIntroduction   11. The concern: June 27, 1914   132. Seeds Get Planted: June 1914 to May 1915   323. Harsh Realities: May to November   1915   584. "Genuine Enthusiastic Support": November 1915 to November 1916   815. Democracy versus Autocracy: December 1916 to July 1917   1066. "To Advocate a Policy and to Yourself Meet Its Requirements": July to December 1917   1377. Reconsidering an "Ostrich Type of Patriotism": 1918   172Conclusion: "Harder . . . to Be of Public Service"   211Notes   225Bibliography   279Index   281

"There are few more combistible combinations than a father, a son, and a newspaper chain. . . . The story is told effectively ... and is an excellent addition to the flourishing Illinois 'History of Communication' series."--Columbia Journalism Review "Straightforward, rich in detail, and free of scholarly abstruseness and jargon. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice “Zacher has dug deep into the Scripps archives to tell [a story] about the tensions surrounding the coverage of war-or of any national crisis-and how they can affect the ideals to which journalists cling.”--Journalism History “This study is valuable not only for expanding what we know of the Scripps empire, but also for what is perhaps the first case study of how a large news media organization adapted to the challenges of World War I.”--American Journalism “Provides new insights into the chain’s decision making in wartime.”--Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly "Zacher's account ... is detailed and often absorbing. Based on scrupulous research in the Scripps organization's archives, he leaves few stones unturned."--American Historical Review "The Scripps Newspapers Go to War is a fascinating, well-written, and well-documented chronicle of a company going through great change. Zacher captures the Scripps concern during a period of real challenges--dealing with Woodrow Wilson; going through the beginning of World War I; experiencing generational changes in ownership and management; and undergoing transitions within the company as it grows in power, prestige, and wealth."--Gerald Baldasty, author of E. W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers "Anyone interested in the role of an important communications organization in helping impel the nation toward war should find The Scripps Newspapers Go to War fascinating, and somewhat frightening, reading. The importance of the nation's first national news organization--composed of twenty-one newspapers, the Newspaper Enterprise Association, and the second largest wire service--has not received the attention it deserves until now."--Dwight I. Teeter Jr., coauthor of Fanatics and Fire-Eaters: Newspapers and the Coming of the Civil War