Final exam. Penny Press Day. Communications & Media Reaction Paper

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Reaction Paper
Penny Press Day
Among the various significant advancements in the history of the media, the penny press was very influential. Acting as remediation to the unaffordable newspapers in the United States, the penny press brought radical change by introducing cheap newspapers. This enabled more people to read newspapers which resulted in a shift in content from political content and foreign news to humor, crime, sports, and other entertaining content.
Similarly, the media today continue to publish content that is appealing to a large group of individuals to cater for their wide variety of readers. A significant influence of the penny press that is still prevalent in the current media is the mass production of newspapers. Since the move from hand-cranked presses to factory production, newspaper making has been coming up with new ways to print newspapers in large quantities. Aside from production and content, the effect of the penny press is prevalent in the current developments in journalism. Benjamin’s idea resulted in constant technological development to find cheaper means of producing newspapers. As a result, the journalism industry became more competitive, with newspapers constantly searching for appealing content for readers.
The affordable newspapers brought about by the penny press resulted in changes in the content published. Newspapers shifted their focus to more interesting news rather than issues of politics and money. This was purposefully aimed at attracting more readers. Although current media corporations continue to follow the same trend of publishing to attract the masses, the heightened competition has resulted in poor quality of news provided. With more people being able to afford newspapers, media houses are constantly trying to appeal to maintain their share of readers by publishing interesting news, irrespective of its reliability.
Moreover, since the penny press was influenced by society, the influence is also prevalent in today’s media. The content published in newspapers today ha changed with the trend, meaning that newspapers will publish the information that is likely to be read and eliminate the information which is less likely to appeal to the target consumers. However, this selection of information by the media houses is uncouth.
The penny press has been of great benefit to society. The reduction in newspaper prices enabled more people to afford them, which in turn increased the level of literacy in society. Consequently, as more people became literate, the rise in power of the working class brought public education in American society. Through these cheap newspapers, more people became aware of the political activities and other important happenings in the society. Eventually, the newspapers facilitated a shift in society to a more democratic and egalitarian ethos, which gave the masses more than the rich elites.
Although the penny press led to the publication of cheap newspapers, this monetary focus has also been detrimental to society, especially because of the increased competition that has led to the publishing of fake news. As more newspaper companies sprung up after the penny press, competition for news...