The Times Newspaper:
Changes and Consistencies during the 19th Century
Introduction
It is widely acknowledged that by the middle of the 19th century, The Times newspaper played a leading role in the history of British newspapers. It was the most prominent and successful newspaper during this time because it was considered to be the paradigm of a fourth estate newspaper, speaking for the industrial and mercantile classes. The newspaper also claimed to be independent and representative of the enlightened and educated middle classes. However, towards the end of the 19th century, The Times struggled to maintain its supremacy, in an unprecedented shift in societal and economic conditions. This essay will analyse several issues of The Times newspaper from 1855 and 1899, in order to identify the changes and continuities that existed during this historically significant era of newspapers in Britain. With a focus on textual properties and the internal features of the newspaper, this essay will begin its journey with an explanation of the methodologies used to identify any differences. Briefly tracing the background history of The Times back to the 19th century, the essay will then go on to analyse the newspaper editions selected for this analysis. By comparing and contrasting issues from 1855 and 1899, this essay will seek to explain the changes and consistencies in terms of the historically significant events that surrounded the newspaper between 1855 and the turn of the century.
Methodology
The analysis of newspapers using diverse methods of investigations is a long established practice in the study of humanities (McQuail 1977). It is widely used in mass media research because it is an efficient and effective technique of analysing the content of media messages (Wimmer and Dominick 1983). Over a period of four decades, four newspaper editions from both 1855 and 1899 were analysed for changes and consistencies. Editions chosen for analysis included: 1st and 15th January 1855, 5th and 19th February 1855, 1st and 13th November and 1st and 25th December. This analysis studied both textual properties and the internal features of the newspaper, attempting to identify possible variances. The study involved analysing typography, the front page, illustrations, advertising, style, news content and international news flow, exposing any changes and consistencies over time.
Background
Most historical accounts of the press in Britain understandably focused upon The Times newspaper in its analysis because it is considered the most powerful newspaper in the mid nineteenth century (Cranfield 1978). The rise of the Times in the nineteenth century symbolised the "growing independence of the press from government party control" (Cranfield 1978), with its increasing reliance on advertising revenue. The Times set out to give its readers a constant stream of information and free comment necessary for the public to form opinions about political matters (Boyce et al 1978). The abolition of the Stamp Tax in 1855 had a long-term effect upon The Times and was seen as the catalyst for the divide between The Times and the cheaper 'penny press' that emerged thereafter in terms of market supremacy (Boyce et al 1978). When the tax on newspapers was lifted in 1855, the market expanded exponentially, leading to what was an industrial revolution of the press (Boyce et al 1978). With increased competition, The Times suffered. It suffered because the new 'popular press' offered readers less political commentary and more entertainment, which the emerging mass market demanded. The Times could not compete with the new popular press, and by 1908, was facing financial ruin (Evans 1983).
Analysis
Typography
Compared to the newspaper of 1855, The Times in 1899 looked very different. The most conspicuous feature of the paper that changed during the latter half of the century was the typography, ultimately aimed at making the newspaper more readable and attractive (Lee 1976). In the late 19th century, with the introduction of Crossheads, shorter paragraphs, larger and more informative headlines, and increasing use of illustration, The Times attempted to move away from the monotony of its mid 19th century format (Lee 1976). In 1855, all pages of the newspapers selected for analysis looked ...
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Analysis
Typography
Compared to the newspaper of 1855, The Times in 1899 looked very different. The most conspicuous feature of the paper that changed during the latter half of the century was the typography, ultimately aimed at making the newspaper more readable and attractive (Lee 1976). In the late 19th century, with the introduction of Crossheads, shorter paragraphs, larger and more informative headlines, and increasing use of illustration, The Times attempted to move away from the monotony of its mid 19th century format (Lee 1976). In 1855, all pages of the newspapers selected for analysis looked identical. In contrast, the newspapers from 1899 regularly attempted to vary the appearance of its pages.
Front Page
The front page of The Times changed its format significantly in the late 19th century, compared to earlier editions. It is interesting to note that in both the 1855 and 1899 newspapers, the format of the front page was unlike any modern newspaper that is known today. News articles were firmly relegated to the middle and rear of the paper, whereas advertising took centre stage. Public and personal notices nestled side by side with commercial advertisements, their appearance likened to the classified advertisements of today. The text and fonts were for the most part monotonous, formal and plain in the 1855 newspapers surveyed. In 1899, typographical improvements such as more attractive headlines, gave the newspaper a new edge. But the newspaper did not go far enough. The overall appearance of the front page remained somewhat conservative, to its detriment. Another interesting observation on the newspapers in 1899, was the introduction of subject headings and more structure within its pages. In contrast, the 1855 newspapers displayed a jumble of advertisements, without any distinctions between them. The 1899 newspapers even offered a contents page, which was in an effort to give the paper more structure and readability. In response to the increasing focus on entertainment in the new 'popular press', The Times did decided to alter its front page in the 1899 newspapers in this study. Entertainments, art exhibitions and pleasure tours featured prominently on the front page in 1899, whereas four decades earlier, only advertisements graced the front page. This illustrates the changing demands of the emerging mass readership during the 19th century.
Illustrations
By the end of the 19th century, The Times regularly printed illustrations in its newspaper. However in 1855, the newspapers analysed for this study found no illustrations within their pages at all. As The Times faced increasing competition after the middle of the century, it is of no surprise that they felt compelled to start printing illustrations. The use of illustrations made the newspapers of the 19th century more interesting to its readers (Boyce et al 1978) and The Times was beginning to feel the pressure of a declining readership. Illustrations of maps were frequently included in the Times in the editions analysed, and these were given context with the adjoining features about the war. Also, with the push towards more coverage of entertainment in the late 19th century, The Times began to include illustrations of amusements, such as chess games.
Advertising
In the 19th century, The Times became the first large circulation paper to really take advantage of advertising revenue. Throughout the century, advertising in The Times became the mainstay for the life of the paper itself. In 1886, almost half of the newspaper was devoted to advertisements (Lee 1976). In 1855, the newspaper featured advertisements similar to what modern papers refer to as 'classified'. These classified advertisements graced the cover and between the pages of the paper, uniformly and rather monotonously extolling the virtues of their products and services. It is interesting to note that the personal and public notices nestled alongside the more commercial advertisements in 1855, and this continued until the turn of the century. This structure would be unacceptable in modern newspapers today, because it makes the newspaper difficult to read. While this practice did continue in 1899, The Times decided to abandon its traditional advertisement-crammed front page in favour of a more arresting and attractive style. Advertising columns began to change during the late 19th century, with often less and wider columns, and headings emerged to distinguish the advertisements from notices and articles. The first display ads were identified in the newspapers selected from 1899. By examining the difference in the number of pages during the years 1855 and 1899, a noteworthy change was identified. In the first edition of this analysis, January 1 1855, The Times newspaper contained 12 pages. By December 18th 1899, the newspaper increased its pages to 16. The explanation for this difference in the size of the paper is because of an increase in advertising. The Times had come to rely so much on advertising revenue, that it was forced to increase the number of advertisements, and even had to print supplements due to excess numbers (Lee 1976).
Style and Content
In the mid nineteenth century, the style and content of the newspaper was indicative of the impact of a changing commercial world (Lee 1976). The term 'new journalism' was coined to express the development in the press during the 1880s which reflected a change in style aimed at making the paper more attractive to readers (Lee 1976). With the removal of newspaper taxation, The Times was faced with the realisation that in order to remain the leading British newspaper, it would have to seriously consider popularising its content and lower its price to compete with the emerging popular press (Evans 1983). It failed to do so. Proprietors at the time felt that any major changes might undermine the conservative traditions of the newspaper, and they resisted popularising the content and only made relatively minor changes to the news content (Evans 1983). However, with an increasing demand for entertainment, The Times was gradually forced to cover topics with more sensation. The newspaper began to shift its focus away from political commentary, in order to reach a wider audience (Lee 1976).
International News Flow
With the invention of Electro-magnetic telegraph, news traveled faster than ever before and the 1890s saw a threefold change in the content and structures of international news flow (Lee 1976). In the study of the four newspapers from 1855, it became evident that there was an abundance of articles written by foreign correspondents during this time. In analysis of the newspapers from 1899, the large number of foreign news articles continued to flourish. In the 1850s, the superior coverage of international news contributed to the superiority enjoyed by The Times over other newspapers (Boyce et al 1978). During the latter half of the century however, other news organisations such as Reuters, seriously threatened The Times' foreign news capabilities (Boyce et al 1978). The threat to the newspaper existed, because the popular press began to cover foreign news with an increasing entertainment flavour, and readers lapped it up enthusiastically. The Times refused to lower its standards, and continued to seek more serious foreign news for its pages.
Conclusion
During the course of the 19th century, The Times newspaper became a dominant force in the burgeoning newspaper industry in Britain. It was considered to be the paradigm of a fourth estate newspaper, speaking for the industrial and mercantile classes, as well as the enlightened and educated middle classes. However, towards the end of the 19th century, The Times exerted great effort to retain its position as the leading newspaper. Despite its efforts, The Times failed to compete with the cheaper and more popular 'penny dailies' that emerged after the abolition of the Stamp Tax, and the circulation figures of the once leading newspaper slowly declined. This essay analysed several issues of The Times newspaper from 1855 to 1899, in order to identify the changes and continuities that existed during this historically significant era of newspapers in Britain. With a focus on textual and internal features of the newspaper, this essay began its inquiry with an explanation of the methodologies used in this investigation. The essay then traced the background history of The Times back to the 19th century, and went on to analyse the specific newspapers that were selected for analysis. After systematically analysing the texts from the chosen newspaper editions, it was revealed that the most conspicuous feature of The Times that changed during the latter half of the century was the typography, ultimately designed to make the newspaper more attractive to readers, amid fierce newspaper competition. Other important changes to the paper in the second half of the century included increased advertising, international news flow and use of illustrations. The style and content of the newspaper also changed over the four decades in this analysis. Finally, this essay interpreted the changes and consistencies that were found by marrying any variances found with historically significant events that occurred during the 19th century. The industrial revolution of the press heralded the dawning of a new era in journalism for The Times. The emergence of a new popular press that offered the masses an attractive and entertaining newspaper was the single most important cause of The Times' downfall. Its demise at the end of a tumultuous century was a belated wake up call for a newspaper determined to resist the lure of the 20th century.
References
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