Newspapers & Periodicals

An Extensive Republic - pg.389-409
Newspapers & Periodicals
Andie Tucher

So, I have a question. Can we read an entire book by Andie Tucher? I found this section entertaining--which may say quite a lot about what kind of early American periodical I would subscribe to-- and informative. I loved the colorful language and tongue-in-cheek moments. My kinda writing, really.

I found Tucher's comments on reprinting interesting, and although we've spoken about this several times in class, I was particularly struck by this passage: "Always heavily represented was news from Europe or Washington that had been copied, with or without attribution, from other papers. Some country editors, relying on a provision in the 1972 Post Office Ace that allowed any editor to exchange his paper with any other postage-free, might fill half or more of their news hole with items reprinted from other organs around the country and the world. In a country paper, originally did not count, and the publication of a novel or local fare was often taken as a sign of editorial desperation, a last resort when the mail carrying more important tidings was late." (Tucher 296)

Tucher goes on to mention the lateness of reprinted news-- which we've seen a bit in our search areas in class-- and provides a few examples of really really late news…which I find so difficult to imagine, given our current wealth of information technology.

There were a two things that struck me about the passage I've quoted above. The first, of course, involves me attempting to wrap my feeble brain around the challenge of doing any kind of productive research, particularly on periodicals, pre-Internet/databases. How lucky are we, really? Can we all just take a minute to appreciate our ability to trace these crazy reprints via all the wonderful databases that we're provided? I feel a bit spoiled, honestly.

Secondly, I'm interested in the shift from publishers always waiting for the "mail carrying more important tidings," to a recognition that what was going on locally was of enough importance to be circulated. The last sentence in the above quoted paragraph really struck me as emphasizing the value placed on what everybody else was up to, rather than an interest in the local community that a country paper might serve.