Before radio and television, E. W. Scripps's twenty-one newspapers, major newswire service, and prominent news syndication service comprised the first truly national media organization in the United States. Dale E. Zacher details the scope, organization, and character of the mighty Scripps empire during World War I and reveals how the pressures of the market, government censorship, propaganda, and progressivism transformed news coverage.

Zacher's account delves into details inside a major newspaper operation during World War I and provides fascinating accounts of its struggles with competition, attending to patriotic duties, and internal editorial dissent. Zacher also looks at war-related issues, considering the newspapers' relationship with President Woodrow Wilson, American neutrality, the move to join the war, and fallout from disillusionment over the actuality of war. As Zacher shows, the progressive spirit and political independence at the Scripps newspapers came under attack and was changed forever during the era.

|Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The concern: June 27, 1914 13
2. Seeds Get Planted: June 1914 to May 1915 32
3. Harsh Realities: May to November 1915 58
4. "Genuine Enthusiastic Support": November 1915 to November 1916 81
5. Democracy versus Autocracy: December 1916 to July 1917 106
6. "To Advocate a Policy and to Yourself Meet Its Requirements": July to December 1917 137
7. Reconsidering an "Ostrich Type of Patriotism": 1918 172
Conclusion: "Harder . . . to Be of Public Service" 211
Notes 225
Bibliography 279
Index 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
|Dale E. Zacher is an assistant professor in the School of Mass Communication at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.