Joseph Pulitzer - A Life Sketch in Kannada & English

Joseph Pulitzer

A Life Sketch

Pulitzer, Joseph (1847-1911), American journalist, whose will provided for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes. Born in Makó, Hungary, Pulitzer immigrated to the United States in 1864 and served in the First New York Cavalry during the American Civil War (1861-1865). He became an American citizen in 1867. That same year Pulitzer started working as a reporter on a German daily newspaper, the Westliche Post, in St. Louis, Missouri. He became managing editor and part owner of the paper in 1871, but left it two years later. In addition to working as a journalist, Pulitzer became active in politics in St. Louis. He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1869, and in 1872 he supported the Liberal Republican Party’s nomination of Horace Greeley for the United States presidency. When that party collapsed after Greeley’s defeat, Pulitzer became a Democrat. After receiving a law degree and working as a correspondent for the New York Sun, in 1878 Pulitzer bought the St. Louis Evening Dispatch and Evening Post, combining them into the Post-Dispatch.

In 1883 he acquired the New York World. Under his management, it became a major newspaper, famous for sensationalism, exposés, careful and extensive reportage, crusades against corruption, and a strong prolabor editorial position. Pulitzer also introduced such newspaper innovations as sports pages, women’s fashion sections, comics, and illustrations. In 1887 Pulitzer broke down from overwork, but despite being invalid, blind, and often absent on long cruises, he continued his supervision of the New York World. Pulitzer’s main newspaper publishing rival in New York was William Randolph Hearst, who owned the New York Morning Journal. Competition between the Pulitzer and Hearst papers was especially fierce in the coverage of the political tensions before and during the Spanish-American War (1898), and the sensational journalistic techniques used during this time to attract readers were dubbed yellow journalism. In addition to funding the Pulitzer Prizes, in his will Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia University for a school of journalism (founded 1912).
Source :

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2004.

Pulitzer, Joseph 1847–1911.

American journalist and newspaper publisher, b. Makó, Hungary. To U.S. (1864, naturalized 1867) and served in Union army; reporter on Westliche Post, German-language daily of St. Louis (1868); elected to Missouri legislature (1869); purchased St. Louis Dispatch (1878) and merged it with the Post to form the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, first of the Pulitzer journals. Moved to New York and bought New York World (1883). Member of U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1885–86); founded New York Evening World (1887). Founded and endowed by bequest in his will a school of journalism at Columbia U. (opened 1912); also established the Pulitzer prizes “for the encouragement of public service, public morals, American literature, and the advancement of education.” His son Ralph (1879–1939) was also a journalist; president of Press Publishing Co., publishers of New York World and New York Evening World (1911–30); accomplished sale of papers to Scripps-Howard chain (1931). Another son Joseph (1885–1955) succeeded his father as president of Pulitzer
Publishing Co., publisher of St. Louis Post-Dispatch (from 1912).

Source:

Simon & Schuster, Inc.

PULITZER, Joseph (1847–1911), American journalist, born in (Makó), Hungary. Pulitzer immigrated to the U.S. in 1864 and served in the First New York Cavalry during the American Civil War. He became an American citizen in 1867, a reporter on a German daily, the Westliche Post, in Saint Louis, Mo., the same year,
and managing editor and part owner of the newspaper in 1871. Two years later he left the paper. After receiving a law degree and working as a correspondent for the New York Sun, in 1878 he bought the St. Louis Evening Dispatch and Evening Post, combining them into the Post- Dispatch. In 1883 he acquired the New York World. Under his management, it became a major paper, famous for sensationalism, exposés, careful and extensive reportage, crusades against corruption, and a strong pro-labor stance. In 1887 he broke down from overwork, but although invalid, blind, and often absent, he continued his supervision. In 1903 he provided for the Pulitzer
Prizes in literature and journalism and donated $1 million to Columbia University for the founding of a school of journalism.
Source:

Simon & Schuster, Inc. and its licensors.

PULITZER, Joseph , born April 10, 1847, Makó, Hung., died Oct. 29, 1911, Charleston, S.C., U.S.

American newspaper editor and publisherwho helped establish the pattern of the modern newspaper. In his time he was one of the most powerful journalists in the United States. Reared in Budapest, Pulitzer sought a military career and emigrated to the United States in 1864 as a recruit for the Union Army in the American Civil War (1861–65). After the war he went to St. Louis, where in 1868 he became a reporter on a German-language daily newspaper, the Westliche Post. In 1871 he bought a share of that paper but soon resold it at a profit. Pulitzer had meanwhile become active in politics, and he was elected to the Missouri state legislature in 1869.
In 1871–72 he helped to organize the Liberal Republican Party in Missouri, which nominated Horace Greeley for president in 1872. After the party’s subsequent collapse, Pulitzer became and remained a lifelong Democrat.
In 1874 Pulitzer acquired another St. Louis German paper, the Staats-Zeitung, and advantageously sold its Associated Press franchise to the St. Louis Globe (later Globe-Democrat). Four years afterward he gained control of the St. Louis Dispatch (founded 1864) and the Post (founded 1875) and merged them as the Post-Dispatch, soon the city’s dominant evening newspaper. On Oct. 5, 1882, Pulitzer’s chief editorial writer shot to death a political opponent of the Post-Dispatch. Public reprobation and his own ill health prompted Pulitzer to shift his newspaper interests to New York City, where he purchased (May 10, 1883) a morning paper, the World, from the financier Jay Gould. He soon turned that paper into the leading journalistic voice of the Democratic Party in the United States. Pulitzer founded the World’s evening counterpart, the EveningWorld, in
1887. In his newspapers Pulitzer combined exposés of political corruption and crusading investigative reporting with publicity stunts, blatant self-advertising, and sensationalistic journalism.In an effort to further attract a mass readership, he also introduced such innovations as comics, sports coverage, women’s fashion coverage, and illustrations into his newspapers, thus making them vehicles of entertainment as well as of information.

The World eventually became involved in a fierce competition with William Randolph Hearst’s New York Morning Journal, and the blatant sensationalism that both newspapers resorted to in espousing the Spanish-American War of 1898 led to the coining of the term “yellow journalism” to describe such practices. Failing eyesight and worsening nervous disorders forced Pulitzer to abandon the management of his newspapers in 1887. He gave up his editorship of them in 1890, but he continued to exercise a close watch over their editorial policies.

In his will Pulitzer endowed the Columbia University School of Journalism (opened 1912) and established the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes, awarded annually since 1917. W.A. Swanberg, Pulitzer (1967); Julian S. Rammelkamp, Pulit zer’s Post-Dispatch, 1878–1883 (1967); George Juergens, Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World (1966).

PULITZER PRIZE

Any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University, New York City, foroutstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Fellowships are also awarded. The prizes, originally endowed with a gift of $500,000 from the newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, are highly esteemed and have been awarded each May since 1917. The awards are made by Columbia University on the recommendation of The Pulitzer Prize Board, composed of judges appointed by the university. The prizes have varied in number and
category over the years but currently number 14 prizes in the field of journalism, 6 prizes in letters, 1 prize in music, and 4 fellowships.
The following is an official list of awards in journalism:
1. For a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper through the use of its journalistic resources which may include editorials, cartoons, and photographs, as well as reporting, a gold medal.
2. For a distinguished example of local reporting of spot news, $3,000.
3. For a distinguished example of investigative reporting within a newspaper’s area of circulation by an individual orteam, presented as a single article or series, $3,000.
4. For a distinguished example of explanatory journalism that illuminates significant and complex issues, $3,000.
5. For a distinguished example of beat reporting, $3,000.
6. For a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs, $3,000.
7. For a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence, $3,000.
8. For a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality,$3,000.
9. For distinguished commentary, $3,000.
10. For distinguished criticism, $3,000.
11. For distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in what the writer conceives to be the right direction, due account being taken of the whole volume of the editorial writer’s work during the year, $3,000.
12. For a distinguished example of a cartoonist’s work, the determining qualities being that the cartoon shall embody an idea made clearly apparent, shall show good drawing and striking pictorial effect, and shall be intended to be helpful to some commendable cause of public importance,due account being taken of the whole volume of the artist’s work during the year, $3,000.
13. For a distinguished example of spot news photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album, $3,000.
14. For a distinguished example of feature photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album, $3,000.

The following is an official list of awards in letters:
1. For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, $3,000.
2. For a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life, $3,000.
3. For a distinguished book upon the history of the United States, $3,000.
4. For a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author, $3,000.
5. For a distinguished volume of verse by an American author, $3,000.
6. For a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category, $3,000.

The following is the official designation of the award in music:
For distinguished musical composition by an American in any of the larger forms including chamber, orchestral, choral, opera, song, dance, or other forms of musical theatre, which has had its first performance in the United States during the year, $3,000.

The following Pulitzer fellowships are awarded annually:
On the recommendation of the faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism [Columbia University], three fellowships of $5,000 each to enable three of its outstanding graduates to travel, report, and study abroad and one fellowship for $5,000 to an outstanding graduate who wishes to specialize in drama, music, literary, film, or television criticism.

Yellow Journalism:

The use of lurid features and sensationalized news in newspaper publishing to attract readers and increasecirculation. The phrase was coined in the 1890s to describe the tactics employed in furious competition between two New York City newspapers, the World and the Journal. Joseph Pulitzer had purchased the New York World in 1883 and, using colourful, sensational reporting and crusades against political corruption and social injustice, had won the largest newspaper circulation in the country. His supremacy was challenged in 1895 when William Randolph Hearst, the son of a California mining tycoon, moved into New York City and bought the rival Journal. Hearst, who had already built the San Francisco Examiner into a hugely successful mass-circulation paper, soon made it plain that he intended to do the same in New York City by outdoing his competitors in sensationalism, crusades, and Sunday features. He brought in some of his staff from San Francisco and hired some away from Pulitzer’s paper, including Richard F. Outcault, a cartoonist who had drawn an immensely popular comic picture series, The Yellow Kid , for the Sunday World. After Outcault’s defection, the comic was drawn for the World by George B. Luks, and the two rival picture series excited so much attention that the competition between the two newspapers came to be described as “yellow journalism.” This all-out rivalry and its accompanying promotion developed large circulations for both papers and affected American journalism inmany cities.

The era of yellow journalism may be said to have ended shortly after the turn of the century, with the World’s gradual retirementfrom the competition in sensationalism. Some techniques of theyellow-journalism period, however, became more or less permanent and widespread, such as banner headlines, coloured comics, and copious illustration; in other media, most notably television and the Internet, many of the sensationalist practicesof yellow journalism have become more commonplace.
Source:

2004 Encyclopedia Britannica Delux Edition