People living today in the northwestern state of Washington who have many sources
of news in addition to newspapers must stretch their imaginations to understand the
importance of the press during much of the state's history. Beginning in 1852 with
The Cohumblan. the first paper in Washington Territory, ,lewspapers served to connect
settlers in frontier communities with each other and with the rnajor events of their times.
Unlike many mid-century papers, The Columbian, published every Saturday in Olympia,
one of Washington's larger towns, was "neutral in politics," meaning that it was not the
organ of a particular political party or religious group. For its first few years, it was the
only newspaper in the territory, but during the following decades, enterprising
Washingtonians founded many other papers. Few of these papers lasted long. Until the
turn of the century, most were the production of an individual editor, who might begin
with insufficient capital or fail to attract a steady readership. Often working with no
staff at all, these editors wrote copy, set type, delivered papers, oversaw billing, and
sold advertising. Their highly personal journals reflected their own tastes, politics, and
known as the "Oregon style"--graphic, torrid, and potentially libelous.
Early newspapers were thick with print, carrying no illustrations or cartoons.
Advertising was generally confined to the back pages and simply listed commodities
received by local stores. Toward the end of the century, newspapers in Washington
began to carry national advertising, especially from patent medicine companies, which
bought space from agencies that brokered ads in papers all over the country. By 1900,
Washington boasted 19 daily and 176 weekly papers. Especially in the larger cities, they
reflected less the personal opinions of the editor than the interests of the large businesses
they had become. They subscribed to the Associated Press and United Press news
services, and new technology permitted illustrations. Concentrating on features, crime
reporting, and sensationalism, they imitated the new mass-circulation papers that William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were making popular throughout the United States. 【題組】2. What does the passage imply about early Washington newspapers?
(A) People relied on them as their primary source of news.
(B) They contained important historical articles.
(C) They were not as informative as today's newspapers.
(D) They rarely reflected the views of any particular religion.
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