Civil War Journalism

How did the Civil War influence Public Opinion and American Journalsim?

slave states and free states

1860 - Seven slave states with cotton-based economies secedes from the Union and formed the Confederacy (Parish,1975).

16th president of the United States

Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter.

War facts

• Duration:1861-1865
• Reason: slavery
• Result: abolishment of slavery and over 750,000 people dead.
• Deadliest war in American history.

Just as the Civil War helped reshape the U.S. militarily, new technologies and a growing demand for information during the war influenced the nation's press (Swayne, 2003).

The need for information about loved ones

"America really became a nation of newspaper readers during the war"
(Risley, 2012).

The use of technology during the Civil War

The use of the telegraph for news dissemination facilitated speed and forced journalists to prioritize facts, written in simple.

Thanks to photography, for the first time in American history, citizens on the home front could view the actual war. It his helped spread news to readers with varying levels of education. (Carriero, 2015).

The War for Public Opinion

The War for Public Opinion

• Union state papers framed it as a human rights issue about slavery.
• Confederate papers framed it as an issue of States rights and sovereignty.

Governments and armies restricted reporting and closed newspapers, causing tension with the press (Risley, 2012).

Abraham Lincoln recognized that the press played a role in public opinion and he used it to underscore the Union papers’ point of view.(Risley, 2012) .

How did the Civil War influence Public Opinion and American Journalsim?

Untitled Slide

• Increased the need to be informed
• Developed ways to spread news faster
• Framed news to shape public opinon

Did the Civil War also influence Latin American Journalism? How?