This historical analysis considers the role the Pulitzer Prizes played in shaping modern journalistic practices by helping determine standards of quality for newspapers. Using entry and jury materials from the first four decades of the prizes, this study reveals a prize culture built around elite figures whose selections sent clear signals about the kinds of journalism it deemed exceptional and newspapers that responded in turn, strategically planning their coverage and nominations. In this way, the prize establishment wielded extraordinary power in the development of journalistic professionalism in the 20th century.
BatesJD (1991) The Pulitzer Prize: The Inside Story of America’s Most Prestigious Award. New York: Carol Publishing Group.
2.
BeamRADunwoodySKosickiGM (1986) The relationship of prize-winning to prestige and job satisfaction. Journalism Quarterly63(4): 693–699.
3.
BentS (1939) Newspaper Crusaders. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press.
4.
BogartL (2004) Reflections on content quality in newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal25(1): 40–53.
5.
BraschWM (1990) Forerunners of Revolution: Muckrakers and the American Social Conscience. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
6.
CareyJW (1974) The problem of journalism history. Journalism History1(1): 3–5, 27.
7.
DalyCB (2012) Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation’s Journalism. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
8.
EnglishJ (2005) The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
9.
FordeKR (2007) Discovering the explanatory report in American newspapers. Journalism Practice1(2): 227–244.
10.
HarrisRJJr. (2007) Pulitzer’s Gold: Behind the Prize for Public-Service Journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
11.
HatcherJ (2007) Were those the days? Revisiting the Pulitzer-winning efforts of community newspapers in the 1970s. American Journalism24(1): 89–109.
12.
HofstadterR (1955) The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Vintage Books.
13.
HohenbergJ (1974) The Pulitzer Prizes: A History of the Awards in Books, Drama, Music, and Journalism, Based on the Private Files over Six Decades. New York: Columbia University Press.
14.
KeslerCR (1955) Investigating with honors. Quill, June, 4.
15.
LanosgaG (2010) The press, prizes and power: Investigative reporting in the United States, 1917–1960. PhD Dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
16.
LanosgaG (2012) A new model of objectivity: Investigative reporting in the twentieth century. In: St JohnBJohnsonKA (eds) News with a View: Essays on the Eclipse of Objectivity in Modern Journalism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., pp. 42–58.
McCombsME (1992) Explorers and surveyors: Expanding strategies for agenda-setting research. Journalism Quarterly69(4): 813–824.
19.
NordDP (1988) A plea for journalism history. Journalism History15(1): 8–15.
20.
PulitzerJ (1903) Extracts from the Agreement between Joseph Pulitzer and the Trustees of Columbia College. Joseph Pulitzer Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, 10April.
21.
PulitzerJ (1953) Local reporting, Jury Report, Administrative Files, Pulitzer Prize Office, Columbia University, New York.
22.
PulitzerJ (1904) Extracts from the Will of Joseph Pulitzer. Joseph Pulitzer Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, 16April.
23.
RothmyerK (1991) Winning Pulitzers: The Stories behind Some of the Best News Coverage of Our Time. New York: Columbia University Press.
24.
SchudsonM (2003) The Sociology of News. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
25.
ShawD (1984) Press Watch: A Provocative Look at How Newspapers Report the News. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
