The press's experience during the Civil War helped shape today's media

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. 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, according to a Penn State researcher. "It was absolutely an important moment in the history of the press," said Ford Risley, professor and head of the Department of Journalism. "The practices, technological development you begin to see during the war - the importance of the telegraph, the use of illustrations, for example - and the growth in demand for newspapers, so many of these things came together during this remarkable and tragic event." The demand for newspapers in both the North and South soared during the Civil War, said Risley, whose book, Civil War Journalism (Praeger, 2012), was published this fall. "The people were clamoring for news about the war," Risley said. "Almost everyone knew someone who was fighting, whether it was a family member, or a friend, or a neighbor." While the Southern press was not as prepared to face the rising demand for war reporting as the North, the need for that information in the Confederacy was perhaps even more vital, Risley said. As Union troops invaded the South, editors and journalists strained to provide information to readers on troop movements and possible targets.