A

PATTERSON, JOSEPH MEDILL 1879-1946

NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER

Newspaper Family

Joseph Patterson published the first and most successful tabloid newspaper in America. A man of eccentricities and contradictions who acted on impulse, he might have been classified as unbalanced—except that he was a journalist with a sure sense of what interested his readers. Patterson was born into a wealthy and powerful newspaper family. His maternal grandfather was Joseph Medill, publisher and editor of the Chicago Tribune, and his father became editor of that paper. Patterson's sister, Eleanor (Cissy), later became publisher of the Washington Times-Herald. Although he dressed carelessly and rejected the requirements of his social position, he was educated at the upper-class Groton School in Massachusetts and graduated from Yale in 1901. All of his life he felt comfortable with the proletariat, living with bums in Chicago's First Ward and New York's Bowery. Patterson was certain that he understood working-class people, and he endeavored to improve their living conditions. Failing that, he wanted to provide them with a newspaper.

Friend of the Proletariat

After Yale, Patterson joined the Tribune as a reporter, but his proletarian concerns directed him to reform politics—often in opposition to the policies of the Tribune. Patterson left the Tribune when he learned that his election to the Illinois House of Representatives had been rigged by the paper. In 1906 he joined the Socialist Party and wrote plays (Dope and The Fourth Estate) and a novel (A Little Brother of the Rich, 1908) denouncing capitalism and the corrupt rich. But his experiences as an author convinced him of the validity of the profit motive, and he withdrew from socialism.

The Captain and the Colonel

Patterson returned to the Tribune in 1910 as coeditor with his cousin Robert McCormick, a conservative and aristocrat. They disagreed about editorial policy. Patterson joined the army during World War I, participated in battle, and earned the rank of captain. McCormick rose to colonel. Both retained the use of their military titles in civilian life.

The Daily News.

During the war the cousins agreed that they should not continue to coedit the Tribune. In 1919 Captain Patterson met with Lord Harmsworth, publisher of the London tabloid Daily Mirror, who convinced him that an American tabloid would succeed. Patterson started rush work on a New York tabloid at the same time that William Randolph Hearst was developing one. Patterson published first; The Illustrated Daily News appeared on 26 June 1919. The term "tabloid" indicated more than format (11½" x 13¾"): it also indicated content and style. The Daily News (Illustrated was soon dropped from is name) featured sensational photographs, scandal, crime, sex, comics, and contests. The paper's most famous scoop was the 1928 front-page photo of Ruth Snyder dying in the electric chair for the murder of her husband—a photo taken with a concealed camera. The tabloid size supposedly made it convenient for the subway strap-hangers, but The Daily News succeeded because it appealed to people who did not find the traditional newspapers interesting. The critics of tabloid journalism referred to The Daily News as "the servant-girl's bible," and advertisers were initially wary of becoming associated with a vulgar publication. Nonetheless, Patterson did know what his readers wanted. In the 1930s The Daily News reached the largest circulation in America, and The Sunday News had the largest circulation in the world at over 3 million.

Competition

In 1924 both Hearst's morning Daily Mirror and Bernarr Macfadden's Evening Graphic entered the New York tabloid field. Neither matched the success of The Daily News. The Graphic tried to out-sensationalize the News but lacked Patterson's sure sense of his readers' taste.

Editorial Policy

Until 1925 Patterson ran his paper by telephone from Chicago. His principal interests were the circulation-building features and the editorials. He developed comic strips and provided ideas for "The Gumps," "Dick Tracy," and "Little Orphan Annie." He controlled the editorial page and collaborated in writing the editorials. Initially a strong supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, Patterson became a bitter opponent of the president's foreign policy, which he saw as designed to force America into World War II. Patterson's attacks on communism earned the proletariat's friend the enmity of the Left.

Self-Reliance

Ralph Waldo Emerson's observation that "An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man" was strikingly exemplified by Joseph Medill Patterson. His unlikely collection of qualities and emotions were responsible for the prodigious success of The Daily News.