The History of th Tidings 1895-1945
Graduation Date
Summer 1951
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
The newspapers may properly be described as the eyes and ears of every man and woman in the land. It is on the papers that they depend, at least partially, for the knowledge of the whole of contemporary life, except that insignificant fraction of it which falls within the narrow limits of their physical vision. The press, in consequence, must inevitably lead; but it may and sometimes does, mislead. A good press is as essential to a country's well being as a good government. Pope Leo XIII and his successors have in the past fifty years realized this truth and spared no efforts to encourage a sound Catholic press.
The growth of the Catholic press in the United States has increased greatly in recent years, arriving by a slow and difficult process at its present state. A consideration of these developments is most timely for those who are concerned with religious journalism. In 1933 the late Professor Richard J. Purcell of the Catholic University of America initiated a number of studies as a contribution to the critical study of the Catholic press in the United States. As nothing has been written on Catholic papers in the West this study may be regarded as a chapter in that story.