How The General Public Views Journalism

            Mark Twain is noted as one of the most prolific writers of the 19^th Century. Although he is most well known for his novels, Twain happened to be a fantastic journalist. His journalistic styles of writing are easy to spot in his novels and short stories. In two of his fictional works, “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once” and “Journalism in Tennessee”, Twain uses both his journalistic style of writing and irony to portray the negative view of journalism throughout the 19^th Century.

            “Journalism in Tennessee” is a fictional short story telling the tale of an editor in Memphis. The story is narrated from the viewpoint of the associate editor. Once the editor is done with his assignment, he goes to talk to his boss. For the remainder of the story, the Editor is having pain inflicted on him from others in the form of gunshots, bricks, and other violence. “Then the chief editor went on with this erasure; and interlineations. Just as he finished them a hand grenade came down the stove-pipe, and the explosion shivered the stove into a thousand fragments. However, it did no further damage, except that a vagrant piece knocked a couple of my teeth out” (Twain, no page). This section depicts a moment where people fight back against the journalists. They blatantly did not like what they had to say or how they said it. The part in which Twain writes, “…it did not further damage, except that a vagrant piece knocked a couple of my teeth out”, proves that journalists are used to the negativity they face. Getting a couple of teeth knocked out would definitely cause major pain; paradoxically Twain did not mention the pain and stated the occurrence very matter-of-factly.

            Twain used many similar instances in a blunt fashion to depict the irony of the situation. These situations were ironic because the journalists were not harming anyone in anyway. They were not threatening to do so, nor did their works call for that response. In fact, the journalists just sat there and allowed all the brutality as if it was nothing by a regular day. The regularity that Twain tries to create out of this situation makes the story incredibly ironic. He almost becomes hackneyed in his descriptions. These journalists were not literally getting beaten and bruised. The injuries and attempts at murder were rather a symbol of all the negativity that the journalists faced; proving the negative connotation that journalists had in the 19^th Century. The use of hyperboles and exaggeration is part of the irony. Twain used this style to make his point stronger and stand out.

Twain describes similar negative views of journalists in his fictional short story entitled “How I Edited An Agricultural Paper Once”. This story also tells the story of an editor who is given an agricultural paper to edit, without knowing anything about agriculture. Twain used a different approach to illustrate the views of journalism. The protagonist’s way of editing the agricultural paper was not only criticized strongly by everyone reading it, it was also viewed as not credible and lacking of useful facts. The words of the real editor prove that: “the reputation of the paper is injured – permanently, I fear (Twain, no page).” This statement, demonstrates the negativity that journalism faces and that there is an importance to uphold a good reputation.

This paper was not literally pertaining to agriculture. The journalist was looked down upon as not being a credible source for an agricultural journal. The agriculture was meaningless to the plot, and seen as ridiculous, similarly to how the readers of that journal would view turnips growing on trees. Twain was using this as irony to show that journalism is only viewed negatively, but also viewed as not credible. “I tell you I have been in the editorial business going on fourteen years, and it is first time I ever heard of a man’s having to know anything in order to edit a newspaper” (Twain, no page). This statement was made to show the lack of credibility that journalists held throughout the 19^th Century.

The above statement also highlights the idea of what criteria one would need to become a journalist. Twain uses irony in both “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once” and “Journalism in Tennessee to emphasis the thought that one did not need much to become a journalist. This, along with the negativity that journalist received, worked together to form the general connotation that journalists had. Journalists did not need a wealth of knowledge to get the job, and in turn, readers did not like the papers they were reading and claimed them to hold no credibility.

            All in all, Mark Twain used his short stories, such as “Journalism in Tennessee” and “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper” to express the viewpoint of the general public on journalism. Journalism has the profession of conveying the truth. This job, however, is often scrutinized by on lookers, so Twain used irony to portray this negativity. Twain also demonstrates the endless cycle of lack of credibility between journalists and the views of journalists, by using irony. Mark Twain wanted to show his readers the pessimism that journalists receive.