Telegraph-era news formats structurally favored racist stereotype-recycling

Evidence

In early 1846, the newly formed Associated Press used the newly invented telegraph to become the nation’s principal filter and supplier of news. The rapid speed of transmission and monopoly pricing encouraged shorter and simpler stories that told and did not explain—that sensationalized and did not nuance, that recycled and did not trash stereotypes or the status quo. News dispatches reinforcing racist ideas met these demands. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 491

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in media/communication technology shaping ideas — Innis, McLuhan territory, plus the soundscape book’s lofi-erasures theme. — connects to: Radio’s racial stereotypes reinforced blacks’ second-class status — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 320; Blogging competition reproduced 1830s penny-press dynamics favoring lurid content — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 968