ABSTRACT
The responses of the proprietors by the end of Franklin Roosevelt's first term were angry and alarmed. They feared the loss of autonomy, but they feared more the deterioration of modern capitalism. The distrust of the press, many modern critics believe, was engendered by the size and power and self-interest of the large newspapers. Newspapers and magazines headlined accusations that could end careers, sully reputations, and injure the innocent without significant recourse. Among the highbrow newspapers and magazines, interpretation of the news became a common undertaking. Newspaper chains were growing larger, but the number of newspapers overall in America was diminishing. Chains also tended to increase the number of one-newspaper towns because they could push the smaller or less affluent competing papers to the wall. The identity crisis among newspapers was agitated by the critics. In Ballyhoo, Silas Bent's 1927 book about the sensationalist press, the failings of the yellow newspapers were vividly revealed.
