ABSTRACT
In 1934, when federal agents in Chicago shot and killed John Dillinger, then America’s most wanted bank robber, the story was reported mainly by newspapers. Radio, which began broadcasting as we know it in 1920, was in its infancy, newsreels were not able to produce and distribute a report to movie theaters until days after a major event, and TV was still only a laboratory experiment. Public relations was primarily about publicity-at times even involved in keeping stories out of the press. Weekly general-circulation magazines offered some news, but they mostly carried features, short literary stories and advertisements. Back then, only newspapers and the wire services that provided copy for papers around the country were capable of thoroughly reporting the story. Media writing was defined as newspaper journalism.
