#422 Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pullter is better known today for the prize that bears his name than his contributions to history. That's a shame. In the nineteenth century, when America became an industrial nation, and Carnegie provided the steel, Rockefeller the oil. Morgan the money and Vanderbilt the railroads. Joseph Pulser was the midwaife.

to the birth of the modern mass media. What he accomplished was as significant in his time. as the creation of television would be in the twentieth century. And it remains deeply relevant in today's information age. Puller's lasting achievement was to transform American journalism into a medium of mass consumption and immense influence.

He accomplished this by being the first media tycoon to recognize The vast social changes That the industrial revolution triggered. And by harnessing all the converging elements of entertainment Technology.

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