Cables, Crises, and the Press: The Geopolitics of the New Information System in the Americas, 1866-1903

Introduction: Main Themes and Organization of the Book

xi Introduction Main Themes and Organization of the Book The flood of INformaTIoN that has inundated the internet in the last few decades has played a large role in both internal and international crises on what may seem to be an unprecedented scale. A close examination of events in the late nineteenth century, however, reveals an interesting parallel. The new communications system that emerged in the 1860s and 1870s inspired hopes of peace and progress but also brought about stress and instability. Advances in submarine-cable technology made possible the creation of a network of insulated copper wires that tied together North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe. The telegraph was too expensive for the average citizen, but the link between electronic communication and the front page brought a mass of readers into the information system. Telegraphed news reached front pages with unprecedented speed. The main themes in this book concern the rapid acceleration of information moving through the system of cables and printing presses that soon acquired a dynamic of its own beyond the control of presidents, prime ministers , secretaries of state, and even the newspaper editors who promoted and exploited the improvements in telegraphic communication. At the same time, newspapers changed their front-page formats, used larger and more frequent illustrations, and enhanced printing speed and circulation. The acceleration of the messages in this information system reached millions of newspaper readers and affected the work of government leaders, diplomats, and journalists. xii iNTroducTioN The first four chapters examine the establishment of the new information system. Chapter 1 surveys the technological innovations and business operations of newspapers in the United States. This chapter also explores the historical context in Latin America with emphasis on the influences of the United States and European nations in the region. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the building of the international network and the initial enthusiasm for these electronic means of communication to resolve international conflicts. Chapter 4 examines the early attempts by U.S. and British newspapers to cover the War of the Pacific fought between Chile and the alliance of Peru and Bolivia. Chilean Marcial Martínez was one of the first officials to grasp the opportunities in the new information system to benefit government policy. The flawed press coverage of the war and the subsequent conflicts between the United States and Chile indicated gaps and weaknesses in the new information system. The next four chapters trace the escalation of international conflicts involving the new information system. Chapter 5 describes the political turmoil and European intrusions in Central America that set the stage for the U.S. intervention in Panama in 1885. Washington responded to an outburst of violence on the isthmus with an armed intervention that made extensive use of cable communications for the first time in such an operation. Press coverage of this event was limited, but Commander John Grimes Walker anticipated the potential problems that front-page newspaper reports could generate. Chapter 6 focuses on the dramatic confrontation between Chile and the United states in 1891–1892 that saw press coverage in mass-circulation newspapers in the United States emerge as a factor in the crisis. President Benjamin Harrison used the cable system to win concessions from Chile. International news became popular with the public, and chapter 7 explains how Richard Harding Davis and other writers exploited themes that centered on the quest for wealth and empire in books and magazines as well as newspapers. Chapter 8 examines the confrontation between Britain and the United States in the Venezuelan boundary controversy of 1895–1896. The outburst of patriotism and the threat of war in defense of the Monroe Doctrine in the U.S. newspaper press surprised and distressed leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Chapters 9–11 focus on the role of cables and the press in the SpanishAmerican War. Sylvester Scovel, Richard Harding Davis, and dozens of young male reporters fed stories of Spanish atrocities and Cuban heroism into the mass-circulation press of the United States from 1895 to 1898. xiii Main Themes and Organization of the Book Chapter 10 studies the pressures created by the anti-Spanish slant of this coverage among diplomats and government leaders in the United States and Spain. The sensationalism associated with Hearst and Pulitzer spread across the press landscape in early 1898 and amplified the impact of the Dupuy de Lôme scandal and the explosion of...