School of Journalism professor and associate director Bill Celis spoke at the Consulate of Hungary about the contributions to diversity coverage of Joseph Pulitzer and his New York World newspaper. The symposium, held on the 100th anniversary of Pulitzer’s death on Oct. 29, featured a variety of speakers commemorating the contributions of the newspaper icon, a Hungarian immigrant who arrived in the United States nearly penniless. When he purchased The World newspaper, he increased its daily circulation from about 11,000 readers to nearly 40,000 just six months after he acquired it. At its peak, The World boasted a circulation of more than 100,000 readers. The secret to his success, Celis told the audience, was his attention to communities that were largely uncovered. The World produced news that was diverse and catered to the working classes, women and immigrants. In the pages of The World, for example, the suffrage movement consistently received even-handed treatment in ways no other daily offered, said Celis, who noted that The World stopped short of actually endorsing a woman’s right to vote. “But in almost every other respect, women were written about in balanced ways that reflected their changing status in America," Celis said. New U.S. immigrants, many of them ethnic minorities, “also had a friend in The World,” Celis said. In the newspaper’s pages, news for and about immigrants was reflected in virtually all sections of the paper. Pulitzer’s insistence that his newspaper provide coverage for and about people not typically covered made him a wealthy man, Celis said, even when he reduced the cost of The World to a penny from two cents.

Bill Celis