Book Review: Charles K. McClatchy and the Golden Era of American Journalism, by Steven M. Avella

Abstract

Steven M. Avella Charles K. McClatchy and the Golden Era of American Journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2016. 441 pp.Part muckraker/part bully, Charles McClatchy used his Sacramento Bee newspaper not only to report the news but also to promote his ideologies. Under his leadership, the paper investigated government corruption, influenced public policy, and manipulated voters while occasionally attacking individuals and societal groups. Although McClatchy and the Bee greatly affected early California politics and development, previous writings about him were scant. This exhaustive biography by Avella, a Marquette University history professor, solidly establishes McClatchy's place in journalism history while providing an insider's view of late 19th century to early 20th century newsroom practices.In researching the book, Avella examined 10,000 linear feet of records contained in the McClatchy Papers: nearly 287 volumes of business and personal correspondence penned by McClatchy and other family members, news stories from the Sacramento Bee, McClatchy's columns, and stories published in competing newspapers. The 63-page index alone is testament to the substantial research performed to create this book.Journalism was a family affair for Charles McClatchy and Sacramento was the hub of his universe. His father, James, wrote stories about the Gold Rush for Horace Greeley and joined the Sacramento Bee staff soon after it was launched. It was an exciting time to be in the news business; California was still acclimating to statehood and there was plenty of news to cover. Charles McClatchy came aboard the Bee two decades after his father and was a partner by his 21st birthday. Having inherited the paper when their father died in 1883, Charles and his brother Valentine worked hard to build it into a major journalism force in Northern California and beyond. (Today, The McClatchy Company is the second largest newspaper chain in the United States.) In a 1911 letter to his brother, Charles extolled the Bee asa tower of righteousness and a terror to evil doers . . . an unceasing friend to every great public cause of right, the unflinching foe of every monstrous public wrong. I have made it almost a Bible in our section of California. It is respected wherever it is read. (p. 2)Avella deftly documents how McClatchy's opinion of his beloved newspaper was both true and false. To be sure, the Bee bravely tackled the biggest issues facing the young state: damage to downstream farmland caused by hydraulic gold mining, inordinate political influence by railroad companies, bribery and extortion by San Francisco civic leaders, a government cover-up of a deadly bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco's Chinatown, social vices, and ongoing efforts to modernize Sacramento. However, all readers did not appreciate the newspaper's efforts. Many libel suits were brought against the Bee. Some were successful although the monetary judgments were minimal. In addition, a typographers' strike and advertising boycott that lasted more than four months nearly killed the newspaper.When not reporting the news, McClatchy relished using the Bee to publicly vilify individuals he mistrusted and sectors of society he outright detested. He even hired a private investigator, on at least two occasions, to investigate a local newspaper editor and a Catholic priest who edited a religious newspaper. …