The Southern Press in the Civil War : American Wars and the Media in Primary Documents

Called the first modern war and our nation's greatest calamity, the nation's press conveyed news from the Civil War to the citizens of the South who looked to newspapers as their primary source of information.

Circulation pressures, political partisanship, scarce materials, and the unyielding public appetite for the latest news all contributed to how the growing numbers of professional journalists covered the pressing political and military events during those crucial years.