Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalists: Ernie Pyle

Words came from readers in Cleveland that “‘the impression soon prevails in your mind that Ernie Pyle… is the President of the United State’” (Tobin 29). In the midst of World War II Ernie Pyle stood out from the crowd of journalists with a style that hadn’t been seen before but spoke to American readers all over both on the home front and abroad. One writer and historian, Jordan Braverman, puts it into perspective however the lack of truth of some reporting by saying, “Soldiers were known to have huddled in foxholes under heavy aerial bombardment, while their radios were telling them that U.S. forces had complete control of the skies in their battle sector” (Braverman 84). It wasn’t just radio that did this but also print media that both wasn’t always accurate and could be seen as having alternative motives in their writing. One reader summed it up as “you read Lippman for wisdom. Pegler for controversy, Winchell for gossip, but Pyle you read for sustenance in difficult times” (Tobin 28). Echoing this feeling, one deliveryman proclaimed “‘the trouble with these column guys is they want to organize the world… except Pyle. Throw the rest away, but gimme Pyle’” (Tobin 28). Ernie Pyle began his career as a columnist before World War II had begun, and so did his development of distinct aspects of journalism that he carried through his Word War II columns and brought with them a new light to journalism. Roy Howard himself the head of the Scripps-Howard Publishing company wired Pyle a message during the war. It read, “‘ YOUR STUFF IS NOT ONLY GREATEST YOUR CAREER… BUT MOST ILLUMINATING HUMAN AND APPEALING DESCRIPTIVE MATTER PRINTED AMERICA SINCE OUTBREAK BATTLE BRITAIN…YOUR STUFF TALK OF NEW YORK’” (Tobin 57-58). Pyle gathered inform...

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...f the war seeing it first hand. However even with his gained authority as a writer and his appeal to his audiences it must be considered the cost at which his different style of journalism was compromised in the process. Although we imagine reporters saying what they want and feel most important to share, it must be considered that beyond the censoring they face, they need to keep their job. If they write with a voice their audience doesn’t like, an honesty that people find offensive or to overwhelming to name only a few concerns if their audience doesn’t read their articles, they lose their job. Also because Pyle wrote from within the army he had to keep them pleased with him and comfortable sharing their stories. In a few cases the ____ even invited him along secret events because they trusted him to report about the event in a way that suits both him and theirs.