Comm455/History of Journalism

41 hours after an explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia that trapped 13 miners, the nation woke up relieved to see headlines reporting 12 of the 13 miners alive. Headlines in newspapers like USA Today screamed that twelve miners had beaten the odds.  However, joy and happiness turned into grief and anger as […]

The British Broadcasting Company, or BBC, is the largest media source in the world, employing about 23,000 staff members. The BBC not only reports the news, but produces television, music, and other genres of entertainment and information. It’s quite diverse, the say the very least. What’s so interesting about the BBC as well is the […]

“I want to vomit,” wrote blogger Jennifer Wright. So do reporters at The Telegraph, according to Wright. Over the weekend, Facebook launched a new relationship page for couples; quite similar to the friendship pages that launched about a year ago. The new site is facebook.com/us. If you’re in a relationship, I suggest checking it out. […]

Last Tuesday, Americans voted to keep President Obama in office. Voters turned out in historic numbers to re-elect the incumbent and add democratic seats to the Senate. Though Republicans maintain the majority in the House, this election was clearly a democratic victory. 20 female Democrats, one openly gay, will serve in the 113th Congress. Our extremely diverse […]

After the Great War America was depressed and looking for something to wash away their memories. They found sport. Throughout the 1920s Americans slowly fell in love with sport through the exploits of Jack Dempsey, Man O’ War, The Four Horseman of Notre Dame, and the biggest name of all, Babe Ruth. With the invention of the automobile […]

Just about 15 years into the ‘online era,’ newspapers are suffering — but not as bad as was once thought. Besides the fact that daily newspaper circulation has been dropping every year for the past two decades, newspaper companies still experience decent business for a world overwhelmed by the Internet and electronic news. The case […]

The presidential election may be over, but it is still not too late to honor the women journalists who made a difference in the coverage of the 2012 campaign. In September, C-SPAN introduced this video, in which women journalists analyze the 2012 election. The internet is full of posts such as this, ranking the best […]

The ethical aspects of journalism are always strained around the time of a US presidential election and the 2012 race was not exempt of the abuse of social media outlets.  Because everyone can be a publisher now, most felt entitled in posting their bias through Facebook, Twitter, and other public forums.  Lacking professional training in […]

Norway is a relatively small country with a population of around five million and a geographical area slightly less than the state of California.  There are more people of Norwegian descent living in America than in Norway.  Despite it’s small size, Norway is a culturally rich country that has made many contributions to worldwide media. […]

Donald Trump released a now viral video on October 24th, in which he promised the world that he would donate 5 million dollars to the charity of President Barack Obama’s choice under 2 conditions: Obama would have to release his college records and applications, as well as all of his passport records and that he […]

With the 2012 presidential campaign drawing to a close today, the polls are still in a deadlock. Not only does every vote count, but so does every minute, every dollar, and every endorsement. Not only do celebrities and other public figures endorse politicians, but newspapers also openly endorse presidential and senate candidates. The Loudoun Times […]

Does anyone remember Alf Landon?  No, right.  In 1936, Landon was predicted by the Literary Digest, a respected magazine at the time,  to win in a landslide over incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Literary Digest had predicted correctly the last five elections, but this one mistake would change the landscape of exit polling for years […]