Comm455/History of Journalism

On March 25, 2015,  Indiana passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill allows businesses who oppose homosexuality the right to turn away gays, lesbians, and transgenders due to religious reasons. Indiana’s passing of this bill was met with much controversy, but now in 2016 two states are following in Indiana’s footsteps. Georgia and North Carolina have similar bills being looked over in their state government.

Georgia’s Free Exercise Protection Act states that

religious officials are not required to perform marriage ceremonies in violation of their legal rights to free exercise of religion.

The bill protects officials from being forced to perform same-sex marriages, but also allows faith-based organizations to refuse services to homosexuality due to a violation of their faith.

Georgia’s bill is causing issues with major organizations. The NFL could deny Atlanta’s bid to host the Super Bowl in 2019. The Atlanta Falcons are building a new stadium that would open in time to be able to host the big game. Disney has spoken out saying that

We will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law.

Netflix as well will move productions out of Georgia if bill is passed into law.

Companies are threatening to pull their businesses out of Georgia if the bill is passed. CREDIT: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2016/03/24/cbs-hits-panic-button-rails-against-religious-freedom-bills-georgia

North Carolina enacted a bill that no longer protects the LGBT community. The North Carolina state bill created a statewide law that would ban discrimination on the basis of

Race, religion, color, national origin or biological sex at business and other places of public accommodation.

It’s interesting to see that the law does not protect sexual orientation and gender identity from discrimination.

As of March 28, 2016, Governor Nathan Deal (R) has stated that he will veto the bill. 

No Discrimination in Georgia. CREDIT: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/23/disney-marvel-threaten-boycott-ga-religion-bill/

One of the infamous voices on radio in Los Angeles is Kurt “Big Boy” Alexander. Big Boy is the host of Big Boy’s Neighborhood on Real 92.3 LA. Airing Monday through Saturday 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. His radio show are known for its R&B and Hip-Hop mixes and infamous interviews.

Big Boy’s Neighborhood CREDIT: http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/72214/big-boy-s-neighborhood-going-global-dial-global

Big Boy is an interactive host who is willing to sing and freestyle with his guests in the studio. Big Boy’s Neighborhood is also well known for their infamous phone taps. For over 20 years, Big boy has been entertaining his listeners with his humor and heart. Recently Big Boy stated,

I’ve been blown away by the love and support of my listeners this past year. Together, we’ve been building something special over the past 20 years.

Throughout the years, Big Boy has been honored by the Radio Music Awards and Radio and Records magazine as Personality of the Year. In 2015, Big Boy was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Below are some clips of Big Boy’s interviews, freestyles, and phone taps.

Imagine how you would feel after a tornado hits your town, but your home was untouched. You would feel amazing, blessed even. Now imagine coming home the next day, only to find a demolishing company demolishing your home before realizing their mistake! Now how would you feel? Not too happy.

Well this is what happened in Rowlett, Texas last week. Home owner Lindsay Diaz came home that Tuesday to find her home being mistakenly demolished.

“Boom. Just like the tornado came through again,” home owner Lindsay Diaz says.

The house that was meant to be demolished was the house on Cousteau Drive, which was a block over. To make matters worse, when Diaz called the president of the company that demolished her home, he started making excuses!

Nabors CEO George Gomez said the crew that was assigned to the project thought they tore the correct home down until they realized otherwise. He later said the situation was “no big deal.” There seems to be no sympathy for their mistake or for the effects on the Diaz family because of this mistake.

Diaz says there hasn’t been an apology for their mistake since it happened. Now they have to look to rebuild their home.

Actress and Pop star, Lady Gaga celebrated her 30th birthday at the No Name club in Hollywood with fiancé and Chicago Fire actor Taylor Kinney, 34, and her closest celebrity friends Saturday night.

(Courtesy of E! News)

Gaga, who turned 30 on Monday, March 28, wore a glittering gold boat neck Saint Laurent fall 2016 Ready-to-Wear mini dress with a thick black belt, paired with black strappy platform peep-toe pumps and a sparkling Lorraine Schwartz choker. Kinney wore a black suit jacket, shirt and jeans.

The guest list included the birthday girl’s family members and celebrity friends such as Taylor Swift , 26, Kate Hudson, 36, Nick Jonas, 23, Suki Waterhouse, 24, Lorde, 19, Lana Del Rey, 30, Gaga’s American Horror Story co-star Kathy Bates, 67,Pharrell Williams, 42, Mark Ronson, 40, Kylie Minogue, 47, Evan Ross, 27, and wifeAshlee Simpson Ross, 31, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars Lisa Rinna, 52, andLisa Vanderpump and former cast member Taylor Armstrong, 44, and pregnant Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend.

Gaga performed at the party and according to E! News, many guests said her performance was the best part of the night. Guests mingled and danced the night away.

According to E! News, the party went on until about 3 a.m.

In October of 2014, online sports news website, Deadspin published a story that questioned what U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner has said publicly about his time playing high school football.

(Courtesy of Deadspin)

Deadspin’s story suggested Gardner didn’t play any football, but it was incorrect. Editor Tommy Craggs wrote an apology with the headline, “How Deadspin Fucked Up The Cory Gardner Story.” This headline was very blunt and straight to the point, bond to get reader’s attention for the apology.

The post explained what went wrong and Craggs also made it clear that he understood the irony from their mistakes:

“… the most damning implication of our story, that Gardner didn’t actually play high school ball, is wrong. That’s shitty of us. As serial collectors of media fuck-ups, we add this self-portrait to the gallery. For more thorough coverage, you can read Erik Wemple over at the Post. As I told Wemple—and I sincerely meant it—given that our main source went and unsaid everything he’d said 24 hours earlier, the only thing for us to do now is to eat shit.”

Not every publication can use this strong language and tone that Craggs used in his apology. What was important about this apology is that he gave himself and his staff at Deadspin attention for their false reporting and made it clear that they deserved criticism for it. He also pointed Deadspin readers to another external critic’s article as well at Washington Post.

Source: horacegreeleyfoundation.org

Horace Greeley (Feb. 3, 1811-Nov. 29, 1872) first established the New York Tribune in the year 1841. In the 1800s he was considered one of the most influential individuals in America. It was named the New York Daily Tribune from 1841 to 1866. Throughout that period it was considered the dominant Whig Party, then Republican newspaper. The New York Tribune reached a record breaking 200,000 people.

It provided its readers with a straightforward and trustworthy media source. The Tribune was unique in comparison to publications such as the New York Sun and New York Herald, both of which relied on sensationalism to flourish.

In 1852 Karl Marx was its London based European correspondent, and Friedrich Engels who wrote under his name. Notable writers included Charles Anderson Dana, George William Curtis, William Henry Fry, Margaret Fuller, etc.

The New York Tribune in its publication emphasized its opposition to slavery, after joining the Republican Party in 1854. As mentioned previously with such a large audience, it had the largest circulation in New York City. It had a significant impact on people, including voters and political decision makers.

While others focused on crime reporting and humorous human-interest stories, the Tribune was much more moralistic. It published political news, special articles, lectures, etc. The New York Tribune has been described as having been a political bible for its readers.

Greeley’s editorial columns promoted anti-slavery causes, urged educational reforms, opposed women’s suffrage, etc. Horace Greeley was also the candidate of the Democratic and Liberal Republican parties in the 1872 elections. He is also known for having popularized the famous phrase, “Go west, young man; go west!”

The New York Tribune is considered to have been one of the greatest newspapers of its time. Various issues can be viewed online at the Library of Congress.

source: www.wikiwand.com

Media literacy dramatically increased with the increase of  technology. The education systems in America, as well as other countries, use technology to increase the media literacy of their students. There are many lessons being taught that focus on learning how to use technology and teaching students how to analyze and break down different forms of media.

Even colleges are embracing media literacy, whether they know it or not. At GMU there are Active Learning Technology Classrooms that allow students to use technology in class to connect their work to larger solutions or audiences. Bringing technology into the classrooms allows students to look at media- whether it be scholarly article, youtube videos, or social media posts- and use that media to further their education. They are able to dissect videos, articles, and photos to understand their greater meaning.

https://registrar.gmu.edu/topics/alt/

Another great example of media literacy in education is this blog. The Comm455/History of Journalism blog has allowed communication and history students to look at different aspects media to analyze journalism and its importance to society today. I personally have researched the norse contributions to print journalism, media literacy, and storytelling as a form of journalism. This opportunity has allowed us to become more aware of the media and what it means in the greater scheme of journalism in the world today.

Storytelling is often seen as being only sharing folktales and entertainment. This, however, is not true. Stories are important to understanding history. Oral histories are an important way of collecting research from people that do not have a written history. Whether it is Africa American slaves sharing their stories with lawyers, such as Nat Turner‘s confessions, or a Native American storyteller sharing a myth that explains why a particular people believe what they do histories that are shared by word of mouth are important and often taken as truth.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h500.html

What turns many people away from trusting stories as valid evidence is bias. Growing up I was always told by my teachers that bias was bad and should be avoided at all costs. However, when I started college and began my career as a “historian in training” I learned something very different.

“Practically everyone is biased in some way”

Everything is biased. Even numerical studies. How something is written can completely change what it means. For example, Nat Turner’s confessions were taken down by Thomas R. Gray, a southern physician and lawyer. Because of that, historians will never know exactly what Nat Turner said, it is only known through the writing of Gray. However, these confessions are still widely used for research because it is all the evidence that we have of Turner’s confessions. Gray had bias in what he wrote down; just like there is bias in the story that you tell your friend about what you saw on vacation. You are telling the events through your eyes therefore it is a biased story.

Notice: this contains content that is NSFW.

On St. Patricks’s Day weekend, local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV was reporting on Arlington residents drinking at local pubs. Ironically, right as news anchor Kimberly Suiters asked reporter Jeff Goldberg about residents keeping their clothes on, a flasher walks in frame of the camera. Goldberg barely reacted and continued with the story.

Later, both Suiters and Goldberg referenced the incident on Twitter, however the tweets have since been deleted.

In the United States the majority of Americans own a DVR. In the context of this story, a Washingtonian could have “rewound” the broadcast to watch over the clip again. In my opinion, this makes content advisories on live TV all that more important. Mistakes in live TV can be re-uploaded online for the entire world to see not just the local audience. This means that one small flub or mistake could be seen by millions of people worldwide instead of the thousands locally. This could be damaging to an anchor or TV station’s credibility.

Recently I read on of the best articles I’d read in a while. Part feature, part investigative it’s a Washington Post article called ‘A Marine’s Convictions’ written by  reporter John Woodrow Cox. It chronicles Marine Maj Mark Thompson, who was accused of sleeping with two students while a teacher at the Naval Acadamy– an offense that could result in being barred from the service. It asks the question — Is he innocent?

Using a refined attentional to detail, visceral descriptions and the reinforcement of audio Cox told the story so eloquently and grippingly that I went and read a bulk more of his articles.

The first and second place winner in 2014 for a Society for Features Journalism’s Short Feature award and finalist for Scripps Howard’s Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Storytelling, he is easily one of the best storytellers in the industry.

With 2,147 Twitter followers, why isn’t he more of a celebrity? Why do people opt to tweet and retweet what Anderson Cooper(7.32M followers) says and not a phenomenal writer like John Woodrow Cox?

It largely has to do with our society, how we create celebrities, and most importantly — reach.

Correspondents developed because publishers wanted to tell the news of abroad. There simply wasn’t a need for correspondents with spoken word — the people were  the correspondents. With the development of the printing press and moveable type, information was able to spread vastly, feeding the appetite for news. Correspondents expanded the news and helped to deliver the news at a faster pace.

Anderson Cooper, works in the same sense. He has a farther reach and therefore, is able to spread the news and satisfy the need for news to more people. He aids in helping people to feel ‘in the loop’ because if they are watching it, more likely than not, a friend is watching it as well. Why does that matter? Because there is an intense need to be informed and ‘ready’ for discussion. A celebrity correspondent is a part of that culture of need.

If you’re able to reach the masses and ‘connect’ with them, you gain celebrity, regardless often times of talent or precision. This is a concept that Michael Steven’s addresses in his book at length.

The question is, what’s more important? The correspondent delivering the news or the news itself?

-J.

Before the advent of the two-way radio, wire transmission cables covered the World War I battlefields. Although being the most technologically advance form of communication available, it did face its fair share of hurdles on enemy territory especially around rough and mountainous terrain.

This is where the pigeon comes in. With the ability to fly at speeds of 60 miles per hour and cover 600 miles in a single journey, they were the practical choice for sending messages over long distances. With designated American soldiers hoisting their carrier pigeon along with them, messages were handed down from military officers, written down, tucked into a capsule located on the pigeon’s foot and sent to fly back to the home coop.

One of the most famous war pigeons goes by the french name Cher Ami, which translates to dear friend in English.  Her story begins on the day of Oct. 4th, 1918. In the harrowing tale of courage, Major Charles Whittlesey and 500 American soldiers are pinned down on a hill behind enemy lines with no supplies. Facing German soldiers on one side and friendly artillery fire on the other, Cher Ami is sent on her infamous journey back to the home coop with the message:

” We are along the road parallel to 276.4.

Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us.

For heaven’s sake, stop it.”

Barraged by bullets on the German side, Cher Ami suffered an injury to her foot but managed to complete her 25 mile journey back to base. Horrified by the news of bad artillery trajectory, the shelling ceased and saved the lives of 194 American soldiers. Although Cher Ami did succomb to her wounds, she received the Dickin medal for the valiant service.

Today, Cher Ami can be found in her immortalized form at the Smithsonian Institute offering the tale of her legendary status to anyone willing to stop by.

Circulation has always been a critical part of the business of journalism as well as the practical reason for producing journalism in the first place. We can see examples of this throughout the history of journalism as well as today.

When the first mass media outlets in the form of printers who owned printing presses arose the one thing that kept them down was lack of circulation. Due to a lack of literacy and the expense of printing circulation was low so there were not many newspapers.

As printing became cheaper and printed materials were more accessible to the common man, literacy rose. With the rise in literacy came a hunger for printed information, giving the printers the circulation they needed to run weekly or even daily newspapers.

Circulation in 2014                                             Credit: Pew Research Center

Today we have seen the same factors that originally led to an increase in circulation now cause the opposite. Technological advances like the Internet and social media have actually lowered circulation among newspapers.

As the news business has become more and more competitive, online editions and the free availability of news has increased. This increase has caused users to turn away from traditional sources for the cheaper alternative.

Digital versions of the New York Times      Credit: http://www.nytimes.com

Many newspaper companies, at least the ones that have survived, have adjusted their business model to reach the audience that has left them. An example of this can be seen in the New York Times, which has a print edition, online edition, phone or device edition, and a feature that sends stories to users email addresses.

Subscription offers for all of these can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com

All of this shows the importance of circulation not only for the business of journalism, but also for journalism itself. Without circulation, journalism is not only unaffordable to produce but also pointless, as producing journalism has no practical use without an audience to consume it.