Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Mightier Than the Sword
What, in reading about the history of American journalism, surprised you the most? A particular incident? A particular personage? A particular development or trend? Briefly explain why (but in more than one hurried sentence). Please post your response by 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.
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In “Mightier than the sword”, I feel what surprises me is the motivation people use to have. I know I was not there and all I have to reference are articles and books like this, but these people in my eyes truly believed in what they wrote and did not have alternative motives. People worked hard for their country and not for left or right or corporate interest but for the advancement of the colonies and America. In the chapter about the pamphlet “Common sense” written by Thomas Paine, it is inspiring how with the write message and spirit a single person can change the world for the better. I feel what is missing in today’s world is transparency. As Americans we are taught to look at the fine print so that we are not tricked into following the wrong message. Although most of the time many people do not take an interest in where a message is coming from, which to me is a sign of laziness or lack of devotion. As the world grows I do understand how people can feel unimportant to the grand scheme of politics or social change considering how hard it is to get your message to the people who can actually do something. Another way of looking at it is the world will listen when it is ready. The only thing you can hope for is that it is not too late.
A lot of what "Mightier than the Sword" explains is what I am familiar with. I definitely wasn't aware of all the individual events and incidents that occurred but I understood the general idea that starting centuries ago, the media and the press had a very large part in shaping society. One thing that I found especially surprising was the role the media played in the spread of antisemitism. I didn't know there were anti-semitic papers in the U.S. and I had never heard of Father Charles E. Coughlin, the Roman Catholic priest who had a weekly radio broadcast and weekly magazine that sent the message that Jews were "evil, money-hungry conspirators who had infiltrated American life and were destroying every value that Christian people held sacred." Not only was this unbelievable to me that one individual could use the media to convey such a biased and discriminatory message, but he reached millions of people a week, more than third of the country's population. This really emphasized the fact that the media has an enormous impact on the way people think and plays a large part in how they form their opinions. Sensationalist, incorrect and biased information was being transferred back then.
Another issue that I thought was well explained and finally got the attention it deserved was how the media handled the 9/11 attacks. Streitmatter points out that the media did provide a large amount of essential information about the attacks, where they occurred and people involved; however it failed to explain why the attacks occurred, what these people's motives were, therefore it was very difficult for Americans to respond to what they didn't fully understand. It's indicative of how the media handles any tricky international issue. It doesn't provide any in depth coverage it just gives the bare minimum so Americans aren't informed enough to start asking the hard questions that would cause officials to actually respond in a more concrete way, such as when handling unstable countries in Africa and the Middle East.
In "Mightier than the sword", I found chapter nine the most interesting. Chapter nine dealt with women in the workplace during WWII. I knew that an unprecedented amount of women went to work during the war but I did not know how big a part the media played in it.
I really enjoyed how Streitmatter descirbed all the tactics the media used to get women to work. The Christian Science Monitor decribed woprking women as "Alluring Grable-like damsels, clad in slacks and banadannas and oozing glamour from every pore". Its amazing how they tried and made working women the most glamourous and more fashionable than house wives. Life called the working girl the "Glamour girl of 1942". The most shoxking part in the chapter for me was the quote from NEw York Times that read "ALl responsible people connected with industry today agree that women are equal to men as far as being able to do almost any industrial job". For women that was a big turning point during that time. instead of women working being seen as a husbands' failure it was seen as such a positive and necessary aspect of life. It was really good to see how fast the media had changed the social stigma of women working.
After reading the chapter I bagan to wonder what the articles said when the men came back from the War. I wonder if they were still positive toward women working or if they wanted to get men their jobs back.
The most memorable section of the book, so far, for me is the chapter on the abolition. Most particularly was the telling of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy’s passionate battle. Lovejoy fought for his beliefs through words and not only fought to free slaves, but to maintain freedom of the press. After the destruction of three of Lovejoy’s printing presses he still fought hard to save his fourth one. The image of Lovejoy standing in the warehouse as the roof was lit ablaze and him running out with a gun to shoot the man starting the fire was very powerful. This journalist, even among an angry mob, still came out with his gun raised to protect what others sought to destroy. I could only imagine what Lovejoy must have been thinking as he ran out of that warehouse. Did he give a fleeting gaze to the printing press he knew he would be dying for? Lovejoy was the first martyr of journalism in my mind. This is something that I think people need to be reminded of. Things didn’t used to be as easy as they are today. People had to fight just to get their voice heard and accepted. Today we openly accept most intellectual discussions that don’t breach towards hate speech. Any time I read about a journalist, in the past or present, losing their life trying to report the truth I feel validation towards pursuing a journalism career. There are people that truly want to make a change and Mightier Than The Sword truly shows a selection of these people.
The section I thought was most interesting in Rodger Streitmatter's "Mightier Than The Sword" was the chapter on the media coverage (or non-coverage) of the September 11th attacks. I was definitely shocked that it was actually written in a published book that the media left out crucial information that all of America needed and wanted to know. Not knowing the reason for the attacks affected the action that was taken to fight against them and also created a lot of questioning about the actions taken. The chapter clearly points out this fact, as well as the unclear nature of the event overall by the American public since there couldn't be a full understanding with the "why" question remaining unanswered. I appreciate the fact that the chapter also addressed the vagueness of George W. Bush's explanation for why it was justified that we enter a war with Iraq. I remember clearly and the chapter demonstrates also that the media definitely covered the who, what, where, when of the September 11th attacks, however, I thought it was definitely important that Streitmatter addressed the lack of the "why" in the media concerning that monumental event.
One of the passages I found most interesting is how the press slowed the suffrage movement. The press allowed their selfishness to prevail. I think this passage put an interesting perspective on the news media of the time. Nearly 40 years prior to the suffrage movement, the press served as the mouthpiece for independence during the revolution. But now, it tried to suppress women because the business model had already been created.
The press, through society, had defined men as purveyors of business and politics and women as tenders of the household. But the suffrage movement changed that, however the press didn’t want it to change—magazines like Ladies Magazine and Weekly Magazine were already established to distract women from social inequalities, and the press didn’t want to lose money that way.
The selfishness of the press isn’t really what surprises me here, but rather that they promoted the oppression. I think the most absurd part of this incident was how the press responded sarcastically and condescendingly to the Declaration of Sentiments; calling them crazy and dull, and saying the proposal was “hardly worth notice.”
I have to agree with Joseph that in ”Mightier than the Sword” the most surprising aspect was how devoted people were. The first few chapters really depicts how journalists used their words to stand up for something they believed in. They were murdered, tortured, you name it, all for standing up for a cause. Journalists today are not that dedicated.
Thomas Paine and Elijah P. Lovejoy dedicated their lives to standing up for things they believed in. They informed the people of the wrong doing that was going on and tried to get them to change it. As a journalism major in today‘s media-driven society, I was starting to lose faith in journalism. Even though this all happened two hundred years ago, its refreshing to be reminded of how it all got started. That there was a purpose for journalists that did not involve who wore what on the red carpet. Hopefully, this downfall of journalism today will not be the end of it, that we can pick ourselves back up again and figure out a way to be as dedicated as journalists used to be.
In reading "Mightier Than the Sword," what surprised me the most was the chapter on Father Coughlin. Father Coughlin was a pastor of a church in a suburb of Detroit. He broadcasted weekly sermons based on news events and issues of the day on Detroit's WJR radio station. His success yielded thousands of letters and financial contributions to his community, donning him the "Radio Priest" and a contract to speak nationwide on CBS Radio.
After advocating a third party in the 1936 election and failing miserably to try and gain support for it, Coughlin turned the focus of his national broadcasts to Anti-Semitism. Coughlin claimed that "gold-hoarding Jews" were the center to the "present misery," meaning the Great Depression. As his broadcasts became "weekly attacks on Jews," radio stations directed him to submit his future scripts 48 hours in advance before being aired. When he refused, the stations dropped him from their schedules. It was "the first time in the history of American journalism that a radio station condemned one of its own speakers."
Father Coughlin left radio after fourteen years. His track record included: 1) creating the Christian Front, a group that condemned FDR as the leader of the American Jews, 2) praising a comparison of him to Hitler, saying Hitler was an admirable man who bestowed pride in his country and that his Naziism was created to defend Germany from the Jews' introduction of communism, and 3) creating an Anti-Semitic magazine called "Social Justice," which in 1942 was charged with violating the Espionage Act.
This passage was intriguing mostly because I had never heard of Father Coughlin before taking this class. With audiences of almost 45 million radio listeners at one point, he can be classified as one of the most powerful speakers of all times. He was so well-spoken in his spread of Anti-Semitism and his articulation and rhetoric were revered by the American people. He was America's Hitler. As a controversial figure in American history, Coughlin successfully showed how powerful radio served as a medium of information in the 1930's.
One of the most compelling stories involved with the history of American journalism is the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Maybe it strikes my interest because I’ve been working in the food industry for many years but it seems unimaginable to package and sell some of the food and drugs that were being sold. Upton Sinclair played a major role in uncovering the horrors involved with the meat business, including stories of men falling into machines and being ground up with other meat and sold. It’s hard to believe those kinds of things were going on but without regulation, anything goes. That is the same for the drugs being produced at the time. Some baby medications contained as much as forty percent alcohol and cocaine and opium. How was this kind of product being sold? Thankfully Edward Bok, Editor of Ladies’ Home Journal and Samuel Hopkins Adams, writer of eleven articles titled “The Great American Fraud” for Collier’s Weekly, helped expose the dangers of patent medicines. This investigative journalism along with public outcries influenced President Roosevelt to pass laws that regulated drugs and foods, including the meat and agricultural industry. A law that should have been in place as soon as any kind of food or drug was being sold but I suppose people didn’t know better or were too hungry to care what they were eating.
In reading “Mightier than the Sword” I found a few interesting topics that I had only a basic knowledge of. One topic, which is illustrated in chapter seven, was of most recent interest to me as it discussed the media influences of the Klu Klux Klan during the early 1920s alongside The New York World’s influence towards the Klan and the public’s knowledge of them. The chapter illustrates some beginning journalistic battles with the Klan and explains that there was a three way split on KKK reporting: some papers wrote nothing, some papers only reported news about the Klan, and a select few made the effort to investigate the foundations of the KKK and, as truthfully as possible, report what they saw. The New York World set a precedent for KKK reporting in the 1920s when reporter Rowland Thomas embarked on an investigation of the Klan’s rapid uprising. Thomas uncovered and reported the extensive funds that the KKK was raising, for example there was a reported $40 million in initiation fees. Historically speaking, I thought it was amazing that Thomas was able to collect and print the applications that were completed in order to join the Klan. Revealing the questions that the application included, such as “Were both of your parents born in the United States”, really showed the public a side to the KKK that they might never have been able to see. Thomas also revealed criminal reports of various Klan members to further show the negativity that this group had been founded on. The World defined the KKK as “substitutes [for] terrorism, replacing trial and punishment of offenders with anonymous threats and masked infliction of vengeance.”(114). The World later won a Pulitzer Prize for this truly investigative reporting which also helped sales of the paper as the investigation and various editorials ran through multiple issues and kept readers eyes. This seems to me the way a paper should work and this historical event is interesting to me because of Thomas’ and The New York World’s ability to set a precedent in reporting about the KKK and their refusal to turn away from such an unethical and anti-American institution.
The chapter I found most interesting was the the one about the Klu Klux Klan. I think its interesting how the media was really what fired up the expanision of this hate and racist group. The newspapers were egging them on by offering them free publicity. This was how the KKK advertised to the public. Not only were they then able to get people to join based on the beliefs of the klan and their actions, but people against the government joined aboard just for the rebellion that was happening.These newspapers reporting on the KKK made it become the largely well known infamous hate group when possibly if they had just not created a story out of it, it may not have gotten the same strength and reputation it had.Im curious to think of what other situation in todays time has been thrown out of proportion due to the media. While reading about how the three newspapers impacted the KKK situation during its time I became most interested in the example of Grover Cleveland Hall and how he used his power in the media to spread opposition to the KKK. He was able to get other news papers such as the New York Times and the Milwaukee Journal to print and reprint statements favor of passing a bill to ban the wearing of their masks. In the end he was awarded the highest journalism honor and was given a Pultizer Prize for his efforts in defying the Klan.
I took a Women's history class a few semesters ago and we talked about people like Stanton and Anthony and even the press a little. What really surprised me was the negative response the press had with women's suffrage. I couldn't believe that I had never heard about the nasty attacks of the press. I do agree with the idea that in this case - any press is good press. It showed that women were uniting and brought attention to the matter. Women who were afraid to speak out now knew that others were and they, too, began to find their voice. I was reading with disgust the terrible things that the press wrote about these women and men who supported them. I knew that there was a negative reaction to the suffrage movement but the extent was surprising. Along with that - later in the book with the Rosie the Riveter chapter, women were expected to be a strong force. The news supported them and gave them positive reinforcement to be strong and more independent by working outside the home for the war effort.
Another thing that really grabbed my attention was that the first black newspaper - Freedom's Journal - didnt really address slavery. It was very surprising that white publications were so much more vocal in supporting anti-slavery.
In the first chapter of "Mightier than the Sword" I found the people and acts described very intriguing. I remember learning about these events in grade school but this definitely refreshed my memory. Of course, I had heard the name Sam Adams before both in school, and at the bar, but it never really occurred to me how revolutionary his thoughts and writings were. In developing the "Journal of Occurrences" he gave a voice to the people whose daily lives were being jeopardized by the British soldiers. The story that most shocked me was about the elderly woman who was raped by a soldier. Although credibility became an issue in reference to the stories published in the Journal of Occurrences, it is my personal opinion that most, if not all, of what was written was true.
I also enjoyed reading about Tom Paine and the "Common Sense" pamphlet which made him famous. He inspired a whole nation of people to stand up for the rights they deserved and fought for. As the excerpt states he was the "Voice of Inspiration." I was particularly moved when i read about Paine's "Crisis" essay and after it was read to the suffering American troops it motivated them to win the battle at Trenton.
In the past, journalists have had so much more positive motivation behind what they wrote compared to the writings of journalists today. Their writing was radical and they were publicly representing the people for the first time in American history. Personally, reading this chapter reminded me why I am a Journalism major.
I found that a couple stories in "Mightier than the sword" surprised me somewhat. The chapter about african americans in journalism was very interesting and I did not know they were involved to the extent that Streitmatter writes about. I did not know the first black newspaper was "Freedom's Journal" which was founded in New York City. The weekly promoted education and saw it as a way for african americans to prosper in the new society. Unfortunately the weekly only last two years because papers depended on advertising and there were few businesses who wanted to advertise in an african american newspaper.
The other story I found interesting was the media coverage on the 9/11 attacks. The media did a good job about portraying the people who were effected by the attacks but they left out crucial parts about why these attacks even happened. We saw the same horrible images of the towers being hit over and over again but the media never talked about the motives for these attacks. This information being left out made it harder for the American people to understand what exactly happened.
What struck me the most in my reading about the history of American journalism was the amount of courage and heroicism that was involved. Journalism mobilized social revolution- and those involved stopped at nothing to reveal corruption and promote public rights, even if it meant their own personal safety was at risk. Journalists wanted to reach the masses, so they wrote in a direct and focused manner to make it clear that citizens are the ones that can initiate change.
I especially loved reading Elijah Lovejoy's story. It was a story about a person who truly valued individual rights, education and freedom- he spoke earnestly of freedom of the press and public opinion as something not to take advantage of. Anyone who was against this were labeled "enemies of freedom." Could any journalist openly call governmental officials "enemies of freedom" today and be as respected and publically admired as journalists such as Lovejoy and Garrison were then?
Nothing is as perfect and ideal as it seems, however. I was very sad to read of the demobilization of women's rights by way of the press. The oppression white males who have always lead this country administer did not stop even in the name of journalism when this occurred. "So perish all compromises of tyranny", a quote stated by Garrison, was not the principle when journalists failed to promote the women's social movement. Had the press encouraged women's suffrage, it would have definitely advanced with more force and steadfastness than it did.
Although it surprised and disappointed me that the press trivialized the women's movement, what Lucretia Mott said in 1855 is very true: "The press went through three stages in regard to reforms; first they ridicule them, then report them without comment, and at last openly advocate them." When it is not the journalist who is benefiting, he might not promote a movement... something we see today, as the journalistic head honchos have a lot more to loose than gain when speaking openly about corruption. However, the more citizens question their government, which today the press is, lets face it, a part of, the more motivation there is for the promotion of equality. We just have to get to that questioning step in order for that to happen!
In "Mightier than the Sword" I found that Chapter 5 "Journalism as a Warmonger" was the most intriguing chapter. In this chapter Rodger Streitmatter explains how Yellow Journalism developed and incidentally initiated a series of events; especially the Spanish American War. I think it is fasciniating that the words of leading publishers William Randolph Hearst and Jospehp Pulitzer could have such a powerful imapct on the decisions of this nation. However, I do wonder whether or not these two men are really worthy of all the merit they have been given over time. Ultimately, they did make the most powerful use of journalism, but is manipulating the country into the war worthy of praise? I suppose it does show the extent to which these writers were skilled in their profession. Additionally, yellow journalism increased the circulation of newspapers and therefore raised literacy levels in America, which is always a positive thing. Streitmatter also explains how the two men craftilty made popular the "Yellow Kid" to use as their icon so that readers could have a familar symbol associated with the newspapers of these two men. Since the Yellow Kid represented an impoverished boy, he spoke to the lower classes and continually attracted readers.
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