History of Journalism Project
Based on the introduction from The Element of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel, you will research and present periods of “significant, social, economic, and technological change” (13). The thesis of this book is that during these periods news goes through “momentous transitions” and that we are in one of these periods right now. The objective is to have you examine how this worked in the past to better understand the present, and also to be able to project how the news might be covered in the near future. Working in groups of three (or four), you will research and present the following seven periods: 1830’s - 1860’s – Telegraph, cheaper printing methods, population growth leads to dramatic increase in newspapers. Include Civil War coverage of the 1860’s Important Papers: New York Sun, New York Herald, New York Tribune, New York Times. Beginning of Associated Press People: Benjamin Day, James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greeley 1880’s – Telephone, typewriter, typesetter, engraving and drops in the price of paper combine with huge influx of immigrants to create powerful newspaper industry. Yellow Journalism. Important Papers: New York World & Sunday World, New York Journal, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor People: Joseph Pulitzer, Morrill Goddard, William Randolph Hearst, Adolph S. Ochs 1920’s – 40’s Movies (newsreels), radio, and culture of gossip give rise to newspaper chains. Important Papers: Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard. Associated Press reorganized and becomes cooperative. Consolidations led to fewer newspapers but higher readership. Morning and Evening editions. People: E.W. Scripps, Louella Parsons, Edward R. Murrow (radio), H.V. Katelborn (radio) 1950’s – Television and the Cold War News Networks: CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS People: Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Chet Huntley, Edward R. Murrow 1980’s & 1990’s – Satellites, Cable Television news stations, and improvements in digital technology create a revolution in mass communications. Newspapers & Networks: CNN, AOL, MSNBC, USA Today, e-mail and the Internet. People: Ted Turner, Allen Neuharth, Rupert Murdoch Present - Media mergers (convergence), Online news, weblogs, digital photo-journalism, Political bias Internet & Broadcast News Outlets: Google News, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News People: Bill O’Reilly, Matt Drudge, Anderson Cooper Future – cell phones, broadband, podcasting and videocasting, participatory journalism, RSS, personalization of news
This will be a brief research project. You will post the pieces you collect and develop on your own weblog. Later, you will assemble these pieces on a subpage of the J1 class weblog. You will present this material to the class after the break.
To get started, divide up the work. If you are not in the Present or Future Group, do this in the following way: One person in your group should be responsible for gathering information and visuals on social, economic, and technological change during your assigned time period. One person should be responsible for gathering information and visuals on the important people of your time period. Find short biographies that focus on their importance to the news industry. One person should be responsible for finding visuals and information on the major newspapers and news events of your time period. You should be able to show the class how newspapers and the news changed during your time period. Present a news article (or audio or video file) covering one of the major news events. Focus on innovations in presenting and telling news stories and how the look of the news changed. In the Present and Future Groups, each person should be responsible for one of the topics listed in the description. Some important information resources: www.biography.com – can be a resource for people. ProQuest (through the IMC’s electronic resources) – contains newspaper articles from all over the country from the past 20 years. http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decades.html – provides social and cultural history of the 19 th and 20th centuries. http://www.nytco.com/company-timeline-2001.html – The history of the New York Times with lots of visuals. http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/1980s.shtml - A capsule history of online news and information systems. Good for groups doing the 1980’s and future of journalism http://poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=75953&sid=26 – another excellent timeline examining the media from 1969-1998. http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/history/journal.htm – brief overview of newspapers in the 1830’s & 40’s. http://www.otr.com/news.html – contains brief biographies of important radio broadcasters with links to radio clips. http://web.missouri.edu/%7Esmga48/ - short history of technology and broadcasting 1920-1990. http://www.museum.tv/home.php - a nice resource from the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Contains a video clip on the 10 th anniversary of FoxNews along with information on broadcast and Network news in the Encyclopedia of Television section. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/murrow_e.html – A brief companion site to a PBS program on Edward R. Murrow with links to other sites.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/seeitnow/seeitnow.htm - The site contains historical information about “See it Now” from the Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC), as well as “Hear it Now,” Murrow’s previous radio show with Fred Friendly. It explores his attitude towards early television and his opening line of the TV program when it began: “This is an old team trying to learn a new trade.”
The Present: http://www.journalism.org – a good site for an analysis of the news media in the present. They put out a report each year (starting in 2004 on The State of the Media. http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.com/2006/index.asp They also have shorter more focused pieces on a variety of topics here: http://www.journalism.org/node/1760 (Blogging and Online Journalism), and http://www.journalism.org/node/353 (Media Mergers) among others. Future of Journalism Articles: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1062631458.php – A panel of journalists share their thoughts on where Web journalism has been, and where it's likely to go. http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=14501 - The Web and the Future of Writing from The Poynter Institute for Journalists http://www.carnegie.org/reporter/10/news/index.html - an article on “Abandoning the News” and new forms of journalism that might emerge. http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/5/blog-welch.asp – nice concise study of the impact of blogging on journalism. http://www.journalism.org/node/2390- a discussion of the future of cell phones and journalism http://bayosphere.com/blog/dan_gillmor/20050923/grassroots_medias_potential_better_journalis m_and_democracy - a discussion about the future of “participatory journalism from a leading advocate. Resources for Visuals of the News: 1830-1880s – Demonstrate what newspapers looked like and how they covered major stories through the Historical New York Times offered through the IMC’s electronic databases or go to http://www.nytco.com/company-timeline-2001.html. 1920s-1940s – Play a radio news report or newsreel to demonstrate how news was presented differently through these mediums. Edward R. Murrow radio reports from 1939 and the Forties: http://www.otr.com/murrow.shtml 1950s – Play a short video from a network news program. http://mbc.dcms.ihost.com/mbc/ams a clip from Murrow’s See It Now http://mbc.dcms.ihost.com/mbc/ams Documentary clips on the effect of television news 1980s & 90s - http://www.triotv.com/feeding_the_beast/explore/index.html - this site contains video
clips from Feeding the Beast: The 24-Hour News Revolution that illustrates the changes during the 1980s & 1990s.
http://www.museum.tv/home.php - Contains a video clip on the 10 th anniversary of FoxNews. Present – Compare a news article or video to a blog on the same topic. Popular news blogs include: The Buzzmachine (http://buzzmachine.com/), Little Green Footballs (http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/), The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/), and the Daily Koz (http://www.dailykos.com/). Future - http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/ - EPIC 2014 – a short video presentation created by the Museum of Media History in which projects where trends in the media may take us in the near future.
Each section of your presentation should open with a brief overview of that particular aspect of the time period. This information should be summarized in such a way that it fits on the computer screen without having to do much scrolling down. It should include at least two hyperlinks to more in-depth information along with pictures, graphs, cartoons, etc. to visually depict changes in society, technology and news coverage. Requirements: Each group’s presentation should contain at least four different sources (three different biographies on biography.com counts as one source). Each page should highlight the important points of each aspect on journalism in the time period. Each weblog page should incorporate visuals to aid in the understanding of the text. Each group’s presentation should include at least three hyperlinks to sites with more extensive information. Each group’s presentation should discuss three of the nine elements of journalism and how they apply to the news of the time period. Each group should present a discussion question that can’t be answered easily by the information presented. It should connect in some way with one of the elements of journalism.
GRADING: You will be graded individually on your section of the weblog, but the presentation, and the way pieces fit together, will be a group grade. Content of Section (Individual): Briefly provides an overview Includes all major points Emphasizes relationship to Journalism Contains at least one hyperlink to an article from the time period or more extensive information Lists Sources Used _______/30 Visual/Audio of Section (Individual) Clearly Labeled, Easy to Read, and Well Designed Pictures enhance content and serve as a point of entry Includes a visual or audio representation of how the news was presented differently ______/25 Presentation (Group) Content and Site are clearly explained Elaborates on Key Points Presented Transitions from one Section and Group member to another Emphasizes the Relationship and Impact of one section on another References three elements of journalism Presents a discussion question which requires a thoughtful response and connects with an element of journalism. ______/30
THE LAST 15 POINTS FOR THIS 100 POINT PROJECT WILL COME FROM A POST ON YOUR WEBLOG IN WHICH YOU RELATE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM YOUR TIME PERIOD TO TWO OTHERS (ONE MUST BE THE FUTURE).