Good Night, and Good Luck

In watching this movie, I was surprised by how easy it was to be labeled as a communist during the Red Scare. This was not only clear from Ed Murrow and Senator McCarthy's back-and-forth "broadcast battle," but also from less prominent characters in some of the smaller movie details. 

For instance, I found it interesting that Milo's interview, who was a Lieutenant in the airforce, showed how being labeled as a security guard for the communists could not only affect the person being accused but could affect their families and everyone they knew in their lives. Being accused could destroy a person and their entire family’s reputation in society. Milo talked about how his daughters would have to explain to their friends what happened to their dad and why he was being scrutinized. This is heartbreaking to think about because these are just children that were being affected by the Red Scare.

The movie shows just how dangerous it is to be a communist sympathizer by how little it takes to be scrutinized. One of the reporters in the room when Ed decided that he wanted to go after Senator McCarthy had to excuse himself because his ex-wife was a communist sympathizer and had gone to communist meetings, and even though they weren't married anymore, just simply having that connection would have hurt their mission to go after the Senator in the news. This was eye-opening for me, I didn't realize how quickly people could have their reputations tarnished. While watching the film, I thought of the Salem Witch Trials. Women were so quickly marked as witches and sentenced to death with little to no evidence, all it took was an accusation. As this move makes it abundantly clear from Ed and the Senator's back and forth, all it takes is one person to spread a lie for a person to be stuck under the communist stigma.

Another interesting aspect of the movie is how Joe and Shirley couldn't wear their wedding rings to work because at the time CBS was an anti-nepotism company and they couldn’t let anyone know that they were married. Before watching this film, I didn't know what nepotism was. While watching, I did a quick Google search and I learned that nepotism is, "favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship." This was interesting to me because I wondered if there were a lot of other couples doing the same thing as Joe and Shirley during this time.

When CBS caught Joe and Shirley being a married couple and they were given the opportunity for one of them to leave the office in order to save another colleague from being fired. I was surprised that the couple didn’t have a very angry reaction to this news, they seemed very civil and relaxed during the whole thing. It was almost as if they knew that this was going to happen eventually, I noticed.

Going back to the media feud between Ed and McCarthy, I noticed that from Senator McCarthy's end, he used lies to try and get the public to turn against Ed. Senator McCarthy fired back at Ed’s attack on him in the media by claiming that Ed was involved in communist propaganda in an attempt to ruin him and his reputation. Claiming, that if Ed was giving comfort to the enemy (the communists) he had no place being broadcast in people’s homes. McCarthy attempted to make people turn on Ed by claiming all of these things in his own broadcast and encouraging people to stand with him against Ed and his show. He claimed that Ed worked for the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), which Ed said in his own broadcast was false. This just shows how desperate people were to protect their own reputation during the Red Scare and that they would throw another person under the bus to do it.

It was intriguing how Ed and Senator McCarthy went at each other back and forth through broadcast news, attempting to discredit what the other had said about them in their previous broadcast. This just proves the power of the news and how it can be used to influence a large number of people.

I liked how Ed was very strategic with how he responded to the Senator’s broadcasts. He would clarify what was true and what was false from the objections of Senator McCarthy. This was a very clear contrast from McCarthy's responses because all he did was fire accusations at Ed instead of defending his own reputation and name, this seemed very silly to me as I was watching because it made the Senator seem guilty of what he was being accused of.

It's clear that these differences in strategic responses from Ed and McCarthy are what set them apart in the eyes of the public, from the perspective of the movie audience at least, Ed was definitely seen in a brighter light. It became evident that this was also the perception Ed's audience was having when Ed got the Senate to investigate McCarthy.

The most shocking part of the film for me was that despite how successful the media attack against Senator McCarthy was, Ed's show was still greatly reduced in air time as a result of the controversial subjects he covered and the untimely suicide of his colleague, Don Hollenbeck.

I wish the movie would have ended with Ed prevailing above the Senator for successfully showing the public his true colors and retaining air time for his show, however, I feel like the actual ending was a better representation of how the Red Scare. That period wasn't a time of success, and even undeserving people were met with devastation and lows, unfortunately, just like Ed was.

EOTO 3 Reflection

From this week's EOTO presentations, I was surprised by how much new information I learned. Some of the most intriguing presentations to me were those about the history of anonymous sources, "gotcha" journalism, celebrity journalism, The Women's Pages, and Gonzo Journalism.

History of Anonymous Sources

Something I found interesting from this presentation is that some people argue that having anonymous sources takes away from the credibility of the press. 

Some of the examples this group mentioned, such as the OJ Simpson and Judith Miller cases, I've heard of in the past. However one of the cases, Watergate, was completely new to me. 

I learned that in this case, FBI assistant director, Mark Felt, met secretly with the Washington Post journalists and Woodward and Bernstein to confirm information that lead to the impeachment trial of the President, Richard Nixon, making Mark Felt an anonymous source.

I also learned a lot about Shield Laws. Shield laws protect journalists against the disclosure of confidential information and witnesses from having to give up certain information regarding their sexual history or things like that. Another important thing this group mentioned was that it's important to understand the difference between on-the-record, on-background, on-deep background, and off-the-record. Not knowing these terms could lead to losing trust in anonymous sources.

"Gotcha" Journalism

"Gotcha" Journalism is a method used by interviewers to discredit or distrust the person being interviewed. This method is used to damage public opinion and bring up topics that people don’t usually want to be brought to the public eye. This type of journalism can also be called "Ambush" journalism or "Hidden Camera" Journalism.

Some common examples of "Gotcha" Journalism that this group mentioned include when Paul Taylor asked Gary Hart if he ever committed adultery, he had, he was having an affair (this was the first known use of "Gotcha" Journalism), and when George W Bush was asked about cocaine use by reporters.

An interesting concept that these presenters mentioned is that in this kind of journalism, interviewees can’t escape the question most times because if they say yes, they look bad if they so no they're liars.

Some commonly used devices in modern-day "Gotcha" Journalism include hidden cameras, CCTV, Bodycam footage, undercover journalists, whistleblowers, leaked documents, and paparazzi.

Celebrity Journalism

This topic was very intriguing to me because I feel like most people think they already know wall they need to know about celebrity journalism, but this presentation showed me that there are still lots of aspects to it that I wasn't aware of.

Celebrity journalism traces all the way back to the first ever interview with President, John Quincy Adams when he was interviewed by Anne Newport, clearly, this kind of reporting has been around for quite some time. However, the meaning of celebrity is actively changing, and therefore, so is this kind of journalism.

During its early days, celebrity journalism was shifting in society as it was being consistently produced and consumed. However, being able to look into the private lives of celebrities came at a cost because this coverage took away from coverage of public life and politics and what some people would consider “more important” news.

In modern-day, celebrity journalism is found in tabloids, news publications dedicated to celebrities, social media, and celebrity news programs such as E! News and Entertainment Tonight. Also, with how developed technology and social media have become, social media has given a new sense of closeness to celebrity journalism and has become very difficult to escape.

The Women's Pages

I was also very interested to learn about The Women's Pages as a female writer. These pages were originally considered sexist columns that were trying to expand the female audience by reporting on commonly feminine topics. This was because male editors and writers didn't like seeing women in the newsroom and women complained that people weren't taking them seriously. Also, male writers had no interest in writing for the female audience, as a woman this is hard to hear because women did not deserve the treatment they were getting.

WWII brought more women into journalism, this connects to my EOTO project on propaganda because I made a point that during this time, propaganda inspired women to work jobs that were typically considered "a man's job," but as soon as the men returned they were forced out of these jobs and had to go back to the roles they were used to before the war. This is a very interesting connection and only strengthens the fact that WWII was a very powerful time for women.

I also learned from this presentation that The Women's Pages were originally confined to only talking about the Four F's: food, fashion, families, and furnishings. This only reinforces how sexist men made these pages when they were first created.

Gonzo Journalism

Gonzo Journalism is a kind of journalism that uses humor, sarcasm, exaggeration, and profanity to get a point across. This kind of journalism publicly displays the reporter’s own views, observations, and experiences. This kind of writing also allows the writer to insert themselves into the story. This is not typically seen in straightforward, journalistic writing and actually goes against the typical rules of journalism.

I also learned that the Father of Gonzo Journalism was a man named Hunter S. Thompson. The term was first used by a writer in the Boston Globe to describe Thompson's work. The term "Gonzo" itself has arguable origins. Some say it was taken from south Boston Irish slang after an all-night drinking marathon whereas others say that it was named after a 1960s song called Gonzo written by James Brooker.

Thompson's most famous piece was one that he wrote for Rolling Stone called, "Fear and Loathing." This piece was so famous that it was even made into a motion picture starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. The plot of the film is about a journalist and his attorney struggling to report on a motorcycle race after a run-in with a series of drugs in Vegas.

Overall, what I learned is that Thompson didn’t just create a new form of journalism, he created a new form of thinking.

Press, Propaganda, and War EOTO

What is propaganda? Well, for many people, you've already seen some form of propaganda even if you're unaware of it. Propaganda is information, typically biased or misleading, that projects a particular political cause or perspective. 

Propaganda originally came from the Catholic Church in 1622. At this time, the church was losing some of its members and was aiming to recruit people from the New World. The original form of propaganda came from Pope Gregory XV when he created the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, otherwise known as the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The congregation was used to send missionaries West in an attempt to get indigenous people to join the Catholic Church and to spread materials and ideas. These materials became known as propaganda. 

Propaganda has been prominent at many different times throughout history. Some of the most well-known propaganda comes from WWI and WWII. 

During WWI and WWII, propaganda was used to support the war effort, summon donations, encourage enlistment, and broadcast victories in the war. Two of the most well-known propaganda pieces from these wars include Uncle Sam and Rosie The Riveter. Both Uncle Sam and Rosie the Riveter symbolize strength and a sense of urgency to encourage citizens to join forces during the war.

Uncle Sam was created during WWI by a cartoon artist by the name of James Montgomery as a symbol of the United States. Uncle Sam was created based off of two previous figures in American folklore. One of them is Yankee Doodle, named by the British to represent the American colonists during the Revolutionary War, and the other one is Brother Jonathan, a rural American who always triumphed over his difficulties in any story he was a part of.

This specific poster depicts a patriotic Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the viewer with the quote "I WANT YOU FOR THE U.S. ARMY" printed below him. Uncle Sam was made to recruit soldiers for the U.S. Army by encouraging young men to enlist in the war. The artwork was made to look like Uncle Sam's finger is pointing at you from any angle that you look at it, giving the poster a more personal appeal. 

The Uncle Sam poster was seen and received by many people throughout WWI. About 4 million copies of these posters were printed and distributed between 1917 and 1918.

Uncle Sam was undoubtedly an effective tool during the war as an additional 2 million men volunteered for the war as a result and approximately $24 billion in war bonds were raised. The success of this propaganda poster comes from the explicit depiction of Uncle Sam and the message it was sending. The poster depicts Uncle Sam as a stern, aggressive, and persuasive figure meant to resonate in the minds of young men who haven't enlisted.

On a different note, WWII sparked a new kind of propaganda in Rosie the Riveter.

Before WWII, propaganda posters depicted women as "guardians" of the home and helpless victims of the war. Before the creation of Rosie the Riveter, women were heavily objectified in propaganda, making Rosie the Riveter such an important step for women. 

Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to accomplish the same tasks as men by portraying a strong, confident, female worker. Rosie is shown flexing her muscle with the text "We Can Do It" in a speech bubble above her head. This propaganda poster encouraged women to join the war effort and showed people that women are strong.

As a result, Women started working in the factories and doing men's work while the men were off fighting in the war. Women were working in factories, driving trucks, repairing airplanes, working as lab technicians, rigging parachutes, serving as radio operators, flying military aircraft across the country, test-flying newly repaired planes, and training anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as flying targets. 

After the war, women begrudgingly left work and went back to their homes. In addition to this, marriage and birth rates increased as a result of women returning to the lives they were used to before the war.  However, women had proved that they can do a "man's job," and within a few decades, it was common to see women at work.

5 Red Flags You're Dealing With 'Situational' Depression

Situational depression has become more and more common in 2020. Situational depression is often overlooked as being "minor," these falsities are why more and more people are dealing with this illness and don't even know it.

 By Caroline Bologna

 Q News

 

Depression is not a one-size-fits-all experience. For many, it persists for a long time or feels as though it’s constantly recurring. For others, it may only arise under specific circumstances and for a short duration. This latter condition is what many call “situational depression.”

 

“Situational depression is a depressive experience that is triggered by a traumatic event or a change in a person’s life, such as job loss, the death of a loved one or an unstable work environment,” said Greg Kushnick, a licensed psychologist in New York. “It is usually considered to be a normal reaction to a major life change or trauma.”

 

He noted that a depressive reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic can be labeled “situational,” depending on the severity of symptoms, when they started and how long they persist.

Adjusting to Adjustment Disorders

The term “situational depression” is more of an informal descriptor for what is often categorized as a type of “adjustment disorder.”

 

“When people think of situational depression, they are often thinking of adjustment disorders,” said Steven Bartek, clinical instructor of psychiatry at Michigan Medicine. “An adjustment disorder is a reaction to a stressor that is more intense than a typical emotional response, but not as severe as a full depressive episode.”

 

“I hear people use the phrase ‘situational depression’ quite a bit, and I honestly have mixed feelings about it,” he added. “It captures something valuable for many people, in that it seems to provide an explanation for the sadness they are experiencing. That can also be a risk, though, since people often minimize the severity of their depression when they think of it as just a reaction to a situation.”

 

Wondering whether your experience with depression is “situational” rather than something more long-term? Below, experts share some insights on the matter.

 

Is it Situational Depression?

As with other depression-related experiences, situational depression tends to involve a low mood and feelings of sadness, guilt or hopelessness. You may have more difficulty feeling pleasure or joy than usual, as well.

 

“The first step is recognizing that there has been a change in your mental health, Kushnick said. “If you’re unsure, consider asking someone who knows you well as to whether he or she has witnessed any changes in your mood.” (Or, if you’re worried about a loved one experiencing this issue, make note of the changes in their mood.)

 

Bartek emphasized that it’s perfectly normal and understandable to experience low moods, especially amid the challenges of 2020.

 

“People sometimes feel pressure to ignore negative emotions ― particularly in a world of perfect Instagram photos ― but during a year with a worldwide pandemic, economic uncertainty, a nationwide referendum on racial violence, and families divided along political lines, experiencing strong and sometimes negative emotions is normal and does not need to be a source of shame,” he said.

 

In addition to mood shifts, various behavioral changes are also associated with situational depression. These include changes in appetite and eating habits, poor or excessive sleep, bouts of crying, social isolation, losing your temper, rumination, loss of energy and more.

“People may engage in binge eating or reckless behavior, or ‘acting out’ ― impulsive or self-injurious behavior with substances, sexuality, etc.,” said Sue Varma, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. “It becomes concerning when someone’s making poor decisions ― or has thoughts or behaviors of self-harm. This warrants immediate professional help.”

 

“Usually you will see emotional or behavioral symptoms within three months of a specific stressor occurring in your life,” Varma said.

 

Basically, you’re having an emotional response to a traumatic event or life change, and the extent of the reaction will exceed what is expected in response to that stressor. What constitutes an “expected” response can vary, depending on your culture, baseline mood and behavior.

 

In more extreme circumstances like the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, your baseline may shift, as everyone is expected to experience some mood and behavioral changes in this time. But it’s important to continue monitoring your psychological response and how it affects your day-to-day life.

 

Symptoms of Situational Depression

With situational depression, your symptoms can be severe enough to impair your daily functioning. You may have low motivation and difficulty concentrating.

 

“People usually experience low mood or anxiety that is intense enough to impact their functioning, such as not being able to focus at work or neglecting relationships,” Bartek said, adding that you shouldn’t allow the “situational” moniker to prevent you from seeking treatment when you need it.

 

Finally, the main item that sets situational depression from something more long-term is how long you’re experiencing the issue.

 

“Situational depression has a shorter duration than other forms of depression. Situational depression ends when the event ends, the person recovers or with the passage of time,” Kushnick said, adding that therapy can help reduce the severity and length of the symptoms.

 

Bartek noted that these symptoms tend to go away about six months after the stressor ends. Although disorders like situational depression usually don’t require medication for treatment, they can be serious and are associated with an increased risk for suicide.

And if the situation triggering the symptoms is a severe trauma, you also may experience other symptoms, such as nightmares, flashbacks or other problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Talking to a professional can help determine the best course of action for your particular circumstances.

“The best ways to resolve an adjustment disorder are to stop the stressor (if possible) and to engage in therapy,” Bartek said.

 

“Throughout this year, the stress, uncertainty, and isolation that has come from the COVID pandemic have led to many people feeling symptoms of depression that are new to them,” he added. “If these symptoms are persistent and do not go away as they normally would, if they are impairing someone’s ability to function, and especially if someone develops thoughts of suicide, treatment should be sought. There are good, evidence-based treatments that can bring relief, even while this stressful situation persists.”

 

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

Related Stories:

Covid Depression Is Real. Here’s What You Need to Know. (New York Times)

What Is Adjustment Disorder? (U.S. News)

EOTO 2 Reflection

After watching all of the presentations on journalism heroes, I felt like I learned a lot about a number of different people from history and how they did the things they did. My two favorite presentations were the ones about Muckrakers and William Lloyd Garrison, which I'll go into more detail a out now. 

Muckrakers are journalists more commonly known for working in yellow journalism for being focused on accounts of economic and social corruption. I learned from this presentation that the term "muckrakers" was originally coined by former US president, Theodore Roosevelt whichI thought was a pretty interesting fact.

I also learned that yellow journalism and normal journalism differ in how their information is presented. I'd heard of the term "yellow journalism" before from one of the previous EOTO's but I didn't't completely understand what it meant. The difference between traditional journalism and yellow journalism is that yellow journalism is loud, super bold, and the information is very stressed or untrue

The understanding of yellow journalism was very important to this presentation as muckrakers initially used yellow journalism to get their information out but later transferred to a more professional journalistic style. 

This presentation also taught me a little bit about famous muckrakers and how their work influenced journalism as a whole. 

Ida Tarbell was an American journalist most well-know for exposing monopolistic actions by standard oil companies. The world came to not trust oil companies very much because of her book “The History of the Standard Oil Company” exposing the truth of its unfair practices. 

Another muckraker journalist, Lincoln Steffens, was most well known for writing about corrupt American governments. His publication, “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” focused on exposing big urban corporations and built his name in the journalism industry. 

Upton Sinclair was prominent for writing about food conditions that lead to new food packaging laws. From his research, he found out horrible things about the food industry, causing two new laws to be instated: the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. 

Sinclair's famous book, “The Jungle,” specifically exposed the meat packing industry and how meat was being packaged very badly. I was able to connect well to this part of the presentation because I've learned about "The Jungle" in previous classes I took in high school. From what I already knew preceding the presentations, it was easy to understand that the acts passed following the publishing of Sinclair's book make complete sense. In his book, Sinclair talks about how there would be rats everywhere, leaving their feces all over the meat, and how the conditions were so dangerous that people would lose fingers or even their entire hands cutting up the meat. The most gruesome part, sometimes when workers lost their fingers or hands, the severed limbs would get mixed in with the meat and get packaged up to be sold. 

Muckrakers lead to the beginning of investigative journalism because of how much they exposed within their communities.

In another presentation talking about the impact of William Lloyd Garrison, I was inspired by all the work he did in his career and how he came to be as well known as he is today.

William Lloyd Garrison was an abolitionist writer from Newburyport, Massachusetts. He grew up living a lifer of poverty not really knowing his parents until he went to live with his mother at the age of eight.

When Garrison was a young boy, he was sent to live with a baptist deacon with limited education. His being sent there was his mother's failed attempt at trying to provide for him and give him a better life than she could. Eventually, Garrison ended up back with his mother again at age eight where he immediately started working small jobs to try and provide for his family.

Garrison started off working as a shoe maker's apprentice and a cabinet maker, but the jobs didn't last too long because the labor was a bit too much for a child his age. Following this, Garrison got a seven year apprenticeship as a writer and editor working below Ephraim W. Allen when he was 13. This was a really impressive fact to include in their presentation, it shows just how hard Garrison worked even as a child to build himself a foundation in the journalism industry,

At age 20, Garrison bought his own paper, The Newburyport Essex Courant. This is also super impressive and speaks to how driven and motivated Garrison was. He had an early start to his success and this is something that most people aren't able to do, I really admire his passion as it's something that I hope to have one day when I become a journalist.

In another paper, The Liberator, Garrison's first issue focused on anti-slavery that denounced acts that prolonged slavery and stressed non-violence and passive-resistance.This was a really great point made in the presentation because it shows how hard Garrison worked to use his position as a journalist and his writing talents to advocate for a high-prominence issue that unfairly effected so many people at the time. Garrison dedicated his entire life to try and end slavery.

There was one point made in the presentation, saying how Garrison was dragged through the streets of Boston to promote the end of slavery and people were giving out rewards for anyone who got his head. This was very difficult to hear. Although it’s incredibly brave and noble of Garrison to put his life on the line for such an important issue in history, it’s incredibly sad to know how desperately people tried to stand in his way and prevent him from doing something that would eventually change the world and how we live as people.

Finally, my favorite part of this presentation was when the presenters said that Garrison was alive to see the emancipation and the 13th Amendment come into effect. I liked that he was able to see the result of all of his hard work, It’s inspiring to know that he got the reward of seeing what he did in his lifetime and how he really made a difference in the world. 

Journo Hero EOTO: Nellie Bly

     Nellie Bly was a female journalist from the late 1800 to the early 1900s. She was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochrans Mills, Pennsylvania. In her early life, however, she didn't go by Nellie Bly. "Nellie Bly" was a pen name that she used when she started her journalism career in 1885 as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Bly's real name was Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. The name Nellie Bly comes from a song by Stephen Foster that was popular in the 1850s.

    In her professional life, Bly started her career at the Pittsburgh Dispatch when she wrote an angry letter to the editor of the paper in response to an article he published called, "What Girls Are Good For." In the article, girls were belittled and made to seem worthless, when Bly took her anger out on the editor, he was impressed by her writing and gave her a job working for the paper.

    Bly's first articles that she wrote for the Pittsburgh Dispatch centered around the conditions of the working girls in Pittsburgh, the slum life, and other touchy subjects that weren't commonly addressed in news. As a result of these articles, Bly became known for being a sharp and concerned reporter. After these articles were published, the paper limited Bly to only writing articles on women. This raised frustration in Bly and caused her to soon leave the Dispatch to write pieces freely without any constrictions.

    After leaving the Dispatch, Bly traveled through Mexico from 1886 to 1887 to write articles on corruption and the conditions of the poor. As a result of doing this type of writing, Bly was kicked out of the country for the sharp criticisms in her articles, angering Mexican officials. 

    Upon returning to the US, Bly started working as a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World  in NYC in 1887. When she came to this new paper, she wanted to report on the immigrant experience in the US, but was turned down by Pulitzer. Instead he suggested that she write about the Blackwell Insane Asylum. This prompted one of her most well-known experiences that has been important in why we still study her work as a journalist today. 

    To get herself committed to Blackwell's Asylum, Bly had to fake insanity and make herself seem like she belonged there. Shockingly, her charade was not difficult to pull off. Bly took residence in a temporary home for women and imitated the women around her that seemed to be the most insane. The matron of the house she was living in had the police escort her to court where she was deemed insane and sent to do time in Blackwell's Insane Asylum. Once committed, Bly took careful note of her experiences as well as those of the girls around her to wrote her own expose called Behind Asylum Bars. In her expose, she discussed the poor conditions of the asylum and brought about a grand jury investigation to help them get the improvements in patient care the establishment desperately needed.  In the months following the publication of her expose, the poor conditions that she exploited were on the mend. Inmates were getting better living conditions and more nutritional food, the nurses and physicians that had been abusing some of the patients were fired, and translators were hired to assist the foreign born patients who may not have been mentally ill but just couldn't understand the people they were interacting with. 

    Following this experience, Bly also wrote her own book called Ten Days in a Mad House. This book was originally published as a series of articles in the New York World, however, Bly later combined them to be published as a book in 1887.

    Bly's career as a writer didn't stop there, however. in 1890, Bly wrote a book titled Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days after completing a 72 day long flight around the world to disprove Jules Verne, a man who had previously done the same trip in 80 days. However, Bly only managed to hold on to the record for a few short months. Soon after, business man George Francis Train completed the same journey in 67 days. 

    After her exposition, Bly continued to write. Some of her most influential pieces that she published following her journey include interviews with anarchist activist and writer Emma Goldman and social politician Eugene V. Debs and major stories such as the March of Jacob Coxey's Army on Washington, D.C. and the Pullman strike in Chicago both of which were fighting for workers' rights. 

    On March 11, 1904 Bly's husband, Robert Seaman, passed away. After his death, Bly took up his business, Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and American Steel Barrel Company. In this role, she was able to patent numerous inventions within oil manufacturing that have still remained useful today including the first practical 55-gallon oil drum. During this time, it was an issue having to transport oil in traditional wooden barrels and there was a need for durable, leak-proof barrels. On a trip to Europe in 1904, Bly observed the use of glycerin steel containers for oil and became determined to bring the steel barrel to American trade. Soon after, she obtained a patent for her design of the "metal barrel" which she designed the following year. She put her design on the market for American trade and taught people how to use it, greatly increasing the sustainability of oil during shipping. 

        Taking a turn from her role as a journalist, Bly took a shot at being a business owner. In the beginning, things were going well, she prioritized the welfare of her employees, gave them health care benefits and recreational facilities, and she seemed to be on the right path until things took a turn.

    The workers at Bly's company ended up committing fraud and Bly slipped up on her management of the finances. As a result, the company went bankrupt. 

    Seeing as being a business owner wasn't her strong suit, Bly went back to the New York Journal  to work again as a reporter in 1920. She covered news on WWI from Europe and continued to write about major issues effecting women. 

    Bly passed away on January 27, 1922 in New York from pneumonia. In a tribute to her death, famous newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane marked Bly as "the best reporter in America," and that's how she's always been remembered to this day.

They Won't Forget

     After watching "They Won't Forget," I felt like I learned a lot more about the strong relationship between the press and the criminal justice system. For instance, there was a moment when the people printing the story about the alleged murder that Mr. Hale committed made it seem like they were adding their own personal biases and beliefs into the story. The press was printing papers against Mr. Hale because they believed him to be guilty and this is faulty journalism. The press was printing stories about a criminal act in a way that influenced the public with bias instead of straight facts. This is clearly unethical as the main role of a journalist is to seek the truth, yet in this case the journalists seemed to be going along with what the criminal justice system wanted. 

    The press also seemed to have a lot of liberties when it came to seeking answers in the criminal justice case against Mr. Hale. For instance, the press was just able to walk right into the Hale’s house without warning when they were trying to find answers. Also, they took a photo of Mrs. Hale fainting for their story which could be considered an invasion of privacy and highly unethical. In addition to that, when Mrs. Hale passed out, the press workers started searching her house and not only did it not seem like they had a warrant, but they stole something from her house while she was still unconscious and unable to say or do anything to stop them. Finally, the reporter told Mrs. Hale not to worry about it when she asked if what she was telling her about Mr. Hale would be kept off the record. This seemed a little sneaky because the reporter wasn't explicitly saying that she would keep what she said off the record, it seemed like she could have been playing Mrs. Hale to make her feel more comfortable.  

 

    When it got to the actual trial part of the film, I felt like it was clear how much of a role the press played in vocalizing what was happening in the criminal justice system. During the trial, whenever something significant happened, the press was on top of it making sure they were ready to expose what was going on to the public. “I can see the headlines right now, Mother vs Mother.” This was said by one of the law officials at the trial for Mr. Hale after a piece of evidence sparked an emotional reaction from the victim’s mother. This shows how the press not only had the ability to get information from the trial to the public, but that they used their power to sensationalize the trial with the dramatics of the event instead of publishing straight facts. Also, when they showed the future headlines in the film after the janitor destroyed Hale’s alibi, it made it seem like the press was using this to bring smaller trial details to a larger light.

        After watching this movie in class, I did more research into the connection between reporters and the criminal justice system. According to a Duke article exploring the news media's influence on criminal justice policy and how market-driven news promotes punitiveness, there was an increase in the coverage of crime stories in the news in the 1990s. In this time period, the news covered three major criminal investigations and trials including O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, and JonBenet Ramsay. In these cases, as a result of the changing economic pressures facing news networks, the drive for profit caused them to push works away from hard news and more into tabloid-style crime stories meant to sensationalize. This seems quite similar to he way the trial of Mr. Hale was handled in the film we watched in class.

   The O.J. Simpson case was one that quickly became a media obsession during its coverage. Over 2,000 reporters covered the story and 19 television stations covered the trial live. The over-sensationalization of the case caused it to become more of a pop culture event rather than a criminal justice issue and O.J. Simpson ended the trial a free man. Similarly, the case of the Menendez brothers became a spectacle in the news because of how crazy it seemed to the public. Although in this case, the brothers were eventually convicted. Before one of the Menendez brothers confessed the murders to his psychiatrist nobody suspected the brothers, but after their confession, the case completely blew up. The brothers claimed to have committed the crime on account of sexual abuse by their father, yet once the confession was out and the news had gotten a hold of that, the brothers' fates were already sealed. Although in this case I believe that the brothers deserve the sentence they were given, it doesn't change how the news took this case and turned it into a dramatic news story that could've been confused for a dramatic crime show. In another case, the JonBenet Ramsay case, there are a number of canon books, news specials, and TV movies probing and re-dramatizing the case since the evidence and the way the body was found doesn't make much sense. In this case, however, the murderer was never found or charged, making the case that much more intriguing to the public. Yet, the case was completely taken over by the media.

    In all of these cases, even though it's clear that there was wrong-doing by the responsible party, the sensationalization of the cases by the media only made them seem like dramatic television shows rather than criminal justice cases. This is all very similar to what happened to Robert Hale in They Won't Forget. Through the media's dramatization of the case, Mr. Hale was charged of the crime he was convicted of, yet we'll never know if he was actually guilty or not. In the O.J. Simpson Case, this was very similar but with the opposite outcome. People still believe Simpson to be guilty but nobody will ever know because he was deemed not guilty. Regardless of the outcomes of any of these cases, it's clear that the media had a large role in making them known to the public. The issue I see in this is that instead of making these cases popular by revealing the facts, the media fed into the curiosity of the public and published these stories in a way that let people make their own assumptions and accusations, causing them all to still be popular cases to this day. But are they popular for the right reasons? That's what The Won't Forget has left us to think about.

    

EOTO 1 Reflection

     While watching the presentations in class, I was very intrigued to learn about the different aspects of journalism history. I think each group did a great job of presenting their information clearly and with a lot of detail to make it more interesting. In this blog post, I want to reflect on what I learned from these presentations and what I found interesting about them.

    During this class session, I was most intrigued to learn about political cartoons. From this presentation, I learned that the purpose of a political cartoon is to combine both art and politics as a form of satire to lend a satirical voice to those that are displeased with how the government handles certain situations. In these cartoons, cartoonists use things like metaphors and caricatures with humorous images to shed light on serious or more complicated political situations. I also learned that some of the most commonly used techniques to create a political cartoon are symbolism, exaggeration, labeling, analogy, and irony. I also learned that the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, also called the AAEC, is a group of political cartoonist members who aim to protect the right to keep creating them and that they deem their cartoons as a crucial form of expression. 

    In the past I've learned a little bit about political cartoons. There was a time in high school history when we focused a lot on political cartoons and it was a really big part of our curriculum, which is why I liked this presentation so much, it was something I'm familiar with but I was still able to learn a few new things. Some important figures in the world of political cartooning that the presenters mentioned during their presentation were Ben Franklin, George Townshend, James Gillary, George Cruikshank, John Tenniel, and a few more. I also really appreciated that in their presentation they included some examples of political cartoons and explained their significance, I thought this was a great way to emphasize what political cartoons are really for and how people perceive them.

    My favorite part of the presentation was at the very end when one of the presenters put a political cartoon on the screen and analyzed it using a reference to something Professor Smith said in one of our initial classes. This was a really great way to tie everything together and help the class think deeper on the meaning of political cartoons. 

    Another presentation that interested me was the presentation about the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal. starting with the San Francisco Examiner, it first began after the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The paper originally started as a democratic paper with pro-slavery and anti-Lincoln views. It wasn't until after Lincoln's death that the paper switched to become The Daily Examiner in 1865 with more republican and anti-slavery viewpoints as a result of the original paper being destroyed by a pro Lincoln mob. This was the most intriguing part of the presentation to me because I think this turn in direction shows how ever changing news is, it's important to never get comfortable in this industry because things can switch very quickly. 

    I also learned from this presentation that the Examiner has won two Pulitzer Prizes (the highest level of recognition in journalism) and has grown to become a very popular paper with many loyal readers. The paper was previously owned by William Randolph Hearst, a businessman who was best known for his role in yellow journalism, after his father, George Hearst, owned the paper before he did. Now, the paper is owned by a team of people under the jurisdiction of Clint Reilly Communications after William died in 2004. 

    Also in this presentation, they talked about The New York Journal. This ties into The San Francisco Examiner because both papers were previously owned by Hearst. This paper was in constant competition with The New York World (the paper that Nellie Bly worked for if you're curious to read about her in one of my more recent blog posts!). In this paper, Hearst used exaggerated cartoons and sensationalized stories with false information to keep people hooked on the paper. I found this part of the presentation very interesting because it reminded of a movie I watched in my high school journalism class senior year where a reporter made the very same mistake. The film was called Shattered Glass (2003). The movie is about renowned reporter, Stephen Glass, who wrote for The New Republic, a paper known for creating a foundation for young talented writers. In this film, we soon found out that he had fabricated almost all of the stories he wrote after making a mistake in website formatting for his last story run by The New Republic. At the end of the movie, Glass lost everything and was stripped of his career as a reporter. This is immediately what my mind went to while hearing this presentation and I thought that the same thing might happen to Hearst with how he was running The New York Journal. However, after hearing more from the presentation and doing a little research on my own, I realized that what Hearst was doing is just the basis of yellow journalism, using crude exaggerations and sensationalism to create a story. A common topic for Hearst was to bully the government to declare war in his stories and he never did see the same fate that Stephen Glass did. 

    

Why I'm In This Class

     As a journalism major, naturally it would be easiest for me to say this course is just a graduation requirement for me. Although this is true, my reasoning for becoming a journalism major, hence the reason I'm in this class, runs far deeper than just a surface level requirement.

    I've always been an avid writer and I knew from a very early age that my career would in some way be centered around writing. Since elementary school, my teachers have noted how easily writing comes to me and how impressed they've been with my work. 

    This lead me to write more in my free time in order to keep improving my skills, I loved how it felt to be recognized for something I was good at and I wanted to maintain this skill. Now, I write poems and short stories as a hobby which has truly fostered my love for writing to this day. 

    Naturally, English became my favorite subject in school, however, I didn't always know that this would lead to a career in journalism.

    In my senior year of high school, I took my first ever journalism class. In this class, I found that I had a passion for this style of writing and I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to pursue in college. It was the experience I gained from writing in class and from joining the staff of my school newspaper that  made me realize I wanted to explore this field more.

    In high school, I also had the chance to serve on the newspaper staff as the Arts and Entertainment editor. This was a great experience for me because I realized from this position that I wanted to not only go into journalism, but I wanted to have a focus in pop culture and entertainment style writing. 

    Now, my dream job would be to work in either print or broadcast journalism reporting for an entertainment company.

    In addition to these experiences, I knew I wanted my career to have some kind of deeper meaning. After learning more about the journalism industry and what I can do within this field, I realized the benefits of using my writing to tell the truth. Oftentimes, news can be stretched, contorted, and made to look a certain way to appease certain people. Once I learned that I could use my writing to eliminate this fatal flaw and fight against it, I developed an even deeper desire to become a journalist. 

    After having these thoughts and experiences, I knew I was on the right path to becoming a journalist, and along that path, I made my way to where I am now in this class.

The Society of Professional Journalists

    Over the course of time, journalism has grown immensely. In its origins, journalism didn't have nearly as much outreach or community as it does now. As a result of new technology and community growth, journalists are able to bind together in their field. Now, people all across the world are able to practice journalism within a community created just for that, The Society of Professional Journalists.

    The Society of Professional Journalists is an organization that was founded in 1909 at DePaul University in Greencastle, Indiana. 

    The SPJ was originally created to improve and protect journalism. Within their organization, they include broadcast, print and online journalists, journalism educators, and students with a desire to pursue journalism as a career all spread across nation participating in different chapters of the SPJ.

    The Society of Professional Journalists lists also has a specific code of ethics. This code says that the SPJ seeks the truth and reports it, minimizes harm, acts independently, and is accountable and transparent. The purpose of this specific code of ethics is to make sure that the SPJ focuses on public enlightenment in order to serve justice and have proper democracy. Also according to this code,  journalists in the SPJ should be able to explain ethical choices and the process of making them to their audience, respond quickly to questions that focus on the accuracy of the information they report, acknowledge when they make a mistake and be able to correct it in a timely fashion, expose unethical journalism, and hold themselves to the same high standards that they hold others to.

    The SPJ offers training programs, opportunities for professional development, stage conferences, and on demand jobs to help journalists become more experienced in their field. 

 Originally, the SPJ was founded as the Sigma Delta Chi fraternity by ten journalism students. They didn't change their name until 1973 when they changed it to Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, and then again in 1988 when they officially changed to the SPJ.

    Starting in 1916, the SPJ began shifting from an honorary fraternity to a professional society. Their first big step in this process was the establishment of professional chapters in 1921. Then, the organization finally made the official shift to a professional society in 1960 after being rejected in 1937 and 1947 at their annual conventions. 

    The SPJ didn’t accept just anyone into their fraternity in the beginning, they didn’t start accepting women into their society until 1969. Once women started getting invited to the fraternity, Caroline Ross Pokrzywinski became the first woman to be accepted to the board in 1971, a big step for women in the SPJ. Then, less than ten years later in 1980, Jean Otto became the first elected female president, solidifying the important role of women in the SPJ. Now, the SPJ is home to about 7,000 members nationwide, male and female.  

    One of the major projects completed by the SPJ is Project Sunshine. This project was created to focus the attention of the press on problems of steadily0eroding access to national, state, and local government. Project Sunshine first began in 1990 in order to identify threats to public access and government and to organize a force to fight against those threats. With endorsements from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation and The Freedom Forum, Project Sunshine was able to estate Sunshine laws to cover open meetings and public records. Overall, Project Sunshine is based off of team-building and establishing a network that is often called in to work on other immediate problems to campus journalism.