1st Edition

Defining Moments in Journalism

By Nancy J. Woodhull, Robert W. Snyder Copyright 1998
    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    196 Pages
    by Routledge

     Most great transformations are not apparent as we live through them. Only in hindsight do individual moments acquire layers of meaning that give them great significance. Looking back is not something that comes naturally to journalists, immersed as they are in breaking events and relentless deadlines. But there is still good reason for journalists, scholars, and people who care about journalism to think about the critical episodes in its recent evolution. In Defining Moments in Journalism, such authors vividly describe episodes of this kind. Some of the chapters and contributors include: "The Lessons of Little Rock" by Harry S. Ashmore; "Vietnam and War Reporting" by Peter Arnett; "Photo-journalists--Visionaries Who Have Changed Our Vision" by Jane M. Rosett; "The Weight of Watergate" by Ellen Hume; "Women Sportswriters--Business as Usual" by Mary Schmitt; "The Connie Chung Phenomenon" by Somini Sengupta; and "Covering Politics--Is There a Female Difference?" by Judy Woodruff. The years since the Great Depression and World War II have seen vast changes in America and also in its journalism. Journalists' relationship to power and authority is more complex; the press corps has become more diverse; the technology of news reporting is almost unrecognizably different from that of fifty years ago; and economic reorganization of the media has bundled news and entertainment organizations into conglomerates of extraordinary size. 'Defining Moments in Journalism' is a fascinating read for communications scholars and professionals, historians, and political scientists.

    I: The 1940s; 1: The Murrow Boys—Broadcasting for the Mind’s Eye; II: The 1950s; 2: The Lessons of Little Rock; III: The 1960s; 3: The Black Vanguard Integrates Newsrooms; 4: Covering Ali, Discovering an Era; 5: Vietnam and War Reporting; IV: The 1970s; 6: Ruben Salazar—Misunderstood Martyr; 7: Past and Present at Wounded Knee; 8: The Weight of Watergate; 9: Newspapers for Working People; V: The 1980s; 10: We’ve Come a Long Way—Maybe; 11: Newsman Meets Batman; 12: Women Sportswriters—Business as Usual; VI: The 1990s; 13: Live, from the Persian Gulf War; 14: A Strategy of Rape in Bosnia; 15: Polling and “What If?” Journalism; 16: Expanding the Language of Photographs; 17: The Connie Chung Phenomenon; 18: Covering Politics—Is There a Female Difference?; 19: Does the Internet Change News Reporting? Not Quite; VII: Portfolio; 20: Photojournalists—Visionaries Who Have Changed Our Vision; 21: Editorial Cartoonists—An Endangered Species?; VIII: Review Essay; 22: That’s the Way It Was

    Biography

    Nancy J. Woodhull, Robert W. Snyder