How the News Media Shape History - American University



How the News Media Shape History

COMM 270.002H

Fall semester 2004 5

Hughes 102

Tuesday and Friday, 9:55–11:10 a.m.

School of Communication

American University

“It is remarkable how little general interest there is in the history of the country. …

There are many reasons for this. The general subject seems distasteful to the young.

Some say that they cannot remember dates, others do not like the long accounts of wars,

and still others are heard to declare that the subject is too dull.

Now, there is no more interesting subject when properly presented.”

(See last page of syllabus for citation.)

W. Joseph Campbell, Ph.D.

Office: 125 McDowell Hall

Office phone: (202) 885-2071

E-mail: wjc@american.edu

Office hours: Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, 2:30–5:30 p.m.

Friday, by appointment

Our course in brief: What we’ll study

Welcome to the honors section of “How the News Media Shape History.” I am delighted and privileged to be teaching this class.

During the semester, we critically explore whether, when, how, and to what extent the news media have influenced the course of events in the United States. We’ll challenge assumptions throughout, including the fundamental hypothesis that is reflected in the course title. We’ll ask: Do the news media really shape history?

We’ll examine a good deal of American history including the role of the news media in the Watergate scandal, the contributions of colonial printers such as Thomas Paine to the American Revolution, and the influence of the U.S. press in armed conflicts such as the Spanish-American and Vietnam wars. We’ll take a look at such intriguing figures as William Lloyd Garrison and William Randolph Hearst, Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells. And we’ll discuss theories and metaphors explaining media influence, including “agenda-setting,” “chaos theory,” and the “lightning bolt effect.”

“How the News Media Shape History” also will require you to gain or deepen familiarity with the extraordinary, only-in-Washington resources of the Library of Congress, where you will be asked to conduct research for a paper due in November.

We’ll proceed seminar-style, meaning that well-informed discussions will be crucial to our inquiry. You’re encouraged to be willing to test your assumptions, and even to revise your thinking, about the news media and the presumption of their power. Thinking critically, yet fairly, about the roles of the news media is an objective central to this section of “How the News Media Shape History.”

We have great deal of interesting, challenging material to cover and I look forward to a rewarding, intellectually challenging class. I trust that we will engage the material collegially, in a spirit of open inquiry. Please keep in mind that there is always room in my classes for logically-derived, well-reasoned contrarian points of view. I welcome them.

Readings for the course

The following texts are required for the course. They may be purchased at the Campus Store:

• Mightier than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History (Westview Press, 1997). The author of Mightier than the Sword is Rodger Streitmatter, a professor in the School of Communication at American University.

• Common Sense (ISBN: 0–140–39016–2), Thomas Paine’s famous extended essay. This edition includes a useful introductory discussion of Common Sense.

• Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies (paperback edition, ISBN: 0-275-98113-4; Praeger, 2003). I’m the author of Yellow Journalism, which will serve as a centerpiece of our consideration of the press and the Spanish-American War period.

• Joseph McCarthy : Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America’s Most Hated Senator (ISBN: 0-684-83625-4, Free Press, 1999), a George Mason historian’s revisionist treatment of the infamous U.S. senator.

Numerous shorter readings, including articles from newspapers, journals, and trade publications, will be made available periodically. These, too, will represent important assignments.

Course procedures

We’ll follow a variety of interactive and experiential approaches in assessing whether, when, how, and to what extent the news media have shaped American history. These approaches include what I hope will be an engaging blend of some lecture, frequent in-class discussion, and a fair amount out-of-class research.

Assisting me this semester will be Michael Prather, a junior and an AU honors student who was a standout in the section of “How the News Media Shape History” I taught a year ago. Michael’s assistantship is made possible through the University’s General Education program. He will attend many, but not all, of our sessions. He will assist in out-of-class assignments, conduct optional reviews for exams, and make a presentation or two.

Our sessions will begin promptly at 9:55 a.m., Tuesday and Friday. I will routinely take attendance and will reserve the option to consider absences, late arrivals, and early departures in determining final grades. I will endeavor to learn your names as quickly as I can—in any case, by no later than the third week of class.

A few housekeeping requests: Be sure that your cell phones and pagers are switched off while we’re in session. Please don’t submit papers as email attachments. And do let me know if illness or other reasons keep you from attending class. Also: plan to check the class “Blackboard” site frequently, as many supplemental readings will be posted there.

Assignments are to be completed and submitted at the deadlines specified. My standing policy is not to accept late papers unless there are truly exceptional circumstances. And such circumstances tend to be exceptionally rare.

My faculty office is on the first floor of McDowell Hall, on the north side of campus. Why there? I am in the second year of a project called “faculty in residence” which seeks to bring another dimension of academic life to the residence halls, and to promote informal contacts among faculty and students. This project is modeled in part after Professor John Richardson’s successful and ongoing faculty-in-residence program in Anderson Hall. The important difference is that I don’t reside in the residence hall; Professor Richardson does.

My expectations are high in this class. I expect that you’ll much more than attend class, take notes, and give it all back on exams. Developing and sharpening skills of thinking critically and incisively about the news media in a democratic society are vital to success in “How the News Media Shape History.” As such, participating in discussions is crucial. And to participate meaningfully and well, you will have to keep up with reading assignments and bring to class your ideas, questions, and observations. I fully expect to be impressed by your intellectual curiosity and by the acuity of your insights and observations.

I look forward to speaking with you outside of class as well. We can meet during my office hours, which are listed on the first page of the syllabus, or at other, mutually convenient times. I can be reached easily via email—I check my AU email account, wjc@american.edu, quite often—and through my campus phone (extension 2071).

The vital importance of academic integrity

I expect that you will treat matters of academic integrity seriously. To that end, you are encouraged to become familiar with your rights and responsibilities as defined in the University’s Academic Integrity Code. The Code may be accessed online at:



Violations of the Code will not be treated lightly—not in this class. There is simply no place here for plagiarism, inventing or tampering with quotations, or other forms of academic dishonesty. And make no mistake: I have taken, and I will take, disciplinary action if violations are discovered.

Please see me if you have any questions about academic integrity as described in the Code or as they relate to this class. It has been my experience that Code violations sometimes are related to unwise choices made in the face of acute time pressures—choices that can, and do, have lasting and serious repercussions.

If you find yourself in a tight spot as deadlines approach, please let me know.

Grades and assignments

Grades in our section of “How the News Media Shape History” will be determined this way:

• Exams

□ Final exam, given Friday, Dec. 16: 25 percent

□ Mid-term exam, given Friday, Oct. 7: 15 percent

• Papers

□ Book review, due Friday, Sept. 9: 10 percent

□ Berlin Wall paper, due Tuesday, Sept. 20: 10 percent

□ Reaction paper, due Tuesday, Nov. 1: 10 percent

□ Murrow-McCarthy research paper, due Tuesday, Dec. 6: 25 percent

□ Murrow-McCarthy paper draft, due Friday, Nov. 18: 5 percent

Here is a description of each of those categories:

Exams

The final exam will be given Dec. 16, in keeping with the University’s schedule. (This means the exam date may not be altered.) The exam will include several short answer questions and probably two essay questions. We’ll devote a portion of our class Dec. 9 to preparing for the final exam.

The mid-term exam will be given Oct. 7. It, too, will contain short answer questions, as well as one essay question. A review for the mid-term will be conducted near the close of class on Oct. 15.

Questions for exams will be drawn from lectures, in-class discussions, and assigned readings. The final exam will cover course material presented since the mid-term.

Murrow-McCarthy research paper

The Library of Congress is an exceptional and invaluable resource in Washington, and I want my students to gain familiarity with at least one important part of this institution. In this assignment, you are to visit the library’s Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room (see ) and examine a month’s coverage in a U.S. newspaper in 1954, as the confrontation between Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy reached a peak. This assignment will allow you to gain insights into what some media historians have called a defining moment in television history. Was Murrow’s broadcast exposé of McCarthy regarded at the time as a momentous program? Your research will examine that still-intriguing question.

The Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room is in the Library’s Madison Building at Independence Avenue and First Street, SE. (The Metro station nearest the Madison Building is Capitol South, on the orange and blue lines.) Please note the newspaper reading room is open until 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Here’s what to do:

1. Obtain a reader’s card (easily and quickly accomplished, on the ground floor of the Madison Building, in Room LM-140). Then head down the hall to the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room (Room LM-133) where, to enter, you’ll show your reader’s card.

2. Consult the index of the microfilm holdings of newspapers which includes the year 1954; the index is in one of the battered green volumes kept just inside the door of the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room.

3. Select from the entries for 1954 a newspaper from your hometown, or your home state, or a state in which you might like to live some day. Do not select the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times or the Washington Post, however. That’s because nearly complete runs of each of those newspapers are now available through the ProQuest “historical newspapers” electronic database, accessible through the Bender Library online site.

4. Submit a request for microfilmed issues of the newspaper for March 1954. (Requests for microfilm usually are usually filled within 30–40 minutes.) Several newspapers are available in the Newspaper Reading Room on a self-serve basis. These titles include the Atlanta Journal, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, and Philadelphia Inquirer, and as well as the now-defunct Washington Evening Star. You’re welcome to choose to review any of those titles.

5. Scroll through the microfilm, reviewing the front page of every issue of the month. You need not read every article on every front page. And you need not take copious notes. But do jot down observations about:

• the appearance of the newspaper’s front page. (How does the front page compare to that of contemporary newspapers? Also, what is most striking to you about the 1954 newspaper’s appearance?)

• the coverage related to McCarthy and/or Murrow. (That is, what did the newspaper say about the senator and the broadcaster? Were there stories about Murrow’s “See It Now” program about McCarthy on the front page? Was Murrow’s program of March 7, 1954, regarded by the newspaper as a pivotal moment in the dismantling of McCarthy?)

• the coverage on other topics on the front page. (What were some of the other important stories of the time? Remember, this was at the height of the Cold War period. You’re welcome to browse beyond the front page and take a look at the sports pages and what then were typically called “women’s pages.”)

• any oddities (that is, any news items, or typographic elements, that strike you as strange or odd) that appeared in the newspaper that month.

• any articles on the front page that discuss the journalism of the day. (What was said about journalism in 1954—if anything? It may that you won’t find any front-page articles that discussed the journalism of the period. In that case, simply say so in your paper.)

6. Make note of one article from March 1954 which you feel would be useful for everyone in the class to read. The article could be a particularly well-written dispatch. Or it could be an angry or a humorous front-page news analysis. The choice is entirely yours. Just be sure to note the date and headline, and briefly explain why you selected that article.

Drawing on the material you gather during your research at the Library of Congress, write a descriptive paper of ten to twelve pages (double spaced and printed in 12-point) that discusses your impressions of the newspaper and covers the elements in items 5 and 6 (above). You’re welcome to attach photocopies of articles from the newspaper you reviewed, as you feel is warranted. (The attachments will not count toward the required page length, of course.)

As with any research paper, be sure to include citations of the articles to which you refer. This is a must. I prefer footnotes on this assignment, and will discuss a footnoting method before the assignment is due.

Submit two copies of your Murrow-McCarthy paper at the start of class Dec. 6. A draft—ideally, a nearly complete draft—is due at the start of class Nov. 18. I’ll return the drafts, with comments and suggestions, on Nov. 29, our first session following the Thanksgiving break.

Please note that you may place microfilm on the reserve shelf in the Newspaper Reading Room for as many as three days. Doing so will enable you to retrieve the microfilm promptly when you make a return visit. You may find that you’ll need to make more than one visit to the reading room to complete the assignment.

Do not hesitate to let me know should you have questions or concerns about this assignment, which should prove quite insightful.

Book review

A well-written, five-to-six page critical review of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense will be due at the start of class Sept. 9. The review should be double spaced and printed in 12-point type.

I recommend that you address the content of Common Sense in a detailed assessment of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. So avoid a lengthy recapitulation and write instead a detailed analysis of the strong and soft spots in Paine’s argument. Common Sense is a polemic, meaning it’s not intended to reflect both or all sides. And Paine’s arguments and logic are not everywhere airtight.

Also be sure to discuss why, in your view, Common Sense was so compelling, why it was such a runaway best-seller in the late 1770s. A thoughtful and fairly detailed discussion of that topic is expected. You are welcome to incorporate references to the introductory essay found in the edition of Common Sense that is required for this class.

Be sure to include specific examples to illustrate and support your points. Incorporating a few telling quotes from Common Sense (and noting the pages on which the quotes appear) is encouraged. I’ll be looking for evidence that you engaged this work and considered its content critically. Generalities, alone, just won’t do.

Also be sure to include a clear recommendation whether Common Sense should be required in future sections of “How the News Media Shape History”—and explain your opinion in some detail.

During an early session of our class, I will distribute a couple of sample book reviews, to give you an idea about what solid critiques are like. You also are encouraged to read the Sunday book review sections of the New York Times and Washington Post for insights and examples.

Although this assignment is required of everyone in the class, please do not consider it a collaborative effort. In other words, do not work with your colleagues in preparing and writing the review. The review is your assessment of Common Sense.

Berlin Wall paper

Please plan to visit (either individually or in self-chosen groups) Freedom Park, which is outside the now-closed Newseum in Arlington, Va. At the base of Freedom Park you’ll find the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany. The forbidding Wall separated Berlin for twenty-eight years. It fell sixteen year ago.

Your paper about the Berlin Wall is due at the start of class Sept. 20. The paper should be a well-written narrative of four-to-five pages, double spaced, and written in 12-point type.

In the first part of your paper, describe your impressions of the Berlin Wall exhibit. Address such questions as: What did you find surprising about it? What, if anything, was off-putting? What, if anything, was disappointing? What came to mind as you pondered the segments of the Wall? Did you feel inspired? Gloomy? Indifferent? What did you think of the setting?

You might well begin your paper by referring briefly to the stunning turn of events in November 1989 when the Berlin Wall finally came down.

In the second (and shorter) part of your paper, consider the fact that the ominous, concrete Wall could keep people in, but couldn’t keep news out. Do you suppose that East Germans’ routine access to news from West Germany (especially television) ultimately helped topple the Wall? If that’s so, then why did the Wall stand as an imposing East-West divide for twenty-eight years? Augment your paper with observations drawn from supplemental readings that will be distributed in class or posted at the Blackboard site.

Do not hesitate to incorporate your voice in the paper.

While visiting Freedom Park, please take a few moments to visit the other artifacts there—notably, the spiral-shaped Journalists Memorial at the top of the hill. The Memorial includes the names of more than 1,500 reporters, editors, and photographers who died while on assignment. It is rededicated annually on May 3, which the United Nations has designated as World Press Freedom Day.

Yellow journalism reaction paper

“Yellow journalism” still has an unenviable reputation. But as practiced more than 100 years ago, “yellow journalism” wasn’t all awful or execrable. The evocative, detail-rich article by Richard Harding Davis, later titled “Death of Rodriguez,” is evidence of that “yellow journalism” could and did publish high-quality writing.

Davis—a preeminent war correspondent of the late nineteenth century—wrote the article in early 1897, while on assignment to Cuba for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. The article tells of the firing-squad execution of a Cuban insurgent captured during the rebellion against Spanish rule. The Cuban uprising led to the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Please closely read the article and write a four-page reaction paper that briefly summarizes the storyline, discusses what was so notable and exemplary about “Death of Rodriguez,” points to flaws in Davis’ article, and considers why the article had little or no long-term influence (it certainly did not hasten the war between the United States and Spain over Cuba). Also offer your view whether “Death of Rodriguez” has contemporary relevance as, say, an article that journalists ought to read and even emulate. Your reaction papers are due at the start of class Nov. 1.

Final grades in How the News Media Shape History

will be determined according to these criteria:

• “A” -- represents superior work (written and oral) in fulfilling requirements for the course; improvement during the course will be considered.

• “B” -- represents good to very good work (written and oral) in fulfilling course requirements; improvement during the course will be considered.

• “C” -- represents satisfactory work (written and oral) in fulfilling requirements.

• “D” -- represents unsatisfactory performance.

• “F” -- represents failure to meet minimum course objectives.

Context of the course in General Education

“How the News Media Shape History” is a second-level course in the University’s General Education program. It resides in the “Western Heritage and Institutions” cluster of Curricular Area 2 (“Traditions that Shape the Western World”).

You earn General Education credit for this course if you have completed one of the five foundation courses that precede “How the News Media Shape History.” The foundation courses are:

• GOVT-105G (“Individual Freedom vs. Authority”)

• HIST-115G (“Work and Community”)

• JLS-110G (“Western Legal Tradition”)

• PHIL-105G (“Western Philosophy”)

• RELG-105G (“The Religious Heritage of the West”)

“How the News Media Shape History” is intended to address several of the learning objectives of Curricular Area 2. Specifically, this course seeks to:

1) help students understand the historical traditions that shape the Western world by focusing on important events in American history in which the news media are believed to have made contributions.

2) challenge students to examine assiduously—and even alter—their impressions and beliefs about the roles of the news media in American history.

3) require that students engage in historical research and examine primary and secondary sources in preparing argument in written form (for example, in a research paper drawn from the resources of the Library of Congress).

4) encourage students to understand the diversity within the Western intellectual tradition through study of the news media’s roles in such periods as the Abolition Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement.

5) challenge students to consider matters of aesthetics, notably in completing an assignment in which they consider about the setting, design, and location of the remnant of the Berlin Wall at Freedom Park in Arlington, Va.

Please know that I am an unabashed supporter of General Education at AU and teach or have taught courses in Curricular Areas 2, 3, and 4.

I served on the University’s General Education Committee six years since 1999.

How the News Media Shape History, class by class

Our class will follow this schedule as closely as is practical.

Tuesday, Aug. 30: Getting acquainted, getting going. We’ll begin with introductions and review the course syllabus. We’ll also consider whether, in general, the news media are powerful entities: If that’s so, then how do we know?

Assignments for next class: Please read the introduction and chapter 15 in Mightier than the Sword, and the “Why Study History?” item, posted at “Blackboard.”

Friday, Sept. 2: We’ll complete our review of the course syllabus and address any lingering questions about class structure, content, or requirements (or other matters related to the syllabus). We’ll also consider why it’s the “news media are ….” and discuss ways of characterizing news media influence (also known as “media effects”). These include—agenda-setting, lightning bolt effect, and chaos theory. Which of them makes the most sense, intuitively? Why?

Assignments for next class: Robert Samuelson column from Washington Post, and Post article about “sledgehammer effect,” to be distributed in class.

Tuesday Sept. 6: We’ll consider an alternate possibility—that the news media really aren’t very influential. Specifically, we’ll address this observation: “People just don't heed the media that much. What they absorb represents one factor in what they believe and how they behave. Their experiences, habits, views and prejudices count for more. Because the media are everywhere—and inspire much resentment—their influence is routinely exaggerated. The mistake is in confusing visibility with power, and the media are often complicit in the confusion. We [journalists] embrace the mythology, because it flatters our self-importance.” We’ll briefly consider the language of journalism.

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 1 in Mightier than the Sword; complete your reviews of Common Sense.

Friday, Sept. 9: We’ll open our consideration of the role of colonial-era pamphleteers, before and during the American Revolution. Your reviews of Common Sense are due.

Assignment for next class: Read the “Contemporary Paine” article, available from today at “Blackboard.”

Tuesday Sept. 13: We’ll renew our consideration of the impact of colonial pamphleteers, focusing on Thomas Paine who wrote Common Sense some 230 years ago. I return your reviews of Common Sense and we’ll discuss them, asking: What accounted for the popularity of Common Sense then, and even now?

Friday, Sept. 16: Class does not meet in Hughes 102 today; please take this opportunity to visit the Berlin Wall exhibit at Freedom Park in Arlington, Va. Be sure to stop by the Journalists Memorial in Freedom Park, and look for “Elijah Lovejoy” on the memorial.

Assignments for next class: Write Berlin Wall papers; read article from Media Studies Journal, and “TV and the Berlin Wall” item, available from today at “Blackboard.”

Tuesday Sept. 20: Your Berlin Wall papers are due today. We’ll discuss your impressions of the Berlin Wall exhibit and, more generally, we’ll consider whether the news media played much of a role in the fall of the Wall.

Assignment for next class: Read chapter 2 in Mightier than the Sword.

Friday, Sept. 23: We’ll explore the role of the news media in the abolition of slavery and consider, more broadly, some of the risks and hazards associated with aggressive journalism.

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 11 in Mightier than the Sword and Smithsonian article about the 1954 Little Rock school desegregation struggle.

Tuesday, Sept. 27: We’ll wrap up our consideration of the news media and the abolition movement and take up the role of the news media in the Civil Rights movement, seeking parallels with the abolition era. We’ll view portions of a documentary about the journalism of the Civil Rights movement.

Assignment for next class: Read chapter 3 in Mightier than the Sword.

Friday, Sept. 30: We’ll wrap up our consideration of the Civil Rights movements, and begin an examination of the news media and women’s suffrage.

Tuesday, Oct. 4: We’ll wrap up our consideration of the news media and women’s suffrage, and conduct a review for the mid-term exam, to be given Friday.

Friday, Oct. 7: Mid-term exam given at 9:55 a.m.; to be proctored by Michael Prather.

Assignment for next class: Read article, to be distributed in class.

Tuesday, Oct. 11: No class; fall break.

Friday, Oct. 14: Mid-term exams returned, discussed. Michael Prather will make a presentation about the news media and the American Civil War.

Assignment for next class: Read chapter 4 in Mightier than the Sword.

Tuesday, Oct. 18: We’ll the influence effects of political cartoons in the fall of the infamous Boss Tweed in New York City.

Assignment for next class: Read Nieman Reports article on cartooning.

Friday, Oct. 21: We’ll renew our consideration of political cartooning, with discussion of their contemporary influence. A guest speaker is possible today.

Assignment for next class: Read article about Grover’s Mill, N.J.

Tuesday, Oct. 25: Halloween Week Special: “The War of the Worlds.”

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 5 in Mightier than the Sword, and the introduction and chapters 1 and 4 in Yellow Journalism.

Friday, Oct. 28: “Yellow journalism week” begins. We’ll explore the still-disputed role of the yellow press and the Spanish-American War, asking: Did it foment the war? If so, how do we know? Is it ever possible for a newspaper to exert such influence?

Assignments for next class: Read chapters 2 and 3 in Yellow Journalism, and write reaction paper on the article, “Death of Rodriguez.”

Tuesday, Nov. 1: “Yellow journalism week” resumes. Your reaction papers on the article, “Death of Rodriguez,” are due. We’ll examine the myths that surround yellow journalism—notably William Randolph Hearst’s supposed vow to “furnish the war” with Spain—and consider what may account for their enduring nature.

Assignments for next class: Read chapters 5 and 6 in Yellow Journalism, and chapter 6 in Mightier than the Sword.

Friday, Nov. 4: “Yellow journalism week” concludes. We’ll consider how yellow journalism lives on. We’ll also take a quick look at the muckraking period of the early twentieth century, asking: Why did it emerge when it did? What became of the movement?

Assignment for next class: Read chapter 7 in Mightier than the Sword.

Tuesday, Nov. 8: We’ll consider the unintended and unexpected consequences of the award-winning newspapers exposés of the Klan. Graded reaction papers returned today.

Friday, Nov. 11: Class does not meet today; please take this opportunity to visit the Library of Congress and pursue research on your Murrow-McCarthy papers.

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 10 in Mightier than the Sword and interview with Arthur Herman, author of Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America’s Most Hated Senator. Also look over the “PBS on Murrow” item, available from today at “Blackboard.”

Tuesday, Nov. 15: We’ll consider the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and explore the puncturing of McCarthy by Edward R. Murrow. And we’ll ask whether Murrow’s “See It Now” program on McCarthy in 1954 was “television’s finest hour.” Assignment for next class: Work on draft research papers.

Friday, Nov. 18: We’ll renew our consideration of the Murrow-McCarthy encounter. Your draft research papers are due: What are we finding? What remains to be done?

Assignment for next class: Finish reading Herman’s Joseph McCarthy.

Tuesday, Nov. 22: We’ll complete our look at McCarthyism with a detailed discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of Herman’s Joseph McCarthy.

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 12 in Mightier than the Sword and article about Vietnam, distributed in class.

Friday, Nov. 26: No class: Thanksgiving break.

Tuesday, Nov. 29: We’ll consider the impact of news coverage on the outcome of the Vietnam War. And we’ll view excerpts from a PBS documentary about the war. Your draft research papers will be returned, with my comments, suggestions.

Assignments for next class: Read chapter 13 in Mightier than the Sword and the “Remembering Watergate” item, available from today at “Blackboard.”

Friday, Dec. 2: We’ll wrap up our consideration of the media news and Vietnam, and take up the news media and Watergate, asking: Were the news media really decisive in the outcome of this scandal?

Assignments for next class: Read articles, timeline distributed in class.

Tuesday, Dec. 6: We’ll conclude our consideration of the Watergate scandal. Final versions of your research papers are due. We’ll discuss your findings.

Friday, Dec. 9: We’ll take a look back at the successes of the semester, and consider how the news media have—or have not—shaped history. We’ll also conduct a review for the final exam.

Friday, Dec. 16: Final exam given at 8:30 a.m.

Now, about the professor …

I am a fulltime, tenured associate professor in AU’s School of Communication. I joined the AU faculty in 1997, after more than 20 years as a newspaper and wire service reporter—a career that took me on assignments across North America and to West Africa, Asia, and Europe. I reported for the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, and for the Associated Press in Africa and Europe. My international assignments included coverage of nuclear arms negotiations, political turmoil in West Africa, and the consequences of the world’s deadliest industrial disaster at Bhopal, India.

In 1995, I was chosen an inaugural Freedom Forum Ph.D. fellow and entered an intensive mass communication doctoral program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Freedom Forum Ph.D. fellowship program sought to bring veteran journalists into journalism education and equip them with the credentials of the academy, a Ph.D. I completed the doctoral program—coursework, exams, and dissertation— in 27 months and then joined the faculty at AU.

Since then I have written three books, and am working now to complete a fourth. My first book, The Emergent Independent Press in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire: From Voice of State to Advocate of Democracy (Praeger, 1998), examined the wellsprings of independent-minded journalism in French-speaking West Africa. My second book—and one that I’ve required for our class—is Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies (Praeger, 2001). The book challenges prominent myths and misunderstandings of the yellow press period in the United States at the end of the late 19th century. My latest book, The Spanish-American War: American Wars and the Media in Primary Documents (Greenwood, 2005, forthcoming) is to be published this fall.

I have also written for Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, American Journalism, Journalism History, Editor & Publisher, Presstime, and American Journalism Review. And I have given lectures at the National Press Club, the Library of Congress, and the Freedom Forum. My research about the yellow press period in American Journalism has won national awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the American Journalism Historians Association.

Among the 16 different courses I have taught at American University are: “Understanding Mass Media,” “How the News Media Shape History,” “Advanced Reporting,” “Global Journalism,” “Foreign Policy and the Press,” “Censorship and Media,” “Contemporary Media in a Global Society,” and “Sports Journalism.”

The quotation on the first page of the syllabus is from Self Culture magazine, December 1896.

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