Movie Review #1

They Won't Forget (1937)

This movie is centered around Robert Hale, and the murder of one of his students. It takes place in the South, in a post-civil war era, a place where the loosing confederate soldiers hold a parade every April 26th in honor of their memorial day. Mary Clay, the student, was killed in a classroom, during the parade when she went to grab her things she had left behind. The first person to find her dead is the elevator operator, who called for the police. 

This is where we are introduced to the very unprofessional relationship between the police department and the town's reporters. The reporters mostly cover local news, and often share information with the police in exchange for the chance to break a story first. With all of this information circulating, the culprit came out to be Robert Hale, the professor. 

When the story breaks that Hale is the suspected murderer, the press have a field day, disregarding any form of protocol and seeking out Mrs. Hale for details. They manipulate her, lie to her, and steal personal property in order to piece together their narrative without stopping to collect more sufficient information on the situation. 

The quote "the press is a powerful tool for justice" is what most stuck with me, because yes, it can help aid in serving justice, but it can also get in the way of it. If the media was just a little less story pressed and more patient, then the trial for Robert Hale would've been more fact based rather than narrative based. The Hale's hired their own lawyer/detective to figure out how to clear his name, and they found only circumstantial evidence and mixed up stories to back up the claims of the police and the press. But, because of the nationwide narrative the media portrayed, the jury members came in with a preconception of the situation and initial bias towards convicting Hale, when in reality it might've not been him. Meaning the real murderer would still be walking around and able to kill another young girl.

As I watched the film, I did believe that Robert Hale was the murderer, but maybe that was because of the story they were trying to portray and because key elements were left out? Overall, I really enjoyed this movie as it made me think about the repercussions of an unchecked media practice. There is of course a high importance to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press, but there is also a Right to Privacy and I think this film highlighted the importance of respecting both. 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/they_wont_forget_1937

EOTO Reaction: Political Cartoons

During the first round of EOTOs, we all produced presentations on different institutions and publications. The one I found most interesting was the one about Political Cartoons because it touched on the history of the subject and an organization that helps to protect their right for publication. 

Political cartoons have the soul purpose of combining politics and art, they originated back in 1720, when the collapse of the South Sea Company occurred. This was a British joint-stock company who's purpose was the reduce and consolidate the amount of national debt. With this market crash, it brought many artists to the forefront of newspapers, creating graphics that spoke about the situation. 

Throughout the years, these graphics have become so iconic and recognizable, that artists today like to modernize and fit them into current political climates. Some of the ones created for today, revolve aroundissues like COVID-19, Trump, Biden, climate change, and the democrat vs. republican divide. 

Since these were considered art but also journalism, they were protected from censorship by the First Amendment. Some of the most famous political cartoonists were Benjamin Franklin, George Townsend, James Gillary, Thomas Nast, and Rube Goldberg - my personal favorite. 

Benjamin Franklin, created an iconic cartoon with the separated snake portions with the words "join, or die." Which was used by Americans to defeat the British during the American Revolution. This is just one example of the impact these cartoons can have on our society. One of the most influential to come out of this practice was one depicting a donkey and an elephant created by Thomas Nast, which we now use as symbols for our republican and democratic parties.  

Finally, the organization that was talked about that helped facilitate all this was AAEC, or the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Their job is to promote the interests of cartoonists from levels of student, freelance, and staff. Their goal is to aim to protect the right to keep making cartoons as a method of Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech. 

Why Take This Class?

Never Stay Silent. 

It's the name of this course, and something I was always told to do. It drew me in, and I decided it would be an interesting class to take. This course centers around the History of American Journalism, famous contributors, companies, and moments. All of which not only interest me but are bound to come up in my future studies. 

As a political science major, we read at least three to four different articles, from different news sources / journals a week for one of my classes (Enduring Issues in Political Thought). With all of this new background knowledge I feel as if I gained a deeper appreciation not only for the writing, but for my ability to question the ideas talked about. 

Prior to this course, I knew about censorship and corruption in our government, I knew about how some news sources are more left or right leaning. But, I never took the time to think about what they could not be reporting on, or why they push certain narratives versus others. I think my interest mainly peaked during the Russia / Ukraine conflict because there were no straight answers as to what was going on. 

Now I am especially exposed to the worldwide news, national news, and took a step back from worrying about local news. Oppositely, I have always been a rather frequent trafficker of sites like Variety, BBC, Vogue, People, and many more like them because I was and still am very interested in what is going on with my favorite artists and celebrities. When Candace Owens, a conservative American author, began showing up in my daily news stories about Harry Styles that I began seeking out more news sources and perspectives to one topic. I liked reading what different magazines or politicians, or just random news writers thought about the situation. Maybe it was because I had such a strong opinion and wanted to see why anyone was even siding with her, or maybe it was because I just wanted to see her proven wrong. I don't really know. 

At the time of this big controversy, I was in my junior year of high school and we had a blog project in my AP Lang class. I decided to write about a topic I was passionate about and wanted to help others understand the complexity about. So naturally, I discussed the sexuality of Harry Styles and how he identifies as unlabeled. The more analysis I did of different sources whether it was youtube videos, lyrics, news stories about him, and interviews. I fell absolutely in love with this writing style, and getting to write about my opinion on these topics, it felt new, and exciting, and entirely different from what I was used to. 

I think all of these different factors really shaped my decision in trying my hand at a journalism course, and considering it as a minor. Ironically, I decided to go in the direction sociology as my minor, but this course is still very much something I can be interested in, and would want to explore further later on in my academic or professional career. 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/11/16/candace-owens-criticizes-harry-styles-sparks-an-embarrassingly-outdated-culture-war/?sh=c7d14ae2128d 

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/harry-styles-candace-owens-tweet-1234833146/ 

https://people.com/style/harry-styles-claps-back-at-candace-owens/ 

https://www.vogue.com/article/who-exactly-are-people-like-harry-styles 

https://ajps.org/ 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/machiavellis-the-prince-is-looking-pretty-good-in-the-trump-era/2019/01/09/b78be016-1444-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html 

Publick Occurrences & The Boston News-letter

  Freedom of the press has always been and will always continue to be a top priority for Americans. Even back in 1690, Americans thought it important to create a way to talk about ideals, news, and gossip with their communities. Benjamin Harris was one of these people, and on September 25th, 1690 he did just that. He published the first ever colonial newspaper in America, named Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic. Although the paper only ever lived to see one issue date, it was influential in starting the conversation revolving around freedom of press, and the responsibility it bears in keeping the government in check. 

    Benjamin Harris was an English Publisher based out of Boston, Massachusetts. He was known in England for this pieces that spoke out against the monarchy, and found himself on trial in a case regarding seditious libel. Following his sentence, he moved to America and opened up his own coffee shop, London Coffee House. He decided to publish a newspaper, one of which consisted of local news, gossip, the updates on King William's War, and the atrocities resulting from the allyship of Native Americans and the British Soldiers. 

    The paper itself was four pages in length, it was formatted like a traditional English newspaper, except Harris left some pages blank in the back for readers to fill in. Prior to Publick Occurrences, people had published single sheet broadsides, or were reading the newspapers sent over from England. This made Harris' paper the first ever multi-page colonial newspaper. His target audience was supposed to the city's merchants, but sadly the paper was cancelled the next day. The lack of license prohibited Benjamin Harris from continuing to publish, and prompted the governor and council of Massachusetts to pass a broadside order on September 29, 1690.

https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/first-newspaper-published-in-the-colonies.html

    America didn't see another newspaper for the next fourteen years, until John Campbell came along with his legal version named The Boston News-Letter. This was the first continuously published newspaper in America. Based once again out of Boston, Massachusetts John Campbell, a loyalist, decided to give print work another try. He was born in Scotland, and emigrated to America to open a book store as a post-maker, he also served as Justice of the Peace for Suffolk County. On the week of April 17-24, 1704 The Boston News-Letter was born, a single sheet of double sided paper, lined with two columns that spoke on news of "Mother England", local news, and lengthy abstracts of the Mid-December Issues of The London Flying Post and The London Gazette. Campbell also made sure that every issue he published read "Published By Authority" at the top, as he didn't want to share the same fate as Benjamin Harris. 

    The newspaper was a success, running for seventy four years, fifteen of those unopposed until The Boston Gazette appeared. Even big cities like New York didn't have their own papers until 1725! But, before The Boston News-Letter was a smashing success it began as a weekly pamphlet sent out to New England's governors by Campbell, until he saw the selling value. At the time, he rarely exceeded printing three hundred copies. The format John Campbell sought out has now become the standard American Newspaper layout, ironically created by a English loyalist. At it's core this was a family run business, so when John Campbell passed away in 1722 the operation was passed down to his printer Bartholomew Green, and so on through the Green family as years went on. 

    This was also the only newspaper in America that was active during the American Revolution, being the sole reporter on events like the Boston Tea Party, Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The last issue was in February of 1776, published just before the British troops left America and the country was named independent. With the end of The Boston News-Letter, the family of loyalists left emigrating to Halifax with the rest of the British settlers. 

https://www.readex.com/blog/published-authority-boston-news-letter-1704-1776  

Sources:

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=400 

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/power/text5/PublickOccurrences.pdf 

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2014/today-in-media-history-first-colonial-newspaper-published-in-1690/ 

https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/first-newspaper-published-in-the-colonies.html

https://www.masshist.org/database/186

https://americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/news-in-colonial-america/item/116 

https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/boston-news-letter-loyalist-rag-reports-news/