FINAL EOTO David Broder

David Broder 

Journalism’s Modern Heroes 

David Broder was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1929. Upon receiving his M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago, he served in the army for 2 years. In 1953, he started working for The Daily Pantograph in Bloomington, Illinois.

Since then he has succeeded at many well known establishments, including Congressional Quarterly, the Washington Star, and the New York Times  

Most of his career was spent with the Washington Post where he began working in 1966

Significance 

David Broder is known in high regard as one of the best political journalists to date. He has an immense list of achievements and awards, too many to name in fact. One in particular to mention however, is the prestigious Politzer Prize.

Broder has covered every national campaign and convention since 1960, so over 4 decades. Each year of his career, he traveled at least 100,000 miles to interview voters and report on candidates. He is the author and co author of 6 books and was a regular commentator on CNN’s “Inside Politics.” He also made regular appearances on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Washington Week in Review.”

 

Wiki Leaks Video

 Collateral Murder

In only 40 minutes, a patriotic pro military American can swiftly be awakened. Watching a dozen men get murdered in cold blood is the topic for this blog post. Watch the video linked below to further witness the collateral murder.  

Julian Assange is the Australian “whistleblower” who was responsible in bringing justice to the Wikileaks video of collateral murder in Iraq. 

What an incredible display of disdain and cowardry in murdering innocent men with cameras, that the particular individuals “thought” were weapons. 

It’s truly amazing how this video, that we watched in class, can be so powerful and threaten the government so much that they feel the need to torture Assange to death oversees for exposing wrongdoing. He has done absolutely nothing illegal and owes our government no loyalty, as he isn’t even from America. 

This isn’t the first whistleblower to be treated absolutely horrible for no rhyme or reason and unfortunately won’t be the last. Governments lie. 

 Good Night, and Good Luck 

This black and white movie from 2005 highlights media responsibility and portrays backlash when a differing opinion from the government is brought to light. 

Set in the 1950’s and focused on taking down one of the most controversial senators (Joseph McCarthy) in American history is the main focus of this film.

It’s clear from George Clooney’s involvement in the film, that this is quite a passion project. 

War and Freedom of the Press

Silencing of Anti-War Voices

It’s no secret that Antiwar voices are very frowned upon and silenced in our country. The government loves war, the money and business it brings. The silent majority of us doesn’t side with this view, and rather sees the lives lost. 

Every war in history has had it’s opposition, but one with an enormous backlash was the Vietnam War.

We will focus on Barbara Tischler’s “The Antiwar Movement,” chapter 20 in particular, as it pertains to the so called “freedom” of the press. 

It’s funny, right off the bat, it is written, “The young American men and women who joined forces to say “No” to their government were not raised to be rebellious.”

The reason I find this humorous is due to the word “rebellious.” Questioning government, and authority in general, should never be considered “rebellious” but rather, common practice. We the people have a responsibility to uphold the accountability of those voted into office. 

This brilliant work by Tischler includes the origin of antiwar activism, a trait often favored and instilled into those who had been taught the language of democracy, liberalism, and optimism. 

This information I present today was not on the nightly news, or even in the newspapers. Though the streets were filled with passionate antiwar protests, the news during the era of the Vietnam War painted an “American” “civic responsibility” to send tens of thousands of American soldiers into Vietnam. Was this the case? Well, it depends who you’re asking. 

Early acts of protest against the war were not of group conscience, but of brave Americans with the stones to speak up. One in particular, Roger LaPorte, even doused himself in flames for the cause. The passion, though crazy, is admirable to be quite honest. 

The general distaste of war was not just of the people, but even more so the soldiers. In fact, they were “the locus of widespread antiwar activity.”

The writing previously mentioned and linked says, 

“The disclosure of official military harassment aided the organizing efforts of the Gl antiwar

movement. An individual soldier punished for an unpopular, although not necessarily

illegal, antiwar action could be ignored, but as the number of publicly antiwar soldiers

grew, their actions, as reported in the Gl press, encouraged others to express their

opposition to American military policy more openly.” 

One thing is for sure, antiwar voices will never stop talking, but their suppression will continue to be squandered by Big Brother and their helper, the press. 

EOTO 3 Terms and Concepts

 Adversarial and Gotcha Journalism 

Adversarial Journalism 

A type of aggressive and antagonistic journalism with a goal of exposing scandal and wrongdoings. It is typically focused on higher ups and CEOs of companies and government officials. 

Adversarial Journalism has been used all throughout history. Some examples include, breaking up oil monopolies, passing stricter food and drug regulations, and exposing child labor abuses. 

“Gotcha” Journalism

Similar to adversarial journalism, but much more aggressive. Attempts to trap the person being interviewed in their own words and coerce them to make self damaging statements. 

The goal is to find short sound bites and quotes to harm one’s reputation. This is seen very frequently in presidential debates. 

The Good and the Bad

Adversarial Journalism 

• Press must be separate from government 

• We the people must be skeptical of government 

“Abridgment of owners' speech rights, either by legislation or by judicial opinion, is unconstitutional.”                                                              -heinonline.org

Gotcha Journalism 

• Media crosses the line, goes too far in setting up for embarrassment 

• Ask questions which seemingly have no good way to answer

• Found worldwide

• Press use of hidden cameras started in the 1920s to “add depth”      

• Morality and ethics are in question

—Copyright: 1995 University of Marylandhttp:/www.ajr.org/

EOTO 2 Journalism Heroes

 William Randolph Hearst 

William Randolph Hearst got his beginning tastes of the journalism world when he started working as a business editor at the Harvard Lampoon. Though he took an important editorial role to the student paper, it didn’t stop him from getting expelled. His habit of missing classes and hosting massive beer parties at the Harvard Square ended his career at the university. 

His father, mining tycoon, George Hearst, wanted his son to pursuer the mining industry with him. Having already developed a liking to journalism, he instead convinced his father to give him control of the San Francisco Examiner. 

                              

At only the age of 24, Hearst had control of the paper, and begin using family money to completely rework the San Francisco Examiner. He figured to have a great paper, he needed the best writers at the time. He hired Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, among other talented newspaper writers. To catch attention, they focused on a sensational newspaper style, focused on catchy headlines, photos, and graphics to make the paper appealing to everyone. 

It took two years before the paper started to turn a profit. Circulation jumped from 5,000 to 55,000 by the time William R. Hearst was 27 years old 

Classmates EOTO 1 Takeaways

Cartoonists in Journalism History

During my classmates EOTO (Each One Teach One) presentations I heard about a lot of historically groundbreaking publications that were revolutionary for their time. The presentation I found most interesting however, was the history of cartoons in newspapers.

The first political cartoon was made by Benjamin Franklin on May 9, 1754. Titled “Join or Die” and featured in the Pennsylvania Gazette, this was the first cartoon to ever be printed in the news, my classmates informed me. This was a tactic to unite the 8 colonies, for together they are whole and apart they would die. This is so famous and popular even to this day, I have a flag of it in my room even. 

Cartoons were so great for everyone, young and old, literate and illiterate. The expressed public opinion in a comedic way. Political cartoons were also a great introduction to heavy topics, keeping viewers’ readings mostly lighthearted. They were and still are fun to look at, and are a great tactic for “propaganda.”

Cartoons feature many characteristics, the most common being irony, exaggeration, symbolism, analogies, and labeling. These symbols of the elephant and donkey were created early on to represent the Republican and Democratic Party. 

I learned about Flynn v. Falwell and the decision that “parody’s of public figures WAS freedom of the press.” Which was a great win for the 1st Amendment.