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Injured reporter interviewing bloodied antiwar demonstrator

Seeing Was Not Believing

A new book identifies the 1968 Democratic convention as the moment when broad public regard for the news media gave way to widespread distrust, and American divisiveness took off.
by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on August 30, 2023
Four men gather around a horse drawn cart carrying newspapers from Philadelphia, New York and Maryland.

There’s Already a Solution to the Crisis of Local News. Just Ask This Founding Father.

As modern lawmakers consider various means of public assistance for local news, they can learn from the founders’ approach to supporting journals and gazettes.
by Steven Waldman via Politico Magazine on April 2, 2023
Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill on the HMS Prince of Wales during the Atlantic Conference, Newfoundland, Canada, August 1941.

The Limits of Press Power

To what extent did newspapers influence public opinion in the US and Britain before and during World War II?
by Geoffrey Wheatcroft via New York Review of Books on October 22, 2022
Members of Jayland Walker's family stand beside a sign in tribute to him.
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Jayland Walker’s Killing Didn’t Spur Expected Protests. Here’s Why.

An effective media strategy has often been crucial to rallying the public behind Black victims of fatal violence.
by Kate L. Flach via Made By History on July 13, 2022
Exhibit

Truth and Truthiness

Americans have been arguing over the role and rules of journalism since the very beginning.
Screen shots of PBS NewsHour anchors with title cards about conflicts in Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Afghanistan.
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“Burning with a Deadly Heat”

PBS NewsHour coverage of the hot wars of the Cold War.
by Alyssa Knapp via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on March 7, 2022
Nixon in front of presidential photographs.

Daniel Schorr and Nixon’s Tricky Road to Redemption

Nixon portrayed himself as a victim of the press. But from the 1952 Checkers speech through his post-presidency, he proved to be an able manipulator of the media.
by Ryan Reft via Tropics of Meta on February 25, 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during an interview for CBS, November 11, 1973.

US Media Talks a Lot About Palestinians — Just Without Palestinians

Although major U.S. newspapers hosted thousands of opinion pieces on Israel-Palestine over 50 years, hardly any were actually written by Palestinians.
by Maha Nassar via +972 Magazine on October 2, 2020
A woman updates a museum display of newspaper front pages.
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The Answer to the Media Industry’s Woes? Publicly Owned Newspapers.

Newspapers must be for the people. It’s worth investing our tax dollars in them.
by Victor Pickard via Made By History on May 18, 2020
Close-up of Spiro T. Agnew as he points his finger from podium.

He Was Trump Before Trump: VP Spiro Agnew Attacked the News Media 50 Years Ago

When Vice President Spiro Agnew gave a speech in 1969 bashing the press, he fired some of the first shots in a culture war that persists to this day.
by Thomas Alan Schwartz via The Conversation on November 8, 2019

New Online: The AP Washington Bureau, 1915-1930

Wire service reporting from the capital provided much of the nation with coverage of federal government and politics.
by Ryan Reft, Neely Tucker via Library of Congress Blog on May 16, 2019

Does Journalism Have a Future?

In an era of social media and fake news, journalists who have survived the print plunge have new foes to face.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on January 22, 2019
Two men doing a "perp walk"
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Perp Walks: When Police Roll Out the Blue Carpet

Unfair maneuver or a strong warning to would-be criminals?
by Bonnie Bertram, Sandra McDaniel via Retro Report on December 2, 2018

When Richard Nixon Declared War on the Media

Like Nixon, Trump has managed to marginalize the media, creating an effective foil.
by Matt Giles via Longreads on November 8, 2018
James Baldwin.

The Forgotten Baldwin

Baldwin demands that the Atlanta child murders be more than a mere media spectacle or crime story, and that black lives matter.
by Joseph Vogel via Boston Review on May 14, 2018
Man reading a newspaper and smoking a cigarette in a mid-twentieth century kitchen.

Why the “Golden Age” of Newspapers Was the Exception, Not the Rule

"American journalism is younger than American baseball."
by John Maxwell Hamilton, Heidi Tworek via Nieman Lab on May 2, 2018

FDR's War Against the Press

Franklin Roosevelt had his own Breitbart, and radio was his Twitter.
by David Beito via Reason on April 5, 2017
Nixon campaign button with the slogan "Now more than ever."

Now Less Than Never

A smooth forehead suggests a hard heart.
via n+1 on April 5, 2017
Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn.

Blacklists and Civil Liberties

On the Second Red Scare and the lessons that it can provide for us today.
by Clay Risen, Miguel Petrosky via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on May 13, 2025
Cover of The Moving Image by Peter Kaufman.

The Power of the Moving Image

Video has become our dominant cultural medium, yet we lack reliable archives for the audiovisual record.
by Peter B. Kaufman via Los Angeles Review of Books on February 11, 2025
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The Media Spawned McCarthyism. Now It's Happening Again

Some of today's most influential political figures also won power through their willingness to say things that capture media attention.
by A. Brad Schwartz via Made By History on February 9, 2025

You Had to Be There

Whose side is the war correspondent on?
by Zoë Hu via The Baffler on November 5, 2024
Three men using the large UNIVAC computer to predict the 1952 election, with two reading a printed readout and one using a phone.

The Year Election Night First Became a TV Event

In 1952, news stations combined two new technologies—the TV and the computer—to forever transform how voters experience election night.
by Jordan Friedman via HISTORY on October 28, 2024
George Floyd protest

Reflections of the 60th Anniversary of Urban Uprisings in America

The media narrative used to discredit urban rebellions as violent betrayals of the civil rights movement has been attached to protests ever since.
by Heather Ann Thompson via Black Perspectives on October 17, 2024
An aerial view of a forest meeting with a burnt, empty landscape.

Does the U.S. Have a Fire Problem?

Forest fires of 1910 sparked a media-driven fire exclusion policy, which has arguably worsened today's "fire problem."
by Richard Bednarski via Edge Effects on October 10, 2024
Bill Clinton meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in the White House.
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How Qatar Became a Major Middle East Power Broker

The history behind the country's role as a key American ally that also maintains warm relations with Iran and others.
by Allen Fromherz via Made By History on September 30, 2024
George Gallup reenacting his polling methods on a talk show.

The Problems with Polls

Political polling’s greatest achievement is its complete co-opting of our understanding of public opinion, which we can no longer imagine without it.
by Samuel Earle via New York Review of Books on September 26, 2024
Harris on a tv screen.

TV Still Runs Politics

Just about every major development in the current presidential campaign started as a television event.
by Paul Farhi via The Atlantic on August 22, 2024
Still from the film Medium Cool, 1969.

That Ain't Cool

Capturing the 1968 DNC.
by Sammy Feldblum via The Baffler on August 20, 2024
Autographed photo of Richard Nixon and Jerelle Kraus.

Two and a Half Hours Alone with Nixon, the Anti-Trump

When Nixon practiced law, he declined divorce cases because he disliked frank sexual talk from women. Trump asked Playboy to run a “Girls of Trump” feature.
by Jerelle Kraus via LA Progressive on August 6, 2024
Illustration of man throwing football to sports broadcaster.

Before and After the Contest: Wraparound Sportscasting Through the Ages

National Football League pre- and postgame shows have become a testing ground for novel technology in the waning days of linear television.
by Chloe Lizotte via Mubi on August 1, 2024
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