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News correspondent inside Berlin Wall tunnel.

The Battle Between NBC and CBS to Be the First to Film a Berlin Wall Tunnel Escape

Declassified government documents show how both sides of the Iron Curtain worked to have the projects canned.
by Mike Conway via The Conversation on November 8, 2019
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
The title card for Little House of a Prairie on a green hill.

50 Years Ago: America Loved a Little House

The beloved family show left a lasting legacy.
by Troy Brownfield via The Saturday Evening Post on September 11, 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
Action shot of the Detroit Lions playing the Chicago Bears in 1934.

How the NFL Popularized Thanksgiving Day Football

The NFL holiday tradition took off in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the unbeaten Chicago Bears in a game broadcast nationally on radio.
by Chris Mueller via HISTORY on November 10, 2021
The cover of the book Her Stories by Elana Levine

Guiding Lights: On “Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History”

Annie Berke reviews Elana Levine's book on a pivotal genre and its diverse fandom.
by Annie Berke via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 19, 2021

How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success

With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.
by Patrick Radden Keefe via The New Yorker on December 27, 2018

A Conservative Activist’s Quest to Preserve all Network News Broadcasts

Convinced of rampant bias on the evening news, Paul Simpson founded the Vanderbilt Television News Archive.
by Thomas Alan Schwartz via The Conversation on July 26, 2018

When the Revolution Was Televised

MLK was a master television producer, but the networks had a narrow view of what the black struggle for equality could look like.
by Alexis C. Madrigal via The Atlantic on April 1, 2018
President Richard Nixon prepares to go on television May 23, 1970 in the Oval Office.
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When It Comes to Harassing the Media, Trump is No Nixon

Trump challenges the press. Nixon changed it.
by Oscar Winberg via Made By History on October 16, 2017

The TV That Created Donald Trump

Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.
by Emily Nussbaum via The New Yorker on July 31, 2017
Puppeteer Burr Tillstrom poses with puppets and a small Christmas tree on the set of his television program.

Together With the Kuklapolitans

In the middle of the past century, a gentle crew of puppets united the TV watchers of America.
by Jacqui Shine via Slate on February 16, 2015
Elaine May and Walter Matthau sitting on a bench in May’s film A New Leaf.

May Days

A new biography of an elusive comic talent.
by Lizzy Harding via Bookforum on February 11, 2025
Crowd of construction workers next to the first Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Belongs to the Working Class

Construction workers pooled their wages to erect the first one. Their bosses co-opted the gesture, transforming it into today’s consumer spectacle.
by Ashley Bishop, Spencer Snyder via Jacobin on December 17, 2024
Collage of The Golden Girls, a suitcase, a golf ball, viagra pills, and a Welcome to Florida sign.

How Old Age Was Reborn

“The Golden Girls” reframed senior life as being about socializing and sex. But did the cultural narrative of advanced age as continued youth go too far?
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Yorker on November 25, 2024
Johnny Carson hosting the Tonight Show.

The Amazing, Disappearing Johnny Carson

Carson pioneered a new style of late-night hosting—relaxed, improvisatory, risk-averse, and inscrutable.
by Isaac Butler via The New Yorker on November 6, 2024
Larry David.

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.
by Daniel Bessner via The Nation on April 8, 2024
Silver medalists Karen Chen and Nathan Chen pose for a photo after the team event in the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing.
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The ‘Miracle on Ice’ Shaped the Olympics Coverage We’re Seeing Every Night

How rooting for American athletes became part of Olympic TV coverage.
by Bruce Berglund via Made By History on February 9, 2022
Two characters from “Grey’s Anatomy" sit against a wall.

How TV Lied About Abortion

For decades, dramatized plot lines about unwanted and unexpected pregnancies helped create our real-world abortion discourse.
by Tanya Melendez via Vox on October 14, 2021
Woman wearing red radio hat

Can Radio Really Educate?

In the 1920s, radio was an exciting new mass medium. It was known for providing entertainment, but educators wondered if it could also be used for education.
by Donna L. Halper via JSTOR Daily on September 15, 2021
Roger Mudd on the History Channel in August 2001
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The Media Will Be Key to Overcoming a Senate Filibuster on Voting Rights

Roger Mudd proved in 1964 that media attention can help overcome Senate obstruction.
by Donald A. Ritchie via Made By History on April 12, 2021
A women in a newsroom covering the election
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Good TV Demands Results on Election Night, but That’s Bad for Democracy

The history of tuning in to televised election returns.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on November 3, 2020

The First Lady of American Journalism

Dorothy Thompson finds a room of her own.
by Nancy F. Cott via Lapham’s Quarterly on March 17, 2020
Screen shot of early YouTube interface.

Here's What People Thought of YouTube When It First Launched in the Mid-2000s

It took a while for pundits and other observers to truly understand the power of the new platform.
by Matt Novak via Paleofuture on February 14, 2020
Picture of DeFord Bailey holding a harmonica amplified by a gourd.

The Unsung Black Musician Who Changed Country Music

From the moment DeFord Bailey stepped onto a stage in Nashville, country music would never be the same. Decades after his death he finally got his due.
by Diana Bianco via Narratively on January 23, 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

The ‘SNL’ Sketch That Predicted Our Nerd Overlords

In 1986, William Shatner told a roomful of spoof Trekkies to "get a life."
by Alan Siegel via The Ringer on January 31, 2018

In 1968, When Nixon Said "Sock It To Me" on 'Laugh-In,' TV Was Never Quite the Same Again

The show's rollicking one-liners and bawdy routines paved the way for cutting-edge television satire.
by Ryan Lintelman via Smithsonian on January 19, 2018
Funeral flower arrangement with a ribbon reading "R.I.P. Internet."
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Why Ajit Pai is Wrong About Net Neutrality

FCC regulations have long promoted innovation that benefits consumers, not stifled it.
by Michael J. Socolow via Made By History on December 14, 2017

Before Net Neutrality, There Was Radio Regulation

How today's media landscape was shaped by a 1920s decision to privilege corporate broadcasters over noncommercial ones.
by Livia Gershon, Robert W. McChesney via JSTOR Daily on December 11, 2017
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