Freedom of Speech Leads to Freedom of All: Reaction EOTO

Learning about "The Liberator" and "The North Star Press" from Kamille Sutton and Zoē Bethea's presentation was extremely interesting since I never realized the extreme importance of the press during the Civil War. When Americans are turned against each other, the hope is that real journalism, the foundation of democracy, will unite. 

Unfortunately, that didn't happen in this case. 

The Liberator was a newspaper that that was extremely influential in spreading anti-slavery messages

during the Civil War. Starting in 1831, The Liberator was a prime tool in spreading abolishment messages. 

The publisher of The Liberator was William Lloyd Garrison, who was a printer, pacifist, and a civil rights activist. He believed in the freedom of enslaved people which is why he created The Liberator. He worked with other extremely influential civil rights activists, like Fredrick Douglass and Lucy Stone. 

Created in Boston, this paper was extremely successful in the North, thanks to Black organizations to raise funds for the paper to be able to publish. This newspaper published 3,000 copies a week, which allowed many people to read The Liberator's message. This paper published poetry, excerpts of sermons, stories about freed African Americans and reporting on major events during this time period. 

This paper had a major impact in the North, causing the abolishment movement to gain more traction and support. People who may have been indifferent on the freedom of slaves were influenced and education due to The Liberator and began to actively support their freedom. 

However, in the South, The Liberator was banned and it was illegal to read it. Garrison was hated and wanted for capture. He was actually indicted for producing anti-slavery materials, which I found extremely interesting but disturbing, that someone could be arrested for publishing news. Censorship in this country is the breakdown of democracy and is the main cause of division. 

Additionally, I learned about The North Star Press. This was another anti-slavery newspaper produced by Fredrick Douglass. The North Star went through several development and changes. The first change was calling it the Fredrick Douglass Paper and then finally as the New National Era. With these changes brought different contributors which impacted the paper in different was. 

This paper produced publications about Anti-Slavery societies, rebellions, and messages against the Ku Klux Klan. These publications helped to empower the Black community and strength support in the anti-slavery movement. 

Both of these newspapers had a lasting impact as they helped to gain support for the abolitionist movement in the North, which then obviously led to the North winning the Civil War. Without these publications, abolitionist may not have been able to spread and exchange messages and empower others to stand up against slavery. 

Once again, history has shown the extreme importance of freedom of speech and publication to create change in America. 

Rumor Has It: Yellow Journalism

Emotions. Sensationalism. Rumors.  

All of these aspects should never be found in journalism however they are the baseline and core aspects to a particular type of journalism. 

Yellow journalism. 

Yellow journalism is a style of reporting where the news values sensationalism and provoking emotions rather than reporting real news. News articles with misleading, false, or overly emotional headlines and articles are participants in yellow journalism and lead division. 

Yellow journalism started, as a coined term, in the late 1800s, when news companies wanted to sell as many papers to as many people as possible. Due to the invention of the printing press, a contraption that allowed for fast and cheap production of news papers, papers were being sold for only a penny which opened up the demographic from only the wealthy to anyone, regardless of economic class. 

The ability for anyone to be able to obtain news should have been a period of growth and connecting Americans, however, the large news monopolies saw it as a means of economic gain. Since their audience grew, the companies wanted everyone to buy as many newspapers as possible. To do this, headlines were printed that twisted the accurate events to create chaos and make Americans buy the "entertaining" news, rather than the news that printed factual information. 

During this time period, yellow journalism most prominently affected the Spanish-American war. During the last decade of the 19th century, Cuba was a Spanish colony but started to fight for independence. Americans supported their independence but it was the use of yellow journalism that got Americans directly involved. 

News companies published articles stating that Spain directly and purposefully attacked an American ship that was stationed in Havana, Cuba. This was just speculation and rumors, with not much truth attached to the claim, however, newspapers, like the New York Journal, published headlines that were anti-Spain and created an even bigger divide between America and Spain. 

In truth, the USS Maine exploded due to a freak accident and there was not evidence to blame Spain, especially at the time of the event. However, this article, which was published in February 1898, lit a fire in Americans to promote anti-Spain theology and pushed the government to declare war against Spain in May of 1898. 

History repeats itself. Most things America deals with, politically, socially, and economically, are versions of historical events America has already overcome. 

Yellow journalism is no exception. 

With the popularity of online news and the 24-hour news cycle, it has never been easier to publish and

promote false information. It is not just social media's fault, although that also promotes false information, we see bias in major news organizations as well. Many large organizations have to edit, deleted, or publicly apologize for reporting false information which leads to the lack of credibility and trust between the people and journalists. 

Our democracy is built on that trust. 

Once again, America has placed great importance on quantity instead of quality in our reporting. Misleading headlines, or just plain lies, are promoted and published more, since those articles will get more views.  We have traveled back in time, to when we cared about emotions and rumors in our news for entertainment purposes and then suffered real consequences. 

What will the consequences be this time? 

Journalism History: Reflection of the Past, Glimpse of the Future

 

Good journalists must strive to continue to learn and never forget, our history when reporting on current events. 

However, that can be a difficult promise to uphold when we, as journalists, don't learn our own history. 

Although I took journalism classes in high school, along with numerous classes about American history, I never learned the history about the most important value that all American's share. 

Free Speech. 

It was fascinating to learn the history about newspapers and journalism, starting in colonial America. Learning about how colonists had to abide by the British government's rules and regulations when writing and publishing their newspapers. This just shows how desperate early Americans were for freedom of speech. 

It was also very interesting to learn about the influential figures who suffered in the fight for free speech during the revolutionary war. People like James Franklin and John Peter Zenger who were jailed for what they published, which then lead to laws and policies being enforced in early America. 

I think it is extremely important to teach young journalists not just laws pertaining to their career, but how those laws came to be. I've appericate the freedoms I have as a citizen and as a journalist even more, now that I know the struggles and hardship people faced when striving for indepent, free-thinking journalists. 

I was also interested to learn about how Ben Franklin had to deliver coded messages in his published writing. Obviolusy, Ben Franklin is a very famous and influencional person when thinking about American history, but his journalistic contributions have been swept under the rug. 

Learning about the development of the distribution of newspapers was another fascinating aspect of journalistic history. I believe that the spread of unbias and factual news is the most important apsect of American democracy and it has been a core value since the beginning of our nation. Without this, Americans don't truly have freedom of speech. 

Before the development of the steamed-power printing press, early journalists had to physically print out their stories by hand, which was time-consuming and lead to a fast spread of news. 

With the development of the steamed-power printing press, news was able to be printed quickly and with less man-power which eventually lead to the ability to have the newspaper monopolies we see today. It amazed me how dedicated the journalists before before this invention, since they were forced to put so much work into publishing their writing, not just writing itself. 

After this invention, it seemed that the development of newspaper monopolies grew overnight. The New York Sun paper and the New York Herald started the rise of the empires which seems mirror the large newspapers we see today. 

The "Penny Press Era" also completely changed the way newspapers, so that its more similar to what we see today.  With the ability to sell newspapers for a singular penny, the companies were able to see the papers to everyone in the area, regardless of social class. This meant that the journalists and newspapers had to report their information in an unbiased manner to accommodate both political parties, which differed from the past when newspapers would publicly support one political candidate or party. 

The unbiased delivery of news is something we valued in American democracy for decades and decades. However, with the immediate delivery of news via the internet and social media, it seems that journalists no longer have time to digest their biases before reporting. Which, creates the illusion that we are traveling back in time, to the development of our countries values. 

Those who do not learn history are bound to repeat it. 

Why Am I Here?

Every year, senior girls at my high school would fight over spots in one English Elective: Ms Doreen's Jane Austen & Romance Novels class. 

However, my senior year, that elective was no longer offered, so I signed up for Introduction to Journalism with Mr West. 

I was not expecting much when I walked into that classroom that day. I was more focused on the new senior activities and privileges I was now a part of. However, as I continued to complete my work in this class and fill out college applications, it dawned on me that I should change my major on my applications from "undecided" to "journalism". 

This class brought me back to my love of writing which I always had but got dimmed by essays about Shakespeare and Beowulf. I hated English classes during middle school. 

However, it was the complete opposite when I was in elementary school. 

As a child, I would, willingly, spend my library time writing stories. I would spend hours creating the perfect characters and storylines. Well, as perfect as an eight-year-old can be. I just knew that I loved to write and it came naturally to me.  

I would also research questions that interested me and write about my findings, for no one in particular. One of my favorite topics that I wrote about was "Lion vs Tiger: Whose Winning?". 

I wish the curiosity and necessity for knowledge stayed with us in adulthood. However, I have felt it fade.

Suddenly, I realized I was a journalism student at High Point University. 

I'm sitting in the Slane Student Center, looking at the R.G Wanek Center through the window and watching tours go by. And I'm wondering why I'm here. 

I don't have a direct answer or a direct plan for how I want my life to turn out. I've always been someone who rolls with the punches and figures things out as I go. I know that I love to write and read, and I truly enjoy reading the New York Times and The Washington Post. 

I know that High Point brought me opportunities I wouldn't necessarily have at other institutions. I worked for CNN at the Republican National Convention the summer after my freshman year of college. I don't many others who can say the same thing. 

I believe in fate, so I like to think that I am here because it was always meant for me to do something I loved, I just forgot that I did. 

I'm here because I love it and I want to work for it. 

And because Ms Doreen didn't want to teach Jane Austen anymore.