Newspaper Career Research Articles

Thomas Jefferson LaMotte, South Carolina Bookbinder 1850-1905

The discovery of a rare 19th-century binder mark launched this investigation of South Carolina bookbinder Thomas Jefferson LaMotte (1830-1911). This article will discuss his bookbinding practice and newspaper career, Civil War experiences, and civic roles. LaMotte’s biography will develop a fresh framework for future research of South Carolina book arts. Included in the appendix is a new roster of 44 Columbia bookbinders--including 10 women--active from 1859 to 1911.

Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers

Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers

Book Review: Vivian Smith Outsiders still: Why women love – And leave – Their newspaper careers

Book Review: Vivian Smith <i>Outsiders still: Why women love – And leave – Their newspaper careers</i>

Book Review: Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers by Vivian Smith

Book Review: <i>Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers</i> by Vivian Smith

Book Review: Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers

Book Review: <i>Outsiders Still: Why Women Journalists Love—and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers</i>

“A Genuine Republican”:

“A Genuine Republican”:

Playing the Indian Princess?: Sarah Winnemucca's Newspaper Career and Performance of American Indian Identities

Playing the Indian Princess?:Sarah Winnemucca's Newspaper Career and Performance of American Indian Identities Carolyn Sorisio (bio) On May 2, 1883, the Northern Paiute educator, translator, author, and activist Sarah Winnemucca lectured at Boston's Hotel Winthrop, declaring: I can tell you how few of the Government supplies reach the Indians; how one little blanket was provided to shelter a family of six from the cold; how three blankets were supposed to be enough for fifteen Indians, when each of them should by right have had one; how, indeed they often have to buy the very supplies that the Government has promised to give them in exchange for their land. I have asked the agents why they did these wrong things. They have told me it was necessary for them to do so in order to get money enough to send to the Great Father at Washington to keep their position. I assure you that there is an Indian ring; that it is a corrupt ring, and that it has its head and shoulders in the treasury at Washington. ("Princess Winnemucca on the Treatment of Indians") Winnemucca had been lecturing for two months at the start of a northeastern lecture tour, speaking on behalf of "all the Indians who [were] afflicted with that terrible pest—the Indian Agent" ("Indian Agents"). Winnemucca commented that most people did not "know much about Indians," and thus many of her lectures promoted cultural as well as political awareness. Her immediate goals were to secure land rights for Northern Paiutes and to persuade the US government [End Page 1] to allow for the return of Northern Paiutes who had been unjustly removed to Yakima, Washington, after the Bannock War. She told audiences: I want to test the right of the Government to make and break treaties at pleasure. They gave my people that place of land, and I want to ask whether it is legal for them to sell it or not. And in this work I want your help. Will you give me your influence? My work must be done through Congress. Talk for me and help me talk, and all will be well. ("Appeal for Justice") To these ends, by fall 1883, Winnemucca published the book for which she is best known today, Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.1 Winnemucca's increased prominence—resulting from the news media's coverage of her lectures and book and assisted by the indefatigable promotional efforts of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody—earned her access to many influential reformers and politicians. By spring 1884, she testified before the US House Subcommittee on Indian Affairs. When she returned to Nevada, funds donated by eastern reformers allowed her to challenge US boarding school and English-only policies. Winnemucca's campaign would have been much harder, if not impossible, had she failed to garner newspaper coverage. In an age when American newspapers reported on US-Indian Relations in a sporadic and biased manner, Winnemucca produced sustained, specific, and often sympathetic coverage. She was well aware of newspapers' power, as demonstrated by the more than four hundred newspaper items by or about Winnemucca from her first public appearance in 1864 to her death in 1891 that form the basis of this essay. As the first section of this essay details, Winnemucca understood that newspapers had the power to shape public opinion locally and nationally. She struggled—and was often able—to control newspaper representations about herself, Northern Paiutes, and American Indians. Creating and controlling news coverage was key to her political strategy; she recognized that newspapers were sites wherein resistance had to take place. She was politically astute and rhetorically sophisticated, a savvy negotiator of the news media. [End Page 2] Yet the critical stories we hear most about Winnemucca's lecture in the Hotel Winthrop that May evening and in general emphasize not her media savvy but rather her performance as an Indian princess. Certainly, on that night and on other occasions, she presented herself as such. For example, the Evening Transcript reported: The princess . . . was richly and fantastically attired, her dress of buckskin, short-sleeved and of moderate length, being trimmed with an abundance of sparkling beads...

Playing the Indian Princess? Sarah Winnemucca's Newspaper Career and Performance of American Indian Identities

Playing the Indian Princess?:Sarah Winnemucca's Newspaper Career and Performance of American Indian Identities Carolyn Sorisio (bio) On May 2, 1883, the Northern Paiute educator, translator, author, and activist Sarah Winnemucca lectured at Boston's Hotel Winthrop, declaring: I can tell you how few of the Government supplies reach the Indians; how one little blanket was provided to shelter a family of six from the cold; how three blankets were supposed to be enough for fifteen Indians, when each of them should by right have had one; how, indeed they often have to buy the very supplies that the Government has promised to give them in exchange for their land. I have asked the agents why they did these wrong things. They have told me it was necessary for them to do so in order to get money enough to send to the Great Father at Washington to keep their position. I assure you that there is an Indian ring; that it is a corrupt ring, and that it has its head and shoulders in the treasury at Washington. ("Princess Winnemucca on the Treatment of Indians") Winnemucca had been lecturing for two months at the start of a northeastern lecture tour, speaking on behalf of "all the Indians who [were] afflicted with that terrible pest—the Indian Agent" ("Indian Agents"). Winnemucca commented that most people did not "know much about Indians," and thus many of her lectures promoted cultural as well as political awareness. Her immediate goals were to secure land rights for Northern Paiutes and to persuade the US government [End Page 1] to allow for the return of Northern Paiutes who had been unjustly removed to Yakima, Washington, after the Bannock War. She told audiences: I want to test the right of the Government to make and break treaties at pleasure. They gave my people that place of land, and I want to ask whether it is legal for them to sell it or not. And in this work I want your help. Will you give me your influence? My work must be done through Congress. Talk for me and help me talk, and all will be well. ("Appeal for Justice") To these ends, by fall 1883, Winnemucca published the book for which she is best known today, Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.1 Winnemucca's increased prominence—resulting from the news media's coverage of her lectures and book and assisted by the indefatigable promotional efforts of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody—earned her access to many influential reformers and politicians. By spring 1884, she testified before the US House Subcommittee on Indian Affairs. When she returned to Nevada, funds donated by eastern reformers allowed her to challenge US boarding school and English-only policies. Winnemucca's campaign would have been much harder, if not impossible, had she failed to garner newspaper coverage. In an age when American newspapers reported on US-Indian Relations in a sporadic and biased manner, Winnemucca produced sustained, specific, and often sympathetic coverage. She was well aware of newspapers' power, as demonstrated by the more than four hundred newspaper items by or about Winnemucca from her first public appearance in 1864 to her death in 1891 that form the basis of this essay. As the first section of this essay details, Winnemucca understood that newspapers had the power to shape public opinion locally and nationally. She struggled—and was often able—to control newspaper representations about herself, Northern Paiutes, and American Indians. Creating and controlling news coverage was key to her political strategy; she recognized that newspapers were sites wherein resistance had to take place. She was politically astute and rhetorically sophisticated, a savvy negotiator of the news media. [End Page 2] Yet the critical stories we hear most about Winnemucca's lecture in the Hotel Winthrop that May evening and in general emphasize not her media savvy but rather her performance as an Indian princess. Certainly, on that night and on other occasions, she presented herself as such. For example, the Evening Transcript reported: The princess . . . was richly and fantastically attired, her dress of buckskin, short-sleeved and of moderate length, being trimmed with an abundance of sparkling beads...

Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed at the Press (review)

Reviewed by: Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed at the Press Gwyneth Mellinger Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed at the Press. By Edward Alwood. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 2007. Over the past half-century, McCarthyism’s paranoia about communist infiltration of the movie and television industries, higher education, government, and the military has been examined for the national pathology that it was. Absent from these previous analyses of McCarthyism’s patriotic excesses were the attacks on newspaper journalists who were suspected of communism, and the cowardly response of many publishers and professional organizations that were supposed to represent the interests of the Fourth Estate. Edward Alwood supplies this missing chapter in Dark Days in the Newsroom, a meticulously researched historical study that focuses on the congressional inquisition led in 1955 by Mississippi Senator James Eastland. As chair of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Eastland specifically targeted journalists who had been active in the Newspaper Guild, but his insinuations of wrongdoing fell disproportionately on the newsroom of The New York Times, whose editorial page [End Page 174] frequently differed with him on such issues as the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the McCarran Immigration Act. The stigma of Eastland’s subpoenas ended dozens of newspaper careers; the testimony of witnesses destroyed friendships and reputations; and journalists’ defiant assertions of constitutional protection under the First and Fifth Amendments brought contempt citations, lengthy court battles, and, in some cases, jail sentences. Alwood’s study makes three significant contributions. First, through a far-reaching and painstaking analysis of FBI records, many obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Alwood brings into the public domain new information about McCarthyism’s conspiracy against the press and the FBI’s complicity. Relying as well on congressional archives, interviews, and the correspondence and records of key journalists, Alwood’s investigation yields a comprehensive record of this largely forgotten democratic crisis. Second, in providing constitutional context for this analysis, Alwood demonstrates the grave implications of the attacks on journalists’ freedom of thought and association. In this narrative, those who acquiesced to McCarthyism’s intimidation are as deserving of our sordid fascination as the patriotic bullies who abused their congressional power. Heading this list are the newspaper editors and publishers who fired journalists for daring to claim a First or Fifth Amendment protection against the Eastland Committee’s demand for their testimony. Alwood emphasizes that McCarthyism’s power lay in its ability to cow principled people and reduce them to self-serving cowards. Finally, by juxtaposing his historical analysis with discussion of the 2005 federal grand jury investigation into the Valerie Plame leaks and the subsequent jailing of reporter Judith Miller, Alwood reminds us that the Constitution remains a tenuous shield against government assault on civil liberties. As long as journalists have no specific legal protection against the subpoena, the Eastland inquisition cannot be viewed as an aberration. The sole weakness in Alwood’s book is in his failure to develop all of his characters. His portrait of James Eastland, the main villain in this tale, is particularly thin, which seems odd, given the wealth of material available on this bombastic white supremacist. Eastland’s personality, which was stamped on his politics, and the context provided by his long record of opposition to civil liberties for huge segments of humanity deserves better play. Gwyneth Mellinger Baker University Copyright © 2009 Mid-America American Studies Association

Trends in University Support of Scholastic Journalism

For the past several years, educators involved in scholastic have been saying that high school is endangered. of the blame for the situation been put on high schools themselves because administrators have not often viewed the program as essential to the curriculum. On the other hand, share of the blame been put on college and university for not adequately supporting scholastic education. The Education Association, for example, concluded in report titled High School Confronts Critical Deadlines (JEA, 1987) that high school were at risk. It put part of the blame on higher education, which it stated has not assumed sufficiently aggressive role in nurturing scholastic journalism (p. 107). One of the report's authors, John M. Butler, suggested that many schools appear not to attract sufficient teachers to continue training programs and offer that fail to meet teacher needs (JEA, 1987, p. 103). A few years later, Death by Cheeseburger: High School in the 1990s and Beyond (Freedom Forum, 1994) charged that college were still not adequately addressing scholastic education. It stated: Some experts attribute the shortage of college-trained high school teachers to the small number of colleges offering majors in education (p. 13). It noted that some had dropped their majors in in the previous 10 years. Scholastic isn't priority for many both because of their professional orientation and because of the limited number of students who likely would be attracted to scholastic education. As stated by Mary Sparks, past president of the Association of Schools of and Mass Communication, many college and university educators feel their main job is to train people to be professional journalists, and they are also driven by the numbers (Freedom Forum, 1994, p. 14). Sparks' point was supported by survey for the American History Association conducted by its Education Committee, which stated that scholastic was the most vulnerable college program, ranked far below the next lowest program, cultural studies (D. Birkhead, personal communication, January 18, 1995). The study suggested little had changed since Shenton and Smith (1982) wrote that, despite its importance, for scholastic was a step child, albeit necessary one perhaps, in the Association for Education in Journalism (p. 6). Such comments and findings suggest the need to examine what higher education's role in scholastic was at the end of the 20th century in an attempt to determine whether it was putting less emphasis on scholastic than it did in earlier years. Review of the literature The benefits of scholastic for high school students have been well-documented (Dvorak,1988; Dvorak, 1989; Dvorak, 1990; Dvorak, Lain, & Dickson, 1994; Morgan & Dvorak, 1994; and Dvorak, 1998). The American Society of Newspaper Editors found that 30 percent of newspaper professional employees (editors, copy editors, reporters, photographers, and artists) responding to national survey reported that they first decided to choose newspaper career while in high school, 38 percent had taken high school class, and 55 percent had worked on junior or senior high newspaper (ASNE, 1989). Moreover, Olson (2000) found that just over 60 percent of college and university and mass communication educators had high school experience, and just over 40 percent decided to pursue as career before or during high school. Studies about teacher/adviser certification. Studies as early as the 1970s recommended minimum requirements for advisers and for certification. …

A Lesson for Instructors: Top 10 Copy-Editing Skills

Newspaper editors who hire entry-level editors for their copy desks frequently complain that journalism school graduates are deficient in just about everything: they can't spell or write decent headlines, can't locate Haiti on a map and don't bother to check even the phone book for accuracy. In addition, educators are being told they must prepare students for the 21st century by teaching them about pagination and visual storytelling. As the duties of the copy editor become more complex, so does teaching editing.(1) Journalism editing instructors frequently receive conflicting messages about their teaching priorities. Should they keep students up to date with new technology and news presentation, focus on the basics, or both? It's difficult to do it all in 45 hours of class time in a semester. Basic editing courses vary widely in their content. Some might focus on working with words and headline writing, while others might include a full menu that everything in addition to the basics that an employer might want in a new hire: layout and design on a computer, coaching writers, and graphics. The purpose of the study was to gather specific information from editors that editing instructors could use in determining what to emphasize in their courses, particularly those that prepare students for newspaper careers. This study asked editors which skills they believe are crucial for entry-level copy editors to know, and in which areas they see the most deficiencies. Certain profile information about hiring practices was sought, such as whether journalism majors were being hired and how much experience outside the classroom was expected of them. Questions focused on three areas: 1. Editors' expectations of crucial skills and level of experience for entry-level copy editors. 2. Skill areas in which editors have n found entry-level copy editors to be most deficient in meeting their expectations. 3. Profile of respondents' hiring practices. Background There is little research that focuses on copy editing skills, and even less on the skills and attributes desired of entry-level copy editors. Research by the industry and by scholars tends to focus on the impact of changing newsrooms on copy editors, their tasks and skills. Other studies focus on journalism education as a whole. The broad areas are relevant to copy editing, but not specific enough for editing instructors. However, they provide some guidelines. Ryan noted that the changing copy editor's role added multiple duties that are shifting production tasks to the copy so that there is less time for editing.(2) Copy editor, Ryan said, has become a strange way to describe someone who so little time to edit copy. Block composition and pagination, zoning, density and reader-friendly formats have mugged copy editors and stolen their precious time to edit. Cook and Banks found in their study that the increasing stress level among copy editors resulted in a higher job burnout rate when compared with the general population.(3) They said that job burnout among copy editors is partly caused by their expanded duties--increasing demands placed upon them by computerized graphics, photography and pagination. Changing technology is not particularly new in the newspaper business. Some editors resisted video display terminals (VDTs) when they were first introduced, but later adapted, Solomon found.(4) However, others simply left newspaper work. Arwood compared attitudes of editors and educators concerning how undergraduate news-editorial programs should respond to newspaper industry change.(5) He concluded that editors and educators agreed that good writing and critical thinking were the most important skills a newspaper-bound student should learn. Editors in the study said they were skeptical about journalism schools teaching technology because they didn't want them to de-emphasize basic writing skills, and they didn't think schools had the resources to keep up with technological change. …

The National liberation Front

Essay| January 01 1994 The National liberation Front Peter Arnett Peter Arnett Peter Arnett, now a correspondent fo RCNN, began his newspaper career in his native New Zealand, then worked on papers in Sydney, Bangkok, and Vientiane, Laos. He became Saigon correspondent for the Associated Press in 1963. This article appeared in February 1969. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1994) 93 (579): 42. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1994.93.579.42 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Peter Arnett; The National liberation Front. Current History 1 January 1994; 93 (579): 42. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1994.93.579.42 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCurrent History Search This content is only available via PDF. © 1994 by The Regents of the University of California1994 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Micro‐Madness:

In the classic film Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, after many re‐writings, began his newspaper career with a “Declaration of Principles” to serve readers as a promise or guide for the future. While perhaps not so lofty, this inaugural installment of my new regular column in OCLC Micro also seems an auspicious moment to outline my intentions for this column. Given the march, or run, of technology, perhaps this statement will end up shredded as Kane's did, but the opportunity to put on paper, particularly at the start of a decade, a few notes about microcomputer directions is irresistible.

New England Journalist: Highlights in the Newspaper Career of Charles H. Dow

A major accomplishment sometimes overshadows the background that made accomplishment possible. The creator of Wall Street's most famous investment formula was, in fact, a journalist and entrepreneur of note. His total contribution to the financial community was far larger than the theory for which he is remembered today.

Book Review: The Newspaper Career of E. D. Cowen, with Biographic Sketches

Book Review: The Newspaper Career of E. D. Cowen, with Biographic Sketches