Politicians, and news management

Monday, May 24, 1999.

Politicians, and news management

Objective news

No opinion from reporter

Reporting "facts"

"Facts" stressed by sources

Source influence over news (Fly on Wall, Sen. McCarthy)

Power of prominent politicians to control news through creating news.

Power of politicians to control news through access.

Mutual dependence of press, politicians

Tuesday, May 25, 1999.

Video: Making of the President, 1960.

What was the role of television in 1960?

What was the role of the TV debates?

How did Kennedy use TV?

Wednesday, May 26, 1999.

Emmett Till, Race and News

Coverage of the Till case

Sources and news

1. Fly on the Wall

2. Sen. Joseph McCarthy

3. 20^th century presidents

4. Till case.

Sources?

Sept. 1 -- Nov. 15,1955

1. Disappearance, body found, 1^st grand jury: Early Sept. (MS)

2. Funeral: Early Sept (Chicago)

3. Trial, mid-Sept. (MS)

4. 2^nd Grand jury -- early November

Emmett Till

Chicago youth visiting MS.

August 1955

Mrs. Carolyn Bryant

Roy Bryant, J.W. Milam

Kidnapping

Body found in river

Trial Sept. 19-23

Acquittal.

News on the Till case

1. Simple murder case

2. Nothing to do with desegregation, civil rights

3. Emmett Till insulted Mrs. Bryant

4. Miss. can handle this simple murder case

5. Problems are from outsiders - like NAACP

1. Emmett Till innocent youth

2. Not isolated case

3. Reflects larger oppression of blacks by whites in South.

4. Outsiders need to see that justice is done

Newspapers studied

Mainstream papers

Mississippi-- Delta

1. Greenwood Commonwealth

2. Grenada Sentinel-Star

3. Chicago Tribune

African American Press

1. Chicago Defender

Sources

Mainstream Press

Accused Killers

Killers' families, attorneys, state officials.

Little attention to Till family

Little attention to Civil Rights leaders

Black press

Till Family

Civil Rights Leaders

What did sources talk about?

Till family, civil rights leaders:

Emmett dead

B&M murderers

Larger civil rights issues.

Killers, Miss. officials

B&M innocent

Till not dead

Problem = outsiders

Most Common, Least Common Subjects

in Four Newspapers, 1955

Source

Subjects most commonly discussed

Subjects least commonly discussed

Till family, friends, civil rights leaders, other supporters

1. ET’s death not isolated case (36.9 %)

2. Till’s dead, Bryant and Milam guilty (15.8 %)

1. Outsiders are the problem (.3 %)

2. Bryant and Milam innocent (.9 %)

Bryant and Milam, Mississippi officials, other Mississippians

1. Emmett’s not dead, Bryant and Milam not guilty (31.5 %)

2. Outsiders are the problem (8.2 %)

3. Emmett did a terrible thing (11.5%)

1. Emmett a good boy (0%)

2. ET’s death not isolated case (0%)

3. Emmett’s dead -- it is his body (.7 %)

Who is important?

Focus of Photographs in the Till Case

(by percentage)

Who is in the photograph?	Defender	Tribune	Commonwealth	Star Sentinel
Till, Till family, civil rights leaders, family reps.	77	28	0	0
Defendants, their families, attorneys, Miss. Officials	16	67	83	71
Other	7	5	17	29
Total photographs	88	21	12	7

Focus of Photographs in the Till Case

(by percentage)

Who is in the photo?	Defender	White Press
Till, Till family, civil rights leaders, family reps.	77	16
Defndts+, attys, MS Officials	16	71
Other	7	12
Total photos	88	39

Thursday, May 27, 1999

The Civil Rights Movement and the Media

Background

1. 1950s and African Americans

2. Nature of Segregation

Jim Crow: Separate but Equal,

Political Powerlessness

3. Civil Rights = national issue

Northern migration

Black middle class

Civil Rights groups

4. Brown v. Board of Education

1954.

Separate not equal.

All deliberate speed

5. Southern backlash

Mobs, boycotts,

"Southern" view

S. Manifesto

6. Confrontations

Clinton, TN.

Montgomery,AL

Bus Boycott

7. 1960s

Blacks losing ground

economically

8. Black Like Me

John Howard Griffin

Media and Civil Rights

1. News is event-oriented,

reactive

Not thematic

But episodic

No context

2. News = controversy

Unusual, dramatic

3. Media ignorant

Limited knowledge between races

Media personnel = 99% white

4. Sources

Official Sources

Police beat

News about crime, unrest

5. Objectivity

Segregationists

6. Labelling

7. Southern Media

Defensive

Problem: outsiders

Ad pressure

WCC boycotts

News blackouts

Ralph McGill

A. Constitution

8. Television

Nationalizes issue

Sympathy for protesters

Brings reality to South

Limits on TV coverage