Mightier than the sword : how the news media have shaped American history / Rodger Streitmatter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Streitmatter, Rodger.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Press--United States--Influence.

Press.

Press and politics--United States.

Press and politics.

United States.

Journalism--Political aspects--United States.

Journalism.

Journalism--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

xii, 323 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Boulder, CO : Westview Press, [2008]

Summary:

In this pathbreaking book, Rodger Streitmatter takes the reader on a sightseeing tour of American history as influenced by the public press, visiting fifteen landmark events in U.S. history, from the American Revolution and the struggle for women's rights to the Civil Rights Movement and Watergate. These are events that stir the political imagination; but, as Streitmatter shows, they also demonstrate how American journalism, since the 1760s, has not merely recorded this nation's history but has played a role in shaping it. This book is the first of its kind. Streitmatter avoids the mind-numbing lists of names, dates, and newspaper headlines that bog down the standard journalism history textbook. Instead, he focuses on a limited number of episodes, identifying common characteristics within the news media.

The second edition includes an entirely new chapter on the news media's coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and illustrates how that coverage, or lack of coverage, had a profound effect on the events that followed, including the path to war in Iraq. This new edition also looks beyond traditional journalistic outlets such as newspapers and television news reports and examines the modern-day role that the Internet and its various venues play in reporting the news and shaping history.

Contents:

1 Sowing the Seeds of Revolution 7

2 Abolition: Turning America's Conscience Against the Sins of Slavery 25

3 Slowing the Momentum for Women's Rights 41

4 Attacking Municipal Corruption: The Tweed Ring 58

5 Journalism as Warmonger: The Spanish-American War 75

6 Muckraking: The Golden Age of Reform Journalism 93

7 Defying the Ku Klux Klan 109

8 Father Coughlin: Fomenting Anti-Semitism via the Radio 126

9 Creating "Rosie the Riveter": Propelling the American Woman into the Workforce 142

10 Exposing Joe McCarthy: Television's Finest Hour 157

11 Pushing the Civil Rights Movement onto the National Agenda 174

12 Vietnam War: Bringing the Battlefield into the American Living Room 192

13 Watergate Forces the President to His Knees 210

14 Rush Limbaugh: Leading the Republican Revolution 225

15 9/11: Failing the American Public 240

16 How the News Media Have Shaped American History: Focusing on the How 256.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-311) and index.

ISBN:

9780813343907

0813343909

OCLC:

162126869