Lincoln on the press

Here's a quote from Abraham Lincoln that shows why he was one of the most media savvy presidents: "The press has no better friend than I am--no one is more ready to acknowledge its tremendous power for both good and evil."

My new book published

My new book, Civil War Journalism, is out. It is the first synthesis of the journalism during the war from the perspective of both the North and South.  Chapters examine reporting the war, photographing and illustrating the war, editorializing about the war, censorship and government relations, and the impact of the war. The book is part of the Reflections of the Civil War series, edited by John David Smith.

A Web Site for Old News

The New York Times has an interesting story today about the Library of Alexandria, which is archiving every bit of news produced in the last three years by 20 different television channels. The library also has collected everything published on every Web page for the past 15 years, a monumental goal which already adds up tom more than 150 billion Web pages.  The library will be a tremendous resource for future scholars interested in studying the news media.

The State Theatre

Our family went to show at the State Theatre last week, and it got me thinking about the history of the spot that has become one of State's College's best venues for concerts, films and theatrical productions. This is from the State Theatre's web site:

"On October 15th, 1938, Warner Brothers opened The State Theatre as a test market for new films. The state-of-the-art cinema was built in record-time — just four months — for a whopping $70,000. It offered patrons four different flicks each week. General admission was 30 cents for matinees, 35 cents after 5pm, and children’s tickets cost just 15 pennies.

Unfortunately, as the years progressed, the theatre lost its glamour. Gone was the lush theatre with its silk wall fabrics and sweeping balcony, and gone was its place in the community. Doors closed in 2001, indicating the end of an era, and very possibly, the end of The State.

Thankfully, by 1999, some dedicated community members had already envisioned a new life for the dilapidated theatre: an arts performance center, owned and operated by the community. Local groups would have a home stage, and citizens would be able to enjoy diverse music and theatre in an intimate setting. The State Theatre had the potential to revitalize the downtown, expose a range of people to artists both national and international, and bring additional income into the community.

An enthusiastic local contingent threw their weight behind the revival, hosting events, selling pavers and touting the case of The State. Owners Sidney and Helen Friedman, themselves patrons of The State since 1939, generously gave both the theatre and a monetary gift to the community and renovations began. The reconstruction unearthed many lovely architectural elements that were subsequently preserved. The lush glory of The State’s former life was renewed, and State College regained its historic gem."

Over the last five decades, many downtown movie theater like the State closed as a result of the competition from newer venues in the suburbs and changing viewership habits. We're fortunate here that the State did not suffer the same fate.

One giant leap for mankind

The news that Neil Armstrong died yesterday has many recalling the historic walk on the moon on July 20, 1869.  The event was watched by tens of millions of people, including this young boy. It was the largest television event in history, We saw a blurry, black and white picture of Armstrong climb down from the capsule and step carefully on the lunar landscape. His famous words, "That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," summed up the achievement perfectly.

Quote of the Month

I have been writing this blog for a year now. To mark the occasion, I thought I would add something new, "Quote of the Month, a memorable remark about the mass media or a remark from a mass media practitioner. This week's quote comes from none other than Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."

"There's an old saying about those who forget history.  I don't remember it, but it's good."

Newsies a Winner

Our family just returned from a short trip to New York where we saw "Newsies," the popular musical about the New York newsboy strike in 1899.  The two-week strike against the New York World and New York Journal forced the newspaper's to increase the amount of money they paid to the newsboys. In "Newsies" the kids only strike against the World and publisher Joseph Pulitzer is the bad guy. Still,  I was impressed with the general historical accuracy of the show, even down to the logo of the World used in the newspapers that were such an important part of many scenes. (The dance scene where the newsies dance on copies of the paper is one of the show's best.)

By the way, I couldn't resist this opportunity to post one of my favorite pictures of newsboys, taken by the muckraking photographer Lewis Hine.  Hine took many photos of newsies as part of his crusade against child labor. 

A Day A Photo

When I struggle to find the time to post regularly on my blog (as I have done this summer), I think about my colleague in the Department of Journalism, Will Yurman.  Will, who joined our faculty from the Rochester (N.Y) Times-Democrat, has a wonderful photo blog, A Day A Photo, where he posts a picture he has taken that day. (The photo above, "Family Devices," is from one day this month.) And the truly amazing thing to me is that Will has posted a picture to the site every day for for nine years without missing a single day. That's a blogger.

Old and new

The New York Times had an interesting story a couple of weeks ago about how films are smaller again. In the early years of film making, movies were shown on little screens because that was the only way technology would permit.  Now, thanks to smart phones, movies are on small screens again.

The Legacy of Watergate

I just finished Jon Marshall's outstanding book, Watergate's Legacy and the Press: The Investigative Impulse. The book provides a concise history of the the Watergate investigation by the Washington Post.  It also gives an overview of earlier investigative reporting, particularly the muckraking era.  But probably it's greatest contribution is in examining the history of investigative reporting after Watergate. The book is part of the excellent series by Northwestern University Press, Visions of the American Press.

Favorite newspaper mottos

After visiting the Newseum, I started thinking about my favorite newspaper mottos. Let's start with one from that historic paper down the road from Washington:

Baltimore Sun: "The Sun Shines for All"
New York Times: "All the News that's Fit to Print"
Chicago Tribune: "World's Greatest Newspaper"
Atlanta Journal: "Covers Dixie Like the Dew"
Tombstone Epitaph: "No Tombstone is Complete Without its Epitaph"
Aspen Daily News: "If you Don't want it Printed, Don't Let it Happen"

And the longest motto, but maybe the best:
Mason Valley News (Yerington, Nev.): "The Only Newspaper in the World that Gives a Damn about Yerrington"

Newseum visit worth the wait

I finally got the chance recently to visit the Newseum in Washington, D.C.  I toured the old Newseum in Arlington, Va., but after visiting the impressive new venue I can't believe it too me so long to get there.  I loved the historic newspaper front pages.  It was also good to see the exhibit of Civil War journalism.

End of Road for Car Talk

The Car Talk brothers announced this week that they will stop doing new shows this fall.  After 35 years on radio, Tom and Ray Magliozzi said they are ready to move on.  Fortunately, Car Talk will continue to broadcast old shows starting in October.

Car Talk debuted in 1977 on WBUR in Boston when the Magliozzi brothers were asked to field calls seeking automotive advice.  After 10 years, the show was picked up by National Public Radio.  Today, the show is broadcast on 660 stations and heard by an estimated 3.3 million listeners weekly. It is NPR's top-rated weekend show.

Car Talk is the kind of quirky, off-beat show that could have only been broadcast on public radio. It's one more example of why we need public radio and why it needs our support.

Inventor of remote control dies

Eugene J. Polley, the man who invented the wireless remote control and changed the way we watched television, died last week.

Polley was an engineer at Zenith when the company was one of the leading TV manufacturers. In 1950 the company developed a remote control that attached to the set by a cord.  Five years later, Polley came up with the idea of a wireless device that sent light beams to receptors on the set to change channels and turn the set on and off. 

With a price tag of $100, the Flash-Matic, as it was known, initially was a luxury device for most consumers.  And since there were only three TV networks, there was no great need for the luxury.  But with the explosion of cable channels starting in the 1980s, the remote soon became ubiquitous. We have Eugene Polley to thank for that.

Penn State wins national championship

Penn State's College of Communications won its first-ever national championship in the overall intercollegiate writing-broadcasting-photojournalism-multimedia standings in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Penn State finished first in writing; fourth in photojournalism; seventh in multimedia; and eighth in broadcasting. The college captured seven individual top-10 student finishes in writing; two top-10 individual finishes in photojournalism; one top-10 individual finish in radio; and one individual top-10 finish in multimedia.

The annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program in writing, broadcasting, photojournalism and multimedia is open to students from the country’s 108 nationally accredited mass communication programs.  Now in its 52nd year, the competion draws more than 1,000 student entries each year. 

Congratulations to all the talented students who made this a historic year for the college.

Pictorial correspondents of the Civil War

The current issue of National Geographic has an interesting article about Civil War sketch artists. The article is written by Harry Katz, who with co-author Vincent Virga, has published a new book, Civil War Sketch Book: Drawings from the Battlefront.  I have written about sketch artists in my book, Civil War Journalism, which will be published later this year.  As Katz notes, the stories of the dedicated sketch artists, which included the likes of Alfred Waud (pictured above), Edwin Forbes, Henry Lovie, and Winslow Homer, have largely gone overlooked. Fortunately, that is changing.

The Times and the Titanic

I can't let the month end without noting the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic.  But instead of joining the chorus of eulogies for one of the worst disasters in maritime history, I want to note the outstanding news coverage of the event by the New York Times.  The Times devoted remarkable resources to cover the accident in which 1,514 passengers died.  The coverage is chronicled in Meyer Berger's history of the newspaper.

Daily Collegian Goes Old Style

The Daily Collegian, Penn State's student newspaper, celebrated its 125th anniversary today by returning to its roots.  In a historic nod to its predecessor, The Free Lance, which was born on April 18, 1887, the Daily Collegian copied the newspaper's old look.  The nameplate, headline fonts, column rules and other design elements mimic the The Freelance.  It's a clever way for the Daily Collegian to remember where it came from. Kudos to editor Lexi Belculfine and the staff.

Sara Ganim wins Pulitzer Prize

Congratulations to Penn State journalism graduate Sara Ganim and the Patriot-News for winning the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. Sara, who is just 24 years old, and her colleagues were honored for their outstanding reporting of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. The Department of Journalism is extraordinarily proud of Sara.

Another pat on the back to the Philadelphia Inquirer for winning the Pulitzer Prize for public service for its series on the pervasive violence in the city's schools.  During a year in which the newspaper has gone through so much ownership turmoil, it's great to see the Inquirer recognized.

An April Fool's Joke to Remember

The media has pulled plenty of memorable pranks on April Fool's Day, but perhaps none was better than the "Taco Liberty Bell" advertisement in 1996.  The fast food chain placed advertisements in several leading newspapers announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." Thousands of people protested before Taco Bell announced that it was a hoax.

The prank was the brainchild of PainePR, a public relations firm.  The advertisements cost $300,000 but generated an estimated $25 million in publicity for Taco Bell. The White House even got in on the joke. The same day press secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that as part of its ongoing privatization efforts, "Ford Motor Co. is joining today in an effort to refurbish the Lincoln Memorial. It will be the Lincoln Mercury Memorial."

Earl Scruggs, 1924-1912

Bluegrass music lost one of it pioneers when Earl Scruggs, who developed the modern banjo sound, died yesterday at the age 88.  Scruggs and his guitar-playing partner, Lester Flatt, were best known for songs such as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett."  Flatt and Scruggs were regular guests on the Grand Ole Opry and were heard on the Opry's popular radio broadcasts on WSM.

Great Radio on Hall of Fame Site

The web site of the Radio Hall of Fame is a terrific place for anyone who wants to listen to some of the best personalities and programs in radio history. From Abbot and Costello to Wolfman Jack, and from All Things Considered to Your Hit Parade, the site provides short audio clips of the Hall of Fame inductees. You will be reminded of what made Edward R. Murrow the trusted voice of authority during World War II, and why the Grand Ole Opry is the country's longest-running musical program.

The Artist Revives Lost Art

I finally got to see "The Artist," the black-and-white silent film that is an homage to Hollywood's early years. The charming movie certainly deserves all the accolades it has received, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. "The Artist" is the creation of French writer-director Michel Hazanavicius, who had wanted to make a silent film for years. "A silent film is a very special experience," he said. "It is not intellectual, it's emotional. You take it in the way you take in music. There are times when language reduces communication, when you feel you are losing something when you start talking." "The Artist" revives a lost art and it is indeed a special experience.

Happy Leap Day

Today is Leap Day. Once every four years, an extra day is tacked on to the end of February to calibrate our human calendar to the natural world. The Earth does does not orbit the sun in an even 365 days, but in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds.

The Experiment Known as PM

In the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review, Christopher Daly has an interesting story about PM, the ambitious experiment to publish an ad-free newspaper in New York.  The brainchild of Ralph Ingersoll, who had been one of the driving forces behind Time, Fortune and Life,  PM was meant to be a unabashedly liberal writer's newspaper when it was launched in 1840.  It lasted only eight years but during that time the newspaper published many hard-hitting exposes.  It also made innovative use of photographs, graphics and maps.  As Daly writes, today's new media start-ups will recognize in the publication the financial struggle to deliver a new kind of journalism.  But the real message for today, he argues, was PM's attempt "to produce a publication that serves the interests of people who are closer to the bottom than the top in terms of power and influence."

Person to Person Redux

Person to Person made television history 59 years ago. The pioneering interview show on CBS was a marvel of technology with its split screens that allowed Edward R. Murrow to interview a news maker in their home.  The first show aired October 9, 1853, with Murrow talking with baseball star Roy Campanella and conductor Leopold Stokowski.

Now CBS is bringing Person to Person back and the first show is airing tonight. Anchors Charlie Rose and Lara Logan are interviewing George Clooney, Jon Bon Jovi and Warren Buffet. Of course, television technology has come a long way.  But the principles of good journalistic interviewing haven't changed. Now, as then, it's a conversation with a purpose.

Twain on the Press

In giving a guest lecture to a class last week, I was reminded about one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain. A newspaper reporter in Nevada before he turned to fiction, Twain captured how newspapers had changed in the last half of the 1800s. And, of course, the irreverent Twain did so in his inimitable style: "Our duty is to keep the universe thoroughly posted concerning murder and street fights, and balls, and theaters, and pack-trains, and churches, and lectures, and school-houses,and city military affairs, and highway robberies, and Bible societies, and hay-wagons, and a thousand other things which it is the province of local reporters to keep track of and magnify into undue importance for the instruction of the readers of this great daily newspaper."

Joe Paterno: 1926-2012

I have to note the passing of Joe Paterno, who died today at age 85. Of course, Paterno will be remembered for winning more football games than any other college coach.  But as Penn State President Rodney Erickson noted, Paterno's "commitment to education is unmatched in college football." He repeatedly said that he measured the team's success not by victories, but by the number of players who went on to be productive citizens and make a positive contribution to society. Paterno and his wife, Sue, also donated more than $4 million to the library, the College of Liberal Arts, and the interfaith spiritual center. Penn State is a far better place thanks to Paterno.

Edgar Allan Poe: Magazine Editor

Today is the birthday of the poet and novelist Edgar Allan Poe. What is not usually known about Poe is that he was one of the first popular American writers to make a living working for magazines. The author of The Tell Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe is known for his dark, Gothic tales of murder and insanity. But while he was writing, Poe also worked as an editor for various magazines for some 10 years. Something else I've always found interesting: Poe's famous poem, The Raven, was first published in the Evening Mirror, a small newspaper in New York.

Creative Protests

The creative protests being waged against two Internet piracy bills has made me think about the way one Colonial newspaper protested the Stamp Act 250 years ago.  Web sites such as Google and Wikipedia that oppose the controversial bills are encouraging users to make their voices heard. Google directed anyone visiting the site to pages detailing the tech industry's complaints. Wikipedia even shut down its English-language site for 24 hours. The Pennsylvania Journal waged its battle against the hated Stamp Act in a simpler, but nonetheless creative manner. The newspaper designed its front page to look like a tombstone with the slogan, "Expiring in the Hopes of Resurrection to Life Again."  The protest by the Pennsylvania Journal and other newspapers proved to be successful. We'll see what is the impact of protests by web sites against the piracy bills.