DOCUMENT RESUME Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of The
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 433 569 CS 510 150 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (82nd, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 3-8, 1999). History. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1999-08-00 NOTE 400p.; For other sections of this proceedings, see CS 510 132-153. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC16 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Activism; Advertising; Foreign Policy; Higher Education; Journalism Education; *Journalism History; Presidents of the United States; Race; Radio; Sex; *Television Viewing; Violence IDENTIFIERS African Americans; Black Press; *Editorial Cartoons; Life Magazine; Louisiana (New Orleans); *Media Coverage; USSR; Wolves ABSTRACT The History section of the Proceedings contains the following 13 papers: "The Big, Not-So-Bad, Wolf: Cultivating a New Media Image" (Richard Gross); "The Forgotten Battles: Congressional Hearings on Television Violence in the 1950s" (Keisha L. Hoerrner); "President Nixon's China Initiative: A Publicly Prepared Surprise" (Zixue Tai); "Passion and Reason: Mississippi Newspaper Writings of the Secession Crisis, 1860-1861" (Nancy McKenzie Dupont); "Ruth Gruber, Arctic Journalist, Carves a Northwest Passage through the Ice of the Red Scare, with Coverage of Alaska and Soviet Russia" (Beverly G. Merrick); "Ambivalent Colleagues of the Kansas Black Press: B. K. Bruce and S. W. Jones, 1890-1898" (Aleen J. Ratzlaff); "The Naked Truth: Gender, Race, and Nudity in 'Life', 1937" (Dolores Flamiano); "Sex Could Sell a Lot of Soap: Popular Formulas of Magazine Advertisements, 1920-1929" (Juliann Sivulka); "What Is a Fish Among Friends? Victorian Editorial Cartoonists Mock a Two Century Old Border Dispute" (David R. Spencer); "Launching the Radio Church, 1921-1940" (Tona J. Hangen); "In Search of African-American Identity: A Comparison of the Early Black Press with the Oral Tradition" (Bill Anderson); "Exotic Americana: The French-Language Magazines of Nineteenth Century New Orleans" (Sam G. Riley); and "Peggy Charren: Bohemian Activist" (Naeemah Clark). (RS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (82nd, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 3-8, 1999): History. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. 1999-08 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION P CENTER (ERIC) f8(This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Q BEST COPY AVAILABLE Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES C9 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 :..n Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent ',...) official OERI position or policy. 2 The Big, Not-So- Bad Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image 1 The Big, Not-So-Bad, Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image By Richard Gross, MA, MS Doctoral Candidate Missouri School of Journalism Correspondence concerning this manuscript should be addressed to Richard R. Gross, Missouri School of Journalism, 1707 Stanford Drive, Columbia, MO 65203 phone: 573-446-5406, e-mail: [email protected] The Big, Not-So- Bad Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image 2 Abstract The author examines historical literature regarding the wolf's negative image in Europe and America. Using the cultivation theory of media effects, which considers exposures over time, the author examines recent periodical writing about the wolf. The author discusses the more favorable recent print media imagery, particularly in most areas where wolves were reintroduced. The author concludes that continued favorable imagery may cultivate a more balanced view of the animal vis-a-vis humankind. The Big, Not-So- Bad Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image 3 Introduction He's mad that trusts in the tameness of the wolf William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III Historically, the wolf has not enjoyed good press. Perceived as a competitor, humankind has systematically vilified and attempted to eradicate canis lupis and its relatives. That eradication has been achieved in most portions of the inhabited world. The earth's most successful predator, humankind, has in the view of many paid a high price for the successful campaign against the wolf: alteration of a biological, social and psychological milieu of which the wolf is a primal component.' Negative literary and media representations of the wolf dating from biblical times persist to this day. This paper will examine some of those representations, seek to offer some understanding of possible reasons for the negative stereotype of the wolf, and consider how the media may be playing a significant role in cultivating changes in that negative stereotype. Humans and wolves: a primitive bond Humans and wolves evolved in close geographic proximity throughout Asia, Europe and North America.2 Wolves and humans initially shared a respectful and cooperative relationship as evidenced by the modern-day human relationship with the domestic dog. There is a striking genetic similarity between "man's best friend" and his most hated predator. Ethologists3 believe the lone difference is neoteny: the persistence in dogs of infant-like dependence lasting into maturity.4 The domestic dog is believed to have evolved from a smaller, possibly extinct, subspecies of wolf. Anthropologic evidence suggests that domestication began about 12,000 years ago in the Near East.5 Offered a convenient supply of food and a more favorable chance of survival in exchange for its wildness, the domestic dog spread rapidly. It made its way in North America about 8,400 years ago according to Mech, spreading as far south as present day Idaho and Montana.6 Its lack of "wildness" has served the dog well. Today, domestic dogs are ubiquitous throughout the world, numbering in the billions. Its ancestor the wolf has been all but eliminated. The Big, Not-So- Bad Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image 4 In North America, wolves formerly ranged everywhere north of Mexico City into Alaska and the Arctic to about 380 miles south of the NorthPole.7 Today, wolves are found in significant numbers throughout the less populated western provinces of Canada (about 58,000 mostly "gray" or timberwolves) and Alaska (about 12,000), according to the most recent Federal reports. Also in the United States, smaller populations existin northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, Isle Royale and the upper Peninsula of Michigan, and portions of the Intermountain West.8 Reintroduction has been undertaken by the Federal government in Central Idaho, North Carolina and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Spontaneous rehabitation has occurred in Montana and Maine, andhas been reported in the Desert Southwest.9 The evolution of the wolf "problem" The rupture in the mutually tolerant relationship between humans and wolves is thought to have occurred about the same time as the appearance of the domestic dog. This is believed to have originated in Asia, perhaps in either the Lake Baikal region of Siberia or along the plain of the Ganges River, in what is todayIndia.l° The reason for the souring of the human-wolf relationship is food. When northern glaciers retreated, the resulting deglaciation occurred at the same time as a global weather phenomenon known as the neothermal, a period of rapidwarming." During the neothermal, worldwide temperatures rose an average of approximately five degrees over a period of 5,000 years. This resulted in the riseof the oceans above the coastal continental shelves. For coastal peoples, this created an abundance of accessible shellfish and fish, both of which became staple foods. For inland peoples, the glacial retreat left an abundance of arable land rich with the nutrients of the billions of decomposed sea creatures. This, in turn, led to an explosion of growth in grasses andforests, forage for huge herds of large hoofed animals like buffalo in Asia and bison in North America. Humans and wolves evolved together as predatory hunters. Moreover, they favored the same food: fresh meat from large hoofed animals. Humans supplemented their meat with hominy (corn). Wolves, being pure carnivores, supplemented large game with smaller animals like rabbits and rodents. The Big, Not-So- Bad Wolf: Cultivating A New Media Image 5 With climate now favorable to permanent farming, humans began to establish permanent settlements. Civilization prospered. Civilization brings problems as well as possibilities. Nomadic hunting was no longer as necessary, but preserving killed game was a problem. One form of "preservation" practiced worldwide is ranching: the herding together and penning up of food animals until they are slaughtered. This became a practice that was useful to humans and, in times when hunting was unsuccessful, convenient for wolves. The human species was enormously successful. However, the spread of civilization resulted in the elimination of large game animals by humans and their substitution with domesticated food animals. The respect bred between two species mutually hunting the same prey deteriorated into competition in good times