MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature 20th Century American Journalism as a Mirror of Society Bachelor Thesis Brno 2015 Thesis Supervisor: Author: Michael George, M.A. Romana Helešicová Affirmation: I hereby declare that I have worked on this thesis independently and that I have used only the sources listed in the Bibliography. I agree that the thesis will be deposited in the library of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno and made available for academic purposes. March 30, 2015 …………………… Anotace Bakalářská práce se zabývá historií USA zprostředkovanou skrze tisk. Cílem práce je shrnout historii 20. století a vybrat zásadní okamžiky, které byly spojeny s žurnalistikou a zároveň měly dopad na širokou veřejnost. Nastíněna je také společenská atmosféra a situace na novinovém trhu, dále jsou v práci připomenuty významné osobnosti spojené se zmiňovanými událostmi. Na závěr je navrženo, jak lze získanými informacemi obohatit hodiny anglického jazyka na základní škole. Annotation This bachelor thesis is focused on a history of the USA mediated through the press. The goal of the thesis is to summarize the history of the 20th century and choose momentous events connected with the journalism which also had an impact on a general public. Furthermore, a social atmosphere and situation on a market are outlined and significant personalities related to mentioned events are reminded. In the end, there are examples how to enrich elementary schools‘ English lessons by using gained information. Klíčová slova historie USA, noviny, novináři, žurnalistika, 20. století, kultura, světové války Key words history of the USA, news, journalism, journalists, 20th century, culture, world wars Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my supervisor Michael George, M. A. for his kind guidance, time, valuable advice and helpful remarks. Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 2. 1900 – 1950: From the city to the battlefield ............................................................ 2 2.1 Pre-war trends in journalism and a social climate reflected in newspapers ................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 A life in the early 1900s, two newspaper magnates and women‘s involvement in journalism ............................................................................................................. 4 2.1.2 Muckraking, business, government interventions ............................................ 8 2.1.3 The Black press .............................................................................................. 11 2.2 World wars through the eyes of war correspondents and events in-between13 2.2.1 World War I events and a social climate ....................................................... 13 2.2.2 World War I journalists and correspondents .................................................. 14 2.2.3 The Roaring Twenties .................................................................................... 18 2.2.4 The period of the Great Depression ............................................................... 20 2.2.5 World War II events and a social climate ...................................................... 27 2.2.6 World War II journalists and correspondents ................................................ 29 2.2.7 The Cold War and the fear of communism .................................................... 31 3. 1951 – 2000: Journalists as guardians of democracy ............................................. 33 3.1 Historical and social changes ............................................................................. 33 3.2 The Pentagon Papers .......................................................................................... 36 3.2.1 The New York Times ..................................................................................... 36 3.2.2 The Vietnam War ........................................................................................... 37 3.2.3 Neil Sheehan and The Pentagon Papers ......................................................... 38 3.2.4 The impact of The Pentagon Papers............................................................... 40 3.3 The Watergate Scandal....................................................................................... 41 3.3.1 The Washington Times .................................................................................. 41 3.3.2 The Watergate Scandal .................................................................................. 41 3.3.3 The Effects of Watergate ............................................................................... 44 3.4. Media and the New Millennium ....................................................................... 45 4. Newspapers in English language lessons ................................................................. 46 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 49 6. Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 51 7. Resumé ....................................................................................................................... 61 1. Introduction ‘Journalism is the first rough draft of history...‖ (Kolodzy) History learned at schools draws its information from many sources. These are archeological findings, architecture, paintings, an oral tradition or literature, not only chronicles but also fiction or poetry. Subsequently, the journalism has started to contribute heavily as a historical source, especially since the 19th century. Albeit it is apparent how important news journalists publish, direct quotations of their work are rarely seen in school textbooks. Therefore many of less significant daily newspapers sink into oblivion despite their industrious editors revealing breaking news. The content of newspapers is the most accurate reflection of a society which an unacquainted person may gain. The headlines and articles expose syntax typical for that period of time, the contents reveals news which the society considers attractive and problems it suffers from. For this reason, not censored newspapers are an extraordinary source of information. As it is said at the beginning of this chapter, the history is not something in the remote past but it closely surrounds us. Even yesterday‘s news is considered a historical record. Through newspapers we may be witnesses of noteworthy events almost in the present time. The aim of this thesis is to briefly summarize the 20th century history of the USA and highlight events connected with newspapers and journalism with an impact on the society. The result will be a slightly different point of view on history; instead of typical retrospective method (researches examine historical sources they find) we will see how journalists themselves were those who changed history or recorded incidents, sometimes risking their lives to present them to readers and to preserve them for the future. The aim is also to remind lives of well-known journalists, editors and newspaper magnates. 1 The second chapter of the thesis is concentrated on the first fifty years of the 20th century. We will see ground-breaking historical and social changes people experienced and how the biggest of them, world wars, influenced them. Two subchapters are concerned with the war correspondence in particular; owing to brave journalists the general public got information directly from the battlefield. Before that, selected issues remind carefree pre-war mood, troubles during the financial crisis, structure of the society and its interests. Above all, the next chapter describes two biggest affairs in which journalists disclosed facts the American government tried to conceal. These subchapters emphasize the importance of investigative journalism and reveal the influence of these two events in the future. The subchapter that ensues is a very brief summary of following years. In reference to school textbooks, the fourth, short but more practical chapter demonstrates how newspapers and their knowledge may be used as a complementary educational material in elementary school English lessons. The thesis is focusing on American history which is not taught in English lessons in the Czech Republic, even though its knowledge may help pupils and students to better understand the culture of English speaking countries. Hopefully, the examples of usage of the newspapers‘ history knowledge show how to easily enrich English language lessons and it will be a desired distraction for students, too. 2 2. 1900 – 1950: From the city to the battlefield 2.1 Pre-war trends in journalism and a social climate reflected in newspapers ―Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;…‖ (US Const., amend. I) As it is apparent from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, North American inhabitants valued freedom of expressions long before they established rights for all citizens regardless their color of skin or sex, which are also considered vital in every prospering society. The First Amendment is foreseeing the expansion of American journalism and the future worldwide importance attained thanks to its deeply