watergate

Watergate is an iconic example of journalism's power in checking the government. It is responsible for bringing down a president, all but leader of the free world.

The Watergate Hotel: the scene of the crime. (source via flickr)

Watergate is another iconic example of journalism's power to inspire change when used in conjunction with the other three branches of the government. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate building uncovered the corruption of the Nixon Administration. Their tenacity resulted in a Justice Department investigation and ultimately the impeachment of President Nixon.

An "actual" file cabinet from the Watergate Hotel at the National Museum of American History (source via flickr)

Watergate was the last great instance of investigative journalism in the United States. Never since has journalists had the widespread audience or scandal as they did in the 1970s.

It seems impossible that another Watergate could happen today, given the tight leash corporate power has on journalism's news media.

muckraking

The muckrakers created a legacy of reform and set the standard for investigative journalism in the best interest of the people. These journalists reported on the injustices of the early twentieth century and published them in enthralling series that captivated readers and demanded public attention. Muckraking series helped to dismantle corrupt, broken institutions by motivating people to call for reform and progress throughout the country and across industries. Ida Tarbell exposed the frauds behind the monopoly of Standard Oil, ultimately stirring the U.S. Supreme Court to break up the trust; Upton Sinclair revealed the unsanitary conditions of the meat packing industry which launched a federal investigation and the Meat Inspection Act; the journalists at Ladies' Home Journal inspired readers to flood Congress with demands for regulating dangerous patent medicine.

Patent medicine ad, 1902.  Powley's Liquified Ozone was later renamed Liquozone and was one of the products named by Samuel Hopkins Adams in his 1905 expose of patent medicines for Collier's Weekly "The Great American Fraud". Source: the Toronto World, May 14, 1902 via flickr

The work of muckraking journalists is celebrated as a direct catalyst for a slew of social reform in the early twentieth century. Streitmatter cites investigative journalism as the impetus in trust-busting across industries, the Pure Food and Drug Act, the Meat Inspection Act and a constitutional amendment granting direct elections of the senate to the people, among other reforms.

I found this quote by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger quite pertinent to today's political and social climate: "Aggressive and sensational measures were required to awaken the nation from its lethargy and to rejuvenate the old spirit of American democracy. [...] The protest first found expression through the popular magazines" (Streitmatter, 106). While the current Occupy Wall Street movement and its offshoots have inspired a storm of protest and calls for reform, we lack the booming voice of newspapers and magazines. Today journalists are all but censored by the corporations single-handedly funding the existence of the news media. I don't forsee radical social change being headed by the mainstream media as it once was. The solution today is to find a venue that will provide similar coverage and documentation of the injustices that plague the public. Perhaps the Internet will be utilized as the print media once was. I hope it will.


Works Cited:
Streitmatter, Rodger. Mightier Than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History, Second Edition. United States of America: Westview Press, 2008. Print.

if you're a strong female, you don't need permission.

Suffragettes in Washington, D.C. 1917 - 1918 (source)


Newspaper coverage was used to attack and discredit the earliest organized efforts for women's rights, from the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920 — seven decades.

The most contentious issue—and spearhead of the early women's rights movement—was universal suffrage, or the right of women to vote and thus participate as full citizens of the U.S.

"We are clearly of the opinion that the time has come for the organziation [sic] of a "Rights of Man Association," to withstand the greedy appropriativeness of woman-kind; and if that does not serve, we must resort to dissolution or secession." (October 18, 1851)


Suffragettes, 1917 - 1918 (source)

Suffragettes in Washington, D.C. 1917 - 1918 (source)

Political cartoon of anti-suffragists presenting petition to New York Senators Thomas Grady and John Raines; Harper's Weekly, 1907. (source)

I think 19th century journalism played a huge role in instilling the negative attitudes that continue to dismiss concerns about women's rights as irrational and petty, and to reduce feminism to something trivial and headed by man-hating, hysterical women.

As Xtina sings in feminist anthem "Can't Hold Us Down": "So, what am I not supposed to have an opinion? / Should I keep quiet just because I'm a woman? / Call me a bitch 'cause I speak what's on my mind / Guess it's easier for you to swallow if I sat and smiled".
 

resauces

ny times article, Oct. 18, 1851 : "We regret to see how obstinately our American women are bent on appropriating more than their fair share of Constitutional privileges."

the 'Times' as a tardy leader and the history of women's rights @ the awl : Understanding that to be heard is to be read, suffragists sought to express themselves in print. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony first published their feminist newspaper The Revolution in January 1868. ... And the Times depicted the paper as “meaningless,” foolish,” and “a victim of illogical thinking.”

research on female breadwinners gets twisted media coverage : So it's too bad that virtually all the major media coverage of the study (mostly in the British press, as the American press has hardly bothered to cover the study at all) got the facts egregiously wrong, inverting the findings to focus on men’s experiences and validate sexist malarkey. I saw misleading headlines such as, “Working Mothers Perpetuating Myth of 'The Useless Man' to Feel More Feminine,” and, "'Myth' of Mr. Useless: Why Women Breadwinners Exaggerate Partner’s Faults.”

http://sfstatejournalismhistory.blogspot.com/2009/05/womens-suffrage-upward-battle-to.html

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1966

suffrage parade photo @ world digital library