"Goodnight and Good Luck" Movie Review

 

    Goodnight, and Good Luck is a very eye-opening movie. Although it is a fictional portrayal of the media industry. There was a lot to dissect and digest from the movie that we can currently apply to our world now. This film analyzed how powerful the media is and how to can be used for one's personal and political game. Murrow, one of the reporters, wanted to report on the truth to expose the truth on senator McCarthy. As a journalist, it is important to be honest with the audience so you can build a trusting relationship. 

Throughout the movie, I pulled away key concepts that we still apply to media today. 

1. Media has a strong influence on how we make our decisions. 

We tend to have a certain preference on what media outlets we have access to or choose from. Based off of that, it is easy to make decisions based off of what you are watching. 

2. We need to allow and force ourselves to figure out what media outlets are reliable or not 

Within news today, although it is essential to get the news out to the catered audience, we tend to allow immediacy trump accuracy. 

3. Trust goes along way

Once a journalist builds trust with its audience, it allows for an easier following.

I've never heard of this movie before this class, yet, I am very glad we were able to watch it. It showed that some things definitely didn't change within the media industry and we still have a long way to go. 

The Black Press and the Civil War

 Black people have gone through countless years of racism and injustices. From social life to work life, Black people have had to adapt. 

One of the most important assets to the Black community and Black history was the Black Press. The Black Press was a compilation of Black-owned newspapers that informed and highlighted people about the Black community. Let's take a look at some examples of some Black Newspapers.

Freedom's Journal Background

John Russwurm on the top and Samuel Cornish on the bottom

The Freedom's Journal was the first African American owned and operated newspaper in the United States. They were founded by free born African Americans - John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish on March 16, 1827 in NYC. This newspaper allowed for a safe space for African Americans to get updates on "foreign and domestic news, editorials, biographies, births and deaths" within the local African American community. The idea of this newspaper wasn't to defend African American rights but to create a union and a forum for African Americans to express and advocate their views and rights. The purpose of the journal was to also improve the conditions of the freed Black men and women living in the North.

Phillip Alexander Bell's Colored American 

Picture of Phillip Alexander Bell

Phillip Alexander Bell was a Black Journalist who was born in 1808 in NYC. Bell was in to abolitionist politics in the North East. The original name for this newspaper was The Weekly Advocate. The paper focused on "moral, social, and political elevations of free colored people and the peaceful emancipation of slaves". Many Black writers at the time wrote under different pen names to remain safe during that time. The Colored American was very well known to the Black community and allies. 

The North Star 

Picture of Frederick Douglass

The North Star, later known as the Frederick Douglass Paper was an antislavery newspaper. It was first published on December 3, 1847. The name of the newspaper was just important as the content within it. t was a tribute to the escaping slaves who used the North Star to guide them to freedom. The paper was published in Rochester, New York Rochester was the city that was well known for the opposition to slavery. The motto/mission of the newspaper was "right is of no sex- truth is of no color - God is the Father of us all, and we are the brethren". 

Black Press during the Civil War

The Civil War dates to April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865. The Civil War was fought between the northern and Southern States or also known as the Unites States of America and the Confederate States of America. Due to many blatant discriminatory ideas and practices, many African Americans were assigned to non-combat related jobs. During the times during the Civil War the New Orleans Tribute was created. It was the first to be published in the South. A journal I read emphasized that the New Orleans Tribute was the voice of "many Black people to form a union to fight for the abolishment of slavery, same rights for and to form political group."

What I learned EOTO #2

Nellie Bly and the Chicago Time's Girl Reporters 

What I learned

The role of women in America over the past centuries have really been a trying time for the idea of identity. Elizabeth Jane Cochran is just one of the prime time examples of this. Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born May 5, 1864. She was later known as Nellie Bly due to her Journalism career. The name change was due to the fact that it was deemed as inappropriate for a woman to write under their own name. 

Bly continuously fought for equality even if that meant to expose certain publishing companies. This idea for fighting for what she thought was right led to the idea of the Girl Reporters. 

Bly spearheaded the founding of the Chicago Time's Girl Reporters. Their purpose was to bring the dark news stories to light. They covered several stories ranging from factory work, child labor, and undercover abortions

What I didn't know

From the presentations, I was able to learn more about my person that I did a blog post on which was Joseph Pulitzer. Joseph Pulitzer's, The New York World, writing varied from a lot of categories. Some of the articles that The New York World published happened to focus on injustices. Pulitzer was one of the few papers that recognized the importance of Bly's work. However, Bly's work wasn't just handed to Pulitzer. Bly had to talk her way to Pulitzer. SInce that talk, she continued to work closely with him. During Bly's time at the NYW, she decided to go undercover and investigate the Women's Asylum on Blackwell's Island.  This was one of the many highlights of her journalism career. Bly then and still to this day is one of the most famous female journalists in history. 

Joseph Pulitzer EOTO

Background on Pulitzer

    Joseph Pulitzer, the one most famously who has an award named after him, was born in Mako, Hungary, on April 10th, 1847. Pulitzer was born into a relatively rich family which allowed him to attend private school for some of his life. Pulitzer wasn't always known as the famous journalist, at the age of seventeen he decided to join the Austrian Army. However, due to some physical ailments, he wasn't able to continue within the army. While Pulitzer was visiting Germany, he interacted with a recruiter from the U.S Army Union and that's what let him to the States during the American Civil War (1851-1865). Pulitzer was determined to continue his military career, however, in this case with a change of scenery. 

                                                        

Pulitzer knew very little english when he came to the states, however, that would soon change as he began to build a name for himself as a "tireless enterprising journalist".  Once the American Civil War ended, Pulitzer became a reporter on a daily newspaper called the Westliche Post.  The Westliche Post was a newspaper based in St. Louis Missouri. After he noticed his talent for writing, he decided to buy a share in the paper. Pulitzer then ventured off to another St. Louis based paper called the Staats-Zeitung, however sold that one to the St. Louis Globe. After that huge move, he acquired the St. Louis Dispatch which then merged into the Post Dispatch. Pulitzer's idea of acquiring newspapers went on and on and eventually led him to NYC. 

                                                        

Pulitzer's papers ranged from a variety of topics. He focused on the following: politics, investigative reports, and later on focusing on what we call normal for news papers... comics, sports, women's fashion, etc.

                    

                                    

Many of us may have heard of Pulitzer even despite all of the background I gave before. Joseph Pulitzer's name may have come up when you've heard the phrases: Pulitzer vs. Hearst or the Pulitzer Prize. As a journalist in the making, Pulitzer vs. Hearst is a great chunk of history to be aware of. Within this battle, the term yellow journalism comes to mind. Yellow Journalism is the idea of a newspaper reporting that emphasizes (sometimes over emphasizes) sensationalism over facts. In this day of media, yellow journalism is a lot like the term fake news. 

The idea of the Pulitzer prize was unintentionally invented by Joseph Pulitzer. As stated several times in this blog and throughout researching with him, he was never 100% healthy. With that being said, in his will he wanted to endow in Columbia University School of Journalism annually which opened the door for the Pulitzer Prizes.

Doing this blogpost truly opened my eyes and connected the dots on a famous journalist hero.

The Mahla Method

*My Free-Write*

     My mother, Corrine Robinson Joyner, was diagnosed with stage 4 uterine cancer early January of 2021. After many doctors appointments, gruesome chemotherapy, surgery, and lots of hope, my mom fought a hard, long, and courageous cancer battle. She passed away on December 22nd, 2021. Since then, I have been trying to figure out a way to honor her love, how she lived, and maintaining her legacy. Personally, ever since that somewhat cold day in December, I have felt somewhat empty. 

    After the constant showers of love and support from everyone who knew my mom and even those who didn't know her, there has been one person and more specifically, one family that has constantly provided comfort whether they knew it or not. That comfort would've been represented through eating dinner all together. Something I definitely took for granted.. and something that will never fully be complete without my mom for my family.

    For this blog post, I wanted to focus on observing people and their interactions with each other.  I chose to observe The Mahla family. This blog post will emphasize the main idea of being observant within the journalism realm. Throughout this observation, not only did I learn more about each and every person in the family, I was able to see the key values rooted within the Mahla household. 

Parents

When you think of a mother, one may think of certain things....

• The backbone of the family 
• Forgiving 
• The "motherly" love  

When you think of a father, one may also think of certain things....

• The protector 
• Other backbone of the family
• The "Dad" jokes

Siblings

When a family has siblings, the stereotype is that they may "fight a lot" or "not support one another", however, that hasn't been the case here in the Mahla household.  According to the University of New Mexico of Health Sciences, people with siblings develop certain qualities faster such as the following:  "empathy, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement". 

The Mahla Method 

    Within close observation, I have seen certain values within their family which all heightened throughout observing the dinner and their game night interaction. Family is love, care, lifetime commitment/dedication, and loads of support.Sometimes disagreements or conflict may arise, yet being reminded of the strong support system, a family will always push through. Just throughout my two observations, I can see all of those things within the Mahla household. The hospitable environment has resonated with me since my observations.