In the competitive media landscape of the early 1990s, seizing audience attention was a priority. What better way to do it than with a cheaply produced show that appealed to viewers’ basest instincts?
A cartoon commemorating the death of King William IV in 1837 would have been unthinkable; by the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, newspapers had changed.
A painting for the U.S. Army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper shows a downed pilot fending off sharks with a knife.
Ed Vebell/Getty Images
As part of the nation’s massive wartime mobilization effort, millions of Americans, for the first time, traveled abroad – where many had their first encounters with the marine predators.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley – shown yelling – cried bias in the media’s coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Library of Congress
The accusation of bias is like kryptonite for responsible news organizations: the stronger their piety to the ideal of objectivity, the more vulnerable they are to complaints made in bad faith.
When Frank Conrad broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential election, he had no idea that politics would be forever transformed.
Bettmann via Getty Images
For centuries, people largely read politicians’ words. But with the advent of radio, the ability of politicians to engage and entertain became crucial components of their candidacies.
The famous Hindenburg tragedy was heard around the world via recorded radio journalism.
Wiki Commons
When the USSR launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1 didn’t do much other than regularly “beep” over the radio. Yet, this simple sound is associated with the beginnings of space exploration.
Susan Stamberg interviewed President Jimmy Carter during a National Public Radio call-in program in 1979.
AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi
Jason Loviglio, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
From the beginning, National Public Radio vowed that it would speak with ‘many voices.’
NBC Berlin correspondent Piers Anderton inside the tunnel during the network’s 1962 escape project.
Special Collections & University Archives, University of Maryland
To survive in 19th-century newsrooms, reporters would have to hustle to get by, even if it meant producing fakes, staging events and sharing work with reporters from competing newspapers.
Coal miner photographed on the job near Richlands, Virginia, in 1974.
Jack Corn/Environmental Protection Agency
Theodor Fontane was a German newspaper’s England correspondent – who reported ‘from’ London without leaving his Berlin desk.
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton has a cup of coffee with newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin in April 1992. Breslin died on March 19.
Stephan Savoia/AP Photo
After the death of legendary New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, some have lamented the end of blue-collar journalism. But in today’s media environment, Breslin’s approach might not be enough.
The Starship Enterprise, the famed setting of the original ‘Star Trek’ series, was almost lost to the graveyard of failed pilots.
alanoodle.com
With a pilot that was deemed too complex and cerebral, ‘Star Trek’ looked dead in the water. Fifty years later, we look back at the show’s rocky beginnings.
Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey liked to take credit for breaking the color barrier. In truth, it was the culmination of a long campaign waged by the left wing press and labor unions.
Jussie Smollett, who plays Jamal Lyon on Empire, attends a viewing party sponsored by Pepsi.
Hip Hop Weekly
The strange northern hemisphere tradition of the television “Christmas Special” is somewhat alien to us on this end of the world. No Mr Bean with a turkey on his head or fantastically awkward Christmas…