Blog Post #3: 1st EOTO Review

These are the 3 presentations that I found most interesting.

Chicago Tribune

In the beginning, the newspaper was the mouthpiece for anti-slavery voices and was instrumental in the election of President Abraham Lincoln as the narrative veered towards a republican outlook. Their values coincided with the temperance movement which was an anti-alcohol initiative, and tended to write in a negative tone regarding foreigners and catholics. One of the most embarrassing moments of the newspaper had to do with the 1948 election. The newspaper had become solely right winged and decided to publish the republican candidate, Thomas Dewey as the winner before the results were conclusive. The other candidate won but the newspaper had already been published and made the news outlet look like a fool. One of its notable moments was when the Chicago Tribune was the first to publish the Watergate Tapes in 1974.

The North Star

        The North Star became one of the most monumental antislavery newspapers from 1848 to 1851. It was published by an African American abolitionist known as Frederick Douglass. The name of the newspaper is symbolic to the slaves who would look for the North Star in the sky to guide them to freedom. The newspaper would include current slavery issues, editorials, poetry, readings, and advertisements. Despite the effort that Frederick Douglas put into the publication, its financial status plummeted and as a result he decided to merge newspapers with abolitionist Gerrit Smith who owned Liberty Party Paper. The new publication became known as the Liberty Party Paper. 

The Washington Post

Starting out in 1877, the newspaper started as a primarily dominant narrative but switched over to conservative views in 1889. They focused on  sensationalism and societal gossip and also incorporated cartoon drawing which was unique from other newspapers. These cartoons were highly innovative at the time because it allowed the public to interpret on their own. In one cartoon, they showed Theodore Roosevelt caring for a small bear cub which led the public to a certain narrative. During the Red Summer of 1919 the Washington Post showed its support for white supremacy and even reported front page coverage that highlighted where white men were going to meet to attack black men in Washington.