Blog Post 3; EOTO 1 Presentation Reflections - Institutions

EOTO Presentation Reflection

     EOTOs, or Each One Teach One, gives us as students the opportunity to work with our classmates dig deeper into a topic as a group. After watching the groups present for our EOTOs, I found a few key takeaways from some specific presentation topics.

    The first topic I gained some new information from was The Boston News-Letter. I learned that the Boston News-Letter was extremely significant as it was one of the first successful newspapers in the colonies. It was first published in 1704. The Boston News-Letter also coined the term 'marketplace of ideas' which is still in use today.   

    One interesting thing I learned about the Boston News-Letter was their report on pirates. I thought

this was an interesting topic to report on, especially in 1700s America. Blackbeard the pirate was who they reported on specifically. I had to conduct some independent research, but I found that Blackbeard had been on mainland America for many years and also tortured most of the eastern coast. The report on him in the Boston News-Letter actually was published when he was killed in 1718.   

    The other interesting thing about the Boston-Globe that I think is really clever is how they allowed readers to leave comments on the paper and send it back to the editors. The editors would then take those comments or suggestions into consideration when writing the next paper. I think this method is really fascinating and useful. I'm sure not all comments they received were good or constructive, but I think it is a really clever concept and probably added to their success.

    Unfortunately, The Boston News-Letter was forcefully closed down 72 years later by the British.

    The second topic that I learned some new information from was The Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847 but went through multiple periods of bankruptcy about eight years after its founding. Thankfully, Joseph Medill came along and got the Tribune back to a financially stable position. Into the Civil War, the Tribune had very strong support for Lincoln and presented liberal idealism until 1899.

    One thing that makes the Chicago Tribune unique is that it had the first color printing press in 1901. This was monumental for the press. The Chicago Tribune was also the first American news source to report on foreign news.

    Fast forward to 2002, the Tribune was the first paper to release free tabloids to the public. Circling back to bankruptcy issues, the Tribune, along with many other businesses in 2008, filed for bankruptcy. This was a problem for the Tribune for many years until 2014 when the market stabilized.

    Two interesting things about the Tribune's history is that they were known for obtaining the Treaty of Versailles for the U.S. Senate and publishing a paper with the wrong presidential candidate. In 1941, the Tribune embarrassed themselves by printing thousands of copies of the paper announcing that Dewey had won the presidency. However, this was not the case and today we are left with this iconic photo of Truman.

    The third topic that I gained new information from was The New York Sun. Benjamin Day ran his own printing business in 1831 when two years later in 1833 he founded The New York Sun. The Sun was a part of the Penny Paper Era and mainly was inspired by the cholera outbreak to bring some positive news to people. Since The Sun was a penny paper, it was mainly supported by advertisers. The New York Sun covered topics ranging from divorce, crime, daily news and many more. It was one of many popular daily papers in New York.

    If you can notice the trend by now, all of these topics pertain to newspapers. That is not because I just like newspapers. It's because I found that all of these papers had one thing in common, The Associated Press. 

    The Associated Press is a non-profit news agency headquartered in New York. It was founded in 1846 and its members include a variety of newspapers and broadcasters such as the ones I've mentioned above. The Associated Press' mission is to advance the power of facts. Even today, the world still relies on AP to deliver the truth.

    All in all, I was able to see how journalism is connected throughout history. News is always happening, and it was fascinating to see how it has changed over time.