Lecture Overheads, 2/12/03:

War Protests and Human Rights After World War II

Who protested World War II?

An unexpected yet important form of protest:

OWI: abandoned “truth” for sophisticated marketing

Post-war positions on human rights:
1. U.S. is not blameless; its position is not always aligned with “the truth”
2. Define an enemy and fight them

Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, 1950

McCarthyism and the change in journalism: “objectivity” vs. “interpretive” reporting

Precursors to tv news:
1911 – 1927: silent newsreel
1930s: newsreel: accepted and popular news medium.
1920s and 1930s: radio news - mostly commentators.
World War II: Radio networks

By the end of the war: half the U.S. was receiving most of their news from radio

In the post-war era, technology limited medium’s power to report news.
1940s: country linked by coaxial cables
1950s: Networks have camera crews (prior: newsreel); public loves seeing public figures
1960s: Video - more immediate news coverage Two metaphors for television’s impact on democracy:
1. X-ray
2. mirror