JO 357 Summer 2014 S..

JO 357, Summer 2014
HistoryandPrinciples
ofJOURNALISM
Man in a
white suit
Tom Wolfe was
among the group of
writers who helped
establish literary
journalism as a
recognized art
form.
Professor
WILLIAM
McKEEN
Office
131 COM
Phone
617.353.3484
Email
wmckeen@ bu.edu
Office hours
Fridays, 10-11:30
a.m. and by
appointment
Home page
williammckeen.com
Twitter
@wmckeen
About this course
This course deals with the
events, institutions and
individuals that have shaped
journalism in this country.
We will study the origin and
growth of the press and attempt
to integrate it into the general
social and intellectual history of
the country.
Here’s what we do:
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Each time we meet, I’ll have
stories to tell.
We discuss those stories.
On your own, you will read
two books.
Twice during the term, we
will have exams.
You will write a short
paper.
The secret to success in this
class comes in showing up. So
roll out of bed and come to class
to learn about your legacy.
Presumably, you want to be a
journalist ... or at least you have
some interest in the field. Here’s
a chance to find out about the
role the press has played in the
development of this country.
Steve Weinberg, Taking on
the Trust: The Epic Battles of
Ida Tarbell and John D.
Rockefeller (W.W. Norton, 2008)
Here are the required books.
(I list them with their original
publishers and publication dates
though they are available in
inexpensive paperback
editions):
You are also expected to read
The New York Times and The
Boston Globe daily, which
should feed class discussion.
“History” may be in the course
title, but that doesn’t mean we
won’t be talking about what’s
going on today.
William McKeen, Outlaw
Journalist: The Life and Times
of Hunter S. Thompson (W.W.
Norton, 2008).
I select books that you should
want to keep for your library.
It’s a good time to start building
a collection of works related to
this profession.
JO 357, Summer 2014
Grading and
other issues
There will be two tests and one paper.
Since there is no textbook, you should
conclude that attendance at the
lectures is vital to success in the
course.
We follow the standard grading scale:
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93 and above A
90 to 92.99 A87 to 89.99 B+
83 to 86.99 B
80 to 82.99 B77 to 79.99 C+
73 to 76.99 C
70 to 72.99 C67 to 69.99 D+
60 to 66.99 D 0 to 59.99 F
It should go without saying that I
expect you not to talk, dance or make
rude noises while I am trying to
lecture and your colleagues are trying
to listen. Disruptive behavior damages
to your grade.
Attendance
You will not be allowed to make up
any missed work unless the reason for
your absence is extremely grave (a
death in the family or perhaps the
contraction of some loathsome
disease), and you call me or email me
before the class period to be
missed.
I have strong feelings about
attendance. It would be stupid to walk
into Newberry Comics, pick out four or
box sets, pay for them and tell the
clerk to keep them. Yet that's often
what we do in college. I hope that you
will come to class because you want to
learn. If I cannot appeal to you on that
level, then perhaps I can appeal to you
on the consumer level. As Herman B
(no period) Wells, chancellor of
Indiana University, once said:
"Education is the one thing people pay
for, then do not insist upon receiving."
We cannot have a successful class
without you. Be here every day. If you
don't show up, the quality of class will
be diminished. Remember your John
Donne (and, of course, remove the
gender bias from this centuries old
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Ruth Snyder Gray (left)
pays the price for killing
her husband in a
celebrated example of
tabloid journalism. The
late Hunter S. Thompson
(below), the selfproclaimed doctor of
Gonzo Journalism,
pondered a prescription
to cure the ills of the
modern world.
quote): "No man is an
island, entire of
itself; every man is a piece
of the continent, a part of
the main; if a clod be
washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less....
(A)ny man's death
diminishes me, because
I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send
to know for whom the
bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
have plotted also might not be the best
way. But it's the best way I know.
In short, don't be a clod.
But do be polite. There's
no excuse for rudeness.
Here’s the plan
This course does not follow the
chronology of American journalism. It
covers the territory thematically.
As you can see from looking over the
following outline, we will consider the
last 300 years of journalism on these
shores in a somewhat unorthodox way.
It seems like it’s a good idea to go
through this history, looking for
themes and ideas and not conform to a
diary-like telling of the story of
American journalism.
It might be easier for us to attack all of
this in chronological fashion. But I
don't think that is the best way. The
course I have plotted also might not
be the best way. But it's the best
way I know.
There are a number of good books
that trace the chronology of
American journalism. The most wellknown of these is probably The Press
and America, by Edwin Emery and
Michael Emery, father-and-son
professors.
But the best narrative history of
journalism is Covering America by
my colleague Christopher Daly. You
will enjoy it.
JO 357, Summer 2014
Course outline
Oh, the places we’ll go
Part 1:
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
The companion book for the first section is Steve
Weinberg’s biography of Ida Tarbell, the great
investigative journalist of the Muckraking Era. One of the
most diligent reporters in our history, she serves as an
excellent role model for this part of the course. In this
section we focus on some of the greatest moments in the
history of American journalism, balanced by a few of our
darkest hours.
Part 2:
Disturbers of the Peace
This section focuses on the creators of the flame and
keepers of the flame. We might even call this section
"heroes." These are the people who were pioneers – they
invented American journalism and represent the best of
that breed – the independent, autonomous journalist.
Part 3:
Common Denominators
This section focuses on sensationalism in journalism, from
colonial times to the present. Out of the mess came
several good things, along with the bad. You’ll run into a
lot of people you should know about: Joseph Pulitzer,
William Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdoch, to name
just a few of these scoundrels. Remember the Balzac
quote: “Behind every fortune, there is a crime.”
This (right) is
Ida Tarbell, the
ferocious
muckraker
of the early
20th Century,
who brought
millionaires
and megacorporations to
their knees.
Katherine
Graham (far
right), led The
Washington
Post through
some of its
greatest trials.
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Part 4:
Wars and Peace
One of the values we use in deciding what is news is
"conflict." We tend to think of wars, so naturally, this
section of the course shows the press at tumultuous times.
However, there are other sorts of conflict —domestic
wars, we call them — worth study.
Part 5:
Empires
This section is devoted to individual histories of
several media empires, including the New York
Times, CBS News, The Saturday Evening Post, the
New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles
Times and other companies. We've tried to hit most of
the big ones.
Part 6:
Pressing On
The circle is unbroken. We use this last section of the
course to bring us back to some of the themes with which
we started. I’m getting nostalgic already. The companion
book for this section of the course is my biography of
Hunter S. Thompson, Outlaw Journalist.
JO 357, Summer 2014
Selected
bibliography
I have a pretty extensive bibliography
for this class but rather than run it all
out here and waste a lot of paper, check
it out at williammckeen.com. You’ll find
it under the “courses” tab. It’s a reading
list for life, not just this semester. All of
the books are kid-tested and approved.
Instructor
biography
When I took my first teaching job, I was
told – with only a two-day warning –
that I was teaching journalism history. I
had earned a history degree from
Indiana University, so my boss figured I
could pull off a three-day-a-week lecture
course with no problem. So I did. I’ve
taught this class most years since then,
but I have never gotten tired of it. I love
it. It’s different every time I teach it.
You’d think that history wouldn’t change
all that much, but the adage is true: The
more you know, the more you realize you
need to know.
Another funny thing about that history
degree: it got me a lot of jobs in
journalism. I like to encourage
journalism students to get a minor or a
double major in history. There’s nothing
worse than ignorance of history. I
remember on the 60th anniversary of the
Pearl Harbor attack when a headline
writer referred to it as “D-Day.” That
cost the headline writer her job — as it
should.
I later earned a master's in journalism
from Indiana, writing a historical survey
of the portrayal of journalists in popular
culture, and my Ph.D. in education from
the University of Oklahoma was largely
a history degree. My major professor was
a historian and my dissertation was a
historical account of a riot at that
university. In short, “history” is not a
dirty word around my house.
I worked for newspapers and
magazines before starting my teaching
career. My first job, at The CourierTribune in Bloomington, Ind., lasted
until that fine little newspaper went out
of business. I was at The Palm Beach
Post briefly and then joined The
American Spectator, then served two
4
years at The Saturday Evening Post.
While at the Post, I edited a couple
of books.
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Outlaw Journalist (W.W. Norton,
2008), my biography of Hunter S.
Thompson.
Since I started teaching, I've taken
several short term jobs — sometimes in
the summers, sometimes night work on
the copy desk during the school year – on
The Norman (Okla.) Transcript, The
Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), The
Tampa Bay Times and The Gainesville
(Fla.) Sun. I've written reviews and
features for The Orlando Sentinel, The
Tampa Bay Times and The Boston Globe
fairly regularly since 1989. I’m also book
editor for an alt weekly called Creative
Loafing.
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Mile Marker Zero (Crown Books,
2011) is about the writers, artists,
actors and musicians who found
their artistic identities in Key
West.
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Homegrown in Florida
(University Press of Florida,
2012) is a collection of stories
about growing up in Florida.
I have an interest in political reporting
and for four years managed a news
bureau at the Oklahoma capital,
covering state government. I've also
covered the Democratic and Republican
national conventions, so this course has
a political bent.
My books include: The American Story
(Curtis, 1975, edited with Starkey
Flythe, Jr.), The Beatles: A BioBibliography (Greenwood, 1989), Hunter
S. Thompson (Simon and Schuster,
1991), Bob Dylan: A Bio-Bibliography
(Greenwood, 1993), Tom Wolfe (Simon
and Schuster, 1995), Literary
Journalism: A Reader (Wadsworth,
2000) and Rock and Roll is Here to Stay
(Norton, 2000).
My more recent books include:
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Highway 61 (W.W. Norton, 2003)
a memoir of a 6,000-mile road trip
I took with my eldest son.
SHAMELESS PLUG
I’m married and have seven children
— Sarah, an architect / interior
designer with a Chicago
architectural firm; Graham, an
environmental officer for Indiana
University; Mary, nightlife
impresario in Chicago; Savannah,
17, a junior at Cohasset High
School; Jack, 11, and Travis, 10, and
Charley, 8, all young scholars in the
Cohasset school system.
It goes without saying that my wife,
Nicole, is a saint. She is a midwife in
training, as well as a freelance
writer and editor.
Before becoming professor and
chairman of the Boston University
Department of Journalism, I taught
at Western Kentucky University for
five years, the University of
Oklahoma for four years, and the
University of Florida for 24 years,
the last dozen as department
chairman.
Hope you enjoy the course.
JO 357, Summer 2014
Some words about journalism
Favorite fancy-pants or funny quotes
The purpose of journalism is
to irritate, infuriate and
inform.
JESS LEWIS GARDNER III
student in the first class I ever taught
I would be a journalist if for
no other reason than I would
rather drink with journalists
than any other people on
Earth.
HUNTER S. THOMPSON
The past actually happened,
gonzo journalist
but history is only what
Reporters aren't very bright
somebody wrote down.
A. WHITNEY BROWN as a general rule. I mean,
author and former writer and most of us learn to write
performer on ‘Saturday Night Live’
when we're kids. Then we go
on to other things.
Ninety percent of journalism
BOBBY KNIGHT
is saying "Lord Jim Dies" to
retired basketball coach
people who didn't know Lord
Jim was alive.
History, despite its
G.K. CHESTERTON
English novelist and essayist wrenching pain, cannot be
unlived, but if faced with
courage, need not be lived
It is not death or torture or
imprisonment that threatens again.
MAYA ANGELOU,
us as American journalists.
speaking at President Clinton’s
It is the trivialization of our
first inauguration
industry.
TED KOPPEL Journalism keeps you
formerly of ABC News
planted in the earth.
RAY BRADBURY
The job of the newspaper is
novelist and essayist
to comfort the afflicted and
afflict the comfortable.
If journalism is good, it is
FINLEY PETER DUNNE controversial by its nature.
early 20th century journalist
JULIAN ASSANGE
of Wikileaks
The principal difference
between a horse and a man
Journalism is more addictive
is that you cannot rely on a
than crack cocaine.
horse to gather news.
DAN RATHER
MARK TWAIN
who needs no introduction
Mark Twain (above) near the beginning
of his career as a journalist, when he
wrote for the Virginia City (Nev.)
Territorial Enterprise. His name was
Samuel Clemens, but he wrote under a
pseudonym, so as not to embarrass his
brother, the territorial secretary. The
name he chose came from the old river
term “mark twain,” which meant “safe
water.”
formerly of CBS News
Some final words
Consider this syllabus a contract. I’ve made some promises I intend to
keep. By not dropping the class, I assume you accept the conditions.
There are two guiding philosophers in my life: Elvis Presley (who said,
“If this ceases to be fun, we will cease to do it.”) and my mother (who
said, “If we all liked the same thing, it would be a pretty dull world.”)
Those two great thinkers shape my approach to this course.
I hope this course deepens your love for journalism and helps you
understand your legacy.
WM
WM
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