EOTO 3 Reactions

 During the third EOTO, my classmates taught me about various figures in media in journalism. The major figures who left the most profound impression on me were Walter Cronkite, Howard Cossell, and Gloria Steinem.  

Walter Cronkite was a major news anchor from 1937 to 1981. He covered major historical events during this time such as the Nuremberg trials and the assassination of John F Kennedy. He was called the most trusted man in news. He was originally born in Missouri. He became a sports announcer and met his wife when he was working there. Cronkite was also known for his coverage of the Vietnam War. He called for the United States to leave the Vietnam conflict in 1968. This called for President Johnson to announce that he would not run for reelection. Johnson is famous for the quote "If I lost Cronkite, I've lost America." This shows that Cronkite was seen as a unifying figure throughout the country. It is hard to imagine this today due to the current division in our country. 

The next person that interested me the most was Howard Cossell. He was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He first started his career on WABC running a little league show. This show would have Little League baseball players asking professional players questions. Cossell was hired by ABC and got his own show called Speaking of Sports. He was known for his blunt approach. This was offensive to some, but popular with others. Mr. Cossell came up with iconic phrases such as "that was a nacho run" and "he could go all the way".  

Howard Cossell and Muhammad Ali

Cossell was supportive of the civil rights movement, particularly the iconic boxer Muhammed Ali. His civil rights record was damaged when he referred to Alvin Garret as a monkey. This event caused his career to decline. He was able to be inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and remains a major icon in Sports advertising. 

The last person that left a major impact on me was Gloria Steinem. She is a major feminist icon. She is still active today and talks about feminist issues such as Roe vs Wade.  She got her start in journalism by investigating the Playboy company. She reported on how many of the Playboy waitresses, known as bunnies, were underpaid and sexually harassed. This was an important step for the role of women in journalism, although it didn't seem to damage the reputation of Playboy magazine that much. 

Steinem was the creator of a magazine known as Ms. Magazine. This magazine was targeted at women. The first issue of the magazine showed a Hindu goddess with eight arms holding a clock, skillet, typewriter, rake, mirror, and telephone. This represented the various tasks that women were expected to do. This was a time when women were entering the workforce and expected to still do housework. Ms. Magazaine still issues to this day, although Gloria Steinem is not involved in the editing.

I am glad I got to learn about these figures in Journalism. Journalism has helped boost the civil rights and feminist movements in this country. I'm glad that I was able to learn more about these figures in American history. 

EOTO 3 Ted Turner

 For my last EOTO, I chose to write about Ted Turner, the former owner of several Atlanta sports teams,  the co-founder of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the founder of CNN, TNT, and TBS. I chose Ted Turner because I thought he was an important media figure, that was relatively unknown by people in my generation. 

I had only heard of him this year, while I was playing the New Campaign Trail, a game where you run for President. There is a mod where you can run as him in 1996 against Newt Gingrich in an alternate timeline where Bush won the 1992 election. 

The mod presents a lot of his political beliefs and statements from throughout the years such as being an advocate of environmentalism, abortion, and World Peace. It also displays some of the controversial statements he has made about religion, his marriage to Jane Fonda, and his past mistakes such as cheating on his wife and dressing up as a Klansman in front of a Jewish fraternity. 

He seemed like a very complex and interesting person. I was happy to find out that I was not incorrect. Mr. Turner to put it lightly has had an enormous influence on the Media landscape. He was born in 1938 in Ohio. He went to college at Brown but got kicked out after getting caught sleeping with a girl in his dorm. He took over his father's billboard company after his father's suicide. He then branched out buying a local radio channel and then a local TV station in Atlanta. By 1976, he had the idea to found CNN and was worth $100 million.

 CNN is one of the largest News Networks in the country. It was the first station to adopt 24-hour coverage. Ted Turner was able to make CNN such a large company through the early adoption of satellite technology. This turned Television from local channels to channels that could be shown to people all over the country. 

 

CNN had groundbreaking shows such as Moneyline, a show about the stock market and economic data, Evans and Novak, a political commentary and interview show, Crossfire, a debate show with conservative Pat Buchanan and liberal Tom Braden. These shows paved a trail for what Cable News would often present. Ted Turner has recently commented that he thinks the network has become too opinionated but refuses to critique them any further.

CNN complex in Atlanta

Ted Turner was a big investor in Time Warner Cable. At one point in his life, he had an estimated fortune of 7 billion dollars. Much of this was lost due to the failure of the merger of Time Warner and AOL. Ted Turner using his influence within the company led to the creation of Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network produced one of my favorite TV shows, the regular show, a show about two irresponsible Park employees going on absurd adventures. 

A major part of Ted Turner was his environmentalism. He founded a television show called Captain Planet which encouraged young people to protect the environment. The show aired from 1990 to 1996. He also founded the Turner Foundation in 1990. This foundation seeks to protect the land, air, and water. Turner infamously defended China's one-child policy. 

There are some other interesting facts about Ted Turner. Turner is also the owner of a chain of restaurants known as Ted's Montana Grill. There are several locations all over the country. The closest location is in Durham, North Carolina. He is the largest landowner in the United States. He has ranches in several US states such as Montana and South Dakota. He hosted the Goodwill Games with Jesse Jackson to help boost relations between the United States and the rest of the world. The Games occurred every 4 years starting in 1986 but ended in 2001. 

Ted Turner in 1976

I enjoyed learning about Ted Turner. He was one of the most influential men in pioneering our current media landscape. He was an early adopter of satellite technology which helped modernize the television industry. I also liked learning about Ted Turner because he is a complex figure. He is an avid environmentalist and is vocally anti-war, but he is also a proud Southerner. He purchased "Gone with the Wind" which is one of the most famous films about the Civil War through the Southern perspective. I found this interesting because many see this film as portraying "The Lost Cause" narrative. Turner is a man who is not afraid to speak his mind but also seeks to be friends with everybody. These traits that I try to have and they are traits that I admire in people.

Shock and Awe Film Review

 The movie Shock and Awe is about the reports of the Knight-Ridder newspaper reporting on the Iraq War. They were the only prominent paper in this country that questioned the narrative. The movie begins with a soldier talking about his service in the Iraq War, he states some statistics about the Iraq War explaining how it was wrong and how he sacrificed for his country based on the lie. He asks how the hell did this happen and the movie plays a montage of various military figures, various politicians, and President Bush talking about the Iraq War. The movie then shows a journalist in a training exercise, the exercise then stops when it is reported that a plane has hit the Twin Towers. 

A CNN broadcast, playing in the Knight Ridder office, states early in the film that it believes the Bin Laden group- Al Qaeda was responsible for the attack. The media also attempts to make a connection between Bin Laden and Iraq. John Walcott believes that this is absurd because Saddam Hussein is a secular leader. Due to Americans having little to no knowledge about the Middle East and Islam, the government and Media could fabricate narratives.  

British Politician Tony Benn meeting with Saddam Hussein to try to prevent a war

9/11 is an event in American history whose echoes are still felt to this day. It was an attack by a foreign power on American soil. This has not happened since and the last time it happened besides 9/11 was the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was far away from the core territory of the United States. Without 9/11 there would have been no "justification" for the war in Iraq that Bush could give the American people. We may have gone to war with Iraq later, but if we hadn't America wouldn't have wasted 2 trillion dollars. This money could have gone into helping improve the lives of our citizens. In addition to this, 300,000 Iraqis wouldn't have died in the war itself. It is also unlikely ISIS would rise to power because there wouldn't be a power vacuum that they could exploit. The movie talks about how removing Saddam from power will just create a vacuum. 

A major consequence of the Iraq War was the damage to the US reputation abroad. France, Turkey, and Germany refused to enter the war because they did not believe it was justified. The US invading Iraq also set a dangerous precedent where disputes could be settled by violence instead of diplomacy. It is possible that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if the US had not drastically changed the norms of international relations with the war in Iraq. Russia may have decided to seek protection for Russians in Ukraine through diplomacy instead. America cannot condemn other nations for their aggression, while at the same time launching an unprovoked war. 

German Chancellor Schröder and President Bush discussing Iraq

Throughout the movie, the paper interviews government officials who are reluctant to give their opinion on the situation. They all say that there is no way that there could be a connection between Sadaam Hussein and Al Qaeda. They say Saadam is a secular leader. They do not reveal their names because they feel they will be fired. The Iraq War and the Patriot Act were passed easily by Congress because many felt that it would be political suicide not to go along with it. 

One of my favorite parts of the movie is the subplot between Warren Strobel and his girlfriend. She is an intelligent but uninformed person and serves as a way for the audience to better understand the Iraq War. She eventually sees that the war was based on false pretenses and Bush was just trying to expand America's imperial influence. I also thought it was funny that Mr. Strobel's first question to her was are you a Democrat or a Republican. Many people are not curious and do not seek to understand other nation's perspectives on international relations. She does a lot of research about the division in the Muslim world, many people would not be interested in doing that unfortunately. People must look at a problem through different perspectives because even if they disagree with a viewpoint, they will be better able to combat it. After all, they can understand why someone would think that. You are better able to persuade others when you try to understand them. 

This movie shows the Bush Administration wanted to go to war with Iraq since he took power. 9/11 was used as a pretext to justify the invasion. The film also shows that Iraq did not and could not have weapons of mass destruction. People who tried to fight back against the war were not welcomed. We can see similar things happening today with the situation in Israel. I do not believe Biden wanted the Israeli conflict, but Benjamin Netanyahu wants a war with the Palestinians so he can secure the whole territory for his country. Like George Bush, Netanyahu's government is filled with warmongers, many of whom reject the idea of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu is unpopular in Israel and hopes to use the war as a justification to hold on to power. There have been many protests in support of Palestine, and while I probably disagree with the protestors on many things, it is a gross violation of the spirit of the First Amendment that they were brutally suppressed. The movie shows that those in power will lie to try to maintain their power and push the country into war based on lies. The press needs to be adversarial to the government and point out its lies. Knight-Ridder was the only paper that was willing to do that.