100 Media Moments (8th grade CA): Home

1. Choose a topic and read the article in 100 Media Moments that Changed America.

2. Copy and paste the article on a word document. Use MLA format.

3. Highlight 5 pieces of textual support that provides evidence of why the event or person changed America.

4. Write a summary of the evidence.

• The event or person had an important significance in the development of American society. It had to change society—or at least a large portion of it—in some meaningful way.

• The event or person had important significance for the development of the media themselves. It had to change the media or journalism in some important way.

• The person and/or news medium gave a voice to those who needed a voice.

• The way in which the moment was presented by the media had to affect American society in some significant way.

• The development reflected an important change underway in society.

• The development or individual was just too unique not to be included.

 

Follett Electronic Books

PART 1: THE NEW NATION: 1690–1799 1

1. America’s First Newspaper 1

2. James Franklin Defies Authority 2

3. The Zenger Case 4

4. The Massachusetts Spy Incites a Revolution 5

5. The Committees of Correspondence 6

6. Thomas Paine Writes of ‘‘The Crisis’’ 8

7. Ben Franklin Picks Up a Pen 9

8. The Federalist Papers Stir Debate 10

9. Press Freedom Becomes the Law 12

 

PART II: THE 19TH CENTURY:THE PIONEERING SPIRIT ABOUNDS 15

10. Founding the New York Sun 15

11. Greeley Launches the New York Tribune 16

12. The Great Moon Hoax 19

13. Stanley Finds Livingstone 21

14. The First Advertising Agency 23

15. Douglass Launches the North Star 24

16. Founding the Associated Press 25

 

PART III: THE 20TH CENTURY:GROWTH AND TRAGEDIES DEFINE AMERICA 45

26. The Shame of the Cities 45

27. The Beginning of Public Relations 47

28. The Sinking of the Titanic 48

29. The President Meets the Press 49

30. Witnessing the Dawn of World War I 51

31. Wilson Drafts George Creel 52

32. Station 8XK Goes on the Air 54

33. The Founding of RCA 55

34. William Allen White’s ‘‘Mary White’’ 57

35. Henry Luce Launches Time 59

36. NBC Launches a Network 60

37. Bill Paley Builds CBS 61

38. Cissy Patterson Shakes Up Washington 64

39. The Communications Act of 1934 66

40. The War of the Worlds Broadcast 68

41. Adolf Hitler Steps into History 69

42. ‘‘This Is London’’ 70

43. Ernie Pyle Reports World War II 72

44. The Flag Raising on Mount Suribachi 73

45. The Launching of Ebony 75

46. Candid Camera Starts Reality TV 76

47. Hearst Promotes Young Evangelist 77

48. Launching the USIA 79

49. The First Network Television Newscast 81

50. Murrow Confronts McCarthy 82

51. TV’s First Presidential Election 84

52. NBC Launches Today 86

53. Publishing Christianity Today 88

54. The Twenty-One Scandal 89

55. Introducing the Mercury Seven Astronauts 92

56. Truman Capote Pens In Cold Blood 94

57. The Kennedy/Nixon Debates 96

58. The Cuban Missile Crisis 97

59. Cronkite Takes the CBS Anchor Desk 100

60. The First Television News Consultants 101

61. The Birmingham Protests 103

62. The Kennedy Assassination 105

63. A Barbed Press Arises 107

64. Birthing the FOIA 109

65. The Paper Lion Joins the Story 111

66. Rolling Out Rolling Stone 112

67. Covering the Tet Offensive 114

68. The Birth of 60 Minutes 116

69. The Pentagon Papers 119

70. Gloria Steinem Launches Ms. Magazine 121

71. Watergate 123

72. The Founding of Microsoft 125

73. Walters and Reasoner Shake Up the News 126

74. Launching ESPN 128

75. From Film to Real-Time Reporting 129

76. The Birth of Nightline 130

77. ‘‘Jimmy’s World’’ of Imagination 132

78. Ted Turner Launches CNN 134

79. MTV Branches Out 137

80. Launching USA Today 139

81. The Fox Network Premiers 140

82. The Challenger Disaster 142

83. The Wall Comes Down 144

84. The Carol Stuart Murder Case 146

85. Live from Baghdad 148

86. NBC’s Exploding Pickup Truck 149

87. The Oklahoma City Bombing 150

88. The O. J. Simpson Trial 154

89. Exposing Big Tobacco Abuses 156

90. The Birth of the World Wide Web 159

91. The Launching of Google 161 P

  

PART IV: THE 21ST CENTURY: 2000–2009 171

 

92. 9/11 171

93. Embedding War Reporters 174

94. The Founding of Facebook 176

95. Hurricane Katrina 177

96. CBS Taps Katie Couric 181

97. The Abramoff Scandal 183

98. The YouTubing of America 186

99. The 2008 Presidential Campaign 187

100. From Analog to Digital TV 191

 

PART V: STRETCHING THE LIST OF 100: TEN NOTABLE ADDITIONAL MOMENTS 195

 

1. Joe Louis KO’s Max Schmeling 195

2. The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 198

3. New York Times v. Sullivan 198

4. The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 201

5. Viewtron: Right Idea, Wrong Time 203

6. Dropping in on a Famine 204

7. Exposing Erring Televangelists 206

8. The Drudge Report 207

9. The Founding of Napster 208

10. The Fight for PBS 209