Never Stay Silent

Ida Tarbell: A Historical Muckraker During the Progressive Era, the term Muckraker came to light with their goal focused on exposing the problems in American society caused by businesses or within the government. Muckrakers developed their name from President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 when this form of investigative journalism gained popularity from the American public.  As one of the most famous muckrakers of her time, Ida Tarbell is well known for her work in investigative journalism. Tarbell focused primarily on exposing the corruption of people with power and money. Whether it was a large monopoly or government wrongdoing, Ida Tarbell paved the way for the type of investigative journalism and true crime reporting we know today.  The "Cleveland Massacre" During Tarbell's pursuit of a teaching career, she met the editor of the Chautauquan  magazine, where she spent 6 years writing. One of her biggest accomplishments at this time in 1872 was her investigative reporting...

The Design of Political Language George Orwell said it best when he described political language as being “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” While government missteps are often shielded by classification and fanciful language, many instances of wrongdoing have been uncovered.  In 2007, the US Military completed an operation in Iraq in which they made the unjustifiable mistake of targeting journalists who they assumed were carrying weapons instead of cameras.  What the US thought was a group of insurgents, was a group of journalists who worked for Reuters, the news company . Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh are just a few of the many who were tragically and mistakenly targeted under the assumption that they were a threat to American lives.  In the video capturing the operation, there are several aspects of the operation that could cause an ordinary viewer to be taken back. Despite the fact that it is a video of “collateral murder” and that alo...

 Good Night and Good Luck : a Space for Antiwar Voices In the decade after World War II, the United States continued to carry a strong sense nationalism and unity under the idea of spreading democracy around the world. Or, as some may put, a unity against the spread of communism. These ideas remained at the forefront of American politicians, especially in the 1950s at the start of the Vietnam War . One of the ring-leaders, Senator Joseph McCarthy, inspired a time period of McCarthyism across the United States, and advocated against the threat of Communist spies.  In Good Night and Good Luck , directed by George Clooney, he sought to track the CNN exposure of McCarthy and his target on citizens who had any slight linkage to the Communist party. McCarthyism is defined by  Dictionary.com  as "the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence...

  Bernard Shaw: From Marine Corps to CNN Anchor Early Life Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1940, Bernard Shaw was a child of two blue-collar and hardworking parents. Though Shaw did not have a direct path into journalism, his interest in the news was evident from his visits to bookstores and reading of newspapers at a young age. He also participated in his school announcements going above the requirements set for him by seeking better techniques for broadcasting.  Aside from Shaw's journalistic endeavors, he was active in the US Marine Corps until 1962. During his service, Shaw worked in the Message Center as a specialist, and this position really allowed his interest in journalism to grow, especially in print. On weekends off, he often left his station to travel to Washington D.C. where he grew connections in the broadcasting industry. These trips introduced Shaw to Walker Cronkite, who was a CBS anchor at the time, and this relationship gave Shaw the chance to learn a lot abo...