Journalism Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2783
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Item Women Correspondents in Vietnam: Historical Analysis and Oral Histories(1988) Martin, Christine; Hiebert, Ray; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)Although women correspondents have covered wars since the Spanish-American conflict, it was not until the Vietnam War that they achieved full access to the battlefield and equal opportunities to cover all aspects of the conflict. Easily attained army accreditation, the burgeoning women's movement and the unique nature of the Vietnam War - a Third World, essentially, political conflict - combined to offer women reporters unprecedented opportunities to cover the war and to prove themselves as worthy members of journalism's elite crew - war correspondents. More women covered Vietnam than any other war. They focused their coverage primarily on the "human interest" angle and the effects of war on its civilian and military victims. This traditional women's focus took on a new prominence in Vietnam, where an understanding of the social and political underpinnings of Vietnamese culture was essential to the success of the American war effort. As a result, the traditional news definition of war as battlefield was widened and the "women's angle" became central to war correspondence. This study presents an historical analysis of the evolution of the role of the woman war correspondent, from the Spanish- American conflict to Vietnam, and presents the oral histories of 10 women who worked as war correspondents in Vietnam.Item The Kent County News: A History and an Era, 1950-1980(1981) Gruenburg, Drew Nathan; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This thesis focuses first on the history of the Kent County News, and second on how the paper covered the problems and pressures that an urbanized twentieth century brought to a rural Eastern Shore Maryland county from 1950 to 1980. The Kent County News is a weekly newspaper -- the only local paper for the people of Kent County, Maryland. Its roots are in one of the nation's oldest newspapers, the Chestertown Spy, established in 1793. The history of the Kent County News includes long editorial tenures which spanned both generations of families and myriad changes in technology, content and ownership. The past thirty years brought a particularly large number of changes in content and administration to the Kent County News. This study also gives special attention to how the Kent County News covered three issues: the building of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and other attempts to span the Bay; the advent of zoning regulations in the county; and the possibility of a nuclear power plant being located in the county. Using the complete files of the Kent County News housed in the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, Maryland, every issue of the paper from 1950 to 1980 was examined for information on these three issues. Other material used in this study included interviews with editors of the Kent County News, secondary source material on country weeklies and Maryland, and Maryland state publications. This study has shown that over the years the Kent County News has presented an intimate picture of life in Kent County. In the last thirty years, as the county has faced the pressures of increased urbanization and as the paper experienced changes in design, content and ownership, the paper has become a staunch publicist for the values of small-town life. The paper has also been an educator, and an important force in promoting community consciousness and harmony.Item The American Press and the Sinking of the Lusitania(1986) McDonough, Joseph; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Purpose of Study: The purpose of the study was to analyze to what degree the sinking of the R.M.S. Lusitania swayed editorial opinion against Germany in seven representative United States newspapers. Procedures: Seven newspapers were chosen for this study, based on their geographic location and political prominence: the New York Times, Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Examiner, Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and the Milwaukee Journal. The historical record of U.S. foreign policy prior to World War I, and the political viewpoint of each newspaper was reviewed by way of introduction. The papers were examined for news and editorial content. Items studied included: the first seven pages of each newspaper, the unsigned editorials expressing the view of the editorial staff, and letters to the editor that dealt with the sinking. Each paper was studied six months prior to the sinking, during the crisis (including the exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Germany), and six months after the answer to Wilson's final Lusitania note. Conclusion: The study found that the sinking of the Lusitania did not sway editorial opinion against Germany in the selected newspapers.Item The Decline and Fall of the Baltimore News American(1989) Girsdansky, Paul Scott; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This study examines the factors that led to the Baltimore News American's failure as a major metropolitan afternoon newspaper and the efforts taken to try to save the newspaper. Factors examined include the number of newspapers in the Baltimore newspaper market, the problems faced by major metropolitan afternoon newspapers in the United States and the shared inability of large newspapers in the Hearst newspaper chain to make money. The changing content of the newspaper under a series of newsroom administrations from 1973 to 1986 was examined and a series of interviews with managers and staffers were used to gain insight into the decline of the newspaper. This study concludes that the closure stemmed from underlying demographic and competitive factors and was exacerbated by the unwillingness of the newspaper's owner to invest in improvements.