Erma Bombeck (Final EOTO)

 

    Born February 21, 1927 to a working class family in Ohio, Erma Bombeck seemed to be living a truly good life. She lived with her father and elder sister in Dayton. Erma's sister, Thelma, was only a year older than herself and when it came time for Thelma to head to school, Erma wanted to as well. She had begun learning to read and was truly excelling at the task, so her father went to the elementary school and worked it out that she would be able to start her academic journey at just 5 years old. 

When Erma didn't have her nose in books and focusing on her academics, she was busy practicing her tapping and vocal skills. When she began junior high school, Erma began to write for the newspaper, humor was always included. When she began her high school experience, Erma decided she wanted to work for a real deal newspaper, so she walked into the Dayton Herald asking for a job. She was only 15 at the time and the paper was looking for full time employees, but that didn't stop Bombeck for convincing the newspaper to take her one; she had promised the editor that she would work two weeks while off of school and a girl she knew would work the two weeks when Bombeck was in school, it would be just like having a full time employee. And just like that, Bombeck had a career working with newspapers as a copygirl. It was actually while she was working for the Dayton Herald that she interviewed Shirley Temple, they were both 16 at the time. Her article written about the experience had won her a spot as the columnist of the week. After finishing high school, Erma decided to continue her education at Ohio University, but left after failing multiple classes and being rejected by the school newspaper. She felt lost, until she went to University of Dayton and met a mentor that encouraged her to get back to writing and to join the newspaper there. She did and she was a success! She did have some time to stop focusing on her studies when she wrote letter to Bill Bombeck during his time deployed in the Korean War, the two began to date when he returned safely and married in 1949. 

After graduating and getting married, the Bombeck's were ready to begin a new adventure together; building a family. The only problem was Erma was told she was unable to conceive and carry a child to term. So, in 1953 a little girl to be named Betsy was adopted by the couple. Erma decided to focus on the family she loved so much and turned to focus on her responsibilities as a housewife. Her journalistic dreams were to be put on hold for a while, especially after she miraculously gave birth to a son in 1956 and just two years later another son. Their family was finally complete, so they decided a change of scenery was needed; Centerville, Ohio was ready to welcome Bill, Erma, Betsy, Andrew, and Matthew Bombeck to the neighborhood. While living in Centerville, Erma became friends with many other housewives who would get together and complain about how women were represented in the newspapers. Erma decided she could change that and went to the Kettering-Oakwood Times to request a job. The editor was so flattered by the way she asked, she was hired to write a weekly column paying $3 a week. She began writing for the women's pages, but instead of just writing them to make her editors happy she wrote them with humor to make readers happy. Just a year after working for Kettering-Oakwood, Erma's old employer, the Dayton Herald, was looking for a new columnist and they wanted Erma. She agreed to writing two weekly 450 word columns at $50 a week. After just a few weeks Erma's pieces were being syndicated through the Newsday National Syndication with her columns in 36 national newspapers, these articles were title At Wits End. 

Erma Bombeck quickly became a household name as a humorist and in 1966 she began to do lectures in many different cities that her columns were published. She made a few appearances on a radio show, Arthur Godfrey's radio show, and soon became a reoccurring guest. By 1969, Erma's work was being published in five hundred newspapers around the nation, she hired an agent and soon started writing work for Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, Teen magazine, and more! With her success her family decided it was time to move to a bit nicer place, and so the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Erma was doing better than ever with 900 newspapers printing her byline around the world. She published a book, The Grass is Greener on the Other Side of the Septic Tank, which became a best seller and led to her writing and publishing many more books. Book stores weren't able to keep them on the shelves long enough. Her success didn't stop there, Erma was asked to join Good Morning America, she agreed and at first only did commentaries, but eventually she started recording gag segments and serious interviews. 

Erma began to become more and more successful, writing a television show about her life (although it never did make it far), working in politics (something she never wanted to do and didn't like much), but her biggest challenge was when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and just like with everything else, Erma did not stray from the diagnosis in fear, she handled it like a champ. She was later put into remission, but soon after her kidney's began to fail. She was told she would need a kidney transplant, on April 22, 1996 just a few days after receiving new kidney's, Erma Bombeck died at age 69. She truly was so successful, becoming a household humorist and an inspiration to journalists everywhere. 

Work Cited

Ohio reading road trip: Erma Louise Bombeck Biography. Ohio Reading Road Trip | Erma Louise Bombeck Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2022, from https://www.orrt.org/bombeck/ 

Newsies- EOTO What I Learned

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Newsies go on strike! 

    July 20, 1899, New York City: Newsboys Strike of 1899 Begins

        The newsboys (better known as newsies) of New York, New York hocked newspapers for publishers like the New York World and the New York Journal went on strike after a prices increased by 10 cents. How this system worked was the newsies would buy a stack of newspapers (stacked by one hundred) for 50 cents and sold them to the public for a penny. The papers got together and decided to increase prices from 50 cents to 60, meaning newsies had to sell 10 more papers to maintain their already poor wages. Part of this issue was that any unsold papers could not be bought back by the papers, so the boys had to work even harder to sell their papers, which was already a daunting task. To these boys, there was nothing left to do but strike. It should also be mentioned that these boys were just that boys; some of which were no older than 18 years old. 

    There had been small newsboys strikes before, but nothing compared to this. The price increase began during the Spanish-American War, and wasn't a big deal. War headlines sold like hot cakes, so the newsies had no issues making their profit. The problem started after the war. Some papers went back to their original prices, but publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst (publishers for The Evening World and The New York Evening Journal) kept prices at the increased level. The newsboys had to start competing with each other instead of working with each other. It didn't take long for the newsies to realize how hard the price increase was for them. Things began to escalate when the newsies realized they weren't always being sold 100 papers, but actually less than that, meaning they could never make their original profit. 

July 19, 1899, Manhattan's City Hall Park:

    Newsies from all over the city met to unionize, they demanded that the prices of bundles be reduced back to their original 50 cents per bundle and let it be known that they would not sell the Journal or World until the prices changed. After announcing the official strike had begun, many began to ask advertisers to stop supporting the two monopolies. Newsies encouraged consumers to buy from any other paper but the Hearst and Pulitzer's. The strike was dangerous for these boys, they became violent if newsies found out others were selling instead of striking, some even went to jail. After several days of fighting and the papers feeling the burn, they eventually settled on not lowering costs of bundles, but agreeing to buy back any unsold papers. 

Newsies Impact 

    A little over 112 years after the newsboys strike, the Disney musical "Newsies" hit the great white way. Newsies: The Broadway Musical told the story of the newsboys strike, it followed the leader Jack Kelly (a representation of Kid Blink, the real-life leader of this strike) and his fight for himself and his fellow newsies. Like any entertainment adaption, some extra details were included that did not happen during the actual strike (for example, in the musical Jack Kelly falls in love with Pulitzer's daughter which helps them take down the publisher, which definitely didn't happen in real life). This Disney musical started bringing life to the history that many would never hear about, including a young hopeful journalist to be; me. 

Works Cited: 

https://blogs.shu.edu/nyc-history/2017/11/07/newspaper-strike-of-1900/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/newsboy-strike-of-1899

https://www.grunge.com/313557/the-untold-story-of-the-newsboys-strike-of-1899/

Who Are They? Anonymous Sources (EOTO 3)

 

    Anonymous sources are people being interviewed for a piece, but don't want to be named for a variety of reasons. It could be for their own protection, because they could lose their job, etc. If it weren't for anonymous sources some stories would be left untold, they help tell the truth and seek justice, but it could help to spread lies and it makes the stories more unreliable. Journalists should be careful every time they decided to use an anonymous source. 

Laws on Anonymous Sources

    Reporters have the right under the First Amendment to not reveal their sources, this is the reporter's privilege. During Branzburg v. Hayes (1972) the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not give reporters the right to refuse to reveal their sources in a story and the person revealed can sue for damages. Dissenters said that reporters should only have to reveal their sources if the government has a compelling reason to do so. Justice Stewart said: the government has to show the that there is "probable cause" that the reporter possesses information that is relevant to a specific violation of the law, there is no alternative means for obtaining the information being sought, and there is a "compelling and overriding" interest by the state of the information in question. This flowed into Shield Laws which gives more freedom to journalists for sources than the First Amendment. 49 states and Washington D.C. have these laws, but there are limits. In some states a reporter cannot disclose confidential information through anonymous sources. 

    Why Anonymity Should be Granted:

    The Associated Press says that anonymity should be allowed when the material is information and not an opinion or speculation and is vital to the piece, the information isn't available except under the under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source, and the source is reliable and in a position to have direct knowledge of the information. The editor must always know the source so as to back up the fact there is a reputable source, the story must be important to include anonymous sources, anonymity should always be the last resort (if you don't need it, don't use it), and the reasoning behind the anonymity must be revealed in the story this also shows that they are reputable. 

Jimmy's World:

    Janet Cooke wrote a piece called "Jimmy's World" for The Washington Post, the story was about an 8 year old boy who was addicted to heroin. Cooke used anonymous sources for her piece, sources her editors didn't even know about. The piece essentially went viral and was reposting around the world. Cops went mad trying to find out who Jimmy was in order to find his parents to hold them responsible for his addiction, but Cooke would not reveal her sources. Jimmy was never found, and a year later Cooke was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the piece. Cooke won and was the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism; however, the celebration ended pretty early when her previous employer at the paper BLADE noticed that her bio for Pulitzer Prize winners didn't add up to her resume for them. She lied about her schooling, and more and they went to the Pulitzer committee. Cooke soon after confessed that the entire story was made up. Cooke's career was ruined. 

Works Cited:

https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/telling-the-story/anonymous-sources

https://www.spj.org/ethics-papers-anonymity.asp

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Watergate-case-shows-value-of-anonymous-sources-2666542.php

https://sophia.smith.edu/fys169-f19/2019/11/22/janet-cookes-jimmys-world-and-the-fear-of-lying-media/

EOTO 2: What I Learned-Frederick Douglass

 

    Frederick Douglass was a historic writer, editor, social reformer, abolitionist, and so much more. Born into slavery in 1818 (exact birthdate is unknown) and given the name Frederick Bailey (his mother's name). Douglass was separated from his mother as an infant and lived with his maternal grandmother until age 6 when he was moved to plantation. Douglass taught himself how to read and write while enslaved to the Auld family in Baltimore. He taught other slaves how to read with his copy of the Bible. After Thomas Auld found out Douglass was teaching others to read he was sent off to Edward Covey's farm, Covey was known for his brutal punishments. It was here Douglass started attempting to escape slavery. 

    

Douglass had several failed attempts at escaping Covey's farm and slavery, but he finally succeeded in 1838 boarding a train to Havre de Grace, Maryland. He traveled through Delaware and made it safely to New York, where he officially changed his name to Frederick Douglass. Once Douglass got settled in New York, he sent for Anna Murray, a free Black woman in Baltimore, the two met in captivity with the Aulds. She joined Douglass in New York, the two married and would later have five children together. 

Anna Murray: Wife of Frederick Douglass

    The couple moved to Massachusetts where Douglass started attending meetings for the abolitionist movement, this is where he was exposed to the writings by William Lloyd Garrison. The two later met and were asked to speak at an abolitionist meeting, they accept and Douglass told his story of his life of slavery and escaping. Garrison was encouraged Douglass to become a speaker for the abolitionist movement. By the time 1843 came around, Douglass was a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society's "Hundred Conventions" project that toured around America for six months. Douglass was physically assaulted multiple times during this tour. 

    Douglass started the first anti-slavery newspaper "The North Star", named after the star that led slaves to freedom. Douglass went on to find and work for numerous other newspapers. He was a big voice for women's rights, and always looking to better America. 

    

Citations:

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/frederick-douglass

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/norths.html

https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/douglass.html

    

Oh My, Nellie Bly (EOTO 2)

Oh My, Nellie Bly

    May 5, 1864 Elizabeth Cochran was born in Cochran Mills (named after her father, Michael Cochran, and his farm land) Pennsylvania. Just six years after Elizabeth was born her father passed away leaving her and her 14 siblings with her mother. They left Cochran Mills and moved to Allegheny City, now known as Pittsburgh. Elizabeth attended Indiana Normal School (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for a semester, but dropped out as she could not afford the schooling. After leaving school, while living in Pittsburgh, an article was published in the Pittsburgh Dispatch titled "What Girls Are Good For". The article mainly argued that woman are primarily meant to carry and birth children, be homemakers, and other stereotypical women roles at that time. Elizabeth read the article and was so outraged by the argument that she wrote a response to the editor, she signed it "Lonely Orphan Girl". It must have been a pretty good response because George Madden, the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch, offered Elizabeth an opportunity to write a piece for the paper, and "The Girl Puzzle", a piece about how divorce affects women and a call to reform divorce laws, was published under her "Lonely Orphan Girl" pseudonym. Madden was impressed again and offered Elizabeth a full time position writing for the paper. During this time, it was customary for women to write under a pen name, so Nellie Bly was born. 

   Nellie Bly started her work for the Pittsburgh Dispatch focused on the lives of working women and starting her investigative work. She went into factories and told the truth of what the lives of the women working were like. The owners and supervisors of these factories were very upset about her pieces that were being published, so she was reassigned to the "women's pages" which was essentially about cooking, cleaning, being a homemaker, etc. Bly was very unsatisfied with this reassignment, so she decided to travel to Mexico to serve as a "foreign correspondent" for six months. She told stories of the lives of the Mexican citizens and began to take notice of the amount of local journalists who were being imprisoned for their articles about the government. Bly began advocating for the journalists and protested their arrests which led to a threat of being arrested herself. After this threat, she decided to flee the country to return back to the Pittsburgh Dispatch and work the "women's pages" until she left the paper in 1887. 

    After leaving Pennsylvania, Bly headed to New York City in hopes to get a reporting job. Unfortunately, women during this time were not being hired to write for newspapers, but somehow Bly found herself in the office of journalism typhoon Joseph Pulitzer, the editor of The New York World, asking for a job. Pulitzer was not interested, but told Bly if she could write a story about the mental institution on Roosevelt Island he would hire her. He gave no other instructions, advice on how to get the story, etc., but Bly was determined and began her work to land herself in the institution. 

           Bly took on a fake name and took a room in a boarding house in New York. She convinced those living there she was a Cuban immigrant and insane. Bly would wonder the halls and the streets of the boarding house, refused to sleep, screamed incoherently, and even said she perfected her "crazy" look. After a few days the boarding house owners called the cops and Bly was on her way to Blackwell's Island. While on the island, Bly found that there were only 16 doctors for over 1,600 patients, there was cultural insensitivity towards the immigrants, tea tasted like copper, the bread was black, and spiders were in the food. Bly was tied down, beaten, held underwater, dragged by her hair,  and she was forced to take ice baths. After leaving the institution Bly's piece helped a grand jury investigate the institution, and a month later there were more employees, translators, and better living conditions. 

    Nellie Bly became the poster woman of investigative journalism; she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998, she was one of four women who were put on postage stamps as part of the "Women in Journalism" set in 2002, and the New York Press Club has an annual Nellie Bly Club Reporter journalism award. She truly is an inspiration for journalists everywhere, but especially women journalist. 

Works Cited

• https://www.biography.com/activist/nellie-bly
• https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nellie-Bly
• https://www.biography.com/activist/nellie-bly