How the News Media Have Shaped American History

           There are many different ways the news media has shaped American history. From the woman's right's movement, civil rights movement, WW1 and 2, Vietnam, all of the Presidencies including the John F. Kennedy assassination and President Nixon's indecent with Watergate, every national disaster such as Hurricane Katrina and the World Trade Center, the war in Iraq, you name it. The news loves covering these topics and effect the public's view about every single thing in the United States.
          One of the topics that the media effected me was the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. I was in my 6th grade english class where my mother pulled me out of school and I had no idea as to why. Until I got home and saw the coverage at Ground Zero on Television and I heard and saw what had happened. Every news channel in the country had the incident on and they said a lot of bad things about the Muslim people because the terrorists were followers of the Muslim religion. The media covered every angle and every single thing about the Twin Towers being knocked down by the two airplanes. They discussed why it happened, who was responsible, what this attack, will do to us as a country in the future.
          The media proved many points during their reports about the attack and the aftermath. The people of the United States didn't trust anyone. Racism towards Muslims increased dramatically and the media exploited every problem with that. CNN for example, has a news station that is twenty four hours a day and they covered 9/11 for a long time as well as other issues.
          The news media had so many pictures and videos of what took place on that terrible day. The pictures are horrific and unbelievable and the media did an outstanding job covering the topic. Imagine if there was no news media. No media at all. What if the news media didn't cover this story or what would the world be like today? News media is very important they bring up so many topics to discuss and debate over and 9/11 was definitely the biggest.





The news media effected many peoples views and opinions of people, trust issues, what took, place, what will happen, what is the President going to do, what will the City of New York do, I mean every little thing the media covered and effected. I would like to be a part of the news media on the radio though. The talk, shows and news stations on the AM dial, also talked about every option and aspect of the incident. It is terrible that the event took place at all, but the news media does more than what you think, they do to cover a story. They cover every detail possible and that is great and that is how the news media effects the history of the United States in one way. 

          By Gary Riefenhauser
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Defying the Ku Klux Klan- By Gary Rief

     The Ku Klux Klan has caused many problems all over the United States since 1865 where the first Klan was formed. Racism has gotten a lot better and has decreased in the twenty first century, although the Ku Klux Klan still exists and has meetings and rally's from time to time all over the country. The media has helped destroy the Klan and its inhumane acts of terror. It has torn them apart and has scared many members with many of the comments that have been put in newspapers and has been all over the television. For an example, "An eagerness to harness the power of visual images." The newspapers relied heavily on their cartoons so they could get their message across.

Besides cartoons from newspapers there were many protests that the media covered regarding the extermination of the Ku Klux Klan. The media paid its debt to society by having many disputes with the KKK and the government for being trashed on all the time. I strongly believe that the KKK should have been eliminated many years ago. It has died out a lot, although the country still has many hate crimes toward all races and the KKK still have their few meetings and rally's a year. The media always hears about it, informs the police, and that is the end of the KKK in that area. I witnessed an attempt of a KKK rally in Mahopac, New York about five years ago. I was a sophomore in high school going to watch my high school football team play a playoff game where we couldn't get out of our cars and couldn't get all the way to the field to the main parking lot. There were men in white sheets being arrested and placed on a police bus, there were news crews everywhere. I wonder how they found out about it, the media were scattered everywhere and the most sad part about the KKK attempting a Rally was they tried having it at Mahopac high school. That was nothing less then outrageous and thank God the New York State Troopers came and took care of it. The KKK is an embarrassment to the United States and should be eliminated over the next few years; as long as the media keep on ruining them like they have been for the last one hundred and forty five years.
    



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