media history

"Negotiated Authenticity" and the Precarious Position of Black Creators in Television History

"Since its invention, television has shaped this country’s self-image. To the extent that we share notions of “normal,” “acceptable,” “funny,” “wrong,” and even “American,” television has helped define them. For decades, Black writers were shut out of the rooms in which those notions were scripted."

Another 9/11 Legacy? The Spread of Conspiracy Theories Online

by Jeff Melnick

9/11 happened as traditional American media outlets were being consolidated into a small number of corporate networks, encouraging people seeking information to turn to decentralized sources and, eventually, social media, opening space for misinformation and conspiracy theories. 

"Elvis In The Box": The National Enquirer Issue that Made Today's Celebrity Culture

by Michael Nelson

As fans mourned Elvis at Graceland, the National Enquirer came to Memphis and got the coffin shot that sold 6.7 million copies.

The Battle Between NBC and CBS To Be the First To Film a Berlin Wall Tunnel Escape

by Mike Conway

In the summer of 1962, the two networks were at work on two separate, secret documentaries on tunnels being dug under the Berlin Wall.

The Chicago Defender, Legendary Black Newspaper, Prints Last Copy

For generations of black Americans, The Defender, influential and tough, was a force: “You knew it didn’t happen if it wasn’t in The Defender.”