This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,5xx) on Friday, July 3, 2020. An international cabal of industrialists and watercolorists has met in secret (not sure when, probably at night; not sure where, probably Switzerland) and decided that July will be International Watercolor Month. I will continue my investigations and report my […]
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Yes, people are still trying to ban books. And they should be opposed.
You can shield yourself from ideas that make you uncomfortable or that you disagree with. You may be able, to some extent, to limit the exposure that the young people in your care have to those ideas. But you cannot shield your community from the things you disagree with. That’s called censorship, and in any practical […]
The purpose of great literature: to make people comfortable
That’s what school officials in Duluth, Minnesota (and a few other places, unfortunately) would have you believe. The school system in Duluth is the latest to remove To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the required reading list for ninth graders. The reason they give: the language used in these books […]
Artist Daniel Moore announces latest national championship painting
Moore discovered a gold mine for his artwork in 1979 when he produced “The Goal Line Stand,” a photo-realistic oil painting of the moments when Alabama prevented Penn State from scoring in the Sugar Bowl.
Alabama vs. Georgia, 50+ years ago: The Saturday Evening Post-Wally Butts-Bear Bryant libel case
More than 50 years ago, the Alabama-Georgia matchup resulted, not in a national championship, but in a legal ruling that expanded the First Amendment protections we now enjoy.
J. K. Rowling on freedom of expression
J.K. Rowling has a point of view: Intolerance of alternative viewpoints is spreading to places that make me, a moderate and a liberal, most uncomfortable. Only last year, we saw an online petition to ban Donald Trump from entry to the U.K. It garnered half a million signatures. Just a moment. I find almost […]
Seeing Suffrage: Planning the 1913 Washington Woman’s Suffrage Parade
March: Women’s History Month Plans for a gigantic suffrage parade along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in 1913 began as soon as Alice Paul and Lucy Burns convince the National American Woman Suffrage Association to put them in charge of its Congressional Committee in late November 1912. Paul and Burns, who had been friends since […]
The First Amendment today
The nation seems to be in a state of perpetual war, and during times of crisis, individual freedoms are always in danger. Professor Dwight Teeter of the University of Tennessee discusses the state and strength of First Amendment freedoms today.
The First Amendment, Luther Baldwin and the Alien and Sedition Acts
University of Tennessee professor Dwight Teeter discusses the case of Luther Baldwin, a New Jersey man who was prosecuted under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Baldwin became a symbol of Federalist intolerance during the 1800 presidential election. This video is part of the Tennessee Journalism Series and was produced and edited by Jim […]
How we got the First Amendment (video)
In this two-and-a-half minute video, Dr. Dwight Teeter explains some of the political maneuvering that occurred to get the an amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech into the hotly-debated Constitution in the late 1780s. The freedoms protected by the amendment — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — were not foremost in the minds of the […]
Three Dead Americans: Life’s famous World War II photo
Americans waited nearly two years before the news media printed a combat photograph that showed a dead U.S. serviceman. The reasons for that wait were that such producing such photos are too shocking for the friends and families of the deceased and that the public’s morale and support for the war might be diminished. The […]
Tennessee Journalism Series: Writing Like a Journalist
Journalists write for a living. They use words precisely and efficiently. They present accurate, verified information in a way that a mass audience will understand it by reading or hearing it only once.
Tennessee Journalism Series: Going Online
Designed by the people who helped create and maintain the Interscholastic Online News Network (ISONN), Going Online presents brief, practical lessons in the journalism of today and tomorrow. It shows teaches and students how they can practice journalism on a daily or hourly basis, something they were unable to do before the advent of the […]
Tennessee Journalism Series: Feature Writing
Feature Writing presents the basic concepts and techniques of feature writing for students who want to explore this vital part of journalism. It is brief and designed to be highly accessible to the beginning student.
Tennessee Journalism Series: The Devil and His Due
Many of the things that happened first during the Penny Press era have become the staples of today’s journalism: the dominance of non-partisan news; the emphasis on speed; new areas of reporting, including sports reporting; an expansion of readership to include working classes. The list could go on. Much that is on that list began […]
Tennessee Journalism Series
The Tennessee Journalism Series is a set of texts and instructional material developed by the faculty of the University of Tennessee School of Journalism and Electronic Media for journalism and instructors around the world. The idea behind the series is “multimedia first.” That is, these books are built for the iPad and contain a variety […]
Tennessee Journalism Series: The First Amendment
The First Amendment is one of the most important legal and social documents in American history. Its meaning remains the center of much controversy, debate and litigation even after 200 years.
Tennessee Journalism Series: Media Reporting
Reporting is hard work. It is frustrating and difficult. Reporters are constantly called upon to use their wit and imagination, to think of where information is and who has it — and then to persuade those who have it to give it up. Reporters do not have subpoena power. They cannot compel sources to part […]
Tennessee Journalism Series: Reporting: An Introduction
Reporting: An Introduction provides students with the basic concepts of journalistic reporting: information, news, sources, observation, verification and many others.
Tennessee Journalism Series: Introduction to Journalism
Introduction to Journalism offers students a window into this important and exciting field. This book is for students who want to report, write and understand what news is and how it’s produced.
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