A Brief History of Journalism Institutions: What I Learned from EOTO 1

In past classes, I have always loved learning from my classmates when we do presentations. For this first EOTO, I was really impressed by how effectively each group presented the information on their topic and how organized their visuals were. 

One of the first pairs presented on Frederick Douglass and his paper The North Star. This presentation tied into my own topic so I was interested in hearing more in-depth about Frederick Douglass as I researched him only a small amount. I enjoyed getting to see both sides of the story concerning Douglass and Garrison and their papers’ attributes, similarities, and differences.

Not only did I learn about historic institutions and how Americans got their news hundreds of years ago, I learned a lot of backstory to a publication that is present in my day-to-day life here in 2023.

I personally spend a lot of time reading articles from the New York Times and it is the source I get a majority of my news so I was really interested in hearing the history behind the publication. I honestly didn't know it was such an old and historic publication, nor did I know anything about the two men that started it and how it came to grow into the publication it is today. 

Henry Raymond and George Jones wanted to create a neutral news outlet and truly inform the people of America. Their legacy lives on as millions of people now subscribe to the outlet they created so many years ago. 

My perspective as a journalist was then expanded as I was taught about the power of pictures rather than always thinking about the power of words.

I had never really given much thought to cartooning or the political cartoons/comics that are in newspapers. I had never realized their significance, so I found this presentation enlightening and entertaining. I have seen Ben Franklin’s “Join, or Die” illustration for years but did not even realize that it was considered the first political cartoon and how the industry just flourished from there on out. 

This project not only expanded my views but even brought them close to home as a group of my classmates presented on a society that we have a chapter of right here at High Point University. 

I am not a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, but I learned a lot about it during this first EOTO presentation. I definitely want to look into joining now. I had never really known what they do as a society, but thanks to these presentations I have not only learned about their mission, I know about the history of the founding students’ dedication and passion to form the group. I really loved how the group also made a point to focus a bit of their presentation on the role of women in the society and when they were able to join as women’s rights is a topic very close to my heart.