Gene Roberts

The authors start with Myrdahl’s insight that the majority of white Americans, particularly northerners, wouldn’t care about racism unless they were forced to do so. It was the press—particularly photographers and the new technology of television—that made them ashamed enough to support the civil rights movement. This book tells the story of the civil rights movement as seen through its reporting, both in the black press (which ironically started to find itself having a harder time show more covering some of the stories as the national white press became interested) and in the “mainstream” media. It’s also a reminder of the power of law—expansive libel law kept the New York Times out of several key states for significant periods of time, and other newspapers didn’t even try. And, as both segregationists and civil rights leaders recognized, only publicity—often, only scenes of brutality—could move the fight against segregation forward. So the Supreme Court’s decision to cut back on the scope of libel law appears as a civil rights issue. It’s a gripping narrative, and an appalling reminder of how much racist horror went unpunished and unremarked, or even celebrated in the grossest terms by politicians and editors who were considered leaders of their communities, not very long ago. show less

A great piece of writing about our recent national history. It significantly filled in my knowledge & understanding of the period, especially the birth of the Civil Rights movement itself. And obviously not least, it strongly illuminated the importance and difficulty of the press’ role in the period. I had never given enough thought to the wide array of viewpoints contained within the press corps broadly, and I certainly had not fully considered the risks that journalists took in trying show more both to understand and to report these stories. It’s an impressive narrative, and I’m glad to have read it. show less

An excellent telling of the role of journalists covering the fight for racial equality in the mid 20th century United States this is a must-read for those wanting a fuller presentation on that fight. Beginning with coverage exclusively by what was then termed the Negro Press, Black-owned and operated news organizations, I was surprised by how long it took for major (i.e. white) news outlets to even begin noticing, let alone to actually assign reporters to be there to cover it. Seeing the show more turmoil of that time not from the perspective of the racial equality movement leaders but from the experiences of the reporters who covered it brought a boader perspective of understanding for me. show less

4305 The Race Beat The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (read 26 Apr 2007) (Pulitzer History prize for 2006) This account of how the media covered the tumultuous civil rights struggle is of great interest, especially since it recounts many of the exciting events which make that struggle so momentous. The book amply deserves the Pulitzer prize it won.