"Clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964"
From the accounts of various Kentucky newspapers, I was able to learn a few facts about Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, as well as the attitudes of his fellow Kentuckians. The first thing I noticed in all the newspapers that
I viewed was that almost all the articles written about the fight were written by writers from either the Associated Press (AP) or United Press International
(UPI). This displayed three things about the Kentucky press, first the belief that Clay's fight was not important enough to cover themselves, secondly that the newspapers probably did not make enough money to send their own reporters down to Miami Beach, and finally the localization of the newspapers' audiences.
Another aspect of the fight is the effect it had on Kentucky society, especially the sports scene.
I primarily noticed that almost all the papers used reports from the
Associated Press and the United Press International, even the (Louisville)
Courier-Journal, one of Clay's hometown newspapers, used reports from the
Associated Press. The only articles that were not written by a member of the
Associated Press were the very rare editorials written about the fight. The use of reports from the AP and the UPI shows that most newspapers did not think the fight was very newsworthy. Only one newspaper published an article that was not written by a member of the Associated Press or the United Press International, however that one article was an editorial about Cassius Clay's new found wealth and not the actual fight. The lack of coverage also proves that even though blacks were supposed to be equal to whites, that in reality achievements by blacks and whites were treated differently. None of the newspapers that I read displayed a large picture or headline proclaiming that Cassius Clay was the new heavyweight champion of the world. Most newspapers had an average sized headline stating that Clay was the new champion, but none had an article about him on the front page. This further illustrates that achievements by blacks were believed to be less important than the achievements of whites. I saw almost the same amount of articles on high school basketball, as I did on the fight. Although I am not surprised by the fact that high school basketball received almost a page of coverage, I am alarmed by the fact that this one page of coverage on basketball was the same amount of coverage for the boxing match.
The stories by Associated Press and United Press International illustrate two more facts about Kentucky during the 1960's, primarily that most of
Joes High School’s total enrollment consisted of sixteen girls, and twenty boys. Ten of the boys that had enrolled there played basketball. All of the boys were over six feet tall. Lane Sullivan, the new coach of the basketball team, had never even touched a basketball before he started coaching. Sullivan had never coached anything at all before he started coaching the Joes basketball team. In order to gain knowledge about the sport, he got a book about it. He started coaching in 1927, but before the 1928 basketball season, Joes High School didn’t even have a gym. Instead, they’d practice outside on a dirt court, and two times a week they’d take a bus to the nearest gym, which was ten miles away. In order to play home games, the boys had to play in the local dance hall. The “court” was nowhere near regulation size, and the ceiling was so short that the boys couldn’t shoot an arched shot. The people who attended these basketball games had no place to sit and watch the game, the all stood around the edges of the court and on the small stage. Joes High School finally got their own gym around Christmas time because the people of Joes donated their time and material in order to make it happen.
After the men were arrested, one of them named James W. McCord Jr. admitted to having connections with the CIA which sparked the reporters interest
Pappano, Laura. “How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life” Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. Pages 591-600. 2013.
Koba, Mark. "High School Sports Have Turned Into Big Business." CNBC. CNBC LLC, 9 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 May 2016.
Luzer, Daniel. "College Guide: The Profit in College Sports." The Washington Monthly. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Firstly I looked at page 3 of ‘The Guardian’ on which I saw a big
The. Chen, Grace. The "Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at the High School Level." Publicschoolreview.com -. Public School Review, n.d. Web.
Scores and Daily Analysis from Sports Illustrated. Warner. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. Miller, Amanda. "
Background information (if applicable): The participation in high school sports this year topped 7.8 million athletes nationwide, which includes 54% of all high school students taking part in athletics (Chen).
Sports are often identified to have positive influences on many individuals. The sports industry is growing worldwide, especially the basketball industry, which is regarded in second place behind football. The global prevalence of basketball is unquestionable, especially among the young. Basketball is a dynamic team sport that involves a pattern of alternating, active, and skilled movement activities. There are compound demands that require a mixture of individual skills, team plays, strategies, and motivational aspects.
That is why the media never covers anything like this. We all know that they really don't care about. anything else except for hot topics. The truth really does not mean anything. to them. This we notice in all the cases that the media jumps to wrongful conclusions, such as the Richard Jewel case, the Olympic bombing and the TWA.
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.
In contrast to the layout of ‘The Sun’, ‘The Times’ puts this story on page three because it does not think it is newsworthy for the front-page and its style of readers. ‘The Times’ also has a smaller e-fit picture than ‘The Sun’, it is made up of two columns both of which have small paragraphs...
Oliver, Dean. Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Potamac, 1969. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.