Here is a clip of Thursday’s speaker, Jerry Mitchell, from the Colbert Report.

Journalism legend (and winner of the 2009 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation) spoke to both of my classes at UCF today. He addressed the lack of Southern newspaper coverage during the civil rights era.

While that was true at most newspapers, one exception was the Louisville Courier-Journal. It was a more progressive newspaper and named women’s page editor Carol Sutton to the managing editor position in the 1970s. While was was M.E., she oversaw the coverage of busing. The newspaper took an anti-segregation position:

” Sutton said the staff tried to get information out as soon as possible, which included more than 200 maps to show exactly where the children would be bused. She said the “actual coverage of the busing was just horrendous.”The buses started out at 6 a.m., and the reporters continued covering the story until the final edition was
done at 2 a.m. the next morning. Thus, the Courier-Journal was operating on a 20-hour cycle. She recalled coming in early on a Saturday morning, two weeks into the coverage. It was just Sutton and the city editor, and they said they were happy that the staff had finally gotten a day off when they looked out and saw groups of
people marching down the street in front of the building. Eventually, 10,000 people gathered in front of the Courier-Journal building. They screamed in rage and shook their fists.”

Please follow and like us:

Here is a clip of Thursday’s speaker, Jerry Mitchell, from the Colbert Report.

Journalism legend (and winner of the 2009 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation) spoke to both of my classes at UCF today. He addressed the lack of Southern newspaper coverage during the civil rights era.

While that was true at most newspapers, one exception was the Louisville Courier-Journal. It was a more progressive newspaper and named women’s page editor Carol Sutton to the managing editor position in the 1970s. While was was M.E., she oversaw the coverage of busing. The newspaper took an anti-segregation position:

” Sutton said the staff tried to get information out as soon as possible, which included more than 200 maps to show exactly where the children would be bused. She said the “actual coverage of the busing was just horrendous.”The buses started out at 6 a.m., and the reporters continued covering the story until the final edition was
done at 2 a.m. the next morning. Thus, the Courier-Journal was operating on a 20-hour cycle. She recalled coming in early on a Saturday morning, two weeks into the coverage. It was just Sutton and the city editor, and they said they were happy that the staff had finally gotten a day off when they looked out and saw groups of
people marching down the street in front of the building. Eventually, 10,000 people gathered in front of the Courier-Journal building. They screamed in rage and shook their fists.”

Please follow and like us: