Media Influence On American History

593 Words3 Pages

The media is America’s greatest outlet in getting information. People expect the media to give them valid information, or so people think. In 1954 Brown v. Board of education granted blacks the opportunity to integrate schools. The first school to actually to this was in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Central High School caught the attention of the world as nine black kids known as the Little Rock Nine who changed history, but sometimes what people saw or read wasn’t the full truth. During the integration of Central High in Little Rock in 1957, the media illuminated certain events and distorted others.
During the integration of 1957 at Central High School the media illuminated events like Lois Pattillo. During integration Lois Pattillo was going to lose to her …show more content…

During Thanksgiving break, Carlotta and the rest of the Little Rock Nine went to Mr. and Mrs. Bates house. Lanier states that, “ driven to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bates to participate in the made for television event...the several of us reassured viewers that we lived in a great country and that all was well at Central” ( pg.109 Lanier). When she says “ made for television”, it means that it 's a staged event to make the students look happy about their lives at the moment not how they actually feel making people questioning Mrs. Bates on why she goes all out if they seem happy. Another example of the media distorting events is during the Little Rock Nine’s first day in the school they were forced to leave because of what segregationist supposedly did. Lanier states in the text that, “ Wild and erroneous reports about students being beaten and bloodied had even made into air waves” ( pg.90 Lanier). Knowing that segregationist actually had beaten reporters like explained before.assumptions can be made that it was a setup to get them out of the school. That explains why the media can give incomplete