Tag: Pens & Clicks are Mightier than the Sword

Murderess in the Headlines

Presenter(s): Erin Sandvold—English

Faculty Mentor(s): Heidi Kaufman

Session 3: Pens & Clicks are Mightier than the Sword

Crime has permeated society and stimulated generations with stories of mystery, grotesque motives, and gruesome scenes . Crimes from over a hundred years ago still draw our interest as we seek to find answers to the basic question we ask at any tragedy: why? While our modern perspectives have given us tremendous insight into the minds of various criminals and murderers, I wish to explore how journalists of the early twentieth century and contemporary podcasts present these cases to the general public . Murder and storytelling about murder have always been present in society, but the early twentieth century featured these stories on the pages of newspapers with blazing headlines on the front pages . These sensationalized headlines continue to inform researchers and storytellers as they remake true crime stories for new audiences . My project will focus on two murderesses: Belle Gunness (1859-1908) and Amy Archer-Gilligan (1873-1962) . On the surface, these women appeared to live ordinary and productive lives . Yet, in distinct ways, they both pushed against the societal norms of domestic femininity to become sensational figures in the American press . My discussion of these case studies will focus on the role of gender in the legends about their crimes . While I will begin with newspapers published immediately following the discovery of their criminal acts, discussions will extend to later versions of storytelling about these women . Hence, I will subsequently consider the ways that later versions of these legends respond to shifting gender constructions over time .

Guidelines for the Representation of Women in Written News

Presenter(s): Julia Mueller—Journalism

Faculty Mentor(s): Peter Laufer

Session 3: Pens & Clicks are Mightier than the Sword

Researchers have recently begun to realize the impact of patriarchy on language, and the consequential role of male-centric or male-normative language in separating men from women, thus reinforcing women’s roles as the “second sex” in society . Even as society takes strides towards impartiality, implicit bias is still present in the way we speak, write—and specifically, report .

This thesis examines and analyzes current industry standards of style guidelines related to the representation of women in written news in the context of contemporary psychological and linguistic research on the interplay of language and gender . Developing case studies from the results of a survey disseminated to over a thousand journalism professionals in the Pacific Northwest, this project explores current industry practices, newsroom-specific practices, gender-focused trainings or lack thereof, and the survey subjects’ own perceptions of where journalistic standards are lacking with regard to the representation of women in the news .

Rajneeshpuram and Media Outcomes

Presenter(s): Alexander Har—Journalism and Political Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Dean Mundy

Session 3: Pens & Clicks are Mightier than a Sword…

Rajneeshpuram was a commune in central Oregon that was supported by the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, an Indian guru practicing experimental therapy and a quasi-religion . The commune quickly came into conflict with the nearby retirement town, Antelope, and later the greater Oregon community of Wasco County, state courts, federal courts, and opposition organizations . The Rajneesh movement dominated the news, and the constant updates and statements put out by the Rajneesh press office, newspapers, and spokespersons meant the Rajneesh were covered constantly in the news . There is evidence that suggests that the commune acted purposefully to attract news for strategic gains . My central research question is: how did Rajneeshpuram use strategic communication to garner free publicity and what was the role of sensationalism in attracting free news coverage?

Using UO’s Special Collections Rajneesh Archive, I plan to analyze news stories in the form of newspaper clippings, magazines, notes from reporters covering Rajneeshpuram, Rajneesh ephemera, manuals, brochures, and any current Rajneeshee literature . I plan to look specifically for new stories that were sensationalist in coverage by analyzing headlines, bylines, leads of articles, and the language surrounding the commune . I also plan to analyze new stories that were made sensationalist by the members of the Rajneesh movement through sensationalist tactics by analyzing the language and content used by the Rajneesh channels . I expect to conclude that the commune Rajneeshpuram wanted as much coverage as possible and learn more about the tactics used at Rajneeshpuram to gain free publicity .

From 1960 to Now: Beginning a Pen Pal Program Between Oregon and Russia

Presenter(s): Zack Demars—Journalism, Political Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Peter Laufer

Session 3: Pens & Clicks are Mightier than the Sword

As the capstone of nearly a year of reporting by myself and 13 peers, I wrote two chapters of a forthcoming journalistic book on the ground in Rostov-on-Don and Moscow, Russia . In the majority of the book, my colleagues and I posed questions about human political and social nature as they related to an abortive pen pal project attempted between Roseburg, Oregon and then-Soviet Russia in 1960 . In the final two chapters I authored, I sought to answer those questions by posing a new potential pen pal relationship to fourth-grade students and teachers . The youngsters offered a simple answer: that kids will be kids, in search of new friends . On a broader level, however, the teachers of today and students of the past tell us that, in the words of a sculpture found in a park on the Moskva River, children are the victims of adult vices . What we are left with is a narrative that traverses continents, transcends languages, and collapses decades . It leaves us to ask what the real differences are between seemingly disparate societies in terms of politics, propaganda and human relationships .