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Leaders in Journalism Case Studies Use Discussion Questions to examine the leadership roles writers, journalists, editors and publishers have played in public life.
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In January 1776, American colonist Thomas Paine published Common Sense, the first pamphlet that argued in favor of American independence. Written plainly and directly in a language that could be understood by a mass audience, it sold over 150,000 copies (amongst a population of approximately two and a half million). The author continued to contribute to the Revolutionary War effort through the Crisis Papers, which were written to inform the American public, keep up morale, and counter British propaganda.
In 1887 Ida B. Wells brought a lawsuit against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company after she, an African American, was forced off the train for refusing to sit in the segregated car. Wells then established herself as a journalist and started her own newspaper, the Free Speech, in Memphis, Tennessee, which became a platform for her campaign against the practice of lynching. She was driven out of town. However, she continued to write on behalf of African Americans and women's suffrage.
During Ben Bradlee's early years (1949-1950) as a reporter at The Washington Post, attempts had been made to integrate one of DC's public de facto "whites only" pools, resulting in a race riot involving hundreds of people. Bradlee covered the event and was enraged when the story appeared the next day "buried" deep in the paper. He later learned why. The owner of the paper, Phil Graham, had threatened Truman Administration officials that he would print Bradlee's "riots" story on the front page unless they agreed to commit resources to integrate all public pools in the capital city.
