Journalists Who Changed the
World Through Writing and
Photography
Can journalism change the world?
• “I am here to tell you that change is gonna
come. And it’s not going to come because
of politicians. It’s going to come from you
and the stories you write.”
Journalist, Seymour Hersh,
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did
much, but not all, of the original news
reporting on the Watergate scandal.
These scandals led to numerous
government investigations and the
eventual resignation of President Richard
Nixon.
John Heresy
• Heresy was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American
writer and journalist considered one of the
earliest practitioners of the so-called New
Journalism, in which storytelling devices of the
novel are fused with non-fiction reportage. His
account of the aftermath of the atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, (“Hiroshima,”
published in 1946) “allows its readers to witness
history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to
live it.”
Randy Shlits
• Reports on AIDS, The San Francisco
Chronicle, 1981–1985. In 1999, the
Department of Journalism at New York
University ranked Shilts's AIDS reporting
for the Chronicle as one of the top 100
works of journalism in the United States.
He also published several books on AIDS,
including one on Harvey Milk, a gay
politician who was assassinated, which
was recently made into a movie. His works
brought the truth and reality about AIDS to
forefront of the public’s attention.
Seymour Hersh
• In 1969, Seymour Hersh exposed the story of
the massacre from the Vietnamese village My
Lai, where 555 unarmed civilians, according to
the American journalist, were killed by US
soldiers. He is known as one of America’s
premier investigative reporters. He has won
more than a dozen major prizes in journalism
and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for
International Reporting in 1970 for his work on
the massacre in South Vietnam. The report
prompted widespread condemnation around the
world and reduced public support for the
Vietnam War in the United States
And if you can’t write it, a photo is
worth a thousand words…
Most pictures can speak a
thousand words, but every so
often, there comes a photo that
screams so loudly that the entire
world stops to listen. How does
an image change the way we
view the world?
Dorothy Lange
Lange’s photo “Migrant
Mother” captures The
Great Depression and the
resilience of a proud nation
facing desperate times in
1936. Her photographs
humanized the tragic
consequences of the Great
Depression and profoundly
influenced the
development of
documentary photography.
Eddie Adams
This 1968 photograph
of an officer shooting
a handcuffed prisoner
in the head at pointblank range not only
earned him a Pulitzer
Prize in 1969, but also
went a long way
toward souring
Americans' attitudes
about the Vietnam
War.
Alfred Eisenstaedt
• On August 14, 1945, the
news of Japan’s surrender
was announced, signaling
the end of WWII. Riotous
celebrations took over the
streets of New York where
this photo was taken. This
photo, taken by a German
immigrant, was circulated
in papers around the world.
Photojournalist tell the story
What did this photo tell the world about
Haiti? Did it move people into action?
• In Photojournalism,
photographs help keep
record of events in history
and help bring more to a
story with an image than the
story itself. Photographers
have the ability to capture a
moment in time. Just an
image taken tells a story
about an event, a place, or
individuals. Photojournalism
is our window to the world
around us.
Why are you here?
Write 2-3 sentences for each questions before sharing your response
with the class.
• How can journalism change the world in writing?
• How can photojournalism change the world in
photos?
• What do you think is the purpose of your high
school publication?
• What do you envision this publication doing in
your school wide and local community?
• How does journalistic writing differ from the
writing you will do in your English classes?
• What is the purpose of journalism?
Go to next slide for further ideas on the purpose of Journalism
Principles of Journalism
from journalism.org
• The central purpose of journalism is to provide
citizens with accurate and reliable information
they need to function in a free society.
• This encompasses a myriad roles--helping
define community, creating common language
and common knowledge, identifying a
community's goals, heroes and villains, and
pushing people beyond complacency. This
purpose also involves other requirements, such
as being entertaining, serving as watchdog and
offering voice to the voiceless.
Journalists Record History
• Without record, how do we learn from our
mistakes?
• Journalists tell stories in interesting ways,
with facts and quotes from the people who
are important to the story.
• Photojournalists capture moments to make
memories last.
• Journalists report the truth that is always
backed up by research. They do not alter
reality.
Most of all…
• Journalism is both an information source and
a watchdog. Without it, democracy would seize
up.
• But remember, as a French novelist once said,
“Free press can, of course, be good or bad, but,
most certainly without freedom, the press will
never be anything but bad.” Journalism, for
better or for worse, is the best example of the
freedom of individuals and the importance of
free thought in a democracy.