Spring Break
New stamps honor American journalists
John Coleman, Staff Writer, jpcolema@smu.edu
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
"Martha Gellhorn, one of my personal heroes, and honoree today, must have had a much rougher time than I, but still became one of the greatest female war correspondents of the 20th century," she said.
Continuing the discussion about minorities in news media, Sanders joined the discussion, saying that he could remember a time when African-Americans were only reported on and weren't allowed to do the reporting.
"I can remember a time when people like me [African-Americans] weren't allowed in the news, unless they killed someone," Sanders said. "The first time I wrote a story I had to call my dad and tell him I wasn't arrested and in the news, I had written the story; that's why my name was on the page. The news truly is transitioning scene, something that couldn't be said until about 15 years ago."
The discussion wrapped up with the journalists reflecting on the many times they fought to get what was important to them in the news, and noted that every journalist honored with a stamp had fought valiantly to get their stories of what they thought was important into the news.
"Every one of those journalists on the stamps fought to put their stories in their mediums, and that is why they became some of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century; that's why we are honoring them today," McCaa said.
The journalists honored were Eric Sevarald for his reporting from Paris as German troops marched in; Martha Gellhorn for her wartime writings from Spain, China and Normandy; Ruben Salazar for reporting during Chicano protest rally in East Los Angeles; George Polk for covering the civil war in Greece; and John Hersey for reporting the war's impact on the citizens of Japan and Italy.
Continuing the discussion about minorities in news media, Sanders joined the discussion, saying that he could remember a time when African-Americans were only reported on and weren't allowed to do the reporting.
"I can remember a time when people like me [African-Americans] weren't allowed in the news, unless they killed someone," Sanders said. "The first time I wrote a story I had to call my dad and tell him I wasn't arrested and in the news, I had written the story; that's why my name was on the page. The news truly is transitioning scene, something that couldn't be said until about 15 years ago."
The discussion wrapped up with the journalists reflecting on the many times they fought to get what was important to them in the news, and noted that every journalist honored with a stamp had fought valiantly to get their stories of what they thought was important into the news.
"Every one of those journalists on the stamps fought to put their stories in their mediums, and that is why they became some of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century; that's why we are honoring them today," McCaa said.
The journalists honored were Eric Sevarald for his reporting from Paris as German troops marched in; Martha Gellhorn for her wartime writings from Spain, China and Normandy; Ruben Salazar for reporting during Chicano protest rally in East Los Angeles; George Polk for covering the civil war in Greece; and John Hersey for reporting the war's impact on the citizens of Japan and Italy.
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