The fact that television at that time could bring powerful images of what was happening in the world and could make the incident seem like a local event that was happening in their own home town, was a new concept.
It was also television that brought to the public the first live presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon in 1960. Approximately 60% of the households viewed the three debates -- around 60 million people out of a total population of 179 million at that time. Kennedy was the first President that most people felt they had a personal connection with, all because of live TV.
So after the assassination the public couldn't get enough information fast enough. Americans glued themselves to the television and other available media to hear, see, feel, and experience the event because of the interest they had in Kennedy and because of the coverage that was available.
Another reason it was such a large media event was that most Americans weren't even alive the last time a president was assassinated. It had been 62 years since President William McKinley was shot in office. Americans were in shock and disbelief that this could happen in the current times, with all of the precautions of secret service.
The news media could deliver current news events, help shape public opinion, and for the first time could unite the American's people in great times of sorrow, tragedy, anticipation, and enjoyment.
Television would continue to evolve in the 1970s to the current times, with around the clock cable new shows. Cable News Network (CNN) was the first 24-hour cable television news program in 1980. In April 2009, approximately 58 million viewers watched the top 20 cable news programs alone and approximately 114 million people watch news shows in general.
Bibliography
"JFK: Breaking The News." n.d. KERA Productions. 27 May 2009 .
"Television news ." n.d. media in the 1960. 27 May 2009 .
Zelizer, Barbie. "Covering the Body." n.d. American Experience PBS. 28 May 2009 .
Kennedy Assassination The entire Kennedy investigation case is highly unusual at best, and is more likely one that simply reeks of impropriety. There are a number of highly salient aspects about this case that make it readily apparent that certain parties were interested in making sure that it was never solved. One of the foremost of these facets was the fact that the forensics work conducted on the bullet fragments occurred
The camera lens recorded what I could not possibly have seen at the moment -- a rifle barrel extended over the windowsill. When the film was developed later, it showed two figures hovering over it." He gave his negatives to a daily newspaper in Toronto; but when he phoned and asked them to return his negative, the negative with the two figures in the window was gone. He got a
Kennedy and Brinkley President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is an important figure in American history and was instrumental in shaping the American identity in the second half of the twentieth century. His personality and optimism, as well as his heroism in the Second World War helped the country to formulate a hope that the 1960s could be a time of renewal and rebirth in the United States of America. In recent years,
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It did not help matters that Johnson was photographed being sworn into office aboard the plane bringing the body of Kennedy back to Washington, D.C., with Kennedy's widow, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing the suit stained with her husband's blood. Many people, right or wrong, took the photo as a statement by Mrs. Kennedy; even though she remained a close friend of Johnson's wife, Lady
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