Women Reporters Power Point Speech

Front 1

I did my project on women reporters. My thesis was: The work of early women reporters and investigators paved the way for today's female news reporters.

Back 1

1

Front 2

Nellie Bly was one of the first American women reporters. She was also an investigator and writer. Nellie Bly was born on May 5, 1867, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania.

Back 2

2

Front 3

Her first job was to go to Mexico and investigate the lives of the Mexicans and the government. Her articles were very popular, but she wrote critism of the "corrupt Mexican government."

Back 3

7

Front 4

She found a job working for the New York World. They asked her to do a pretty risky job. She would have to act as an insane woman to get into the Woman's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island for 10 days.

Back 4

9

Front 5

One of the last big risks that Nellie Bly took was traveling around the world. She wanted to write articles along the way, and she wanted to beat the record of a fictional character Phileas Fogg who traveled around the world in 80 days.

Back 5

12

Front 6

During World War I, Nellie Bly was the first woman to report on the Eastern Front. She went back to work for the new York Journal for a little bit of time before she died, on January 27, 1922. One of her friends Arthur Brisbane said in 1922, "Nellie Bly was the best reporter in America."

Back 6

15

Front 7

Katherine Graham was one of the first women to run a newspaper. She was born on June 16, 1917. in New York City. Her father, Eugene Meyer, purchased the Washington Post in 1933.

Back 7

16

Front 8

Katherine Graham and the Washington Post wrote many articles on the Watergate scandal, and some say that it caused President Nixon to resign.

Back 8

20

Front 9

A current reporter is Katie Couric. She was born on January 7, 1957 in Arlington, Virginia. She went to the University of Virginia, and she graduated in 1979.

Back 9

23

Front 10

In 1989, Katie Couric also got married to a man named Jay Monahan. The next job that Katie Couric took was very successful. She substitued for a woman named Deborah Norville in 1991 on a show called Today.

Back 10

27

Front 11

This was when Katie Couric's husband died of colon cancer at age 42 in 1998. Katie Couric did a series on colon cancer after this happened to encourage people to get checked for cancer. This series was very popular, and in 2001, Couric won the George Foster Peabody award for it.

Back 11

30

Front 12

She was born as Elizabeth Cochran, but she changed her name to Nellie Bly when she began to work for a newspaper. She looked for five years for work that she would like.

Back 12

3

Front 13

Then she read an article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. It said, "A woman who had a job in China was a monstrosity. In China they kill baby girls or sell them as slaves, because they can make no good use of them."

Back 13

4

Front 14

Nellie Bly did not like this, and so she wrote a letter of disagreement to the Pittsburgh Dispatch. The editor read her letter, and he loved her style of writing.

Back 14

5

Front 15

He invited her for an interview, and she was hired for the Pittsburgh Dispatch at age 21. This was before women were even allowed to vote.This was very uncommon for a woman, but Nellie Bly did it anyway.

Back 15

6

Front 16

She had to leave Mexico so that she would not go to jail. When she came back to the Pittsburgh Dispatch, they wanted her to write on the fine arts, and Nellie Bly did not want to do this. She left and headed for New York City.

Back 16

8

Front 17

She did get in. All of the horrible rumors about the asylum were true. There was bad food, hard whippings, and ice cold baths. Nellie Bly had to undergo all of this.

Back 17

10

Front 18

She was released from the asylum on October 4, 1887. She wrote many articles, and this led to improving the asylum and many others.

Back 18

11

Front 19

She traveled mainly by boat and train. When she arrived back in New York City, on January 25, 1890, she had done it in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes.

Back 19

13

Front 20

After doing this and writing her articles she raised the amount of people who bought the New York World by 24,000 people. Everyone around the world knew of Nellie Bly.

Back 20

14

Front 21

Katherine Graham went to the University of Chicago, and she graduated in 1938. She worked as a San Francisco reporter, and then she went to work for the Washington Post from 1939 to 1945.

Back 21

17

Front 22

Katherine Graham married a man named Philip L. Graham in 1940. In 1946, Eugegn Meyer gave Philip Graham the Washington Post.

Back 22

18

Front 23

Philip Graham owned the Post until 1963 when he committed suicide. Then Katherine Graham decided to run the Washington Post. She ran it during a very important time, Watergate.

Back 23

19

Front 24

After running the Washington Post, she gave it to one of her sons Donald E. Graham. Katherine Graham also a had talent in writing, and she wrote a book about herself and her husband.

Back 24

21

Front 25

It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Katherine Graham died on July 17, 2001. As stated by Women History, "Katherine is one of the 20th Century's most powerful and interesting women."

Back 25

22

Front 26

She first was a desk assitant for ABC, and then she worked as an editor for CNN's Washington Bureau. As stated by Britannica, "The post required some reporting, but Couric's high pitched voice led the Network's president to ban her from the air, but she later corrected the problem by voice lessons."

Back 26

24

Front 27

She then was a reporter during the 1984 presidential elections. This was when Republican Ronald Reagon was running against Democrat Walter Mondale. Then Katie Couric was a reporter for WTVJ in Florida.

Back 27

25

Front 28

When Katie Couric worked for an affiliate with NBC, she won an Associated Press Award. In 1989, she reported on the United States involvement in Panama. She also reported on the Pentagon.

Back 28

26

Front 29

Today was not doing so well, but when Katie Couric came, the ratings went up. Eventually Katie Couric became Norville's permanent replacement. Katie Couric worked with Bryant Gumbel on the show.

Back 29

28

Front 30

They reported breaking news, and they interviewed many famous people. Couric stayed a little longer on the show, and then she left.

Back 30

29

Front 31

As stated by Peabody, "The George Foster Peabody award recognizes distinguished acheivement and meritoruios public service by television and radio stations, networks, producing organizations, and the world wide web."

Back 31

31

Front 32

Katie Couric next went on the work for NBC. She signed a 5 year contract with them for 65 million dollars. She is still alive today and she still reports currently as head anchor for CBS.

Back 32

32

Front 33

Here is a conclusion of these three women. Without Nellie Bly, many young women to follow her would not have had to the oppurtunity to aceive what they have. Katherine Graham kept the public very informed of President Nixon's involvement in the scandal. Katie Couric followed these women in having a very important job, head anchor of a news station. Thank you.

Back 33

33