OLDER EVENTS MORE LIKELY AS 'NEWS OF THE
CENTURY'
by Allan R. Andrews
American Reporter Correspondent
Washington, D.C.
Don't take my word for it. Check the results of such a survey of 67 journalists and historians published this week in USAToday. The list suggests that as far as memories and impressions are concerned older is better than younger and middle-aged is best of all.
Of the 100 stories compiled from the experts' choices (each was asked to pick the top 25 news events) by The Freedom Forum's Newseum in Arlington, Va., 29 percent occurred prior to 1933 and can be considered old; 22 percent occurred after 1966 and can be considered young; and a whopping 51 percent of the events occurred between 1934 and 1966.
Readers can get the results of the survey online at USAToday's web site http://www.usatoday.com/2000/top100.htm.
Few may quibble with the top three selections: The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945); Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon (1969); and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor (1941). After that, however, the choices will undoubtedly raise eyebrows and questions.
Events of the 1980s and the 1990s are the most sparsely represented by far. In fact, only five news events from the 1990s made the list, and the first of those, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, ranks only 13th on the overall list. The next event of the 1990s on the list, the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1993, doesn't appear until 49th.
One might argue it takes time for events to burn their way into historical memory; however, the sex scandal surrounding President Clinton and the impeachment trial that followed - events barely out of the headlines -- ranked 53rd in the top 100 stories of the century.
Interestingly, the trial of O.J. Simpson, dubbed "the trial of the century" by many, did not make the list, nor did the death of Britain's Princess Diana, the "most photographed woman of the century" by some counts.
Clearly the journalists and historians reflect not only their age but also their sense of news values.
According to an AP story about the choices, CNN anchor and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff called the process "agonizing."
Perhaps the most candid and honest comments came from Ben Bradlee, former editor of the Washington Post, who at 77 has lived through most of the events he chose.
"World War II was 25 percent of my life at one time," Bradlee told the AP. Bradlee ranked the assassination of President John F. Kennedy second; it made the list at the 6th position. "He was a friend," Bradlee said about his choice.
After picking Armstrong's moon walk as number one, Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. explained his ensuing choices: "I put DNA and penicillin and the computer and the microchip in the first 10 because they've transformed civilization. Wars vanish," Schlesinger told the AP. "The one thing for which this century will be remembered 500 years from now was: This was the century when we began the exploration of space."
Some sports stories made the list. The 1947 debut of Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball's color barrier, was selected as the 44th most significant story.
On the other hand, Babe Ruth's 60 home run season in 1927 was judged to be the 89th top story of the century while the 1998 home run year of Messrs. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in which Ruth's record was shattered did not break into the top 100.
Roger Bannister's breaking of the four-minute mile did not make the list, nor did a host of other athletic milestones.
Two decades dominate the list: the 1940s and the 1960s, together accounting for 40 percent of the news events chosen by the panel. The so-called "Roaring '20s" squeaked into the list with only 9 percent of the total. But even the '20s and the previous decade of "The Great War" produced more newsworthy events on the final list than did either decade of the '70s, '80s, or '90s.
One could argue perhaps that decades with truly watershed events, such as the '10s with World War I or the '30s with the Depression and World War II, make other events of those decades fade in the memory, while decades such as the '60s, which is represented by 20 percent of the events on the published list, are less dominated by a single overarching news story (though Armstrong's walk contradicts this thinking).
A more cynical analysis could claim the judges were influenced by all the media attention recently given the decade of the '60s.
Marconi's first telegraph message is ranked, but not the first movie theater.
Sigmund Freud's publication of The Interpretation of Dreams makes the list, as does Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, but not a single work of fiction breaks into the rankings.
The Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk ranks 4th on the list, and the first flight of a jet airplane in 1941 ranks 61st, but Goddard's experiments with rocketry are overlooked.
Vatican II is absent from the list, as is any mention of the rise of religious fundamentalism around the globe.
Quibbling over what didn't make the list probably could go on endlessly. The making of such lists, while lots of fun, is fraught with subjectivity and bias.
To generate a true educational and informative experience, I'd like to see USAToday publish the list of journalists and historians who made the picks, along with interviews with each one of them, outlining why they made the choices they did.
That, after all, is what USAToday is asking readers to do when they cast their votes for other events they feel were left off of the list.
Readers can vote at: http://survey.usatoday.com/survey/top100.html.
Copyright 1999 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.
Allan R. Andrews can be contacted at allan.andrews@reporters.net