According to Philip L. Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, 1946-1961, newspapers are writing the "first rough draft of history." Teachers can take that concept to develop several lesson and research projects.

Teachers of several disciplines can use the following data which gives highlights of the press and its writers in Chicago. "Only a Matter of Opinion" has pulled from the Timeline of News information significant to Chicago.

Students could be asked to

research the publications which are named
research the publishers and editors
determine the role of women in the press
determine the role of the minority press
Study the Chicago press history as a study of American social history
Study the Chicago press: When Opinion Replaced Fact

A class could study a decade:

look at what was happening in that decade in the press
read works by columnists in that decade
read editorials in that decade
view editorial cartoons in that decade

Students could create a similar timeline for their state or city.

Sample Timeline

1833

Weekly Democrat, Chicago's first paper founded

1855

The Chicago Tribune purchased by Joseph Medill

1861

Wilbur F. Storey buys the Chicago Times for $13,000. Storey instructs his correspondents during the Civil War: "Telegraph fully all news and when there is no news send rumors."

1864

Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside orders the Chicago Times seized and suspended for sedition. President Lincoln rescinds the order after three days.

1900

William Randolph Hearst adds to his newspaper chain with the American, an evening paper.

1905

The Chicago Defender, an African American weekly newspaper, is founded by Robert S. Abbott who is considered a founding father of modern black journalism.

1910

Newspaper circulation wars are common in the cities with so many dailies struggling in now saturated markets. The Chicago Tribune battles with the Examiner. Circulation lies are just one standard tactic; some resort to stealing competitors' papers, sabotaging delivery wagons or equipment, and intimidation of carriers."

1919

Ring Lardner, sports writer and columnist, began his sports writing career covering the Chicago White Sox and Cubs for Hearst's Chicago Examiner and later writing a baseball column for the Chicago Tribune.

1919

Chicago writer Hugh Fullerton exposes the 1919 Black Sox scandal. His persistence ties some Chicago players to New York gamblers. His is one of the earliest examples of sports investigative journalism.

1928

"The Front Page" by Chicago Journal reporter Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur is produced.

1937

Herb Morrison of WLS, Chicago, goes to Lakehurst, NJ, to build the station's library of transcripts with an eyewitness account of the sedate docking of the world's largest airship. When the "Hindenburg" explodes before his eyes, Morrison spends two hours recording 40 minutes of action followed by reports on emergency activities and interviews with survivors.

1940

Paul Harvey starts on network radio in Chicago: "Hello, Americans"… "Paul Harvey (pause) Good DAY."

1942

Langston Hughes, well known among black poets, playwrights and authors, begins a weekly column in the Chicago Defender, featuring conversations with James B. Semple or "Simple."

1953

Ethel Payne of the Chicago Defender becomes the first African American woman to be accredited to the White House press corps.

1955

Ann Landers begins her advice column at the Chicago Sun-Times.

1965

Carl T. Rowan, who broke the racial barrier at the Minneapolis Tribune in 1948, becomes the United States' first African American syndicated columnist for the Chicago Daily News.

1972

Mike Royko wins the Pulitzer Prize for his commentaries in the Chicago Daily News.

1984

Oprah Winfrey becomes host of "AM Chicago" which in 1986 becomes "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

1988

Harpo Productions is established. Winfrey is third woman (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball), the first African American woman, and the first journalist, to own and run such a company.