For Option A, I chose to look at coverage from a Fox News television station in Memphis, TN, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968. http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/. Most stories had both video and text coverage for each local article.
The web page for this television news station has a permanent link in their top navigation bar to their own separate site dedicated to Dr. King: MLK in Memphis - View from the Mountaintop. The last update listed on the site is 1/20/09.
Of the sixteen stories listed or linked on their site with reference to the MLK holiday, over half were local stories, though this includes some duplication or overlap of content. Two were national stories, and four were from Atlanta. One of the stories from Georgia connected the recent shootings in Arizona with continued need for carrying out King's vision of non-violence.
Three of those local stories were about athletes who received the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award, which was presented in Memphis on Monday, and one was about a sports team kicking off "the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday weekend with a Day of Service" in which the Grizzlies gave away food and clothing to needy families.
Three local stories listed events in the Memphis area celebrating the holiday. One of these stated that there were "plenty things going on around Memphis Monday in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy," yet only three events were listed: National Civil Rights Museum MLK Celebration, Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Walk and "a special birthday celebration" at Children's Museum of Memphis. A second article listed a gospel concert honoring King and benefitting St. Jude. The last event-related article expounded on the National Civil Rights Museum event , pointing out that over 10 thousand attendees were expected on Monday--at a facility that averages 800 guests on all the other days of the year.
Another story was a nearly five minute video interview of local Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "reflect[ing] on Dr. King's message of non-violence." (Both the interviewer and interviewee are black men. Was that a purposeful choice?)
The most compelling of the Memphis articles was Haslam Spends Day of Service with MIFA, a story about Tennessee's new Governor's first day in office. Both the video and text were short, but the images of multi-ethnic citizens and civic leaders gathered in the same room singing and serving together were a visual gauge of how far this city has come. The following paragraph was the crux of the article for me:
"91-year old Ola Mae Crews..., a life-long resident of Memphis, was here for Dr. King's movement. That was a time when she could have never dreamed that a man of color would ever lead this city. But on this day, just such a man was standing in her kitchen."
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