Page 74 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

ROY WILSON
63
HOWARD,
Evan Hughes for governor of New York in 1906 and lost, and after two more
unsuccessful attempts to gain office, he renounced his political ambitions. How-
ever, he was a major factor in the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt for
president in 1932. Yet, within a year he turned on Roosevelt and became in-
creasingly more conservative the rest of his life. He was not, however, again to
be the political force he had been in earlier years. (See also Joseph Pulitzer;
Yellow Journalism.)
SOURCE: Kenneth Stewart and John Tebbel, Makers of Modern Journalism, 1952.
Guido H. Stempel III

HOAXES are journalists' practical jokes that make it on the pages or airwaves
of the American media. They have a history that spans back to the 1800s in
England, but they soon found their way into American newspapers and even
the folklore of famous American historical events. Newspapers in the 1800s
printed outrageous stories—and even hoaxes—to attract readers.
Fred Fedler, author of Media Hoaxes, writes that hoaxes were often successful
because: (1) the stories were believable and credible, (2) topics were recently
in the news, and (3) they used credible sources.
Some of the more famous American media hoaxes were:
1. The moon hoax by the New York Sun in 1835, which reported that there really was
life on the moon.
2. The widely used story that Mrs. O'Leary's cow turned over a lantern and started the
great Chicago fire of 1871.
3. Orson Welles' radio dramatization of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. The program,
broadcast on Halloween in 1938, in the form of news bulletins about an invasion of
New Jersey by Martians caused millions to panic.

SOURCE: Fred Fedler, Media Hoaxes, 1989.
Jacqueline Nash Gifford

HOWARD, ROY WILSON (1883-1964) was a newspaper journalist and ex-
ecutive. Born in Gano, Ohio, in a turnpike tollhouse, he grew up in Indianapolis.
In 1912, at the age of 29, Howard became the United Press' first president and
general manager in charge of both editorial and business operations. He broke
the story announcing the armistice ending World War I four days before it was
officially announced. Admiral Henry Braid Wilson, commander of American
naval forces in France, later confirmed that he had given permission to Howard
to use this story on November 7, 1918. In 1920, Howard left United Press to
become associated with Robert P. Scripps in the management of Scripps news-
papers. In 1922, E. W. Scripps changed the company's name to Scripps-Howard
Newspapers, and Howard was named chairman of the board. In 1931, Howard
bought the New York World and the Evening World for $5 million and consol-
idated them with the New York Telegram, which he acquired in 1927. The New