Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2005, Journalism (Communication)

If a magazine's achievements can be measured in part by whom and how many it infuriated in the shortest amount of time, then surely Scanlan's Monthly deserves to be honored. The brainchild of former Ramparts editor Warren Hinckle and former New York Times law reporter Sidney Zion, Scanlan's printed only eight issues in 1970 and 1971. But during its short lifetime the magazine drew the attention and often the ire of business, labor, law enforcement, and government leaders including Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon. In the midst of such special attention, Scanlan's managed to print some of the most provocative muckraking journalism of its time. Scanlan's published the first examples of Hunter S. Thompson's now-celebrated Gonzo journalism; and two years before anyone outside of Washington, D.C., had heard of Watergate, Scanlan's called for President Nixon's impeachment. Scanlan's' 2019; eighth issue, dedicated to the subject of guerilla violence in the U.S., was subjected to a nationwide boycott by printing unions, and was then seized by Montreal police after it was printed in Quebec. The issue, which turned out to be Scanlan's' last, finally appeared in January 1971 after a three-month delay. Scanlan's' insistence on taking on and not backing down from power doomed it to an early death, and its brushes with the U.S. government demonstrate the extent of the Nixon administration's war on the dissident press. Scanlan's is a sobering lesson on how government power can be wielded to harass, and in some cases silence, the press.

Committee: Patrick Washburn (Committee Chair) Subjects: History; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media