Clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964
...able to learn a few
facts about Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, as well as the attitudes
of his fellow Kentuckians. The first thing I noticed in all the newspapers that
I viewed was that almost all the articles written about the fight were written
by writers from either the Associated Press (AP) or United Press International
(UPI). This displayed three things about the Kentucky press, first the belief
that Clay's fight was not important enough to cover themselves, secondly that
the newspapers probably did not make enough money to send their own reporters
down to Miami Beach, and finally the localization of the newspapers' audiences.
Another aspect of the fight is the effect it had on Kentucky society, especially
the sports scene.
I primarily noticed that almost all the papers used reports from the
Associated Press and the United Press International, even the (Louisville)
Courier-Journal, one of Clay's hometown newspapers, used reports from the
Associated Press. The only articles that were not written by a member of the
Associated Press were the very rare editorials written about the fight. The use
of reports from the AP and the UPI shows that most newspapers did not think the
fight was very newsworthy. Only one newspaper published an article that was not
written by a member of the Associated Press or the United Press International,
however that one article was an editorial about Cassius Clay's new found wealth
and not the actual fight. The lack of coverage also proves that even though
blacks were supposed to be equal to whites, that in reality achievements by
blacks and whites were treated differently. None of the newspapers that I read
displayed a large picture or headline proclaiming that Cassius Clay was the new
heavyweight champion of the world. Most newspapers had an average sized
headline stating that Clay was the new champion, but...
View Full Essay
