Mitchell Stephens
Encyclopedia
Mitchell Stephens is a professor of journalism
and mass communications at New York University
. He is also a respected journalist with several original published works.
, and was raised in Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island. His father was Bernard Stephens (1917-1990), a labor newspaper editor. His mother, Lillian Stephens, was a retired professor of education, and lived on Long Island
. He has one sibling, a sister, Beth Stephens, who is an international human rights lawyer and law professor at Rutgers in Camden, New Jersey
.
He attended the Wheatley School, a public school in East Williston, New York
, and graduated in 1967. He graduated from Haverford College
in 1971, with honors in English. In 1973 he graduated from UCLA with a masters in Journalism, and received the Edward R. Murrow
Award for best student in broadcast journalism
.
His wife is Esther Davidowitz, magazine writer and editor, and currently editor-in-chief of Westchester Magazine. They have three children: Noah (currently strips at the Lace on Route 17 in Paramus, NJ), Lauren, and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
The move toward a more visual culture began with the invention of photography and films; but really took off with the invention of Television which took just eight years to enter half of American homes.
He uses statistics to show the plummeting number of Americans who read regularly and while conceding that he himself is a book lover, he thinks it pointless to resist the process. He details how all new media provokes outrage initially: opera, printing, writing, photography, phones,. Even paper was banned in 1231 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II!
For Mitchell Stephens, pictures best attributes are that they can give you far more information and faster than words. It was written just as the number of TV channels was exploding but for Mitchell, even 500 channels is not enough to compete with the complexity of a bookstore, we need more! Mitchell is excited about the potential of what he calls 'new video'. For a long time, writing was only used for market records, it was a long time before we saw poems and novels. Stephens posited that films and TV started off resembling plays but are now evolving in brand new ways (photomontage in Eisenstein's films was the first sign of this) just as words did.
Mitchell made a startingly accurate prediction in the intro: "Perhaps we will soon locate our video at sites on the World Wide Web". Seven years later, YouTube
was created.
, Los Angeles Times Magazine
, Journalism Quarterly, Chicago Tribune
, The Washington Post
, etc.
Many of Stephens' journalistic arguments stem from a reaction to works by journalists such as famed critic Neil Postman
(author of "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business"). Stephens contends that television, like many previous forms of media, is stuck in an 'imitation' stage of development, and we have thus not seen its proper use.
Stephens has completed a journey around the world (December 2000 to August 2001), working on the theories of cultural homogenization and travel itself. His work related to his travels through 38 countries by cars, buses, boats, trains, ferries, freighters, and by foot can be seen in FEED magazine, LonelyPlanet.com, ROADthinker.com, ideaVIDEO.com, and in "Marketplace" reports for public radio.
In January 2011, Stephens named 1862 as the best year to have been a newspaper reader.
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and mass communications at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He is also a respected journalist with several original published works.
Personal life
Mitchell Stephens was born on August 16, 1949 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and was raised in Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island. His father was Bernard Stephens (1917-1990), a labor newspaper editor. His mother, Lillian Stephens, was a retired professor of education, and lived on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. He has one sibling, a sister, Beth Stephens, who is an international human rights lawyer and law professor at Rutgers in Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
.
He attended the Wheatley School, a public school in East Williston, New York
East Williston, New York
East Williston is an incorporated village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 2,556 at the 2010 census.The Village of East Williston is in the Town of North Hempstead.- History :...
, and graduated in 1967. He graduated from Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
in 1971, with honors in English. In 1973 he graduated from UCLA with a masters in Journalism, and received the Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
Award for best student in broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...
.
His wife is Esther Davidowitz, magazine writer and editor, and currently editor-in-chief of Westchester Magazine. They have three children: Noah (currently strips at the Lace on Route 17 in Paramus, NJ), Lauren, and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
Published work
Stephens has published many books and textbooks on journalism, including:- Without Gods: Toward a History of Disbelief - blog chronicling the writing of his next book, a history of atheism (to be published by Carroll & Graf)
- the rise of the image the fall of the word (Oxford University Press, 1998)
- A History of News (Viking, 1988)
- Writing and Reporting the News (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1986)
- Broadcast News (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981)
- Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11 with co editors Allison Gilbert, Phil Hirschkorn, Melinda MurphyMelinda MurphyMelinda Murphy has been a correspondent for CBS television news program The Early Show since October 2002.Prior to joining The Early Show, Murphy was a feature and traffic reporter for WPIX-TV in New York City ....
and Robyn Walensky.
"Rise of the image the fall of the word"
In "the rise of the image the fall of the word", Stephens describes how pictures, symbols and photos are replacing words as our primary communication medium. Stephens pointed out that the opposite transformation happened over several millennia as our oral culture (based on long tales and poems detailing people's history)was displaced by writing and then the printing press and mass literacy. This process was not completed till the 1930s in some parts of the world e.g. central Russia.The move toward a more visual culture began with the invention of photography and films; but really took off with the invention of Television which took just eight years to enter half of American homes.
He uses statistics to show the plummeting number of Americans who read regularly and while conceding that he himself is a book lover, he thinks it pointless to resist the process. He details how all new media provokes outrage initially: opera, printing, writing, photography, phones,. Even paper was banned in 1231 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II!
For Mitchell Stephens, pictures best attributes are that they can give you far more information and faster than words. It was written just as the number of TV channels was exploding but for Mitchell, even 500 channels is not enough to compete with the complexity of a bookstore, we need more! Mitchell is excited about the potential of what he calls 'new video'. For a long time, writing was only used for market records, it was a long time before we saw poems and novels. Stephens posited that films and TV started off resembling plays but are now evolving in brand new ways (photomontage in Eisenstein's films was the first sign of this) just as words did.
Mitchell made a startingly accurate prediction in the intro: "Perhaps we will soon locate our video at sites on the World Wide Web". Seven years later, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
was created.
Recent work
He has also published several articles on journalism and contemporary thought in several publications, such as The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Los Angeles Times Magazine
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Journalism Quarterly, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, etc.
Many of Stephens' journalistic arguments stem from a reaction to works by journalists such as famed critic Neil Postman
Neil Postman
Neil Postman was an American author, media theorist and cultural critic, who is best known by the general public for his 1985 book about television, Amusing Ourselves to Death. For more than forty years, he was associated with New York University...
(author of "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business"). Stephens contends that television, like many previous forms of media, is stuck in an 'imitation' stage of development, and we have thus not seen its proper use.
Stephens has completed a journey around the world (December 2000 to August 2001), working on the theories of cultural homogenization and travel itself. His work related to his travels through 38 countries by cars, buses, boats, trains, ferries, freighters, and by foot can be seen in FEED magazine, LonelyPlanet.com, ROADthinker.com, ideaVIDEO.com, and in "Marketplace" reports for public radio.
In January 2011, Stephens named 1862 as the best year to have been a newspaper reader.
External links
- website @NYU
- Without Gods: Toward a History of Disbelief (Institute for the Future of the Book)
- Holy of Holies: On the Constituents of Emptiness (Institute for the Future of the Book)