Date of Project
4-8-2026
Document Type
Honors Thesis
School Name
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Communication
Major Advisor
Dr. Kyle Barnett
Second Advisor
Dr. Fedja Buric
Abstract
This project explores how mass media has shaped the public response to presidential assassinations across American history. By examining the deaths of Abraham Lincoln (1865), James A. Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963), we can trace how evolving media technologies – such as newspapers, yellow journalism, radio broadcasts, and live television coverage – have sensationalized violence, politicized tragedy, and transformed periods of national mourning into mass spectacles. The thesis analyzes reporting methods, narrative framing, and the news industry to show how each has influenced emotional response, political landscapes, and eventual presidential legacy. Ultimately, we find that media influence does not just affect contemporary culture, and instead, it has always been an active contributor to the emotions and development of American society.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Lindsay E., "The Sensationalizing of Presidential Assassinations in Mass Media Throughout American History" (2026). Undergraduate Theses. 223.
https://scholarworks.bellarmine.edu/ugrad_theses/223
Included in
Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, Radio Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons, Technical and Professional Writing Commons, Television Commons, United States History Commons