Cape Cod Times | Associated Press | Huffington Post | The Washington Post | Fox News | CNN | Los Angeles Times | NBC | Boston.com | The Dallas Morning News | The New York Times | USA Today | Reuters
It’s Day 2 of Pres. Kennedy’s Texas trip. Today he’ll speak to the Ft. Worth Chamber of Commerce, then to Dallas for lunch at Trade Mart.
— JFK in Dallas (@RealTimeJFK) November 22, 2013
The news today, in many parts of the country, is about something that happened in Dallas 50 years ago. But now, the retelling of JFK’s assassination is unfolding in a way quite different than it did then — through social media.
After Dallas, it’s Austin for a legislative reception at the governor’s mansion, then another reception before the evening fundraiser. — JFK in Dallas (@RealTimeJFK) November 22, 2013
The Cape Cod Times started its two-day project Thursday, tweeting out events from 50 years ago at the times when they happened. The paper also has a cache of stories about the Kennedy family on its site, with reader memories, a story about Kennedy’s local church, and the news photographer who covered him.
Then it’s off to VP Johnson’s ranch, about 50 miles west of Austin in the hill country, for a quiet weekend before returning to Washington. — JFK in Dallas (@RealTimeJFK) November 22, 2013
The Associated Press Storifyied its coverage so far.
And many of the world’s newspapers, television stations, and the people who read them, are remembering how they covered the event.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of #JFK. Here's our front page from the following day, November 23 1963 pic.twitter.com/Q3AaQ91GN1
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 22, 2013
50 years ago, #JFK is at a Fort Worth hotel where he will speak at a Chamber of Commerce event… pic.twitter.com/X5A0NZdxzT
— WBIR Channel 10 (@wbir) November 22, 2013
Harvard scholars recall #JFK‘s assassination, and what followed http://t.co/MSQo5hfo8v pic.twitter.com/6gKEmV6oaK
— Harvard University (@Harvard) November 22, 2013
MT @DavidNelsonNews Days before Dallas trip, #JFK received this worried letter warning him to not come. http://t.co/uUm545YVX4
— KWQC TV6 News (@kwqcnews) November 22, 2013
There’s also been a great deal of more traditional coverage, way more than the 140-character variety, including that from the Dallas Morning News’ JFK50 project. Some others to add to the growing list:
Jack Mirkinson looks at how news of the president’s death happened in real time for The Huffington Post. The UPI bulletin that went out that day read: “KENNEDY SERIOUSLY WOUNDED. PERHAPS SERIOUSLY. PERHAPS FATALLY BY ASSASSINS BULLET.”
Pandemonium ensued. A UPI editor started frantically waving other editors off the wire, typing, “GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF.”
Networks then started throwing bulletins with no pictures onscreen, like this one, from CBS News. “As The World Turns” was playing when it cut in. When the bulletins were over, the network cut back to its regularly scheduled programming—as if anyone still wanted to watch it:
The Washington Post also offers a complete series, with stories on Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the president’s assassination, myths about JFK, and a piece about former White House staffers who gathered to remember Kennedy.
Fox News tells the story of James Tague, who was wounded that day, and CNN checks in with Jeff Franzen, who was just a 6-year-old out to see the president 50 years ago. The New York Times has several pieces, including an interactive feature that lets readers explore the Times newspapers between Nov. 23 and Nov. 26, 1963.
Of course, there’s a trove of conspiracy stories, too. The Los Angeles Times and NBC both offer pieces of their own.
Rem Rieder looks at how that day would have been covered today in USA Today, and Jon Herskovitz writes about how JFK’s assassination changed the media for Reuters.
If your shop is sharing stories today, send me a link at khare@poynter.org and I’ll try to add them to this not-at-all comprehensive list.
And if you want to get every detail of that day in short, as-they-once-happened bursts, look to Twitter. The Boston Globe’s Boston.com has a “historically accurate live blog,” according to a press release, and like the Cape Cod Times, Boston.com is also old tweeting the day.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: #JFK greeted the crowds outside the Hotel Texas http://t.co/VE9wDTBhKh http://t.co/4MBGOkOA4V @BostonArchives
— Boston.com (@BostonDotCom) November 22, 2013
