The media was filming the key events where police and segregationists were using brutality to stop the activists. They would narrate the events as they unfolded and it was in favour of the Civil Rights Movements, it was very rare that black people were actually interviewed. Civil Rights leaders quickly realised that central television exposure was quickly become the movement’s biggest asset. There were several key events that were caught by the media. There was numerous shots of boycotted buses practically empty, angry white mobs attacking black students in Mississippi. The most memorable of these though was in 1963 attack on young civil rights protesters by the Birmingham, Alabama, police and their dogs, and the fire department's decision to turn on fire hydrants to disperse the young black demonstrators, most of whom were children. Television cameras captured the water's force pushing young, black protesters down flooded streets like rubbish.
Another key factor was Martin Luther King, his great speeches and appeal to audiences made him a significant figure in the quest for equality. King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered on 28 August 1963, at the March on Washington rally. King's speech not only reached the 300,000 people from civil rights organizations, but thanks to television it reached millions of other home across America and the world.
Television not only highlighted the problems that coloured people had but in 1964 aired the news of the tragic death of two white civil rights workers. Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were both murdered. The death of the two innocent white workers showed the nation that even if you were white, the Civil Rights Movement affected you too.
The media followed on to cover the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcom X.
These were all decisive factors in helping the Civil Rights Movement to gain support and exploit their struggle in the quest for basic human rights.
However television was not the only influence on ending segregation. Other decisive factors were Rosa Parks and the bus boycott. Rosa refused to give up her seat for a white person and was consequently arrested. This angered her family and friends and resulted in a 24 hour bus boycott which was so successful they decided to continue the boycott until they desegregated buses. Since coloured people accounted for about 75% of business the boycott was seriously damaging. After over a year of struggling buses were finally desegregated and it was a step forward for ending segregation.
At Little Rock High School several black pupils had come to attend and were met with hostility and resulted in president Eisenhower ordering 1000 paratroopers to protect them. This was another step towards ending segregation.
Overall I think that TV was a major influence in the ending of segregation but there were many other key factors that helped to end it.
