The Houston Chronicle printed an interesting story on Why the media stayed quiet as Houston integrated it’s counters. The article talked about how Houston media basically buried any negative integration stories in an attempt not to inflame protests and riots.

The author (Mike Snyder) wrote “today, ignoring or playing down a major news story like the integration of lunch counters would be unthinkable”. In a more recent example, Snyder pointed out that The New York Times delayed publication of an explosive story about warrantless wiretapping for a year in response to concerns about national security expressed by President George W. Bush’s administration.

What I think the author missed was that the major media outlets at the time were owned by either the Jones or Hobby family who were very much part of the community. I don’t think you would see this happen in today’s world of consolidation and big corporate media.

That being said, it’s still worth reading about how the times continue to change.