Michael J. Socolow (born December 19, 1968) is an American media historian and former broadcast journalist who teaches in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

Background and education

He was raised in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

in 1987. He earned his bachelor's degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1991, and was awarded his doctorate in history from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 2001. He has taught at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

and the

Journalism

Socolow worked on the assignment desk in the Los Angeles bureau of the

Cable News Network Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable new ...

(CNN), where he became an assignment editor in 1994. He worked on stories such as the O.J. Simpson trial, the first Michael Jackson molestation trial, and the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

, for which the CNN Los Angeles Bureau was awarded a Cable Ace Award for Extended News or Breaking News coverage in 1995. He also worked as an information manager for the host broadcast organizations at the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Socolow has written op-eds, essays, and commentary for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'', ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

'', and numerous other publications.

Scholarship and academic career

Socolow, often working in collaboration with Jefferson Pooley, has written several articles (both scholarly and popular) dispelling the myth of

The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama) "The War of the Worlds" was a Halloween episode of the radio drama, radio series ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' directed and narrated by Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898) that was performe ...

mass panic. Their collaborative work argues that the panic was "almost non-existent" and significantly overstated by contemporaneous sensational press reporting, and, later, in academic scholarship. In a 2013 interview with ''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' () is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the sub-blogs ''io9'' and ''Earther'', which focus on pop ...

'', Socolow denied the idea that he and Pooley originated this mass panic revisionism, citing at least four previous scholars who arrived at the same conclusion about the mass panic being largely a myth. Yet Pooley and Socolow's scholarship has been cited by ''

Snopes ''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', and others to dispel the "War of the Worlds," mass panic myth. In 2010, in ''

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly ''Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of communication and journalism. The editor-in-chief is Daniela Dimitrova (Iowa State University). The journal was established in 19 ...

'', Socolow published a history of the ''

Op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

page that explained how the Op-ed concept came in to being and detailed the new feature's immediate success. His research on Op-ed has been cited in journalism scholarship and referenced in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'', ''

'', and elsewhere. Socolow's 2016 book, ''Six Minutes in Berlin: Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics'', chronicles how the German government invented global broadcast spectacle by developing new radio relay technologies. The book uses one specific Olympic triumph as a case study of the new effects of global Olympic broadcasting: the victory of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

eight-oared crew. The book also shows how, ironically, the Nazi government made

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

one of the world's first global athletic superstars. In 2018, Socolow was awarded the Broadcast Historian award by the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the

Broadcast Education Association The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is an international academic organization originating and operating mainly out of the United States. The BEA is devoted to multimedia research and teaching, and retains the historical purpose to prepare col ...

for ''Six Minutes in Berlin''. Socolow was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the News & Media Research Centre at the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

, in Australia, in 2019. In July, 2020, Socolow was named the Director of the McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the

Personal life

Socolow is married to Connie A. McVey, and lives in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...

. He is the grandson of U.S. Marine Corps Major General

Melvin Krulewitch Melvin Levin Krulewitch (11 November 1895 – 25 May 1978) was a Major general (United States), major general of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who saw active service in both world wars and the Korean War. Early years Melvin Krulewit ...

, and the son of Anne K. Socolow and Sanford Socolow, the executive producer of the

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...

with

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Socolow, Michael J. 1968 births Living people 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians CNN people Historians from New York (state) American male journalists Phillips Exeter Academy alumni 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American journalists Journalists from Washington, D.C. Journalists from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni Georgetown University alumni Brandeis University faculty University of Maine faculty Journalists from Maine Historians from Maine Media historians Writers from Bangor, Maine