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Show Perhaps the most cited work in the historiography of Utah journalism is J. Cecil Alter's Early Utah Journa/ism. 19 The book is an encyclopedic listing of Utah's early newspapers through the mid- l 930s and typifies the broader Utah journalism historiography: descriptive, institutional history that emphasizes religious tensions. Alter focused primarily on collecting names, dates, prices, and circulation numbers. He also quoted passages from newspapers to give insight into the mission of each and the relationships among them. Although he provided little historical analysis, this chronicle of Utah's newspapers provides an entry point for researchers of Utah journalism history. Still, Alter devoted considerable attention to the religious conflicts that played out on the pages of the larger-circulation newspapers in the state capital. Monte Mclaws used Alter's research as a starting point in his book about the early years of the Deserer News, the LDS church-owned newspaper first published in 1850.20 Mclaws' research departed slightly from the in-house histories of the Deseret News that tended to sanitize or minimize the controversies of the newspaper. lnstcad, he focused on the relationship between the newspaper and the church, the community, and other newspapers. Mclaws examined how news suppression and editing by the LOS church was common at the Deseret News and how the editors of the newspaper often instigated the censorship from the church authorities. The newspaper was an organ of an institution and ecclesiastical control trumped journalistic talent and, at times, truth. While 19 J. Cecil Alter, Eurly Utah Journalism: A H"lfCenwryof Forensic Warfare. Waged by the West's Most Militant Press (Westpon, CT: Greenwood Press, 1936). Monte Burr McLaws, Spokesman for the Kingdom: Early Mormon Journolism and the Deseret News, 1830-1898 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press: 1977). The Deseret News has gone through a number of name changes throughout its life, including the Deseret £1•ening News, Deseret News and Salt Lake Telegram, and the De.5eret Morning News. 20 |
