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Show II In 1995, J.M. (Jim) Cornwell of the Utah Press Association published a history of the first one hundred years of that organization. 23 In many ways, Cornwell picked up where Alter left off, and with much of the same method - an encyclopedic compilation of facts. While a scissors-and-paste method, it still gives a resource for knowing what papers published during that time and helps researchers locate those newspaper collections. Still, Comwcll's research shows that little has changed in the approach to Utah journalism history. Beyond such compilations, journalism historiography in Utah, like much of American journalism history, has its holy book of great white men - Thomas Keams, J. F. Fitzpatrick, Charles W. Penrose. This focus on certain personalities obscures the fact that Utah journalism history - if not its historiography - is diverse. The role of women in the Utah press has been neglected. The foreign~languagc press, while acknowledged, has not received adequate attention. Also, Utah journalism history lacks an examination of how newspapers covered topics outside the realm of religion. Historian David Paul Nord wrote that American journalism historiography in the 1960s and 1970s followed the trend of fragmentation and specialization in the history field gencrally. 24 The direction of Utah journalism historiography has remained consistent, continuing in its descriptive vein that focuses on the religious friction between newspapers in the capital city. The direction that the historiography of Utah journalism should take is clear. First, there needs to be more research and alternative approaches. One area that remains 23 J.M. (Jim) Cornwell, UPA - A Century Loter: Newspapers of Utah Since 1850 and Their Trude Association. the State's Oldest. Established December 17, 1893 (Salt Lake City: Utah Press Associa1ion, 1996). 2~ David Paul Nord, .. The Nature ofllistorieal Research," in Research Methods in Mass Communicution, eds. Guido H. Stempel Ill and Bruce H. Westley, 2" 4 ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989), 309. |
