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Show 26 context of national park history, environmental history, or general U.S. history. However, the value of these press accounts is greater than their descrip1ions of the land and chronology of events. Expanded analysis of these media accounts gives insight that informs journalism history - particularly that of environmental journalism. Although there is a substantial body of literature addressing the evolution of the national park idea, the majority of national park research addresses the relationship between media and the environment as a peripheral issue, if it is examined at all. Furthermore, the Ii Hie historical research on news coverage of the national parks that exists tends to focus on Yellowstone and Yosemite. While these were the first national parks and receive the most attention, the national park idea is a dynamic concept that has evolved since the idea was born. Research on journalism coverage of other national parks would give insight into how the national park idea has evolved in different geographic and social areas since the inception of the national park idea. Examining that evolution through the lens of environmental journalism can fill a critical research void. Utah provides a case study to examine that evolution. Utah's Recd Smoot in 1911 was the first U.S. senator to propose a national park servicc. 67 Later, he shepherded through the U.S. Congress a bill creating Zion National Park - a park that met little to no opposition on federal, state, or local levels. 68 The role the press played in that process has not been examined. Since Zion, four national parks have been designated in Utah. For the parks created in the 1960s and 1970s, the media Thomas G. Alexander, "Red Rock and Gniy Stone: Senator Recd Smoot, the Establishment of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, and the Rebuilding of Downtown Washington, D.C.," Pacific Historical Review 72 no. I (February 2003), 6; Smoot"s proposal for a Bureau of National Parks was included in Senate Bit13463. 67 68 Hinton, '"Getting Along,"313-331. |
