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Show 39 Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst - or great institutions. Jn the 1960s and 1970s, journalism history followed the general trend in historical research, moving toward specialization and fragmentation. Only recently have researchers applied the environmental lens to journalism history. As William Kovarik put it: "Environmental concerns have surfaced repeatedly in the American news media since the Colonial era. This would only seem logical ... but it is a relatively new perspective for historians. " 103 Hazel Dicken-Garcia and John Stevens wrote that good research questions need good conceptualization, grounded in contcxt. 104 To do this, they argued that researchers must sec the past as a continuous process. Stevens and Dicken-Garcia also asserted that good journalism history should tie into the context of national development, not just communication history. 105 Although this research is prefaced by a brief overview that couches the research question in the historical context of environmental journalism history, historical context is presented with the findings in the following chapters. Broadly, this research seeks to examine historical elements that helped establish modem environmental journalism. The questions guiding this research should give insight into early environmental journalism and how national parks were presented in the mass media. The specific questions guiding this research are: RQJ: How did journalists report the national park idea? llow did they describe the environmental purpose of national parks? If national, regional, and local coverage differed, how so? 101 Kovarik, "Green Crusaders and 1he News Mcdia." 164 John Stevens and Hazel Dicken-Garcia, ··conceptualizing Research Problems," in Communication History vol. 2 (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1980), 49-70. 10' lbid.,49-70 |
