Coverage of the Joe Hill case by the Salt Lake City newspapers: Local prejudice or national biases

The purpose of this paper is not to prove or refute these claims. A quick glance through the three major Salt Lake City newspapers of the day clearly reveals such prejudicial sentiments did exist and were quite strong. However, before passing sentence upon Utah society as a whole in regard to the trial and execution of Joe Hill, one must first carefully analyze reporting throughout the country within the context of that era's prominent definition of "news" in order to determine whether such biased reporting was strictly a Utah phenomenon or rather part of a national trend.