Date of Award
Summer 1944
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
Abstract
Among the many ideas that pass through the mind of a student of newspapers as he reads dozens of these daily journals, three things at least continually arrest his attention. First, the inaccuracies, errors, and blunders in the news, and the immaturity of editorial opinions. Second, and paradoxical as it may sound, the keen analysis, the shrewd interpretation and the clever forecasting of persons and of events. Third, his own speculation as to how much a particular paper reflects the lives of the people among whom it circulates, and, on the other hand, how much it determines the thoughts and actions of those by whom it is read. These facts lend zest and interest to the study of the press, but at the same time they present difficult problems in reaching definitive conclusions about the same. Still the student should not be too apprehensive of the arduous features of such a task, lest he evade completely a most valuable field in historical investigation.