News of the West

Catalog description

In the years before all news became global, or even national, who defined what it meant to be "the West?" The answer is a handful of titans - media companies and, often, the wealthy and powerful families that stood behind them. These publishers did more than just report on events. In many cases, they shaped the very developments whose consequences they then disseminated. They further shaped the perceptions of the West held by the rest of the nation, and became a crucible and test-bed for media trends that later influenced the broader media environment. This course will examine the history and evolution of media and journalism on the American West Coast, emphasizing the geographical, economic, social, and technological factors that have shaped the development of news organizations from the Gold Rush era to the digital age.