Future-Proofing the News: Preserving the First Draft of History

275 Pages·2017·4.3 MB·English

by  Kathleen A. Hansen and Nora Paul

FUTURE-PROOFING
THE NEWS

FUTURE-PROOFING
THE NEWS
Preserving the First Draft of History
KATHLEEN A. HANSEN
NORA PAUL
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright © 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hansen, Kathleen A., author. | Paul, Nora, author.
Title: Future-proofing the news : preserving the first draft of history /
Kathleen A. Hansen, Nora Paul.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016043888 (print) | LCCN 2016057283 (ebook) | ISBN
9781442267121 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442267145 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Journalism—United States—History. |
Journalism—Technological innovations—United States. | American
newspapers—History. | Newspapers—Conservation and restoration—United
States. | Newspaper publishing—United States—History. | Press
law—United States.
Classification: LCC PN4855 .H26 2017 (print) | LCC PN4855 (ebook) | DDC
071/.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043888
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For tomorrow’s seekers of yesterday’s news

CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
1 Who Needs Yesterday’s News? 1
Losing the News 2
News Users 3
News Preservers 5
Access to Preserved News 9
Notes 11
2 Newspapers 13
The Newspaper Industry 13
Why Newspapers Were Lost 16
How Newspapers Were Preserved 19
Newspaper Preservation Challenges 29
A Newspaper Historian’s View 36
Notes 38
3 Visual News 43
The Rise of Visual News 43
Why Visual News Was Lost 46
How Visual News Was Preserved 56
Visual News Preservation Challenges 63
Photo Archive Users 65
Notes 66
4 Newsreels 71
The Newsreel Industry 72
vii
viii Contents
Why Newsreels Were Lost 74
How Newsreels Were Preserved 76
Newsreel Preservation Challenges 82
Archival Newsreel Collections 85
An Artist’s View of Newsreel Archives 92
Notes 94
5 Radio News 101
The Radio Industry 102
Why Radio News Was Lost 108
How Radio News Was Preserved 113
Radio News Preservation Challenges 117
A Network of Preservation Heroes 123
Notes 126
6 Television News 131
The Television Industry 132
Why Television News Was Lost 137
How Television News Was Preserved 140
Television News Preservation Challenges 153
Television Archive Users 155
Notes 156
7 The Digital Turn 161
Newspapers 162
News Photography 168
Radio and Television 171
Converting Analog Archives to Digital 173
Notes 179
8 Digital News 183
Early Videotex Experiments 184
CompuServe and Competitors 186
The World Wide Web 188
Why News on the Web (and beyond) Was Lost 190
Digital News Preservation Today 198
“Dark Alliance” Case Study 207
Notes 209
9 Challenges to News Archive Access 215
Who Has An Archive of the Content I Need? 216
How Can I Get Access to the Archive? 218
Contents ix
Are There Tools That Will Help Me Find Specific Items in
the Archive? 220
I’ve Found What I Need: Will I Be Able to Use It the
Way I Intend? 222
Notes 225
10 What Next? 227
The Current State of News Preservation 227
Archival Challenges and Opportunities 230
Avoiding Historical Amnesia 234
Notes 235
Extra! Extra! Read More about It 237
Index 239
About the Authors 255