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

by Kathleen A. Hansen, Nora Paul

Overview

Future-Proofing the News: Preserving the First Draft of History examines the history and technology of news reporting in the U.S. and focuses on the decisions that aided or hindered future access. Changing formats of news delivery, business enterprises, and laws have had profound impacts on the ability to find and learn from records of the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442267121
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/26/2017
Pages:	274
Sales rank:	1,170,538
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kathleen A. Hansen is Professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Nora Paul is Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Chapter One: Who Needs Yesterday’s News? Losing the News News Users News Preservers Access to Preserved News Chapter Two: Newspapers The Newspaper Industry Why Newspapers Were Lost How Newspapers Were Preserved Newspaper Preservation Challenges A Newspaper Historian’s View Chapter Three: Visual News The Rise of Visual News Why Visual News Was Lost How Visual News Was Preserved Visual News Preservation Challenges Photo Archive Users Chapter Four: Newsreels The Newsreel Industry Why Newsreels Were Lost How Newsreels Were Preserved Newsreel Preservation Challenges Archival Newsreel Collections An Artist’s View of Newsreel Archives Chapter Five: Radio The Radio Industry Why Radio News Was Lost How Radio News Was Preserved Radio News Preservation Challenges A Network of Preservation Heroes Chapter Six: Television The Television Industry Why Television News Was Lost How Television News Was Preserved Television News Preservation Challenges Television Archive Users Chapter Seven: The Digital Turn Newspapers News Photography Radio and Television Converting Analog Archives to Digital Chapter Eight: Digital News Early Videotex Experiments CompuServe and Competitors The World Wide Web Why News on the Web (and Beyond) Was Lost Digital News Preservation Today Dark Alliance Case Study Chapter Nine: Challenges to News Archive Access Who Has An Archive of the Content I Need? How Can I Get Access to the Archive? Are There Tools That Will Help Me Find Specific Items in the Archive? I’ve Found What I Need: Will I Be Able to Use It the Way I Intend? Chapter Ten: What Next? The Current State of News Preservation Archival Challenges and Opportunities Avoiding Historical Amnesia Extra! Extra! Read More About It About the Authors Index

Editorial Reviews

Documentation, scope, readability, and structure make this a 'should read' text for media historians as well as those who use these resources for other purposes.

American Journalism: A Media History Journal

This book is an important intervention in the history of American news media.. .. Future-Proofing the News is a compelling call-to-action for all archivists, news producers, librarians, cultural heritage professionals, and users to band together in an effort to future-proof the news.

The American Archivist

Journalism and communications professors Hansen and Paul make the case that future generations will want access to today’s news just as we expect access to yesterday’s news. Unfortunately, access isn’t always possible, even in the digital age, due to the factors that they identity and explore. Even when reporting has been preserved, there can be challenges to its usability: limited availability, restricted access, retrieval problems, and format incompatibilities. Hansen and Paul argue that more emphasis must be placed on capturing nascent media and supporting projects that assure older media are transferred to current standards for accessibility. Memory institutions, like museums, universities, and libraries, have largely been the recipients of historical news archives, and their efforts at preservation, restoration, and providing access for historical fact-checking, context, and comprehension are critical for society. Extensively documented with resources, and filled with colorful examples from pre-revolutionary American newspapers to early radio, newsreels, and TV to the cyber world, this is a valuable contribution to the history of journalism.

Booklist

If journalism is anything close to the first draft of history, preserving it is a critical archival task. This important book carefully documents 300 years of such archival efforts, persuasively demonstrating the historical importance and significant challenges of preserving these archives—and the alarming consequences if we fail. Hansen and Paul have issued a call to action for all news producers, archivists, historians, readers, and audiences to work together to future-proof the news.

Kathy Roberts Forde

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that everything is available on the internet, since so much is online there. Then a book like this comes along and you realize how much is actually missing.... This book provides a fascinating glimpse at some technologies of our past and shows how fragile paper, cellulose tape, and other media really are. Even when an attempt at archiving is made, it is often destroyed by fire, flood, or even self-destruction. If you are at all interested in history and news, this book is well worth the read.

Online Searcher

The authors wrote this book in a way that will appeal to the general public. However, librarians, archivists, historians, journalists, and other academics studying the news industry and the preservation of news will greatly benefit from this book. The greatest strength of the book is how the authors logically take the reader through detailed histories of a variety of news outlets, preservation challenges, and who is handling the preservation and access. The authors argue that we cannot allow history to repeat itself when it comes to losing valuable news content, and offer reasons why and strategies we can implement to ensure the longterm preservation of news being created today.

New England Archivists Newsletter

★ 03/01/2017
Preserving primary source information has never been an easy task, and today's digital environment makes the effort challenging. Hansen and Paul (both, journalism & mass communication, Univ. of Minnesota) have written an accessible and informative text on the preservation of primary source material from the analog and digital eras. Ten chapters describe the issues relating to newspaper, visual news, radio, and digital source preservation. Two additional chapters discuss the individuals involved and the current and future difficulties and opportunities. Each section includes real-world obstacles and how a variety of institutions (universities, news organizations) continue to address the issue of preserving history. The authors chose to concentrate on American institutions and organizations. Those consulted or discussed include the American Antiquarian Society, UCLA, and the Library of Congress, among others. This is not a "how-to" manual. Instead, this volume centers on descriptions about the preservation process along with the inherent challenges, past and future. VERDICT This would be a helpful resource for librarians, archivists, administrators, and anyone who wants to learn more about how the materials of today will be available for researchers of tomorrow.--Jacqueline Parascandola, Columbia Univ. Libs., New York

Library Journal

Journalism and communications professors Hansen and Paul make the case that future generations will want access to today’s news just as we expect access to yesterday’s news. Unfortunately, access isn’t always possible, even in the digital age, due to the factors that they identity and explore. Even when reporting has been preserved, there can be challenges to its usability: limited availability, restricted access, retrieval problems, and format incompatibilities. Hansen and Paul argue that more emphasis must be placed on capturing nascent media and supporting projects that assure older media are transferred to current standards for accessibility. Memory institutions, like museums, universities, and libraries, have largely been the recipients of historical news archives, and their efforts at preservation, restoration, and providing access for historical fact-checking, context, and comprehension are critical for society. Extensively documented with resources, and filled with colorful examples from pre-revolutionary American newspapers to early radio, newsreels, and TV to the cyber world, this is a valuable contribution to the history of journalism.

Booklist