Learning from the past: What yesterday's media can tell us about the times

Contact(s): Tom Oswald, Geri Alumit Zeldes

If you want to get a real feel for what was happening during a certain period in history, how people really felt about the issues of the day, take a look at the media coverage.

For example, a recent study of how historically black newspapers covered the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage, Loving v. Virginia, found their coverage not that much different from their mainstream counterparts.

The team of researchers, including a journalism professor from Michigan State University, was surprised by the findings, as they hypothesized that black newspapers would be more sympathetic to the racially mixed couple who challenged the Virginia law.

Historically, said MSU’s Geri Alumit Zeldes, the African-American press is an advocate for civil rights.

Read the full news article on MSU Today: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/learning-from-the-past-what-yesterdays-media-can-tell-us-about-the-times