Media skews reality...again.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rhetoric_and_public_affairs/v003/3.4sanchez.html

I came across a review of this book, The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the Press, 1820-1890 by John M. Coward. The author looks at the way that Native Americans were portrayed to the American public in the late 19th Century through newspaper accounts of significant events, such as the Sand Creek massacre. He compares what the newspapers reported and what actually happened, and the way in which this influenced the way that native peoples were viewed by the rest of the population. He indicates that due to these reports, Native American identity fell into one of two categories: they were either apathetic and sometimes romantic, or they were "bloodthirsty, cannibalistic savages" who would attack and kill whites for no particular reason. The author also acknowledges the problems that those wishing to research Native Americans may run into, especially with sources such as these that are not entirely (if at all) truthful. Further, and what I thought was the most interesting aspect pointed out in the review, is that this still goes on in newsrooms today and continues to shape the way that native peoples are viewed by the population at large, and how native identity is "discovered" by tribal members and others alike. While I haven't actually read this book, I think that the review seems to sum it up pretty well and sounds like it would be of interest to everyone in the class.

Courtney Russell