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New Yorker Microfilm Madness



All this talk about saving original newspapers has got me to thinking about
a study I read about a decade ago in a journal on journalism history.  It
seems this fellow decided to statistically prove that American newspapers
published BEFORE the War of 1812 contained more European news than American
newspapers AFTER the War of 1812.  He was figuring that ol' embargo was
cutting off more than tea and gunlocks from the continent and wanted to
prove it with the science of statistical sampling.  Well sir, this fellow
proved it all right, by measuring the column inches in newspapers
selectively sampled from the time periods in question, applying his own
critera of domestic versus European news.

The thing is, I always wondered if this guy was measuring those column
inches from microfilm or from the originals.  You could measure from
microfilm PROVIDED that you knew all your samples were reduced at the same
ratio.  Otherwise, such a study would be seriously flawed unless you had
access to the real McCoy.  I think that's a mighty feeble argument in favor
of preserving original newspapers, but a legit one none the less.

Kim (microfilming the Bozeman Avant Courier as we speak) Scott

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