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Reviews
Reporting the Pacific Northwest: An Annotated Bibliography of Journalism History in Oregon and Washington
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By Floyd J. McKay
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Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, 2004. Illustrations, bibliography. 80 pages. $15.00 paper.
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Reviewed by Philip Cogswell
Salem, Oregon
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| An up-to-date scholarly history of Oregon and Washington journalism has yet to appear, although, as this book documents, much has been written about one piece or another of the region's newspaper tradition. Knowing about that tradition is important for understanding the region itself. As Floyd J. McKay notes in his preface, "The study of journalism history is essentially the study of the nation, state, region, or city that is covered by a newspaper or broadcast outlet. Journalism cannot be separated from the people and the issues it covers" (p. xv). |
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For any future scholar in the field, this bibliography will be a true asset. McKay, building on his doctoral thesis at the University of Washington, lists books, articles, reminiscences, and scholarly works on the region's newspapers, as well as a small amount on broadcast media. Each chapter opens with a summary of the relevant scholarship and bits of history to give context to the source lists. Stephen Ponder, an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon, provides an interesting historical overview in his foreword. |
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The bibliography is impressive in its scope. It lists not only published works but also relevant dissertations, theses, and oral histories. Along with mainstream newspapers, it also covers the specialized, immigrant, and advocacy press, such as suffrage leader Abigail Scott Duniway's New Northwest and early African American papers in Seattle and Portland. The reminder that these publications existed is one of the book's unexpected values. |
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It is certainly unfair to judge a work by what it does not purport to do, but this book's usefulness for general readers — and maybe researchers also, for that matter — would have been enhanced had the chapter introductions provided more historical detail about the region's journalism. The slight historical discussions that are presented are interesting and sometimes enlightening but sketchy at best. Moreover, some important newspapering individuals — such as Robert Chandler in Bend and J.W. Forrester in Pendleton and Astoria — are overlooked, while considerable detail is given on others. That disparity, though, may reflect the unevenness of the available historical material. |
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There is some intriguing trivia, however. McKay teases the reader with brief mention of two unrelated shootings by editors: James W. Connella, a pioneer Everett editor "who was run out of town after he shot a prominent citizen" (p. 13); and Llewellyn Banks, a Medford editor who "shot and killed the constable who came to arrest him for ballot theft" (p. 27). On a more substantive note, it was revealing to learn that Robert Ruhl's Medford Mail Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize in 1933 for opposing Banks's radical faction. |
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McKay has a good background for this work. He himself is a part of the region's newspaper history as a respected reporter in Salem and then a television commentator in Portland before leaving for academia. He now is emeritus professor of journalism at Western Washington University and has made a fine contribution to scholarship with his recent biography of the late Charles Sprague, an influential Salem newspaperman and Oregon governor. |
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McKay makes another contribution here. In all, one can only imagine the painstaking effort required to round up all these disparate sources and the gratitude that future researchers will feel for the result. |
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