MediaBistro pointed me to Stanford University’s nice interactive visualization of the evolution of journalism and newspapers covering everything from 1690 to today. Initially it’s showing the migrations westward across the US, but as the country is populated you can see some of the natural ebb & flow of journalism nationwide.
Through the sidebar content as you scroll through the timeline, you get a feel for the different “eras” of newspapering, from the colonies to the frontier to yellow journalism and merger mania. It’s actually somewhat encouraging to read about the journalism crises of decades/centuries past. Being a journalist these days can see like you’re in the worst of times, but really, newspapers and journalism is just constantly evolving, and as you see in the map, it ebbs and it flows.
Data Visualization: Journalism’s Voyage West | Rural West Initiative.
