In our reading for today Susan Brooker-Gross examines the changing role of place in the news reported by newspapers from the 1830s to the 1960s. In this virtual field trip we will examine the current state of the news and think about how the Internet is potentially changing the place of the news in our own region and beyond.

Northwest Indiana is a rather unique region. It is not quite urban, but not quite rural. It is part of the Chicago region but also clearly separate. Because there are no local network TV stations or locally owned radio stations, newspapers are one of the few truly local forms of media. Thus our media landscape tends to be dominated by Chicago. Another characteristic of the region is that it is fragmented into many different cities, towns, and townships, yet there is also an emerging sense of regionalism. This sense of regionalism may be partially a product of the local media. Yet might the fragmentation also be a part of this? We will look today at the local media landscape in Northwest Indiana and think about these and other questions on this Virtual Field Trip.

Chesterton Tribune

Take a look at the Chesterton Tribune for today. Where is the news in this newspaper from?

What percentage of the news in the most recent issue is about events in Chesterton? What percentage is about events in the rest of Porter County? What percentage is about events in the rest of Northwest Indiana? What percentage is about events outside of the region? (Count up the total number of articles and estimate percentages).

Why is this newspaper on the web if most of its content is local news?

What does having this newspaper on the web suggest about the Internet in terms of a time or a space bias?

Northwest Indiana Times

Take a look at the NWI Times

How is the news organized on this web site? Does this organization facilitate regional integration or fragmentation?

What percentage of articles on the front page today are about regional issue/events (in contrast to issues/events happening in specific places in the region)?

What percentage of the news on the front page is about Chicago?

Chicago Sun Times

Take a look at the Chicago Sun Times

How is the news organized on this web site in comparison with the Times?

About what percentage of the news on the Sun Times web site is about Northwest Indiana or other Chicago suburbs?

Big Eastern.com

Take a look at Big Eastern.com, a blog focused on local and Indiana environmental issues in Northern Indiana. How does the author of this blog use newspaper web sites? What does he add to the news?

Take a look at the images archive and this entry. To what extent is this site rooted in place (the "corporeal Big Eastern near North Judson)? Is this site relatively time-biased or space-biased or is there a balance?

What effect overall do you think the medium of the Internet has on place in traditional newspapers? Does it create more of a space-bias (a placeless news) or more of a time-bias (a more place-consious news) or is there more of a balance?