Abstract
Historians’ frequent use of a nineteenth-century murder case as a pivotal moment in histories of American journalism and sexuality reveals historiographical complications arising from the co-constitution of journalism and history. The journalistic constitution of the “facts” of this story—and any news story—can be viewed as both shaping and reflecting contemporary understandings of the case. Analyzing the ways in which historians use and contextualize the journalism surrounding the murder complicates many received notions of journalism history, regarding such issues as objectivity and sensationalism. By reading journalism texts as evidence of professional, political, and socioeconomic practices, critical historians can better elaborate the social and cultural construction of many historical subjects, focusing less on what happened and more on how sense was made of what happened.
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