Paper Trails: The History of U.S. Mass Media Ownership (OOL)
Osher Online | Available (Membership Required)
In this course, we will trace the history of American journalism and examine how control of the press has shifted, from political patrons and penny-press advertisers to broadcast regulators, cable moguls, and today’s social media platforms. We will consider how these changes shaped journalism’s relationship to democracy and public trust, while developing a more critical eye for the structural forces that influence news coverage and the institutions working to sustain journalism as a public good.
Class schedule: Live lectures will take place at 6:00 pm on Wednesdays, 1/20/2027 through 2/24/2027, via ZOOM
Each live session is 90 minutes
Wednesday, January 20
Wednesday, January 27
Wednesday, February 3
Wednesday, February 10
Wednesday, February 17
Wednesday, February 24
As this class is delivered by the National Resource Center for OLLIs (NRC) at Northwestern University, you will receive a welcome email from osheronline@northwestern.edu. The email will include your credentials (username & password) as well as a hyperlink to the Osher Online Website through which you will access your course website.
Please save the link once you receive it. Multi-session courses will use this same link each week.
Caroline Nappo
Caroline Nappo, PhD is an independent scholar with interests in the history of public information institutions, information as a public good, and the political economy of information. She has taught as an adjunct lecturer for graduate students and previously taught an OLLI course on the history of the public library in the United States. She holds a master's and PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois and has published and presented on postal history.