Fake News? Mapping the Pages of Nineteenth-Century Newspapers

A talk given as part of Digital Newspaper Month, in conjunction with Victoria University of Wellington, at the National Library of New Zealand, 3 May 2018.The newspaper of the nineteenth century was a strange creature. Over a handful of pages, it reported the latest local gossip, expounded on national politics, informed of international triumphs and disasters, and related whimsical tales of the fantastic and macabre. Mid-century readers could truthfully claim that they had the world at their fingertips. The world imagined on these pages, however, was one ever-so-slightly out of sync with reality.This talk will explore the pages of the nineteenth-century press and how scissors, paste and a bit of creative timekeeping produced a remarkably interconnected paper world.