Author:

Abstract

Marcel Broersma No More Pages to Turn? Digital Newspaper Archives as Source

This article analyzes the methodological challenges and the opportunities for future research that are triggered by the rising availability of large databases of digitalized historical newspapers. It argues that these are new sources that differ fundamentally from their analogue equivalents. Media historians have to be aware of the methodological problems that occur when analogue papers are transformed into digital objects. Especially searching digital data with key words is challenging. This implicates that scholars have to make their search strategies explicit and have to be transparent about their methodology. Moreover, it is argued that digitalized newspapers should not be used (solely) for ‘cherry picking’: the eclectic search for quotations that illustrate and liven up a historical argument. Instead newspapers should be considered a serial source that should be studied systematically. The availability of digitized newspapers could so encourage the study and the development of new methodologies for analysing newspaper content.