Journalism scholars document newspapers' role in reconstruction-era authoritarianism

When Bella Astrofsky, who's poised to graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in journalism, began digging through 19th-century newspapers, she did not expect to help inform how historians understand the end of Reconstruction in the United States. As co-author of a recently published study—an uncommon role for an undergraduate—Astrofsky helped document how newspapers in the Reconstruction-era South went beyond expressing partisan views to actively inciting violence to support Democratic efforts to seize power.