The Albuquerque Museum announced on Tuesday plans to display a new exhibit, "News for the People: Local Journalism in the 1970s."
The exhibit will showcase the importance of journalism and how it “informs and protects democracy,” according to a city of Albuquerque press release. The exhibit will also display the methods of journalism during the 1970s, specifically in Albuquerque and neighboring regions, showcasing the distinction between local media and the national press.
"Since its inception, Albuquerque Museum has preserved historic documents and objects that represent the concerns of the local community," said Andrew Connors, Albuquerque Museum director. “Utilizing objects from our collection, our curators shine a light on the important role that public news reporting has had not only in Albuquerque but the country.”
The exhibit will be on display from Aug. 12 to March 3, 2024, and explore how journalists crafted stories and how various newspaper, radio, and television platforms reported on and responded to major social issues of that era, according to the release.
It will also showcase New Mexico's history of reporting on local matters through a visual timeline that spans from early newspapers during the state's territorial period to newsrooms covering political, cultural, and societal developments, the release stated.
“Reporting news to the public has always been essential for democracy as it provides citizens with accurate and reliable information, facilitates public discourse, and holds those in power accountable for their actions,” according to city officials. “The determination displayed by the creators, producers, editors, and consumers of journalism ensured that the news remained for the people.”
The exhibition features items from the museum’s collection of historical objects and includes items borrowed from New Mexico Press Women, Albuquerque Public Library’s Special Collections Branch, the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico, and the personal collections of journalists who were “an integral part of the research that shaped the exhibition,” the release stated.
“Representing the most important themes in journalism to the local community more than 50 years ago, the objects in the exhibition identify not only how news reporting has physically changed in appearance through technological advances but also targeted important social issues during the 1970s,” the release stated.
The newspaper publications, newsreels, typewriters, and photographs of protests and journalists in the exhibition highlight how news “shaped the perception of the local community and indicated how the public received the news,” according to the release. “The content and stories from people involved, provide a glimpse into the pioneers of these forms of media that shifted in the 1970s to include more female and Indigenous voices.”