Mountain Meadows media; reporting a massacre.
One of the unfortunate results of a frontier environment in the 19th century American West was that of a volatile atmosphere. Such a combustible circumstance could sometimes allow for tragedy. Massacres were indeed a tragic, yet not completely uncommon occurrence in the 1800's and actually took place on several occasions and in various locations . But none were more memorable than the Mountain Meadows Massacre. What made this particular incident the more incredulous and even precarious was the fact that it involved one of the 19th century's most controversial-ridden peoples; the Mormons. It consequently received ambiguous coverage from the media's immediate response in comparison to latter authoritative and scholarly reports on the subject. Both Mormon-based and non-Mormon newspapers published reports regarding the massacre. However, the reports from the two groups" publications are discordant in content and quantity, and they consequently create a different public understanding of the massacre. .
In the current day, after the facts have been gathered and studies exhaustively accomplished, much is known concerning the Mountain Meadows Massacre (of course there are many unknown facts remaining still and plenty of speculation still circulates). Scholarly investigative work has been published regarding the massacre, including the outstanding factual work "The Mountain Meadows Massacre," written by Juanita Brooks. Thanks to works like these, the general public can attain a detailed knowledge of the massacre. But what was the consensus of the public about the massacre during the time that it happened? How much could be learned of that tragic event in the tumultuous months and years following? It is certain that at that time there were no scholars such as Brooks to publish works enlightening the masses regarding the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
