Oral history interview with Jack Lyle, 1971.

Biographical Note

Jack Lyle was an associate professor at the School of Communication at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). From 1975 to 1983, he was the Director of the Communication Institute at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He published many books on the topics of race, the media (specifically newspapers and television), and communications, including: The News in Megalopolis; The Black American and the Press; and Communication, Media, and Change.

Scope and Contents

In his 1971 interview conducted by Henry La Brie III, Jack Lyle discusses issues faced by the mainstream press, the non-English press in different ethnic communities, and the black press. Issues discussed include: demographic shifts among readership, locality, reporting differences under black and white ownership, the credibility of newspapers, and outreach and communication in Compton and Watts. Next, he shares his views on the future and relevance of the black press as well as newspapers as a medium with the popularity of television. Lyle's analysis is framed by economic and class difference and includes a discussion of how content in newspapers' zone editions did not reflect the zones' class or racial demographics. He also discusses the non-English press in relation to Mexican American and Japanese American newspapers and television channels and how financial stability, literacy, and assimilation affect them.

Subjects

• African American journalists.
• African American press.
• Interviews.
• Journalism--Social aspects.
• Journalists--Interviews.
• La Brie, Henry G., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Los Angeles (Calif.)--Newspapers.
• Lyle, Jack--Interviews.
• Newspaper publishing--Economic aspects--United States.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• United States--Race relations.