El Diario - September 27th, 1918
I was trying to get a glimpse of the La Paz life on my birthday almost 100 years ago. I noticed a few interesting differences between the newspaper on that day and the newspapers today.
First, the newspapers of days gone by have much fewer pictures than today's news. Today, you can walk by a newsstand and get a sense of what is happening by glancing at the pictures: coca leaves, disaster-stricken town, notable people, etc. However, in 1918 you would not have been able to gather anything from the newspapers unless you could read. Dr. Miguel pointed out that much of the population would not have been able to read, and so the lack of pictures could have been by design. I feel that pictures can sometimes make an article more inflammatory and polarizing, and that the news in 1918 was less polarizing and inflammatory. In fact, many of the articles were written in a facts-only fashion and eliminated much of the opinions and polarizing propaganda.
I was also curious to see if the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic had affected Bolivia. I noticed a few ads about quinine for headaches, Alimento Meyer, another medication for malaise and aches, and a few other medical ads. More interestingly, I came across some indication that La Paz was affected when I reached the 'Social Life' section. This section kept the community abreast of happenings among the upper class such as birthdays, deaths, style trends, divorces, marriages, and enfermos. The paper had two sections on health of the upper class: enferma y enfermos. The Enferma section seemed to give updates on who had been sick, and the Enfermos section appeared to notify the public of who had recently fallen ill. I would like to read more to see if these updates coincide with the waves of the 1918 pandemic and also to see if the newspapers were a source of public health communication: hand washing advisories, recommending quarantine, etc.
Lastly, I feel that La Paz was more isolated in 1918 and has come a long way in the age of globalization. The 1918 paper had about 1 page dedicated to foreign affairs. Considering that the world was in the midst of a world war and the worst pandemic it had ever seen, I think there was more news to be reported during that time. The paper also had over a page solely dedicated to social life and essentially gossip of La Paz. The paper kept track of who visited which city, who was sick, and 'who said what,' among other things. I find it interesting that the paper was dominated by local affairs in 1918, and today it covers much more of the world news.
I thought this was a great find! And I think you made two keen observation: First, that this clearly says something about the "smallness" of the paceño cultural elite (in terms of size). But also its isolation (not only from international news, but also from the majority of Bolivians!).
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