Abstract
A main goal of John T. Scopes’ supporters during his 1925 trial for teaching evolution in Tennessee was to educate the public on evolution science through newspapers. This paper argues that, though journalists, lawyers, and scholars expected newspaper coverage to make Americans smarter about evolution, little effort was devoted to that aim. Rather, a preference for conflict and an emerging professional objectivity resulted in more confusion than clarity, just as news coverage of evolution and other controversial science issues does today.
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