Monthly Archives: March 2023

Author Q&A: Berkley Hudson, Photographing Trouble & Resilience in the American South

O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble & Resilience in the American South (University of North Carolina Press, 2021)

*Berkley Hudson is an associate professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Journalism*

Describe the focus of your book.

Photographer O. N. Pruitt (1891–1967) for forty years was the de facto documentarian of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and its county seat, Columbus—known to locals as “Possum Town.” His work recalls many Farm Security Administration photographers, but Pruitt was not an outsider; he was a community member with intimate knowledge of the town.

He photographed fellow white citizens and Black ones, too, in circumstances ranging from the mundane to the horrific: family picnics, parades, river baptisms, carnivals, fires, funerals, two of Mississippi’s last public and legal executions by hanging, and a lynching. From formal portraits to candid images, Pruitt’s documentary of a specific yet representative southern town offers viewers an invitation to meditate on the interrelations of photography, community, race, culture, and historical memory. The book is a companion to an NEH-traveling exhibition.

AEJMC History Division Announces Winners of the 2023 Jinx C. Broussard Award for Excellence in Teaching of Media History

The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has selected Ira Chinoy, Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen, Bailey Dick, and Autumn Lorimer Linford as winners of the 2023 Jinx C. Broussard Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Media History.

The award acknowledges original, creative practices that journalism educators and media historians use in their classrooms to teach media history and seeks to share those techniques with other instructors. Ideas and practices focused on diversity, collaboration, community, and justice receive special attention in the selection process. The award is in its fifth year.

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Member Q&A: Allison Frisch

Where do you work: Ithaca College Journalism Department, in Ithaca, N.Y.

Tell us about your journalism experience: I was a journalist and editor at newspapers in NY and PA for 15 years before transitioning to a career in higher education.

Current favorite class: I really don’t have a favorite. In Investigative Journalism, we are embarking on a podcast project to document homelessness in Ithaca. In Journalism Innovation, we will create grassroots startups to present to the community at the end of the year. And Introduction to Journalism is always a favorite because I’m heartened to hear a new class of student journalists talk about why they are pursuing the field!

Member News: Jason Lee Guthrie, Jon Marshall, David E. Sumner, Carolina Velloso, Ashley Walter

Jason Lee Guthrie, an assistant professor at Clayton State University, won the Leibner Cooper Grant for Creative Productions on the History of Media from the Broadcast Education Association (BEA). Guthrie was honored for his podcast Recollecting Carter, which explores the life of President Jimmy Carter. The full series will consist of several episodes and will feature oral history interviews with journalists, archivists, and academic experts, as well as archival media from the 1960s to the present day. The podcast is available through Apple podcasts and Spotify.

Jon Marshall of Northwestern University won the Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History. He is a guest in “Episode 105: Watergate and the Press,” a top-rated episode of the podcast with over 400 downloads. Marshall was also selected for his support of the show in the past year. Journalism History chooses its top guest from the prior calendar year.

The AEJMC History Division Experience: A Conversation with Graduate Student Liaisons Carolina Velloso (Maryland), T.J. Mesyn (Michigan State), and Ava Francesca Battocchio (Michigan State)

WHY YOU SHOULD SUBMIT TO AEJMC AND THE HISTORY DIVISION

Ava Francesca Battocchio (AF): For me, AEJMC is a great place to get feedback. But what lingers with me the most is the professional relationships that I’ve been able to build. So while it’s important to be submitting papers to conferences to develop our research and to get our research out into the world, I think we also shouldn’t overlook the fact that conferences are opportunities to build these professional relationships that can turn into collaborations and mentorships.

T.J. Mesyn (TJ): I agree – I think the networking piece is huge. The History Division has an amazing mentorship program, for example, where senior scholars are paired up with junior scholars and grad students and provide advice on research, teaching, applying for jobs, and more.

REMINDER – Award Call: Covert Award in Mass Communication History for Articles, Essays, or Book Chapters Published in 2022

AEJMC’S History Division announces the annual competition for the Covert Award in Mass Communication History for entries published in 2022.

The Covert Award recognizes the author of the best mass communication history article or essay published in the previous year. Book chapters in edited collections published in the previous year are also eligible. The AEJMC History Division has presented the award annually since 1985.

The $400 award memorializes the esteemed Dr. Catherine L. Covert, professor of journalism at Syracuse University (d.1983). Cathy Covert was the first woman professor in Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Journalism and the first woman to head the History Division, in 1975. Prof. Covert received the AEJMC Outstanding Contribution to Journalism Education Award in 1983.

Submit an electronic copy in pdf form of the published article/essay/chapter via email to Professor Thomas A. Mascaro, mascaro@bgsu.edu, by March 31, 2023. The publication may be self-submitted or submitted by others, such as an editor or colleague.

The following links connect to articles providing more background on Dr. Covert:

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=sumagazine

https://roghiemstra.com/covert-bio.html https://clas.uiowa.edu/sjmc/people/catherine-covert

Microgrant winners selected for American Journalism/Journalism History initiative

Six historians will receive funding this spring to advance diverse perspectives in media history.

The microgrant initiative was a joint collaboration between American Journalism/American Journalism Historians Association and Journalism History/AEJMC History Division. Journalism History Publications Chairwoman Teri Finneman said the goal was to provide direct support to increase diversity research in the journals.

“The number of applications that we received exceeded expectations, prompting us to award more projects than initially planned,” Finneman said. “It’s truly wonderful to see how many great ideas there are and the direction of journalism history research.”

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