Name: Josie Vine, Ph.D.

University Affiliation: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Position: Senior Lecturer, School of Media & Communication, Journalism Program

1. In her book, Thinking About History, historian Sarah Maza describes history as a multifaceted concept, and one of the definitions she provides is that history is “what the present needs to know about the past.” How do you define history? 

I think I would define history as the stories we remember and tell each other, which, in an allegorical sense, guide our collective values and beliefs, norms and practices. But we can also question and interrogate these stories—look for other interpretations of the same event—so we can question and interrogate the appropriateness of our own ways of seeing and ways-of-doing. 

This then means that we each have a duty to record and reflect upon current events, so they evolve into the history of the future. 

2. When did you first become interested in the study of history? Was there a particular experience that inspired you to become a historian?

The study of history is in my genes. 

I grew up surrounded by books on history: political history; ancient history; more modern history, histories of science and the arts. There were biographies and autobiographies of historical figures and artwork around the house of historical events. My favourite was the Time Life Collection of Art, where each volume was dedicated to a different European artist from throughout the ages. I inherited this collection and still have it, looking a bit dusty, in one of my bookcases today.  

I grew up with my grandmother, who was a young woman in London during the Blitz and travelled the world during World War II. The stories she would tell me about living through this major historical event were always filled with romance and adventure and really captured my imagination. I still have a fascination with World War II, and how it shaped our contemporary world.

I grew up in country Victoria through the ‘70s and ‘80s. Back then we only had the public broadcaster (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), which would screen the most amazing documentaries about people and events from history. Because my grandmother was so knowledgeable, she was able to bring these documentaries even more to life, put them in context. I particularly remember a documentary on the Bronte sisters, who my grandmother thought were wonderful! Next thing I know we’re reading Wuthering Heights together. It remains my favourite piece of literature.

My dad was a high school history teacher for 35 years. He specialised in Australian history, and would quote from Australia’s great historical figures. My favourite was (still is) said by one of our most famous Australian prime ministers after he was sacked by the governor-general in 1975:

“Well may we say God save the queen, for no one will save the governor-general.”

I think this background in Australian political history sparked my passion for journalism history, and the struggles our journalists have faced in a democratic nation that does not recognise journalism as a democratic institution.

3. What is your proudest moment or accomplishment as a historian?

After my first book was published, the Eureka Centre at Ballarat invited me to speak on journalism’s role during the 1854 Eureka Rebellion at its prestigious Peter Tobin Oration. The Eureka Rebellion is widely considered Australia’s most important historical moment in its colonial journey towards democratic nationhood.

My presentation, attended by local dignitaries and Indigenous elders, included an analysis of Australia’s first female newspaper editor, Clara Seekamp. Clara was an amazing journalist who was key to the whole sequence of events.

Afterwards during drinks, so many people approached me saying they had never heard of Clara before, didn’t know she maintained the campaign after her husband was gaoled—didn’t understand how significant she was to modern Australian journalism and its fight to fulfill its democratic role in this country.   

To tell the story of Clara to an appreciative modern audience would have to be my proudest moment as an historian.

4. Tell us something interesting that you’re working on.

At the moment I’m working with two fantastic U.S. academics—Will Mari and Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen—as well as fellow Australian, Brad Buller, on a book for Palgrave Macmillan. It’s a comparative analysis of Australian and U.S. Journalism. 

My contribution is examining how Australia, based on a thoroughly British political system, has a journalism profession that is much more—in a micro-cultural sense—based on an American system. In other words, although there is no official or legal recognition of journalism’s democratic role in Australia, journalists themselves continue to believe—and behave—as a democratic institution in an American sense. This is a fascinating anomaly, which I am investigating as a cultural phenomenon through an historical lens. This means analysis of lots of industry-specific archives, which is so much fun!

5. Why is it important for journalism students to study history?

In Australia (and probably lots of other national contexts) journalism is a cultural practice. In other words, the values, beliefs, “rules,” and ways-of-doing have evolved through history, as opposed to being decided upon by some regulatory body).

Journalism history is, therefore, key to journalism education, not only to learn the “rules” and ways-of-doing, but to also question them, interrogate them and maybe even change them. In this way, an understanding of journalism history is central to journalism’s future and, indeed, the progress of democratic life itself. 

6. What might the public in Australia or the United States gain from a better understanding of the history of their nation’s news industry?

When I hear the words, “Oh, I don’t trust journalism,” I get so upset, because the people saying it—often—don’t really understand what journalism is. There is a general misconception that journalism is commentary, or opinion, or analysis. Journalists may do some or all of these things, but that’s not what journalism is. What people really mean when they say, “I don’t trust journalism,” is, “I don’t trust the media.” And these are two very different spheres, albeit related. You can’t blame people for conflating the two, because there is so much commentary, opinion and analysis that masquerades as journalism, and it is particularly hard to discern one from the other on social media.

The public, particularly in democratic systems, need a sense of where their news industry has come from, how and why various values, beliefs and ways-of-doing have evolved, to be able to understand current professional practices. Once there is public understanding of what journalism should be, there is an ability to discern what “journalism” is and, importantly, what it is not. A sense of journalism history, then, helps the public participate, rationally, in democracy.

7. What’s a fun fact about yourself?

When I was about 16, I got kicked out of high school for being too rebellious. I worked lots of jobs after that, behind the bar, in aged care homes, and waitressing. I travelled overseas, got engaged, disengaged. Then, when I was about 22, I decided I’d better do something with my life, returned to Australia, and went back to school. I was planning to be a nurse.

One of my English teachers was also a freelance journalist, and he pitched my story to a local newspaper, who wanted me to write my story in my own words. The moment—and I mean the moment—I saw my by-line, I fell in love. I wasn’t yet a journalist, but I knew that journalism would be the rest of my life. And the rest, as they say, is history!