The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will honor Dr. John M. “Jack” Hamilton as the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar during the Division’s Awards Gala on Aug. 6. The longtime journalist, author and public servant is the Hopkins P. Breazeale Professor of Journalism and founding dean at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication and a global scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, D.C.
Established in 2020, the award honors a scholar who has a record of excellence in media history that has spanned a minimum of 15 years, including division membership. It is named in honor of the pioneering journalism theoretician, distinguished journalism historian and former head of the History Division, who taught for almost half of a century at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
“We were gratified by the quality of the nominees for this prestigious award, which is now in its fourth year,” one judge said. “There are few scholars in journalism history—or in any field—who can match the body of work that John Maxwell Hamilton has produced in his career. The sheer number of his publications is impressive (dozens of peer-reviewed works plus more than 100 articles in mass media and professional journalism), but far more important is their quality. Hamilton has deepened and altered our understanding of foreign correspondence, war reporting, and propaganda in profound ways. On top of that, he has contributed to the field’s future growth by mentoring many younger scholars. He is richly deserving of the Shaw Award.”
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dr. Hamilton engaged in assignments in more than 50 countries. In addition to covering foreign news, Hamilton has written extensively on foreign correspondence and sought to improve it. In the mid-1980s, he created and directed two projects to develop techniques for local reporting of foreign news, and his work prompted the National Journal to contend that he had shaped public opinion about the complexity of U. S.-Third World relations “more than any other single journalist.”
Hamilton is author or co-author of seven books and editor of many more. Based in his record of research, his two most recent books each won the prestigious Goldsmith Book Prize and the Book of the Year from the American Journalism Historians Association, among others.
During his illustrious career, Hamilton received the Freedom Forum’s Administrator of the Year Award in 2003. Other honors include two Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism Awards, the Byline Award from Marquette University, and an MLK Day diversity award from LSU. He has received funding from the Carnegie and Ford foundations, among others. In 2002, he was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He has served twice as a Pulitzer Prize jurist. He is a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington.
“John Maxwell Hamilton has twice won the prestigious Goldsmith Book Prize, awarded by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center for books that improve democratic governance by examining the relationship between media, politics, and public policy. Those two award-winning books—Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda and Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of American Newsgathering Abroad—established Hamilton as a leading authority on propaganda and foreign correspondence and a journalism historian of exceptional accomplishment,” another judge added. “What’s more, Hamilton has taught and mentored many students at every level of higher education, served with distinction for 18 years as the founding dean of the LSU Manship School, worked as a journalist in several positions, including as a longtime commentator for PRI’s MarketPlace, is a global scholar at the Wilson Center, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. John Maxwell Hamilton is the proverbial man for all seasons—and we celebrate his rich contributions to journalism history with the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award.”
Despite his record of tremendous accomplishments and honors, Hamilton shared that news of the award marked “a high point of [his] career.”
“I am grateful for this award,” Hamilton said. “I have been fortunate to partner with and learn from outstanding scholars, professional journalists, and enormously talented students who are now making their marks as researchers.”
Along the way, Dr. Hamilton mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students, who have gone on to illustrious careers of their own, and they regularly cite the influence of his contributions on their lives.
“As a professor, mentor, and dissertation chair, Jack has played an integral role in forging the intellectual paths and careers of many doctoral students at LSU’s Manship School, including my own,” St. John’s University Assistant Professor Elisabeth Fondren said. “His love for journalism, international perspectives, archival research, and his emphasis on clear historical writing are an inspiration. He is truly deserving of this outstanding honor.”
Regina Lawrence, the Associate Dean of the School of Journalism & Communication in Portland, the Research Director of the Agora Journalism Center, and editor of the journal Political Communication, and Hamilton’s collaborator Heidi Tworek, an Associate Professor in Public Policy and International History at the University of British Columbia, were among the scholars who nominated Dr. Hamilton, noting that he shared many traits of Donald Shaw and highlighting his priceless contributions as a scholar, mentor, collaborator, and friend.
“Jack’s record shows him to be an accomplished scholar and sought-after expert who brings a deeply grounded perspective on questions of enduring importance,” Lawrence said. “He is, in fact, this country’s foremost authority on the history of American foreign correspondence. His work is both richly detailed and eminently practical, aimed at understanding the past and informing the future of American journalism and our public information environment.”
Added Tworek, “I cannot think of a more deserving scholar, colleague, and mentor to receive the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award. Many hearty congratulations to John Maxwell Hamilton, who has always impressed me in the rigor of his scholarship combined with the fluency of his writing. He makes complexity comprehensible. Jack does what the best scholars do – continually questions old wisdoms and finds evidence to create compelling analysis. He also goes above and beyond to mentor students and early career researchers as well as to make journalism history relevant to public policy.”
Dr. Hamilton will receive a plaque and monetary award during the division’s Awards Gala in conjunction with the AEJMC annual meeting in Washington, D.C.