Author Archives: Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen

Author Q&A: Will Mari, Newsrooms and the Disruption of the Internet

Newsrooms and the Disruption of the Internet: A Short History of Disruptive Technologies, 1990 – 2010 (Routledge, 2022).

Describe the focus of your book.

It is a (very brief) history of the impact of the internet on the news industry and on news workers. It is a sequel to my earlier book on the history of newsroom computerization, A Short History of Disruptive Journalism Technologies: 1960-1990, which was published in 2019.

How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?

Toward the end of my research for my first book for Routledge, I read a number of reports in trade publications such as Editor & Publisher, some of them breathlessly optimistic, others more circumspect, on the arrival of the civilian internet in the early 1990s. The promise and peril of that moment inspired me to write a follow-on book to my newsroom-computerization history, and Bob Franklin, my generous editor for the “Disruptions” series, encouraged me to do so.

Membership Q&A: Robin Sundaramoorthy

Where you are currently getting your Ph.D.?
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland (UMD)

What brought you into grad school?
I’ve always wanted to get my Ph.D. in journalism. I seriously considered getting it immediately after I completed my master’s degree at Michigan State University, but I was offered a job at a local TV station and decided to pursue a career instead. I spent 20 amazing years working in TV news, and when it was time to move on, I didn’t think twice about applying to UMD. I want to teach and conduct research, and my professional experiences have taught me some valuable lessons that I can share with others.

Remembering Owen V. Johnson

Owen V. Johnson, associate professor emeritus at Indiana University and longtime member of the History Division, died on August 6, 2022 at the age of 76. He was an expert on World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, as well as Russian and East European mass media and Czech and Slovak history.

In 2020, he joined the Journalism History podcast to talk about his edited collection of Pyle’s columns, At Home With Ernie Pyle.

Johnson’s friend and former colleague, professor emeritus Steven Raymer of the Indiana University Media School, delivered the eulogy at Johnson’s funeral. Here is an excerpt.

“With his intellect and humanity, Owen made the bedrock values of journalism — independence, truthfulness, accuracy, fairness to the facts, holding the powerful accountable, and building an informed citizenry — come to life in his classes, his scholarly writing, and his own journalism and broadcasting. And I might add, these same ideals were often the topic of our frequent conversations in the corridors of Ernie Pyle Hall — Owen with his coffee cup and impish smile often one step ahead of me in discussing the day’s news. I am still wresting with what Owen might have said at lunch today on the one-year anniversary of the Fall of Kabul, the Afghan capital. Surely he would have an opinion on America’s longest war, just as surely as he knew the menus from memory at our favorite pubs.

Journalism History Podcast Spotlight

Each issue, Clio highlights the latest episode of the Journalism History podcast and recommend a set of episodes from the archives. The podcasts — available on the website and through many podcast players — are excellent teaching tools, easy to add to your syllabi. Transcripts of each episode are available online.

This issue we highlight the origins of the paparazzi, celebrity journalism, and the college cover girls on Life magazine.

Summary of the 2022 History Division Business Meeting

The virtual AEJMC history division meeting in late July included a summary of the division’s activities during 2021-22, membership, leadership voting, transitions and information, and a presentation of the success of Journalism History and its affiliated activities. More details, including a review of the meeting minutes, follows below.

2021-2022 Year In Review

Cayce Myers (Virginia Tech), discussed the History Division’s year. The History Division continued a number of successful initiatives. Research initiatives: Journalism History increased reviewer pool, including more international reviewers. We also ran two research paper competitions. JJCHC was held virtually while Southeast Colloquium was in-person.

Author Q&A: Debra Reddin van Tuyll, Politics, Culture and the Irish American Press

Politics, Culture and the Irish American Press, 1784- 1963, eds. Debra Reddin van Tuyll, Mark O’Brien, and Marcel Broersma (Syracuse University Press, 2021)

Describe the focus of your book.

This book examines the history of the Irish American press from the Early National period to the Kennedy presidency. We look at individual journalists who created the Irish American press, the journalists that constituted it, and, most importantly, the transnational nature of that particular press genre.

How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?

Editors Debra Reddin van Tuyll and Mark O’Brien met a decade or more ago at the annual meeting of the Newspapers and Periodicals History Forum of Ireland. During the conference, they began a discussion of how similarly, yet how differently, historians from different parts of the world told the stories of the Irish and the Irish diaspora presses and also how, together, they all seemed to constitute on continuous story. Or maybe a story on a continuum is more accurate. Van Tuyll and O’Brien believed they had an insight into a useful new way to frame journalism history stories, to both deepen and broaden understanding of how a diaspora press is connected to its home and vice versa. They thought this idea might be worth exploring with other historians in a couple of academic gatherings, though they didn’t have a name for it initially.

Member Spotlight: Kathryn J. McGarr

Where do you work?

University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Where did you get your Ph.D.?

Princeton University

What’s your current favorite class?

History of U.S. Media. We analyze a primary source together in every lecture, and I love puzzling through sources with students seeing them for the first time.