Author Archives: rlgrant

Member News Round-Up: Kevin Grieves, Vincent DiGirolamo, Amber Roessner, Earnest Perry, Jinx Coleman Broussard, John Maxwell Hamilton

Kevin Grieves (Whitworth University) is pleased to announce the publication of his new book, Cold War Journalism: Between Cold Reception and Common Ground (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). The book explores journalism and journalists of the Cold War era as they were perceived as threats, but also attempts at forging transnational journalistic connections across the Iron Curtain. The book also illuminates efforts to find common journalistic ground within the East and West blocs. The research draws on a range of archival sources, including historical radio and television content.

Vincent DiGirolamo (Baruch College) has been awarded the 2021 Vincent P. DeSantis Prize from the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era for Crying the News: A History of America’s Newsboys (Oxford University Press, 2019). The prestigious prize honors the best first book written on the period 1865 to 1920 published in the previous two years. Crying the News, said the award jury, “sensitively brings to light the experiences, struggles, and influence of a massive group of child laborers who walked the streets of our cities and towns, often unseen if rarely unheard, for more than a century.”

Amber Roessner (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) has won the History Division’s annual Covert Award for her article, “The Voices of Public Opinion: Lingering Structures of Feeling about Women’s Suffrage in 1917 U.S. Newspaper Letters to the Editor.” Her article “offers insight into the production of letters to the editor as an act of strategic communication by suffragists and anti-suffragists, the regulation of letters to the editor by news gatekeepers and agenda-setters, and the consumption of letters to the editor by newspaper readers in 1917, a pivotal year in the decades-long cultural struggle over women’s suffrage.”

Earnest Perry (University of Missouri) has won the AEJMC’s Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity and Research Education. His work includes co-editing Cross-Cultural Journalism and Strategic Communication: Storytelling and Diversity (Routledge, 2020, second edition), with Maria E. Len-Rios.

Jinx Coleman Broussard (Louisiana State University) has won the History Division’s annual Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award for her ground-breaking contributions in the history of journalism and mass communication scholarship, as well as her years of excellence in teaching and mentorship. Her work includes Public Relations and Journalism in Times of Crisis: A Symbiotic Partnership (Peter Lang, 2019), with Andrea Miller;African American Foreign Correspondents: A History (LSU Press, 2013); and Giving a Voice to the Voiceless: Four Pioneering Black Women Journalists (Routledge, 2004).

John Maxwell Hamilton (Louisiana State University) has won the History Division’s annual book award for Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda (LSU Press, 2020). The judges described the book, which examines the Creel Committee’s establishment of a propaganda system and the threat it posed to democracy, as “a magisterial work, comprehensive and highly readable.” 

Call for Papers: Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression

The steering committee of the twenty-ninth annual Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression solicits papers dealing with US mass media of the 19th century, the Civil War in fiction and history, freedom of expression in the 19th century, presidents and the 19th century press, images of race and gender,
sensationalism and crime in 19th century newspapers, and the antebellum press and the causes of the Civil War.
Selected papers will be presented during the conference Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 11–13, 2021.
The top three papers and the top three student papers will be honored accordingly.
The Symposium will be conducted via ZOOM (for both speakers and participants). If possible, it will also be conducted in person.
The purpose of the November conference is to share current research and to develop a series of monographs.


This year the steering committee will pay special attention to papers and panel presentations on the Civil War and the press, presidents and the 19th century press, news reports of 19th century epidemics, and coverage of immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans. Since 2000, the Symposium has produced eight distinctly different books of readings: The Civil War and the Press (2000); Memory and Myth: The Civil War in Fiction and Film from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Cold Mountain (2007); Words at War: The Civil War and American Journalism (2008); Seeking a Voice: Images of Race and Gender in the 19th Century Press (2009); Sensationalism: Murder,
November 11–13, 2021, via ZOOM and in person
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga August 31, 2021.


Papers should be able to be presented within 20 minutes, at least
10–15 pages long. Please send your paper (including a 200–300
word abstract) as a Word attachment to west-chair-office@utc.edu
by August 31, 2021.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. David Sachsman
George R. West, Jr. Chair of Excellence in Communication
and Public Affairs, Dept. 3003
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
(423) 645-5330, david-sachsman@utc.edu
https://new.utc.edu/arts-and-sciences/communication/west-chair


Winner of 2021 Hazel Dicken-Garcia Award for Outstanding Master’s Thesis in Media History

Claire Rounkles, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri who completed her master’s work at The Ohio University, has won the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Award for Outstanding Master’s Thesis in Media History from the History Division for 2020.

Rounkles, who completed the thesis under the direction of Aimee Edmondson and Michael Sweeney, won for her work, “The Shame of the Buckeye State: Journalistic Complacency in Episodic Lynching in Ohio from 1872 to 1932.”

“I was wonderfully surprised, honored, and grateful of the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Award committee selection,” Rounkles said. “And also thankful for the support and guidance of my amazing thesis committee, mentors, family, and friends who encouraged me to continue with this project.”

Rounkles’ work focuses on the journalistic narrative surrounding lynching’s in Ohio.

“This thesis introduced facts and statements made by journalists who had the platform to set the historical narrative—and set it badly,” Rounkles said. “It is pertinent to recognize history involving the coverage of lynching in America, especially the lack of acknowledgment of the humanity of those lynched. By studying this history, I hope to promote honest and challenging conversations in the journalistic community. 

“This history has greatly affected how journalists report on minority communities. Until we address the history of using ‘objectivity’ to vilify and further disfranchise Black and Brown communities, the profession and practice of journalism will not change its ways.”

In evaluating the thesis, one judge said, “This thesis adds to literature of the history of the white press and its complicity in the reign of lynching terror in America. With a specific focus on Ohio, it highlights how racism and anti-Black sentiment/equal rights permeated white America, regardless of region.” Rounkles will receive the award, which also honors her advisors, at AEJMC’s annual convention in August. Her work has also been featured on the Journalism History podcast: https://journalism-history.org/2020/06/23/rounkles-podcast-court-held-at-midnight/

Check in from the chair, May 2021

By Will Mari

Hi folks,

This is just a brief check-in note as we finish up spring semester (and soon, spring quarter, for those on that system!)—good luck to everyone. It’s been an exceptionally trying, tiring year, but the continuing vaccine news is helping make things brighter, and we’re looking forward to our summer conference. It is online, and will last from Aug. 4-7 (with our awards gala on the night before, on Aug. 3!).

If you haven’t had a chance to, check out the conference site and make sure to register: http://aejmc.org/events/virtual21/. Registration is very affordable this year, at $69 for regular members and $39 for student members, before July 23. If you haven’t renewed your membership, please do so soon—Cayce, Maddie and I are working hard to make sure the conference provides a great mix of scholarship and support for our community. The division’s annual business meeting will take place during the conference, as well—standby for more info on our programming this summer as we finish the paper competition and set the rest of our schedule.

Speaking of which, thank you to all those who have served on a committee, who have worked as a judge or reviewer, or have otherwise supported the division over this past academic year. We literally could not have done this work without you. As we finish the paper-selection process, I should spotlight once more the great work that Maddie Liseblad has done for us, with organizing that part of the conference in her role as research chair.

As I look to pass the baton to Cayce, and finishing my time as chair in August, I’ll be working on my remaining chair goals. Those include outreach to our international partners, including at ICA’s Communication History division. I’ll hope to see some of you at their conference later in May.

Please be thinking ahead to our sibling organization, the American Journalism Historians’ Association, and their call for papers, panels, and research-in-progress abstracts, due on June 15: https://ajha.wildapricot.org/2021_Paper_Call. Especially if you could not submit something to our conference, they are a really fine group of friends and colleagues, so please check them out.

Finally, a huge shout-out is due to Keith Greenwood, for his work on getting our new site up and running: http://mediahistorydivision.com/. We’ll be working on transferring more content over, and the old site should still work for a while, but the new one, as approved by the division last year, is much more secure (definitely something that’s been an issue lately with other nonprofit pages), easier to update and will allow for more continuity, between leadership teams. 

Please keep an eye out for more award announcements on our @AEJHistory Twitter and History Division Facebook page, as well as to that revamped site.

#Mediahistorymatters and so does your work. Please check in with me at wmari1@lsu.edu, wtmari@gmail.com, or @willthewordguy, if you need anything or have any questions or suggestions.


In A League of Their Own: AEJMC History Division- Kathy Olson

Kathy Olson

Professor and chair

Department of Journalism and Communication 

Lehigh University

Where you work:  Lehigh University

Where you got your Ph.D.: UNC-Chapel Hill

Current favorite class: Media Ethics and Law

Current research project: A book on the First Amendment and the right of publicity

Fun fact about yourself:  As a kid, I lived in a requisitioned house in Berlin that had belonged to one of the generals executed for the plot to assassinate Hitler.

Member News Round Up: Kathy Roberts Forde, Marilyn Greenwald, Katherine Foss, Kimberly Voss, Shearon Roberts, Teri Finneman, Wendy Melillo

Kathy Roberts Forde (University of Massachusetts Amherst) has collaborated on “Truth, Dissent & the Legacy of Daniel Ellsberg,” a free, online 50th anniversary conference commemorating the release of the Pentagon Papers, April 30-May, 2021. The website also features information about the Ellsberg Archive Project and a five-part podcast series, The Whistleblower.

Marilyn Greenwald (Ohio University) had an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal. “Dr. Seuss, Meet the Sanitized Sleuths Known as the Hardy Boys” deals with literary “cancel culture” and the updating and changing of series juvenile fiction in 1959 and 1960, including the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift books.

Three History Division members have been elected to 2021 AEJMC leadership positions. Katherine Foss (Middle Tennessee State University) and Kimberly Voss (University of Central Florida) will serve on the Research Committee. Shearon Roberts (Xavier University of LA) will serve on the Teaching Committee.

Teri Finneman (University of Kansas) hosted History Division members on Zoom for the recording of her interview with White House Reporter Jonathan Karl of ABC, author of Front Row at the Trump Show. The event is now available as a Journal History Podcast here.

Wendy Melillo (American University) has won this year’s Michael S. Sweeney award for her article “Democracy’s Adventure Hero on a New Frontier: Bridging Language in the Ad Council’s Peace Corps Campaign, 1961-1970.”

In A League of Their Own: AEJMC History Division- Jennifer Moore

Jennifer Moore, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Where you work: Associate professor of journalism, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Where you got your Ph.D.: Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Current favorite class: History of American Media

Current research project: I am very excited about my sabbatical leave during the 2021-2022 school year. I have a couple of projects planned, including a book-length manuscript about a largely forgotten but important newspaper editor.

Fun fact about yourself: During the pandemic, I’ve been volunteering with a local music venue in Duluth to help produce live-streaming performances on YouTube.

Clio Book Q & A- Stephen Bates

Name: Stephen Bates

University Affiliation and Position: Associate Professor, Greenspun School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Book Title: An Aristocracy of Critics: Luce, Hutchins, Niebuhr, and the Committee That Redefined Freedom of the Press

1. Describe the focus of your book. 

It’s a book about the Commission on Freedom of the Press, known as the Hutchins Commission, and its 1947 report, A Free and Responsible Press.I trace the origins of the project, the biographies of the people involved, the development of their ideas, and the public response to the report, as well as why it mattered then and why it matters now.

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

When I read A Free and Responsible Press in the 1990s, I was struck by its prescient and eloquent analysis of the role of the news media in a liberal democracy. The book is part of the canon in schools of journalism. I think it should be known more widely, as the product of the greatest collaboration of American intellectuals in the 20th century.

3. What archives or research materials did you use?

The Hutchins Commission generated thousands of pages of memos, drafts of books, and transcripts of deliberations; several universities have more or less full sets. In the transcripts, one can see preeminent thinkers grappling with fundamental issues of philosophy and policy. A second crucial collection was the Time Inc. internal files, which I was able to consult at the Time offices; the files are now at the New-York Historical Society. Henry R. Luce principally funded the Hutchins Commission, and I think I was the first to see his handwritten annotations, mostly unfavorable, on a draft of A Free and Responsible Press. In all, I visited nearly twenty archives, thanks in part to a Senior Scholar Grant from AEJMC.

4. How does your book relate to journalism history? How is it relevant to the present?

A Free and Responsible Press is a classic, but it’s the work of a group of people who didn’t fully agree, so it embodies a lot of compromises as well as a handful of contradictions. The dialogues in the Hutchins Commission’s transcripts and memos are more incisive, with the members explaining and defending their positions. Along the way, they discuss many now-timely topics, most of which don’t appear in the report: political polarization exacerbated by a partisan press, foreign and domestic groups trying to manipulate public opinion, the perils of demagoguery and authoritarianism, and the value of media-literacy training.

5. What advice you have for other historians working/starting on book projects?

This may be obvious, but I found it helpful: Like many researchers, I ended up with enough material for a thousand-page book that nobody would want to read. I was able to keep it fairly short (224 pages plus notes) without much heartache by publishing the outtakes as freestanding articles.

Bates’ book won the Goldsmith Award from the Shorenstein Center:

An Aristocracy of Critics: Luce, Hutchins, Niebuhr, and the Committee That Redefined Freedom of the Press

Member News Round-Up: Rachel Grant, Cayce Meyers, Elisabeth Fondren, Teri Finneman, Will Mari, Owen Johnson, Joe Saltzman

Rachel Grant (University of Florida) won the top paper in the International Communication Association’s Ethnicity and Race in Communication Division, with co-authors Raegan Burden and Spenser Cheek. Their paper, “I Am Speaking:” 2020 VP Nominee Kamala Harris’s Impact of Black Feminism as Social Influencers on Twitter,” will be presented at ICA’s conference in May. ica21-printprogram.pdf (ymaws.com)


Cayce Myers’ (Virgina Tech University) essay, “The Legal Legacy of 9/11,” was published online in February with Journalism History, as part of its series of essays on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Cayce is vice chair of the AEJMC History Division. Myers Essay: The Legal Legacy of 9/11 – Journalism History journal (journalism-history.org)


Elisabeth Fondren (St. John’s University) appeared as a guest on the Journalism History Podcast, in the episode, “The Great War Through the Lens,” with host Teri Finneman. Fondren talked about the work of World War 1-era photographer Percy Brown.  Fondren Podcast: The Great War Through the Lens – Journalism History journal (journalism-history.org)


Teri Finneman (University of Kansas) and Will Mari’s (Louisiana State University) pandemic oral-history project was featured on Poynter.org, as written up and presented by Kristen Hare, “The Essential Workers.” Oral history: How journalists in mid-America became essential workers during the pandemic – Poynter

Owen V. Johnson’s (Indiana University) essay “The Press of Change: Mass Communications in Late Communist and Post-Communist Societies,” originally published in 1992 in Adaptation and Transformation in Communist and Post-Communist Systems, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), has recently been republished in a Routledge edition of the book. His study was funded by a research grant from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research.

Joe Saltzman (University of Southern California) chaired a panel on the Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Popular Culture at the AEJMC Public Relations Division virtual conference on Friday, February 26. He produced a special video showing excerpts from films and TV shows from 1901 to 2019. He also recently delivered three lectures to 40 Chinese students in China on the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture. 

Check in from the chair

Hi everyone,

My social-media feeds are filled with hope, for once, as friends and family not only start to get their vaccines, but finish their second doses, and more folks become eligible every day. Even though our 2021 conference is virtual, I am also feeling increasingly confident that we’ll be in Detroit next year and back to a new kind of normal by the end of this fall.

But there have been some really ugly events over the past couple of months that we as media historians need to meditate on and respond to. The first is the racist attack in Atlanta that killed eight people, include six Asian Americans. Your division leadership denounces this senseless violence and we affirm the life and dignity of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), many of whom we count as valued colleagues and friends. For more on how to help proactively, check out groups like Stop AAPI Hate and AAPI Women Lead.

The past year has been full of violence, from the murder of George Floyd last summer to the Jan. 6 attach on the U.S. Capitol and the shooting (last week as I write this) in Boulder, Colorado. It can be hard to know what to do, as scholars. We can and should roundly condemn these acts of violence and repression, but we should then use our classrooms and our scholarship to confront the endemic issues that cause them.

I had an opportunity to talk briefly about this with Dr. Rachel Grant, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, and our Clio newsletter editor, who does vital research on race, social movements, social justice, and Black feminism, often through a media-historian’s lens. She encouraged me to call on the allies of Black and Indigenous people, along with other historically underrepresented groups, to stand with and support them.

Having courageous conversations with students in the classroom, whether it be via Zoom, a hybrid format, or in person, is a lot easier to write about than to do. While I try to foster a dynamic, healthy space for hard topics, like the baked-in history of racism in American institutions like journalism or the military, I of course fall short. I don’t always know what to say, how to create a safe space for conversation, or how to help students discuss these topics when confronting institutional racism makes me uncomfortable as well.  

But just because it’s hard or awkward doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. I encourage our members to engage head on with current events, using the crucial context of history. We have some good resources on our division page (and that will migrate to our new site), but other sites and organizations that might help with teaching the media history of systematic racism include Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, the Organization for American Historians, and Blackpast.org. 

Finally, I would also urge you to read, cite and teach the work of our own members – especially members from historically underrepresented groups – who study these issues.

With our conference, I am hoping for a good showing of research on issues and representation, and want to thank our reviewers for their help, in advance. This column may not appear before the deadline, but I also want to thank those who submitted their work this year amidst really trying circumstances. I also wanted to encourage you, too, that if you just did not have the bandwidth to do so, to please continue your membership and to submit next year.

Please reach out to our research chair, Dr. Maddie Liseblad, at maddie madeleine.liseblad@mtsu.edu, if you have a question about the paper competition (or just to thank her for all she does!).

We will have more information on our conference programming once we get through the judging process, but Cayce and I are excited about we already have in store. We’ll be in touch with further details as we get them.

Don’t forget to join our more secure, revamped Facebook group, “History Division,” if you haven’t had the chance to do so.

Please reach out to me at wmari1@lsu.edu, wtmari@gmail.com, or @willthewordguy, on Twitter, if you need anything or have any questions or suggestions.

#mediahistorymatters and so do you—please continue to stay safe, and we’ll be in touch again soon.