A Word From the Chair: Shaping Archival Historical Truths

*Rachel Grant is the chair of the Media History Division*

As historians, much of our work and contributions to academia are focused on our use of archives. We rely on archives to find evidence of forgotten pasts, strengthen our understandings of identity, and enhance our theoretical frameworks. Archival research has the power to connect more people to our wider collective memory while broadly reimagining history for the current times.

  Despite the vital importance of archives as historical chronicles and resources, the truths they house are being erased for the sake of politics. Recent attacks on the education system deeply affect how we teach and for underrepresented individuals, affecting how they exist on campuses in a climate that often denies their identity and presence.  Because we study history, we have seen this happen time and time again, and we know the consequences of these decisions. 

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Member Q&A: April Newton

What is your current position(s)? Assistant Teaching Faculty, Loyola University Maryland, and PhD candidate at University of Maryland.

*April is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland*

What is your favorite class to teach? I have a couple of favorites but first and foremost is Media Ethics which I teach as a seminar course with a focus on exploring mass communication practices and ethics through a DEIJ lens. It is open to any student and a surprising number of students who are not Communications majors sign up every semester. As a result, the conversations are very dynamic and the energy in the room is always palpable. Students say it was a class where they learned a lot and felt involved in their learning process, and I always end up learning something new.

What is your current research project? My current research project is finishing my dissertation, an exploration of the experiences U.S.-based women journalists have with sexual harassment and sexual assault through their work, and their advice, given their personal exprience, to develop best practices for all journalists reporting on stories involving accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Fun fact about yourself? I can cook and it is one of my very favorite things to do. If I had to quit academia tomorrow and pick something new, I would cook like I was living a real life “The Bear,” making chaos menus for days.

AEJMC History Division Celebrates Fifty Years of Journalism History

The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is celebrating fifty years of continuous publishing of its journal, Journalism History. Published since 1974, Journalism History is well respected as the oldest peer-reviewed journal of mass media history in the United States.

“Journalism History has served as an excellent research journal for media historians to document the impact of mass media from various time periods, perspectives, and cultures,” said Rachel Grant (University of Florida), chairwoman of the History Division. “In a time where the importance of history is being questioned, the History Division is proud to promote quality research.”

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Journalism History Offers Grants to Stimulate Diversity Research

Journalism History, the journal of the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), is offering microgrant funding to encourage research relating to the intersection of diversity and media history. Proposed topics should incorporate any of the following or an intersection of the following with media history: race/ethnicity, gender/sexuality, class, religion, disability, mental health, and/or rural populations. Submissions related to public relations and advertising diversity history are also welcome.

To apply, write a one-page description of your research project proposal that includes a brief description of your budget. The maximum grant request is $1,250.

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AEJMC History Division Names Next Journalism History Editor

The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is pleased to announce that Dr. Perry Parks will be the next editor of its journal, Journalism History.

The History Division officers unanimously voted to accept the Publications Committee’s recommendation to select Parks, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University.

“Dr. Parks’ vision for the journal, his professional background, and his service commitment and research focus, make him the ideal person for moving Journalism History forward,” said Maddie Liseblad, chairwoman of the division’s Publications Committee. “He is a perfect fit for the position and a tremendous asset to our division.”

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Member News: Will Mari

Will Mari (LSU) won the Dr. Dimitrije Pivnick Award in Neuro and Psychiatric History, and with it conducted archival research at McGill University’s Osler Library of the History of Medicine, in July 2023. While there, he was also an invited visiting researcher at the Département de communication at the Université de Montréal.

A Word from the Chair: The Necessity of DEI in the Classroom and Beyond

Discussions about the state of mass media and U.S. history are continually contested — socially and politically. This often results in the removal of marginalized and disenfranchised communities from history, continuing the legacy of inequality that those historically oppressed groups know all too well.

As a Black woman in higher education, I am continually reminded of the erasure of my multiple identities, but I also think of my ancestors’ struggle. That public erasure, while difficult, gives me a greater appreciation of how my family’s everyday lives connect to key moments in Black history. Therefore, I truly believe I am Black History.

Understanding the depths of colorism and white supremacy within Alabama, upon his white father’s death, my great-great-grandfather fled for his life to Parkdale, Arkansas to escape from his white relatives.

Later in Little Rock, Arkansas, my great-grandmother worked as a maid in the state Capitol building.

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Member Q&A: Matt Cikovic

What is your current position and favorite class taught: I am a brand new teaching assistant professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It’s only my first semester here but my favorite class to teach so far has been multimedia storytelling. For some it’s their first experience making any sort of media in the journalistic form and it’s really gratifying to watch them grow in their confidence and capability.

What is your favorite journalism history scholarship that you’ve worked on so far: I got an article published during my Ph.D. that looked at the collective memory around the reporting of Fred Rogers’ famous congressional testimony to John Pastore in 1969. Examining how the current collective memory of the event grew out of the contemporary reporting of the time (and getting my first experience requesting and utilizing archival material) was a ton of fun!

Do you have any interesting projects in the pipeline: I’ve begun the arduous process of trying to prepare my recently defended dissertation for further publishing, hopefully as a book.

Fun fact about yourself: I got my start in media production (which ultimately led me here) making stop-motion LEGO short films as a kid.

Author Q&A: Jon Marshall

Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis (Potomac Books, 2022)

*Jon Marshall is an associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University*

Describe the focus of your book.

Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis examines the history of the shifting relationship between presidents and journalists from the founding of the United States until Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. The book explores the forces – technological, economic, political, and social – and the personalities that have led to the often-tumultuous current relationship between the news media and the White House. Clash focuses specifically on times of crisis during the presidencies of John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. They are the ones who I think shed the most light on how we arrived at this point of heightened tension.

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

Since a young age, I have been interested in how reporters covered the presidency. My first book, Watergate’s Legacy: The Investigative Impulse, focused heavily on the Nixon administration and the fate of investigative journalism afterward. After Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I wanted to understand the historical dynamics that shaped his interactions with reporters. People frequently said his relationship with the news media was unprecedented; and, in some ways, it was, but I also wanted to analyze the ways that precedents had been established during other administrations.

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Call for Editor – Journalism History

The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invites applications for editor of Journalism History.

Adopted as the official journal of the History Division in 2018, Journalism History is well respected as the oldest peer-reviewed journal of mass media history in the United States. Continuously published since 1974, this scholarly journal is a quarterly publication that features excellent scholarship on media history.

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