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/