Spring 2013 I Vol. 47, No. 3 ONLINE http://aejmc.net/history

AMONG INSIDE THIS ISSUE THE MEDIA

Newsletter of the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Notes from the Chair Voss writes about finding historical Why Media History Matters gems on social media. See page 4. Lisa M. Burns Every few years, my On the 2010 National Assessment of Educa- Chair colleagues in the School tional Progress test, only 12% of high school of Communications at seniors scored high enough to be considered Call for Papers, Reviewers Quinnipiac University “proficient” in history. Younger students fared AEJMC I PAGE 2 are asked, usually by an slightly better, with 17% of eighth graders administrator, to review and 20% of fourth graders rating as profi- the core classes that we cient. But given that many standardized tests, The History Division require of all majors. including the SATs, do not “test” historical Membership survey I PAGE 2 These discussions are often knowledge and the increased focus on math prompted by a desire to and science starting in middle school, it is not cut one of the four classes surprising that American students know so Quinnipiac Univ. “Just Do It” Socially – Introduction to Media, little about history even though it is a subject PF&R column I PAGE 4 Introduction to Media they take throughout their elementary and Writing, Media Law, and Media History – in secondary education. Most American adults order to make room for something else. When wouldn’t fare much better if they were quizzed Call for Award Nominations this happens, a knot develops in my stomach on their historical knowledge. Anyone who and my mind starts racing because I know I has seen Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” segments or AJHA I PAGE 5 will be faced with fighting to keep our Media the game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth History course in the core. Grader? can attest to this fact. I am sure that many of you have been in What does this lack of historical knowl- The Epistemology of iPhone similar situations. In fact, I recognize how edge mean for American society? In a New Teaching column I PAGE 6 lucky we are at Quinnipiac to have a required York Times op-ed titled “In Ignorance We undergraduate media history course when Trust,” author Timothy Egan talks about the many of you have to haggle with your col- marginalization of history. He cites David leagues just to offer a history course as an McCullough’s argument that younger genera- The History Division elective. While the benefits of a media history tions of Americans are “historically illiter- Website refinement I PAGE 8 course are obvious to us, too often we find ate.” Today’s students find history boring or ourselves having to explain to administrators, irrelevant to their lives. They don’t recognize colleagues, and students why media history that “the only thing new in the world is the Connect with Graduate Peers matters. I’d like to share some of my argu- history you don’t know,” to quote Harry Tru- Graduate liaisons I PAGE 9 ments in this article, but I also ask for your man, or appreciate William Faulkner’s famous help in building a strong case for media his- contention that “the past is not dead – it is tory’s place in the curriculum. not even past.” This historical ignorance could Radio Utopia The Stats. Statistics are the first thing many have serious implications if we believe George Book excerpt I PAGE 11 people go to as evidence to support their Santayana’s famous warning that “those who claims, especially in this age of educational cannot remember the past are condemned assessment. When it comes to history educa- to repeat it.” What is truly frightening to me tion in the U.S., the statistics are staggering. is that many students, and adults, probably See Burns I Page 3 2 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA 2013 AEJMC CONFERENCE History Division Call for Papers and Reviewers The History Division invites submissions of original research papers and historiographical essays on all aspects of media history for the AEJMC 2013 convention in Washington, D.C. All research methodologies are welcome. Papers will be evaluated on originality and importance of topic; literature review; clarity of research purpose; focus; use of evidence to support the paper’s purpose and conclusions; and the degree to which the paper contributes to the field of journalism and mass communication are encouraged to read the Uniform Paper receiving departmental travel grants are history. The Division presents awards for Call for detailed submission information. eligible for these grants. the top three faculty papers. The organization’s website is www.aejmc. Call for Reviewers: If you are willing Papers should be no more than 25 org. to review papers for the History Division double-spaced pages, not including notes Student Papers: Undergraduate and research competition, please contact or appendices. Multiple submissions to graduate students enrolled during the Kathy Roberts Forde at [email protected] the Division are not allowed and only 2012-13 academic year may enter the and indicate your areas of expertise and/ one paper per author will be accepted Warren Price Student Paper Competition. or interest. We will need approximately 75 for presentation in the History Division’s The Price Award recognizes the History reviewers for the competition. Graduate research sessions. Authors should Division’s best student paper and is named students are not eligible to serve as also submit a 75-word abstract. The for Warren Price, who was the Division’s reviewers and, in general, reviewers should author’s name and all other identifying first chair. Student papers should include not have submitted their own research information must be removed from a separate cover sheet that indicates their into the competition. submissions. student status but omits the author’s name Contact Information: For more Papers must be electronically submitted or other identifying information. Students information, contact History Division using the services of All-Academic; the who submit top papers are eligible for Research Chair Kathy Roberts Forde website is www.allacademic.com. The small travel grants from the Edwin (University of South Carolina) at deadline is 11:59 P. M. (Central Daylight Emery Fund. Only full-time students not [email protected] or 803-708-2272. Time) Monday, April 1, 2013. Authors

Division releases its online membership survey

Kristin A 10-question online survey released in February the website, newsletter and listserv. “We are excited Gustafson will help the History Division identify, cultivate to hear from our members through the survey and and expand our membership. expand our reach in the years ahead.” Each one of the Division’s nearly 400 members The survey invites members to review and are encouraged to take five minutes to complete the prioritize the History Division’s goals. It provides survey: https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/ a venue for current members to suggest potential gustaf13/191807. Results will be published in new members or to volunteer for the AEJMC Clio’s summer 2013 issue and available at the mentor program in August. Survey results will AEJMC convention in Washington, D.C. provide a better understanding of the membership’s “History scholarship for media and research areas and publishing patterns, and the Membership communication is more important than ever,” said Division can use the data to gain insight into Chair Kathy Roberts Forde, the History Division’s vice how people use the Clio newsletter and the Univ. of Washing- head and research chair. She said that in recent online Media History Exchange (http://www. ton-Bothell years, the Division increased its presence through mediahistoryexchange.org). 3 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA

Burns in its own history with today’s direc- Holocaust). As media educators, we Continued from Page 1 tors, screenwriters, and actors drawing need to impress upon our students how inspiration from their predecessors. For their work may impact history and the Why Media History Matters example, Quentin Tarantino has built responsibility that comes with having do not know anything about the three his career on paying homage to past such influence. historical figures I just quoted. cinematic genres. Django Unchained’s The Jeopardy Defense. I always tell Those of us who teach media history twist on the classic western mirrors Tar- my media history students that, by the can help to stem the tide of historical antino’s earlier tributes to kung fu (Kill end of the semester, they will do much illiteracy. Many students find history Bill), horror (Grindhouse), and Black- better on Jeopardy thanks to my class (I more interesting when it is viewed sploitation (Jackie Brown). have a very long list of Jeopardy ques- through the lens of the media. Mean- For our graduates to succeed in the tions related to things covered in my while, the popularity of historical competitive media industries, they need course to prove it). While this focus on movies and period television programs a solid foundation in the history of trivia might seem trivial to some, my is proof that American adults aren’t their professions. Media history courses, definition of an educated person is a completely adverse to all things histori- whether they are general or focused on well-rounded individual who is familiar cal. The media, and media historians, a specific industry/profession, provide with a variety of subjects, including his- help to bring history to life. students with the background they need tory, politics, and pop culture. We cover Those of us who teach media history can help to stem the tide of historical illiteracy. Many students find history more interesting when it is viewed through the lens of the media. Meanwhile, the popularity of historical movies and period television pro- grams is proof that American adults aren’t completely adverse to all things historical. The media, and media historians, help to bring history to life.

Preparing Media Professionals. The to be informed practitioners. such a wide range of topics in media various media industries have their own History is Happening. A related history that the classes become interdis- rich histories that continue to inform point is making students aware of the ciplinary without necessarily meaning current practice. I contend that media power media professionals have to shape to be. Some students tell me that they history courses are an important part of history. This is especially true for jour- learned more about history in my media professional education. While Edward nalists who cover history as it happens. history class than they have in other R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite have Their stories will not only inform their courses because the media angle makes become relics of a bygone era, they still immediate audiences, but may be used things more interesting. As educators, have important lessons to teach today’s to help future generations learn about we should want our students to be broadcast journalism students about important people and events. Walter well-prepared for life as well as for their things like journalistic integrity and the Cronkite’s announcement of JFK’s professions. If they feel more comfort- power of TV news. Many of the topics death is part of our collective memory able at cocktail parties or family dinners muckrakers wrote about are important of the assassination, just as Bob Wood- because they understand a historical social issues that journalists and docu- ward and Carl Bernstein will always be reference and can participate in the con- mentarians are still investigating today. associated with Watergate. Even when versation, we have performed a valuable Public relations practitioners are still journalists do not become part of the service. And who knows, they could also using some of the very same techniques story, their coverage of events like 9/11 earn big bucks on Jeopardy some day. developed by Ivy Lee and Edward or the Newtown shootings become part For all of these reasons, I believe Bernays. Musicians are constantly of the historical record. that media history matters and that it referencing artists and styles of the past, Other media professions also have is an important part of a communica- whether it’s the Motown-vibe of Justin the power to impact how we view his- tion curriculum. Now I just need to Timberlake’s new album or the folk mu- torical events. BP’s corporate response convince my colleagues. I welcome your sic roots of Mumford & Sons. Students to the Gulf oil spill or Carnival Cruise help in this constant battle that we all planning careers in the music industry Line’s handling of their recently strand- must wage in defense of media history. I need to understand these connections ed ship will become case studies for fu- will be posting a thread on the AEJMC or else face embarrassing themselves like ture PR practitioners. A filmmaker like History Division Facebook page. Please the American Idol contestants who don’t Steven Spielberg has the ability to shape share your favorite arguments for why know the words to classic songs like people’s memories of historical figures media history matters. “My Girl.” The film industry is steeped (like Lincoln) and events (WWII, the 4 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA

Professional freedom & Responsibility “Just Do It” Socially

Kimberly In the previous communicate with students. Wilmot Voss newsletter, I advocated While you are on Facebook, note the for journalism great historical resources. The Museum educators to use of American History posts great images social media as a to its Facebook Page. Recently, it form of professional included Rosa Parks’ arrest records on development. I the 100th anniversary of her birth and believe the best way the actual menu for President Abraham to understand the Lincoln’s second inaugural ball. future of journalism Look for local or niche history PF&R Chair is to engage in the organizations that may have a presence University of communication itself. on Facebook. For example, I regularly Central Florida As a reminder, engage in the Facebook group “Historic digital and social Florida,” which is where I found a great media are not going away. It is neither image for a conference presentation. I I found this image of Miami Herald food a phase nor a passing trend. We must have added my own images to the page. editor Jeanne Voltz on her daughter’s adjust if we are to properly educate our Twitter is also easy to pick up on, Facebook page. Voltz is getting ready to journalism students. Texting is more although it overall has less privacy fly with the USN Blue Angeles in Miami in 1956. (Used with permission) than 20 years old. More than half of than Facebook. Many historical and all Americans use at least one social journalism groups consistently use has great Pinterest boards with several media site.1 Sixty-six percent of online Twitter. Michael Fuhlhage at Auburn connections to history – including the adults say they use Facebook, and 40 has posted about some interesting image of a 1960s-era UPI wire service percent of cell phone owners use a social Twitter assignments regarding machine that is included on this page. networking site on their phone.2 journalism history. If you would rather stick to a So, how do you get started? In the Many social media sites are visual more professional use of social media, words of a Nike copywriter: Just Do It. in nature – which makes them a great give Academia.edu a try. It is a great If you are brand new to social media, resource for historians. The Newseum way to both increase the diversity of I would start with Facebook. There are your literature reviews and to make Facebook pages for both AJHA and the conference connections. Last Spring, History Division of AEJMC. Let those I found an NCA panel through of us on social media know that you Academia.edu. have joined and you will quickly gain History blogs remain popular. One some journalism history friends. Social of my favorites is James McPherson’s media is in large part about building Media & Politics Blog. I have been audience. blogging at Women’s Page History for It is important to remember that this the past four years. I began a Facebook is a social tool so you have to set your page for it last September and saw a parameters. It is always good to have significant increase in traffic to my strong privacy settings. You should also blog. I was interviewed by a Columbia decide what your policy is for being Journalism Review reporter this past Facebook friends with students. I wait week about my blog. until after a student has graduated This 1960s-era UPI wire service machine If you are interested in learning about but others regularly use Facebook to was found on Newseum Pinterest board. how to write short and generating a

See Voss I Page 5 5 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA Voss looking meal? Take a picture with Continued from Page 4 Instagram. And, don’t forget that social Social Media media is social – friend, follow and join. My next column will address some of to Get Started “Just Do It” Socially the best uses of social media by archives and history organizations. Academia.edu following, I would recommend Poynter. org. It has a wealth of resources (many Linkedin are free) for using social media. 1. Somini Sengupta, “Half of Some people note that they don’t America Using Social Networks,” New Twitter have time. I counter – make the time. York Times, August 26, 2011. Facebook The next time you update your CV, 2. Koanna Brenner, “Pew Internet: upload the presentation or paper to Social Networking,” Pew Research Pinterest Academia.edu and Linkedin. Waiting Center, November 13, 2012. http:// Storify in line? Time to re-Tweet or pin to a pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/ Pinterest Board. Traveling? Check-in March/Pew-Internet-Social- Instagram with FourSquare. Made an amazingly Networking-full-detail.aspx

American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA) Call for Award Nominations

The Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement to further significantly our understanding of, or our in Journalism History ability to explore, media history. Nominations are solicited annually, but the award is given only in The organization’s highest honor recognizes individuals exceptional situations. Thus, it is not given every with an exemplary record of sustained achievement year. Those making nominations for the award should in journalism history through teaching, research, present, at the minimum, a cover letter that explains professional activities, or other contributions to the the nominee’s contributions to the field as well as a field of journalism history. Award winners need not vita or brief biography of the nominee. Supporting be members of the AJHA. Nominations for the award letters for the nomination are also welcome. are solicited annually, but the award need not be given every year. Those making nominations for the award should present, at minimum, a cover letter that The deadline for both awards is Friday, May 10, explains the nominee’s contributions to the field as well 2013. Please send all material to: as a vita or brief biography of the nominee. Supporting letters for the nomination are also welcome. Mike Conway Indiana University School of Journalism The Distinguished Service to Journalism History Ernie Pyle Hall, Rm. 200 Award 940 E. 7th Street It recognizes contributions by an individual outside Bloomington, IN 47405 our discipline who has made an extraordinary effort [email protected] 6 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA

TEACHING STANDARDS The Epistemology of the iPhone: Wait a Minute, Mister (Neil) Postman Doug I assigned the movies on Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube. I carry around with me everywhere.” Cumming students in one of my In the background, they choose their Another student confessed trying to classes to keep a log music from an automated custom-genre avoid an awkward silence between of their individual service like Pandora. himself and a student in the elevator media consumption It is a little freaky trying to teach by taking out his new iPhone 5 and for a day or two. these students about mass media, a huge checking his email, for the seventh time One student worried subject that has suddenly miniaturized that morning in an hour. The other that she wouldn’t and coiled itself like the double helix of student did the same. And this is at a have much to record. DNA into those little devices I make small liberal arts college that prides itself Teaching Chair She called herself them turn off during class. on civility and “the speaking tradition,” Washington & a newspaper and magazine person and Lee University a TV-news watcher, This is the world our students inhabit today, so naming traditional media she consumed at home but had different from just a few years ago. They wake little time for while at college. But after completing her log, she realized with an alarm app, and they breathe digital that she was as hooked on the “instant gratification” of social media and mobile vapors all day long, whenever it is allowed, until phone apps as any of her peers. She had they drop off to sleep. They check Facebook, just come out of the “Dark Ages” when she got an iPhone for Christmas. And news headlines, Tumblr, email, Twitter, Instagram, already, she was dwelling in the speedy little thumb-tapping world that is Pinterest. They shop without going anywhere. mobile, digital, omnivorous, freely given and as addictive as a drug. They watch TV or movies on Netflix, Hulu, or When she and other freshmen females had to leave their mobile YouTube. In the background, they choose their phones in the dorms during rush parties music from an automated custom-genre service at sorority houses, she nearly had a “mini heart attack” feeling for her phone like Pandora. to check the time: A part of her was missing. It gave them all a “lost feeling” The students also realize there is a duty to say something in passing. to be without their phones, she said. something weird and amazing about In essays these 24 students wrote This is the world our students inhabit the world they navigate this way. They about their media-use logs, I notice today, so different from just a few years seem to have mixed feelings about it. some patterns: ago. They wake with an alarm app, One student said she walks to class 1. Keeping a log opened their eyes. and they breathe digital vapors all day every morning dodging people without They didn’t realize how engrossed they long, whenever it is allowed, until they looking up from the screen in the palm had become, particularly in mobile drop off to sleep. They check Facebook, of her hand. “I have mastered the art devices, until they had to keep a log news headlines, Tumblr, email, Twitter, of walking through campus while only hour-by-hour. Some were “amazed.” Instagram, Pinterest. They shop without looking up every 30 seconds thanks to One, having her father keep a log going anywhere. They watch TV or my hypnotizing fun-sized computer that for comparison, found the difference

See Cumming I Page 7 7 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA Cumming feeds. Most recognized that mobile news Continued from Page 6 and information can distract as much as illuminate. “Distracted from distraction by distraction,” as T.S. Eliot wrote in “Burnt Norton,” a 1936 poem that, The Epistemology eerily, blames such distraction on “this twittering world.” of the iPhone 4. Atonement for whatever sense of sin they may have lies in finding “drastic” in terms of time spent and type a more physical way of being in the AMONG THE MEDIA of media used. The students had been world. One student seemed to take aware of the fact that mass media are pride in being a mix of the old and Editor “inescapable” and “ever-present.” But as new, in that she goes places without Yong Volz one said, “I was quite unaware of just her cellphone and avoids e-books. “I University of Missouri how much I personally expose myself to relish the feeling of opening up a new different forms of media throughout the book and taking notes in the margins,” Designer day.” she writes. She worries about the next Yue Xi 2. You can’t beat it for convenience, generation losing “people skills.” In her University of Missouri relevance, fun, efficiency. . .any sociology class, she had read the book way you want to look at it. The by MIT’s Sherry Turkle Alone Together: Listserv Manager environment for this generation has Why We Expect More from Technology Kittrell Rushing been built to make consuming digital and Less from Each Other. Another University of Tenneessee- media inescapable, always there, Semper book-loving student said she prefers Chattanooga Wi-Fi. As time seems to accelerate every direct contact with people, so has no year, they appreciate the efficiency of smart phone. Clio Logo the technology. “The iPhone is the I share much of my students’ Nat Newsome single greatest utility tool I’ve ever excitement and amazement. I marvel Augusta State University encountered,” one student wrote. “It’s at the power of wiki-knowledge, the so efficient to use. . .slide it out of the light-speed of search engines, and right pants pocket with one hand. . the journalistic possibilities of social Clio Among the Media is published .press down on the top lock button media. But I wonder about the way our quarterly by the History with the index finger. . .check the screen students learn and know stuff under Division of the Association for for notifications. . .slide it back into this regime. Neil Postman, the late great Education in Journalism and Mass the pocket. Everything that I need to thinker about media, argued in Amusing Communication. do and know is essentially possible on Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse this sleek hand-sized piece of metal. in the Age of Show Business that TV Submissions to Clio are welcome. Everything.” presented a whole new epistemology For general items such as paper 3. The fun and functionality are – how we know and understand calls and research notes, please mixed, for some, with a sense of guilt. things – compared to the book-reading send them to Yong Volz at volzy@ Running through their essays was a tone and writing culture through which missouri.edu. For membership of confession. They have followed too knowledge, democracy and science updates to be included in “News & much the digital devices and desires had been developed for 500 years. Notes,” please send them to Kristin of their own hearts. Some labeled But digital information is something Gustafson, Membership Chair, at their own behavior as “addicted,” new again. It is print, radio, TV, [email protected] “wasted time,” and “stalking.” They conversation and the world’s libraries felt guilty about not reading books and and newspapers, all at once. What is Recent issues of Clio may be newspapers, although most felt they the epistemology of this alone-together accessed at http://aejmc.net/ were “keeping up” with the news in real world of our students today? I’d like to history/ time by browsing headlines and Twitter know. 8 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA Refinements and Expansion on the History Division Website

Keith The latest feature is the addition of a research. So far the page includes a few links for scholarly Greenwood contact form for communicating with resources like the JHistory listserv, the Media History division leadership. The contact form Exchange and AJHA along with Rob Rabe’s online bibli- supplements the list of officers with ography of mass communication history resources. There’s email addresses that was already on the a link to a First Amendment Timeline. For visual scholars site. The Officers page provides easy and teachers, I’ve added a link to the Center for Civil War access to email addresses if you want to Photography. send a message through an email client There are undoubtedly a lot more useful resources out or through webmail access. However, there. What are your go-to resources for journalism history? both those options require shifting to a Are there resources you point your students to in your online different program or browser window. course system? Are you looking for a resource on a particular Website Administrator The contact form simplifies the process topic? These links don’t have to be strictly historical resourc- Univ. of Missouri by allowing you to send a message es. Items that might help with teaching or research in general to a division officer from within the are useful too. site instead of transferring to another If every division member suggests even one link, we can window or application. really expand the list. Just send me the title of a suggested You’ll find the contact form by following the Contact Us resource, along with a URL and brief description. You can link in the menu bar of the website. To use the contact form, email suggestions to me at [email protected], or select the officer you wish to contact from the pulldown just use the contact form on the website. menu, then enter your name, email address, subject and message in the appropriate boxes. To prevent spam, you’ll also have to enter the Captcha code before sending your message. Another feature Rss Feeds can help you stay current when new content is added to the website. Two RSS feeds are available on the site, one for new entries and one for new comments. If you have an RSS reader application config- ured on your computer, you should be able to just click on the link for Entries RSS or Comments RSS in the right hand column of any page on the website. If you use Google Reader, or a comparable service that is not a stand-alone application, you can subscribe to a feed by entering its URL in the reader site. For new entries on the site, use the URL http://www.aejmc.net/history/?feed=rss2. To subscribe to the RSS feed for new comments to the site, use the URL http:// www.aejmc.net/history/feed=comments-rss2. With the structure of the site pretty well set, we can turn our attention to adding content that will make the site a more usable resource for division members. I’m thinking primarily of the Resource Section of the site. This section is meant to be a collection of useful tools for teaching and 9 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA Connect with Graduate Peers Carrie Isard and Annie Sugar

As the inaugural column for 2013, and with the AEJMC 2013 conference in Washington, DC coming into view on the hori- zon, we thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss in depth some strategies for connecting History Division graduate students, using some of our favorite tactics from our own experiences as graduate students in our respective programs. Our col- lective vision for 2013 is to create a cohesive and supportive group of history-minded emerging scholars who can come together at conferences and other times to share ideas, frustrations, tips, and the occasional beer…or two. With that in mind, here are some of our favorite ways of connecting with our peers, and some suggestions for how we envision the History Division benefit- ting from these tactics.

Carrie Isard As graduate caves to go to campus or the occasional glorious letters is just how lonely students with departmental event, we all feel as “disserting” can be. For the first few both packed though we know each other, even if weeks, as I tried to find my research and conflicting we’ve only “met” through the group. groove sifting through old issues of the schedules, it is The History Division Facebook Baltimore Afro-American and would often hard to group has functioned in a similar way; find something cool or unexpected, make plans to I have been able to re-connect with or a question popped into my head, connect face-to- friendly faces from AEJMC and AJHA I had the urge to share the gem with face, but in my through the group, and have benefitted someone, anyone, but I found my only program, Temple’s from the content posted by our regular captive audience was my dog. That’s Graduate Stu- Media and users. I think the best way to take when I started doing something that dent Liaison Communication, this group to the next level would be sounds pretty obvious but to me was Temple Univ. we’ve figured to organize a students-only subgroup a real breakthrough in the research out a way to -- an idea that’s been floating around process -- #tweetsearch. Most of my meaningfully connect with each other for a while -- where, in preparation Twitter followers are fellow graduate through social media. for the conference, we could all have students, people who are both just as Ugh…Facebook. As much as we all an informal introduction to each excited about the research process as hate to admit it, Facebook has become other, share our interests, help each I am, and also probably just as lonely one of the most pervasive and easiest other prepare our talks, and organize a as they work on their own projects. ways to keep in touch and network museum outing or two. Through tweeting about my research, I with family, friends, and colleagues. In #Tweetsearch. I’ve also found not only have found an effective way of my department, one of our students Twitter to be a useful tool for taking notes quickly (I have expanded took the initiative to set up a closed connecting with my peers, especially my hashtag repertoire to include Temple M&C group where we discuss during the dissertation process. I have individuals and themes), but I’ve been the program’s courses, policies and had my twitter account for about a able to connect with other graduate procedures, etc., and share literature, year, and I confess that for the first students who are as supportive of and information about conferences, swap nine months I spent most of my time interested in my work as I am in theirs. course books, and generally support in the Twitterverse retweeting pictures Again, I think the History Division each other. This has been one of the of cute animals. I had no idea how to could harness this method of social best and most useful tools for me utilize hashtags, attract followers (let networking to create a community of in that it is not only an information alone tweet at them), and because of graduate students who, despite often source, but it also functions as a my obvious verbosity, I could rarely being separated geographically, can truly cheering section and even a shoulder compose a tweet that did not exceed “be there” for each other during the to cry on. Because we are all linked to the 140-character limit. My twitter research process, both in the realm of the same group, we know each other account was simply another internet coursework and the dissertation process. by name, face, and posts, and so when time waster. I’m ABD now, and what I invite you to follow me at @DocScrap we do emerge from our respective no one tells you about those three to see how my tweetsearch unfolds! See Peers I Page 10 10 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA Peers Continued from Page 9 HISTORY Annie Sugar Like Carrie, release, a conference’s call for papers, I am active on announcement of records or recordings DIVISION Facebook, and released at an archive, or just something it is my primary clever on other blogs. OFFICERS social media Many archives, libraries, and outlet for my museums maintain Tumblrs, and 2012-13 private life. While following them proves very fruitful. personal does Many fellow academics and graduate brush up against students from all areas of study use Lisa M. Burns professional for the site, too, and are ready to discuss, Quinnipiac University Graduate Stu- me there on a share, collaborate, and commiserate. Chair dent Liaison limited basis, Like Twitter, it’s good company for Univ. of Colorado it’s more a fun the lonely researcher. I invite you Kathy Roberts Forde distraction than to check out and follow my blog at University of South Carolina one of academic contact. Like Carrie, mediachronicle.tumblr.com. If you are Vice Head I enjoy the connections I am able to unsure how to delve into this social make on the AEJMC History Division’s media site, please feel free to email me Yong Volz Facebook page and would like to see a for help. University of Missouri subpage for graduate students. Unlike Secretary / Clio Editor Carrie’s program at Temple, however, Let us hear from you. my program at CU-Boulder does not Of course, the best way to connect have a Facebook presence that allows with colleagues is on a personal basis, Kimberly Wilmot Voss me to connect with my fellow students so tell us what social media platforms University of Central Florida and share ideas, and so I have looked and other ways you use to get to know PF&R Chair elsewhere on the web for research and stay in touch with other graduate inspiration and opportunities. students interested in journalism Doug Cumming Tumbl’ing through time. I don’t use and mass communication history. Washington and Lee University Twitter. As a writer by nature, I find Perhaps you are using Instagram, or Teaching Standards Chair 140 characters too confining for me. Pinterest, or some other site we haven’t For me, the better fit has been Tumblr discussed. Perhaps you have another Kristin Gustafson – a blog-based social media platform idea altogether. Please send us your University of Washington, Bothell that allows users to use not just text ideas about what methods the History Membership Chair but images, video, and links of their Division should use to network our own creation as well as what they find graduate students and get them more Carrie Isard and share on Tumblr and elsewhere involved as the conference approaches. on the internet to express themselves. And we would love your input on Temple University Each blog is a patchwork quilt of the best way to get socialize when we Graduate Liaison Co-Chair interests and information. Tumblrs can are together in Washington, DC this be personal and scattershot in their August! DC is Annie’s old hometown, Annie Sugar content or created around a theme, so she can’t wait to show everyone University of Colorado, Boulder like an academic field. I have a Tumblr around! Graduate Liaison Co-Chair blog that I use to collect images, We welcome you to email us at ideas, and information about media Annie at [email protected] Keith Greenwood history, because I never know where and Carrie at [email protected] University of Missouri I will find inspiration for a research with your thoughts and hope to hear Website Administrator topic, information on a new book’s from you soon. 11 I Spring 2013 CLIO: AMONG THE MEDIA

BOOK EXCERPT Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest

Matthew C. Ehrlich

Matthew Ehrlich’s Radio Utopia (University of Illinois Press, 2011) examines the production of audio documentaries in post-war America. The book received the 2012 Tankard Book Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The following excerpt is taken from pp.1- 2 and 6-7.

It was the spring of 1945, so the at home. Norman Corwin story goes, and Edward R. Murrow had helped lead the way was holding court among a group of by airing installments of his colleagues in war-ravaged Europe. the series An American in During World War II, radio journalism England live via shortwave had come into its own. Murrow had from London. Shayon had helped assemble a celebrated group come to Europe as part of reporters for CBS, the so-called of a War Department- “Murrow boys,” most of whom were sponsored tour giving indeed men—Eric Sevareid, William other radio dramatists delinquency, slums, and race relations Shirer, Charles Collingwood, Howard firsthand knowledge of how the battle to venereal disease, atomic energy, and K. Smith, and others. Some from was progressing. Now the war was arms control. For a time, their efforts among that group were in the room ending, and Shayon listened as Edward were encouraged by the commercial with Murrow now, all of whom “had R. Murrow extolled his assembled broadcasting industry, which was made the antifascist cause their own, colleagues in Europe to carry on the under pressure from the Federal buoyed by a sense of unity at home,” as good fight back home: “We’ve seen what Communications Commission (FCC) one of Murrow’s biographers later put radio can do for the nation in war. Now to demonstrate that it was truly serving it. 1 let’s go back to show what we can do in the public interest. The head of the Also in the room was Robert Lewis peace!” 3 CBS Documentary Unit, Robert Heller, Shayon, one of several radio writers Radio Utopia is the story of what hailed the emergence of “a virtual and directors who had helped bolster happened next. Journalists joined Utopia for craftsmen who believe in 4 that sense of unity. Shayon said that dramatists in using radio to try to radio’s usefulness as a social force.” By the Depression had made him and remake America and the world for 1951, that “utopia” had evaporated as others “sensitive and sympathetic to the better. Murrow helped form the radio gave way to television, the war justice, social `causes,’ and reform.”2 CBS Documentary Unit with Shayon against fascism gave way to the cold That sensitivity had carried over to the as a member, and similar efforts war against communism, and many of war, during which he and his peers developed at the other networks. radio’s most acclaimed “craftsmen”— produced programs vilifying the enemy They produced programs advocating including Heller, Shayon, and abroad while warning against injustice action on everything from juvenile Corwin—landed in the pages of the red-

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Ehrlich of a utopia that never was. Such an authority as opposed to serving what Continued from Page 11 interpretation is less likely to see has been called the “democratic Murrow as a saint than as an overrated impulse at the heart of documentary, to “glory hog who played it safe, more let people speak for themselves.” 12 As baiting publication Red Channels, their puffery than paladin,” and as a figure for the decline of radio documentary careers never to be the same again. One could broadly interpret the story of postwar audio documentary in Postwar audio documentary did serve corporate a couple of ways, each resting on the concerns, at least for a time. That time would pass, notion that power trumps utopianism. The first interpretation would be of a and there would be tragic or at least disillusioning utopia that was lost, a golden age of consequences for some of the participants. invention, independence, and hope done in by greed and reactionaryism. The book’s title, Radio Utopia, thus can be read Norman Corwin recalled seeing friends ironically. Nevertheless, the title also can be taken “exiled, punished, jailed, ostracized” in earnest, for utopian sensibilities did underlie by the blacklist while witnessing the decline of his chosen medium of the era’s documentary. In his memoirs many years radio: “I had been riding a wonderful later, Shayon commented that contemporary charger—a beautiful horse, the saddle and equipage of which was furnished observers “who view the world with a more by a great network [CBS]—and that cynical realpolitik attitude” might find such an horse was shot out from under me.” 5 Robert Lewis Shayon, who became outlook hopelessly romantic. Still, it was genuine: a TV critic after leaving CBS, wrote “idealism in the flush of military triumph over upon the 1965 death of Edward R. evil—amid the sense that a new world was about Murrow that his “passing symbolized the end of a great adventure in to be born.” broadcasting,” even though “the broadcasting idealism that Murrow represented died many years ago.” 6 whose historical importance has been and the rise of the blacklist, both are The death of that idealism is a major greatly exaggerated. 9 Similarly, the unsurprising given broadcasting’s theme of Murrow’s biographers, with radio works of the era can be viewed cooptation by corporate America prior one ironically contrasting his death as not having aged well and as today to the war and its use as a propaganda in exile from journalism with his sounding “trite,” “overwrought,” instrument during the war itself, exuberant exhortation to his colleagues “awkwardly bombastic,” and filled whereas the postwar years saw the in Europe twenty years earlier: “Now with “unwitting condescension.” media harnessed in favor of a massive let’s go home to show what we can do 10 Although they condemned social surge in consumerism at same time in peace!” 7 Such accounts underscore prejudice, they “still kept the reins that liberal-minded efforts at media Murrow’s status as the “patron saint” of of communication in the hands of reform were squelched. 13 broadcast news and as a tragic, martyr- the white majority” that also largely Each of those two interpretations like figure.8 excluded women. 11 The earnest is valid in its way. Postwar audio A second broad interpretation public-affairs news programs to which documentary did serve corporate of postwar documentary would be they gave rise privileged journalistic concerns, at least for a time. That time

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Ehrlich Documentary,” in Radio and Television 1999). Continued from Page 12 Writing, rev. ed., ed. Max Wylie (New 12. Paddy Scannell, “`The Stuff York: Rinehart, 1952), 383. Heller’s of Radio’: Developments in Radio essay was first published in 1949, Features and Documentaries before would pass, and there would be tragic or at least disillusioning consequences prior to his listing in Red Channels and the War,” in Documentary and for some of the participants. The subsequent departure from CBS. the Mass Media, ed. John Corner book’s title, Radio Utopia, thus can 5. Norman Corwin interviewed by (London: Edward Arnold, 1986), be read ironically. Nevertheless, the Douglas Bell, Years of the Electric Ear 26. For a critique of the public affairs title also can be taken in earnest, for (Metuchen, N.J.: Directors Guild of documentary subgenre, see Patricia utopian sensibilities did underlie the America/Scarecrow, 1994), 135-36. Aufderheide, Documentary Film: A Very era’s documentary. In his memoirs 6. Robert Lewis Shayon, “Murrow’s Short Introduction (New York: Oxford many years later, Shayon commented Lost Fight,” Saturday Review, May 22, University Press, 2007), 56-65. that contemporary observers “who 1965, 94. 13. See Robert W. McChesney, view the world with a more cynical 7. Sperber, Murrow, 704. Telecommunications, Mass Media, and realpolitik attitude” might find such an 8. See Gary Edgerton, “The Murrow Democracy: The Battle for the Control outlook hopelessly romantic. Still, it Legend as Metaphor: The Creation, of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935 (New was genuine: “idealism in the flush of Appropriation, and Usefulness of York: Oxford University Press, 1993); military triumph over evil—amid the Edward R. Murrow’s Life Story,” Gerd Horten, Radio Goes to War: The sense that a new world was about to be Journal of American Studies 15.1 Cultural Politics of Propaganda during born.” 14 Whatever the shortcomings (1992): 75-91. See also W. Joseph World War II (Berkeley: University or limitations of the era’s programs and Campbell, Getting It Wrong: Ten of the of California Press, 2002); Elizabeth the people who created them, they were Greatest Misreported Stories in American Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise: rarely cynical. Even if the anecdote Journalism (Berkeley: University of The Business Assault on Labor and about Murrow urging his peers to show California Press, 2010), 45-67. Liberalism, 1945-1960 (Urbana: Americans what radio could accomplish 9. Thomas Doherty, Cold War, Cool University of Illinois Press, 1994); in the name of peace did not happen Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and Victor Pickard, “Media Democracy exactly the way it was described, the American Culture (New York: Columbia Deferred: The Postwar Settlement for record suggests that in fact the radio University Press, 2003), 162-63. For U.S. Communications, 1945-1949,” journalists and dramatists did do their one example of a broadcasting history Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois best to “show them.” that disputes Murrow’s importance, at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. see Douglas Gomery, A History of 14. Shayon, Odyssey in Prime Time, Broadcasting in the United States 91. (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2008). Notes 10. David Everitt, A Shadow of Red: 1. A.M. Sperber, Murrow: His Life Communism and the Blacklist in Radio (From RADIO UTOPIA. and Times (1986; reprint, New York: and Television (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Copyright 2011 by the Board Fordham University Press, 1998), 254. 2007), 194. of Trustees of the University of See also Stanley Cloud and Lynne 11. Michele Hilmes, Only Connect: Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press. Olson, The Murrow Boys (Boston: A Cultural History of Broadcasting in This material cannot be reprinted, Houghton Mifflin, 1996). the United States (Belmont, Calif.: photocopied, posted online or 2. Robert Lewis Shayon, Odyssey in Wadsworth, 2002), 133. See also Barbara Dianne Savage, Broadcasting distributed in any way without the Prime Time (Philadelphia: Waymark, written permission of the copyright Freedom: Radio, War, and the Politics of 2001), 12. holder.) 3. Qtd. in Sperber, Murrow, 254. Race, 1938-1948 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: 4. Robert P. Heller, “The Dynamic University of North Carolina Press,