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Earnest Perry named president of AJHA

Birmingham, Ala. – Earnest Perry was recently named president of the American Journalism Historians Association during the organization’s 29th annual meeting in Birmingham. >> for more

AJHA issues four research grants

The American Journalism Historians Association recently awarded four research grants of $1,250 each to scholars with distinguished and creative research agendas in media history. >> for more

AJHA taps Betty Winfield for Kobre Award

Birmingham, Ala. – The American Journalism Historians Association recently honored Betty Winfield with the prestigious lifetime Sidney Kobre Award at its 29th annual meeting in Birmingham in recognition of her exemplary achievements in journalism history. >> for more

Ford Risley takes AJHA book award

Birmimgham, Ala. – The American Journalism Historians Association recently honored Ford Risley with its 2009 Book Award at its 29th annual meeting in Birmingham. Risley was recognized for his book, Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery, published by Northwestern University Press. >> for more

Earnest Perry named president of AJHA

Earnest Perry was recently named president of the American Journalism Historians Association during the organization’s 29th annual meeting in Birmingham.

Perry is an associate professor and chair of the journalism studies emphasis area at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. Perry has served as chair of the AJHA book award and awards committees and as a member of the board of directors.

Perry said his organizational goals include helping AJHA members get their research recognized and disseminated throughout higher learning and promoting the importance of journalism and mass communication history in the curriculum.

“One of the biggest challenges for this upcoming year will be helping members in the organization to basically maintain the journalism history curricula that we have at universities throughout the country, especially with economic cuts,” Perry said. “I’ll also be helping members with their research and promoting their research, so that it can be used in the classroom and in other research endeavors.”

Perry's research interests focus on African-American press history and media management. He received a second-place award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2002 for his paper on the African-American press' negotiation for a White House correspondent.

Perry earned his bachelor’s degree at Texas Christian University after which he joined the Columbia Missourian as a city editor. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Missouri. Perry worked as a reporter for newspapers in Illinois, Connecticut and Texas before becoming a journalism professor. He has also served as a consultant to news outlets in Texas and Missouri on issues such as newsroom management, reporting in ethnic minority communities, news writing and editing.

The organization will hold its next annual meeting in Tucson, Ariz., in October 2010. Founded in 1981, the American Journalism Historians Association seeks to advance education and research in mass communication history. Through its annual convention, regional conferences, committees, awards, speakers and publications, members work to raise historical standards and ensure that all scholars and students recognize the vast importance of media history and apply this knowledge to the advancement of society.

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AJHA issues four research grants

The American Journalism Historians Association recently awarded four research grants of $1,250 each to scholars with distinguished and creative research agendas in media history.

Recipients are Frank E. Fee, Jr., an associate professor at University of North Carolina; Barbara Friedman, an assistant professor at University of North Carolina; Kimberly Voss, an assistant professor at University of Central Florida; and Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray, a professor and a visiting scholar, respectively, at University of Pittsburgh.

Fee’s research addresses the Trans-Atlantic fight against slavery.

Friedman’s work explores the maternal role of the First Lady through the mass media. Voss’s grant will support a multi-media encyclopedia for the teaching and research of women in journalism history.

The Zborays plan to study southern newspaper readers during the Civil War. Janice Hume, chair of the selection committee, said she was pleased that AJHA is able to support such a wide array of important topics in media history. “Each of these scholars has a proven track record in high-quality scholarly research, and I'm looking forward to learning the results of these new studies,” she said.

The American Journalism Historians Association, founded in 1981, fosters research and teaching of journalism history. Through its annual convention, regional conferences, committees, awards, speakers and publications, members work to raise historical standards and ensure that all scholars and students recognize the vast importance of media history.

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AJHA taps Betty Winfield for Kobre Award

The American Journalism Historians Association recently honored Betty Winfield with the prestigious lifetime Sidney Kobre Award at its 29th annual meeting in Birmingham in recognition of her exemplary achievements in journalism history.

Winfield is the University of Missouri Curator’s professor in the School of Journalism, where she has been on the faculty since 1990. She is also an adjunct professor in the university’s Department of Public Affairs and an affiliated professor in the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs. Before becoming a member of Missouri’s faculty, she was a professor of Communication and American Studies at Washington State University. She has held post-doctoral fellowships at the Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University (1991) and the Gannett Center for Media and Politics at Columbia University (1988-1989).

“The award is a public recognition by her peers of her outstanding research and contributions to scholarship in her field,” Eugenia Palmegiano, the AJHA awards committee chair, said.

In accepting the award, Winfield said, “I am making a plea that there’s a place for journalism historians. We know media history; we know American history. When the mass media make these historical references we can silently compliment them, or we can say that they’re wrong.”

Winfield has written four books and published 13 book chapters and two monographs, one of which received the annual Covert Award in mass communication history from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for the best history article or chapter published in the previous year. She has also given numerous scholarly lectures and competitive papers on mass media history and White House communication. In 2008, she received AJHA’s inaugural teaching excellence award.

AJHA president Earnest Perry said that Winfield “represents exactly the kind of recipient the award is intended to honor -- a faculty member whose lifetime of achievement has benefited the profession of media history as a whole.”

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Ford Risley takes AJHA book award

The American Journalism Historians Association recently honored Ford Risley with its 2009 Book Award at its 29th annual meeting in Birmingham. Risley was recognized for his book, Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery, published by Northwestern University Press.

Risley is head of the department of journalism at Penn State University. His research centers on mass media history, especially antebellum and Civil War journalism. In addition to his most recent book, he is the author of The Civil War: Primary Documents on Events from 1860 to 1865, as well as numerous scholarly articles. He is a past president of AJHA and served on the association’s board of directors.

Rich Kaplan, chair of the AJHA Book Awards Committee that selected Risley’s work, said the book uniformly received praised from the judges. One judge declared it “an elegantly written, re-examination of history through the eyes of the American Abolitionist Movement.”

The Book Award is given annually to the best journalism or mass media history published during the previous year.

Founded in 1981, the American Journalism Historians Association seeks to advance education and research in mass communication history. Through its annual convention regional conferences, committees, awards, speakers and publications, members work to raise historical standards and ensure that all scholars and students recognize the vast importance of media history and apply this knowledge to the advancement of society.

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