Exploring the Lives of Newspaper Titans and War Correspondents
The Journalism History Podcast
The podcast allows media historians to spread their research beyond academic journals. Historians have a special perspective on events that shape our worldview.
This episode features Boston University professor Chris Daly discussing Joseph Pulitzer’s sensational crusades. We’ll also visit the Missouri History Museum in Pulitzer’s adopted hometown of St. Louis to talk with historian Jody Sowell.
Joseph Pulitzer
In the first of two episodes on newspaper titans who transformed American journalism, Nick Hirshon talks to journalist and historian Chris Daly about Joseph Pulitzer, whose life and work epitomized the liveliness, independence and crusading nature of a new order of journalistic enterprise. He then takes a virtual tour of the Missouri History Museum in Pulitzer’s adopted hometown of St. Louis with curator Jody Sowell.
Born in Mako, Hungary, Pulitzer grew up wealthy, thanks to his father’s grain business and his mother’s devout Catholic faith. Restless, the gangling youth sought a military career but was rejected for frail health and poor eyesight.
After a brief stint as an insurance agent, Pulitzer found his calling in the newspapers. He founded his eponymous New York World and then used technological advances to grow it into the nation’s largest daily newspaper. He also endowed Columbia’s prestigious school of journalism and created the Pulitzer prizes. The name Pulitzer is now synonymous with journalism of the highest standard.
Joy Jenkins
Joy Jenkins studies the history of journalism in the United States. Her research focuses on how changing organizational identities and practices shape journalists’ public service roles, and how journalistic narratives can spur civic engagement. Her work has appeared in multiple academic journals.
She is also a chef in her spare time, creating and managing various food experiences for clients throughout the year. Joy loves to experiment with different flavors, ingredients and cooking styles to develop unique meal experiences.
The mission of Journalism History is to reach a broader audience than academic journals and conferences can. The podcast provides a platform for historians of media to discuss their research with an audience that is more receptive to audio storytelling than textbook readings. It is also an excellent way to introduce the history of journalism to undergraduate students. The episodes are available in a wide range of podcast platforms. Moreover, the podcast offers a newsletter to keep listeners informed about the latest episodes.
Melissa Greene-Blye
This podcast explores a diverse range of topics and interviews with journalists of all backgrounds. It’s an excellent resource for students of journalism and media history.
As universities cut journalism history out of required classes, this show is a firm believer that it matters to future journalists and broader society. Listeners will learn about the history of journalism and how it influences our worldviews.
Melissa Greene-Blye: It’s important to understand that misrepresentation is a systemic issue that we’ve been dealing with for centuries and it’s still happening today. Stereotyping continues to leave Native people relegated to the past.
This podcast features a wide variety of episodes that are useful in teaching the history of journalism in the United States. Episodes explore a number of important issues, including the rise of public radio and the impact of technology on journalism. They also address topics such as the model minority myth, perpetual foreignness, and legacies of resistance.
Ernie Pyle
For our second episode in this series, we’ll turn to Ernie Pyle, who was one of the most beloved war correspondents ever. His dedication to describing the human side of war and the courage of ordinary soldiers remains an important influence on modern journalism.
He started his career as a staff reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There he learned to meet journalistic deadlines and write quickly, and later moved to aviation where he could hone his skills at telling stories.
By the time World War II was underway, he was already an established name. He wrote six columns a week, each of which had about 700 words. And he went on to travel the world and visit with troops. Amelia Earhart once said that any aviator who didn’t know Ernie Pyle was a nobody. His work preserved the lives of countless soldiers and reminded readers at home about their own personal connection to this important moment in history.
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