Helen Thomas dies at 92

Helen Thomas, the dean of White House reporters who broke down barriers for women in journalism, died today at the age of 92.  For decades, Thomas sat on the front row at presidential press conferences and asked the first or second question.  Her pointed queries often bothered the occupants of the White House, but Thomas just said she was doing her job. "I respect the office of the presidency,” she told Ann McFeatters for a profile in Ms. magazine, “but I never worship at the shrines of our public servants. They owe us the truth.”

There are many outstanding obituaries of Thomas today; one of the best, with a gallery of old photographs, is in the Washington Post.

Technology posing challenges for archives

A story in the New York Times describes how new technology is transforming the work of historians and other researchers using archives.  The technology is improving productivity and helping researcher to be more collaborative.

But, as the story points out, "the transformation has also disrupted many of the world’s historical archives, long known as sleepy places distinguished by vast and often musty collections of documents that only rarely saw the light of day. It has also created new challenges for protecting intellectual property and threatened revenue streams from document copying, creating financial challenges for some institutions."

College repeats as national champions

The College of Communications has captured back-to-back national championships in the William R. Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program.

The college finished first in intercollegiate writing; second in photojournalism; third in broadcasting; and fifth in multimedia. The college captured seven individual top-10 student finishes in writing; three individual top-10 finishes in photojournalism; two individual top-10 finishes in broadcasting; one individual top-10 finish in multimedia; and two groups of students earned top-10 finishes in the multimedia team competition.

Congratulations to all the outstanding students--and faculty--who made this another memorable year for the College of Communications.

Addendum to byline story

Joe Campbell has pointed out that, according to one scholar, some writers put their names on newspaper stories as early as the mid-1830s. In my own reading of newspapers of that era, I have not seen writer's names on stories, but I trust that is the case. So to say that the the byline was "born" during the Civil War is not accurate.

It is worth noting, I believe, that during the Civil War no reporters put their names on stories for various reasons until General Joseph Hooker's order.  The reason for the order--that writers should be held responsible for what they wrote--is what I would argue is significant about the event.

In any case, I apologize for being misleading in my account and want to set the record straight.

Marathon runner now a photo icon

The Washington Post has an interesting story this week about how the runner captured in the Boston bombing photograph has joined the ranks of history's icons. The runner, Bill Iffrig, 78, of Lake Stevens, Wash., is now part of a group that includes the firefighter from Oklahoma City and the young woman at Kent State, among others.

As the story notes, “Historically, the photographs we tend to remember are not the ones that capture the whole of a tragedy — a broad battlefield — but the ones that depict the personal effects of one . .  .” A single image of a single person “can be tremendously evocative and distill the essence of a tragedy,” says Ann Shumard, the curator of photographs for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. “To focus on just one person in the midst of all this swirling chaos — I think that’s probably the first step to coming to terms with what has happened.”

Iffrig did not see the photograph until several days after the bombing. He had seen on the news the widely circulated video of him falling, and he knew that a lot of people wanted to interview him. But he had not seen the photograph until a gate agent at the airport pulled him aside and said, “I have something for you.” Like others captured in tragic events, he doesn't know what to make of his new place in history. But he certainly has a place.

Birth of the byline

Here's my account of the birth of the byline during the Civil War, published in the "Disunion" blog of the New York Times. The blog, which uses contemporary accounts, diaries, and images, is one of the best places to read about various aspects of the Civil War as it unfolded 150 years ago. I'm proud to have contributed two articles to it.

A great visit to the University of Mobile

Thanks to Lonnie Burnett and the good folks at the University of Mobile for their warm hospitality during my visit last week. I gave the university's annual Hinson Lecture and the title of my talk was "Blue and Gray in Black and White: Civil War Journalism." I enjoyed talking to students, faculty and residents, including members of the Civil War Roundtable.