Michael S. Sweeney Becomes President of National Historians' Group

A Utah State University journalism professor has been named president of the American Journalism Historians Association.

           

Michael S. Sweeney assumed his duties directing the nation’s largest association of journalism history scholars and teachers in Cleveland Oct. 23 at the group’s annual convention.

 

Founded in 1981, the AJHA fosters research and teaching of journalism history and publishes the quarterly research journal American Journalism.

           

Sweeney said he plans to expand AJHA’s impact by seeking new ways to share scholarly information, including publishing abstracts of research papers on the Web and broadening contacts with other academic groups.

           

Media history has never been a more relevant topic for study, Sweeney said.

           

“Given the public concerns about media performance during the 2004 election campaign and the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, Americans’ understanding about the role of a free press in society can be enriched by the context of history,” Sweeney said. “For example, history holds many lessons about political attempts to manipulate the press and the public that are relevant today.”

           

Sweeney is a historian of wartime censorship and the author of four books, including Secrets of Victory, which chronicles American news media censorship of World War II, and From the Front, a history of combat journalism. For his most recent book, Return to Titanic, due out in November, he collaborated with Titanic discoverer and scholar Robert D. Ballard on a book about the exploration of Titanic wreck with remotely controlled submarines last summer.

           

“Professor Sweeney is among the foremost scholars of American press history —concerning censorship in particular,” said Ted Pease, head of Utah State’s department of journalism and communication. “His election to president of this important organization recognizes what we at Utah State already know: that Mike Sweeney is a leader with vision for the future of his field and a broad understanding of its historical context.”