Outlaws, Libby Custer and Technology: The Enduring Power of the Myth-Making Journalistic Narrative [Print This Page]
- Time: 12:15-1:30 p.m.
- Date: Thursday, Sept. 11
- Place: 100-A Reynolds Journalism Institute
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The news stories of the life and death of Jesse James, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow and General George Armstrong Custer are being told over and over. Transferred from the one-dimensional, black and white pages of late 19th century and early 20th century newspapers, the often heroic news narratives written about James, Barrow, Parker and Custer are even more compelling thanks to the pseudo-historical, technological power of movies. This session will use those news stories and Libby Custer's publicity-churning machine to show how such narrative forms became either so-called reliable sources for movies or part of public memory making. Modern movies and the print media continue to mirror the folklore and popular legend-making motifs found in bygone newspapers, raising questions whether such news narratives become more credible in the light of the silver screen.
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Moderator: Cathy M. Jackson
Assistant Professor
Norfolk State University
Cathy M. Jackson, PhD '04, teaches courses ranging from media writing and ethics to the history of the African-American newspaper industry and film at Norfolk (Va.) State University. She has published several articles on Jesse James, excerpted from her 2004 dissertation, The Making of an American Outlaw Hero: Jesse James, Folklore and the Late-Nineteenth-Century Print Media. Jackson's expertise on the outlaw won her the 2005 James-Younger Gang Milton Perry Award for Outstanding Research, in addition to an appearance on the PBS documentary Jesse James in 2006. Before pursuing a doctorate, Jackson taught journalism and mass media courses at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. Her career in newspapers included stints as a general assignment and features reporter at the Flint (Mich.) Journal and as a features reporter in the Oldsmar, Fla., bureau of the Tampa Tribune. She has freelanced for several publications, including ESSENCE Magazine, for which she wrote an article that earned her an invitation to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Discussion Leaders:
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Berkley Hudson
Assistant Professor
Missouri School of Journalism
A magazine and newspaper writer and editor for 25 years, Berkley Hudson teaches in the magazine journalism emphasis area at the Missouri School of Journalism. He earned an undergraduate degree in history and journalism at the University of Mississippi, a master's in journalism at Columbia University and a doctorate in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hudson's research interests include American media history, visual studies, interviewing, media representation of racial conflict and narrative journalism. His dissertation focused on the "photobiography" of a Mississippi town in the early and mid-20th century, which illuminated issues of identity, culture and history. Before joining the School, Hudson was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, the Providence (R.I.) Journal and The Bulletin in Bend, Ore. He edited the Providence Sunday Journal Magazine. Hudson's freelance writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Mother Jones, Hemispheres and Historic Preservation. He has taught at the University of Rhode Island and at the California State University at Fullerton and Los Angeles.
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Janice Hume
Associate Professor
University of Georgia
Janice Hume, BJ '81, MA '95, PhD '97, is an associate professor at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she teaches magazine writing, magazine management and media history. She is author of Obituaries in American Culture and the co-author of Journalism in a Culture of Grief. Hume has published articles in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism History, American Journalism and the Journal of Popular Culture. Before receiving her doctorate from the Missouri School of Journalism, Hume was lifestyle and arts editor at the Mobile (Ala.) Register.
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Julien Gorbach
Doctoral Student
Missouri School of Journalism
Julien Gorbach is a second-year doctoral student at the Missouri School of Journalism. As a media historian, he has been interested in folklore, how legends arise and how they interact with media and history. Gorbach is currently preparing a study about the newspaper coverage of the outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Before becoming a doctoral student, he worked as a police and general assignment reporter for newspapers in New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida and Massachusetts. He covered Hurricane Katrina for the Boston Globe and has also written articles and reviews for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Boston Phoenix and Time Out New York.
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About the Futures Forum
Top journalists, advertisers and thought leaders will lead numerous interactive sessions during the Sept. 11 Futures Forum, a day of cutting-edge discussions about the next century of journalism. Ethics, convergence and politics are just a few of the many hot topics that will be explored in this diverse program dedicated to challenging industry thinking and visualizing possibilities for the future. Sessions will be 75 minutes long and held concurrently with others on the schedule. Full schedules will be available during on-site check in during the Sept. 10-12 celebration.
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