Augusta University hosts inaugural transnational journalism conference

Augusta University will host the inaugural First Explorations in Transnational Journalism History conference on March 4-5. Welcoming journalism researchers from across the globe to the Summerville Campus to discuss the past, present and future of international journalism, the conference is co-sponsored by Augusta University, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and Dublin City University.

Dr. Kevin Grieves, associate professor of journalism at Whitworth University, delivered the conference’s keynote address. Grieves, who previously taught at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, worked as a producer and writer for CNN International for seven years.

Dr. Debra van Tuyll, professor of communications, was instrumental to the founding of the conference. She said the idea began nearly a decade ago and, truthfully, in passing.

“I was at a conference in Wales sponsored by Cardiff University, and one of the attendees heard my accent and said, ‘You’re American! You all invented journalism,’” van Tuyll said. “I thought to myself, ‘We did? When?’ The idea for a broader discussion of transnational journalism research began there.”

Among the presenters are Dr. Mark O’Brien, senior lecturer at Dublin City University, and Dr. Regina Ui Chollatáin, director of Lárionad de Bhaldraithe do Léann na Gaeilge at University College of Dublin.

An expert in Civil War journalism and Irish culture and history, van Tuyll said the decision to host Irish presenters was a no-brainer. In fact, she said, some of the thought behind the American Civil War originated in Ireland.

“John Mitchel, an Irish nationalist and political journalist, wrote extensively about the struggle and the need for Irish independence,” she said. “Some of those articles found their way to the states, which ultimately helped the South come to grips with the idea of seceding from the Union.”

For more information about the First Explorations in Transnational Journalism History conference, contact Dr. Debra van Tuyll at 706-729-2183 or dvantuyl@augusta.edu.