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Aims & Scope

The Journal of 20th Century Media History aims to be a welcoming site for inclusive and innovative historical scholarship that makes important contributions to our understanding of the roles played by media and mass communication in our culture, politics, and economy and serves as a location for scholarly dialogue and debate. A central mission of the journal is to bring attention to people, events, or issues that have not been included in traditional historical scholarship because of racial, gender, regional, or class biases in an effort to assert a more comprehensive and accurate accounting of history. The journal implements a fair and equitable peer-review process to ensure the highest quality publications and a diverse set of contributors.

Defining “media” broadly, the journal is a home for research across a wide, interdisciplinary range of subjects and issues. The journal hopes to become a place where significant research in these fields is published and fruitful debates among scholars take place. We welcome submissions from graduate students, early-career researchers, and well-established scholars in order to facilitate debate across a range of experiences and perspectives.

As the name of the journal suggests, we are looking to publish historical work about topics that, in the main, focus on people, events, ideas, and practices from the 20th century. The primary geographic focus is North American, although not necessarily only English-language media. Article submissions that make use of innovative research techniques and methodologies are highly encouraged, as is research that draws attention to previously marginalized or under-represented groups or forms of media practice. Possible subject areas for articles include:

Journalism and news

Broadcasting (entertainment or non-fiction programming)

Film

Visual communication and visual culture studies

Propaganda and public opinion

Political communication

Books, reading, and print culture

Digital communication

Media technologies

Law and ethics

Advertising and public relations

Biographical studies