Inaugural KS Inglis address: making Australian media history. Issue 1 (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Griffen-Foley, Bridget
• Is Part Of: Media international Australia. Number 170:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 21
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: Australian media history -- digital humanities -- historiography -- KS Inglis -- newspaper digitisation; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Australia -- Periodicals; Communication -- Australia -- Periodicals; Australia -- Cultural policy -- Periodicals; Médias -- Aspect social -- Périodiques; Médias -- Australie -- Périodiques; Communication -- Australie -- Périodiques; Massamedia; Communication; Cultural policy; Mass media; Mass media -- Social aspects; Australia; Periodicals; 302.23
• DOI: 10.1177/1329878X18805089
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1324-5325

Abstract

This address considers the development of media history as a field of research in Australia. It takes the form of a historiographical excursion, beginning with a focus on the press, and then extending to broadcasting, and touching on the work of KS Inglis as a through line. After considering what I identify as a historiographical blossoming since the 1980s, I extend my gaze to the tools and institutions for media history that have emerged, including online resources, a conference series and a research centre. Finally, I use my own 1990s research into the Packer empire to illustrate how some of the techniques for doing media history have changed in the past 20 years. In doing so, I reflect on both the benefits, and the limitations, of digital tools and techniques for Australian media historians.