Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Shedding Light on Foreign News Coverage

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

John Maxwell Hamilton's fascination with the history of foreign news coverage sparked the creation of From Our Own Correspondent, a series of books based on the writings and memoirs of legendary overseas journalists. The latest entry is Journalism of the Highest Realm, the memoir of pioneering Chicago Daily News foreign correspondent Edward Price Bell.

Hamilton, dean of Louisiana State University's Manship School of Communication, uncovered the long-forgotten Bell memoir in Chicago's Newberry Library. The edited autobiography tells how a bright-eyed teen reporter in Terra Haute, Ind ., developed into the dean of the foreign press corps in London during and after World War I. In addition, Bell's superb journalism skills set the standard for the Daily News foreign service, widely recognized as the premier source for international news and analysis. Hamilton and co-editor Jaci Cole also provide valuable insight on the development of foreign news gathering at a time when it has never been more important. A dead-on foreword by James F. Hoge, Jr., the last editor of the Daily News and current editor of Foreign Affairs, traces the evolution of overseas news gathering and the vital roles played by Bell and the Daily News foreign service.

Hamilton launched the From Our Own Correspondent series last April with Waugh in Abyssinia by Evelyn Waugh. Next up is a long out-of-print collection of Crimean War dispatches by William Howard Russell. LSU Press is publishing the series.

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