Kathy Roberts Forde

Kathy Roberts Forde is a U.S. journalism historian with research interests in the First Amendment, libel law, journalistic standards and practices, African American history, literary journalism, and the history of the book and print culture.

Kathy Roberts Forde is co-editor of Journalism and Jim Crow: The Press and the Making of White Supremacy in the New South with Sid Bedingfield, to be published in November 2021 by the University of Illinois Press.

Her book Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment (University of Massachusetts Press, 2008) received the Frank Luther Mott-KTA book award and the AEJMC History Division book award.

Forde is working on a second book, under contract with UMass Press, that attempts to build bridges among three subfields of historical inquiry into the American twentieth century: journalism history, civil rights history, and the history of the book and print culture. A publication and reading history of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, the project examines the role of black cultural expression in shaping U.S. social thought and public policy.

AWARDS
Covert Award in Mass Communication History (2013) for the best mass communication history article or essay published in 2012."'The Facts—the Color!—the Facts': The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910," co-authored with Katherine A. Foss, Book History, vol. 15 (2012): 123-151.

James W. Carey Media Research Award (2012) for a book or article of the highest quality that employs Carey's theories to focus on communication and public life, journalism, or popular culture. "'The Facts—the Color!—the Facts': The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910," co-authored with Katherine A. Foss, Book History, vol. 15 (2012): 123-151.

Covert Award in Mass Communication History (2012) for the best mass communication history article or essay published in 2011. “Profit and Public Interest: A Publication History of John Hersey's ‘Hiroshima,’” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 88:3 (Autumn 2011): 562-579.

Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Book Award (2009) for Best Research-Based Book on Mass Communication and Journalism published in 2008. Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment, University of Massachusetts Press.

AEJMC History Division Book Award (2009) for the Best Book on Journalism & Mass Communication History published in 2008. Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment, University of Massachusetts Press.

Nafziger-White Dissertation Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), 2006.