Journalism and History When History Is News

Is journalism the “first rough draft of history?” Journalists and historians often work in tandem, serving as one another’s sources for primary research and background information.  Sometimes the relationship is tense, with historians wishing for fuller context in reported news, and journalists likely wishing that historians better understood what it means to cover events as they’re unfolding. It’s much too simple, though, to say that historians stick in the past, and journalists in the present. Historians have always regularly worked looking forward, with a consciousness of development in their own time, and journalists regularly reach back to explain the right now in terms of what came before.

But what happens when history is the news?  In 2026 both journalists and historians are covering the American Revolution, a sprawling cultural, military and political phenomenon. In short, we have much to share.

For 2026, the John Carter Brown Library is hosting a series of events about the important relationship between journalism and history. Supporting excellent journalistic coverage of the events of 250 years ago, and exploring how historians and journalists work in parallel and often synergistic ways, this series is part of a project supported by Emerson Collective, and in partnership with The Atlantic.

The series begins with four online interviews in February 2026 with historians and journalists who think and work historically and journalistically.  Over four events, Karin Wulf will be in conversation with Jamelle Bouie, a columnist for The New York Times; John Dickerson, a reporter and anchor most recently for CBS Evening News; Jennifer Schuessler, a reporter for The New York Times; and a panel of historians including Laurent Dubois of University of Virginia, Nicole Hemmer of Vanderbilt University, and Martha Jones of Johns Hopkins University.

We hope you’ll join us. Registration links will be available on our events page.

Photo credit: Rythum Vinoben.