I teach Journalism, Media Literacy and Rhetoric at University College Roosevelt, which is part of Utrecht University. My research focuses on the way Eleanor Roosevelt used the media, particularly radio. Other interests include radio history, and media & human rights. I received my PhD from Utrecht University in February 2012 on the topic of BBC Radio News/the Radio Newsroom 1966-2008. In Spring 2010 I was a guest professor at the University of Central Missouri and in Fall 2017 I was a Fulbright Scholar at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. I have previously worked at Bournemouth University in the UK and at the BBC as a journalist.
This article describes some of the major changes that have taken place in the way the BBC has wri... more This article describes some of the major changes that have taken place in the way the BBC has written, produced and presented the news on domestic radio since its founding in 1922. Newsreaders first read out stories provided by the Reuters news agency, but the Corporation created a separate News Department in 1935. Technological developments, including but not limited to the midget-recorder, VHF, transistor radios, the introduction of FM, digital recording and editing, and internet streaming, have both had a significant impact on the way radio journalists have carried out their job and the way listeners have been able to consume the medium of radio. Radio journalists have had to increasingly master skills besides newsgathering and writing. Changes in society’s cultural forms, values and tastes have also had an influence on story selection and production and presentation formats. Keywords: BBC, radio news, journalism, media history
Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertisin... more Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertising, and the Golden Age of Radio. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. June, 2016. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=45375
Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, used radio to communicate on a wide va... more Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, used radio to communicate on a wide variety of issues that she felt the American public, and women in particular, should know or think about. She had been a radio pioneer, broadcasting from the 1920s onward and starting with her own radio show in 1932. By the 1950s, radio as a technology began facing increasing competition from television. Yet, as a medium to reach mass audiences and women in particular, radio continued to play a vital role. From October 1950 until August 1951, Eleanor Roosevelt together with her son Elliott hosted a daily show on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) called The Eleanor Roosevelt Program. Focusing on this 1950-1951 program, this article seeks to examine the way in which Mrs. Roosevelt communicated with her listeners and successfully blended that which at first sight might seem opposites: the domestic with the global, the informal mode of address with the serious topics, the public with the...
This article describes some of the major changes that have taken place in the way the BBC has wri... more This article describes some of the major changes that have taken place in the way the BBC has written, produced and presented the news on domestic radio since its founding in 1922. Newsreaders first read out stories provided by the Reuters news agency, but the Corporation created a separate News Department in 1935. Technological developments, including but not limited to the midget-recorder, VHF, transistor radios, the introduction of FM, digital recording and editing, and internet streaming, have both had a significant impact on the way radio journalists have carried out their job and the way listeners have been able to consume the medium of radio. Radio journalists have had to increasingly master skills besides newsgathering and writing. Changes in society’s cultural forms, values and tastes have also had an influence on story selection and production and presentation formats. Keywords: BBC, radio news, journalism, media history
Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertisin... more Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertising, and the Golden Age of Radio. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. June, 2016. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=45375
Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, used radio to communicate on a wide va... more Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, used radio to communicate on a wide variety of issues that she felt the American public, and women in particular, should know or think about. She had been a radio pioneer, broadcasting from the 1920s onward and starting with her own radio show in 1932. By the 1950s, radio as a technology began facing increasing competition from television. Yet, as a medium to reach mass audiences and women in particular, radio continued to play a vital role. From October 1950 until August 1951, Eleanor Roosevelt together with her son Elliott hosted a daily show on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) called The Eleanor Roosevelt Program. Focusing on this 1950-1951 program, this article seeks to examine the way in which Mrs. Roosevelt communicated with her listeners and successfully blended that which at first sight might seem opposites: the domestic with the global, the informal mode of address with the serious topics, the public with the...
"Auntie and Prescriptivism: the way the BBC tries to ‘uphold language standards’
Many people... more "Auntie and Prescriptivism: the way the BBC tries to ‘uphold language standards’
Many people believe the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, has a duty to maintain English language standards. Listeners, viewers and online readers complain vociferously when the BBC, in their opinion, fails in this regard. In particular, people appear intolerant of mistakes in ‘Auntie’s’ news output. Incorrect grammar and a poor choice of vocabulary will be noticed, if not by everyone in the audience, certainly by enough who will be troubled by a perceived decline in standards. The danger is that if the language is misused, listeners (and viewers) will start to doubt the validity of the facts reported to them.
To help journalists produce linguistically accurate copy, the BBC regularly produces so-called News Style Guides. As the publicly available 2003 version of the Guide says: ‘Our task is to tread a fine line between conservatism and radicalism, to write in such a way that we do not alienate any section of our audience.’
There is no evidence to suggest that BBC audience expectations on accuracy and fairness are any
different now than several years ago. What does appear to have changed is that many journalists themselves now also worry about a decline in standards. As 24-hour rolling news is the norm and the fewer BBC journalists have to produce more output, the layers of control have disappeared.
In this presentation Dr Luscombe will discuss the BBC News Style Guides produced between 1967 and 2008, giving a glimpse of which issues were pertinent to news coverage in different decades and the types of linguistic issues which were thought important. In addition, she will outline what BBC radio journalists and audience members have to say about language standards.
Focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt’s multifaceted agenda for the world
Emphasizes her challe... more Focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt’s multifaceted agenda for the world
Emphasizes her challenge to gendered norms and racial relations
Presents Eleanor Roosevelt as a public intellectual, a politician, a public diplomat, and an activist
A collection of exercises on Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Created by stu... more A collection of exercises on Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Created by students for students at University College Roosevelt. August 2015
NB: there is now a second edition (July 2023) available on Academia.edu
Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertisin... more Citation: Anya Luscombe. Review of Meyers, Cynthia B., A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertising, and the Golden Age of Radio. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. June, 2016.
This research is a focused continuation of a longitudinal comparison of knowledge of the news acr... more This research is a focused continuation of a longitudinal comparison of knowledge of the news across the Atlantic. In 1949 Kriesberg published “Public Opinion: Dark Areas of Ignorance,” an analysis of American knowledge about key foreign policy. A follow-up by Smith was published in 1970 titled, “’Dark Areas of Ignorance’ Revisited,” and another by Lyengar, Hahn, Bonfadelli and Marr in 2009—a comparison of knowledge in Switzerland and American. This paper is a partial replication of the Swiss-American comparison. We used the same questions when possible, updating questions about the Iraq war to the Afghanistan war in 2010. As exchange faculty at each other’s institutions, we assessed the knowledge of hard and soft news by our classes (n=85). While the expectation is that college students across the Atlantic will produce similar results to the general population, we hypothesize that the renewed interest in politics generated during the election of President Obama will reduce the gap. Furthermore, we go beyond the 2009 “Dark Areas of Ignorance” study and determine the media used and the frequency by college students to learn the news. Therefore, this study continues the tracking of one bilateral comparison and investigates the specific theme of knowledge of international affairs by comparing students in two universities.
Eleanor Roosevelt had begun her career as a radio broadcaster whilst she was First Lady in the 19... more Eleanor Roosevelt had begun her career as a radio broadcaster whilst she was First Lady in the 1930s and 40s. After her husband’s death she continued to be actively engaged in the media and from October 1950 until August 1951, hosted, together with her son Elliott, “The Eleanor Roosevelt Program” on NBC. Each programme included a question-and-answer period by Mrs Roosevelt and Elliott, followed by an interview conducted by Mrs Roosevelt. Among the guests were several famous people such as John Steinbeck and Bob Hope. This presentation will outline the range of societal and political issues covered by Mrs Roosevelt in the programme, including women in the work-place, Communism, the United Nations and American attitudes to Europe. Mrs Roosevelt at the time was a US delegate to the United Nations, requiring her to travel frequently to Europe. Indeed, according to her son Elliott Roosevelt, the radio show was stopped because his mother had to go back to Paris for a UN meeting in the fall of 1951 (Beasley 1987, p 174).
The Roosevelt family traces its ancestors back to the Netherlands. FDR was very proud of his Dutc... more The Roosevelt family traces its ancestors back to the Netherlands. FDR was very proud of his Dutch heritage and Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) visited the Netherlands and stayed with Princess Juliana. The women had first met in 1940 when the Princess, who was living in Canada, paid a visit to the White House. Jolande Withuis (2016) has suggested that ER acted as a role model to Juliana; ER showed her the impact a woman could have and the causes women in a position of influence could effectively support. As the princess wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt in July 1945: ‘It’s wonderful to think there are people like you – that it’s possible to be like you.’ There are several similarities between the two women. While in many ways, ER was to Americans as ‘royal’ as Juliana was to the Dutch, both women wished to be considered ‘ordinary’. They were both involved in the Red Cross and both believed strongly in the importance of the implementation of the Four Freedoms around the world. Drawing on archives at the FDR Library in Hyde Park and the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands, this paper looks more closely at the connections between the Dutch Royal Family and the Roosevelts, particularly the transatlantic friendship between ER and Juliana, between the “wise aunt” and her “eager niece”. By taking the personal relationship of ER and Juliana as its focus, it also aims to provide new information about the US-Netherlands links since the 1940s.
The United Nations set up a radio division in 1946 as part of its efforts to explain how the Orga... more The United Nations set up a radio division in 1946 as part of its efforts to explain how the Organization tried to contribute to international peace and security in the post-World War II world. AS UN Radio did not have its own broadcast facilities, it entered into agreements with leading broadcasters to relay its bulletins and feature programs. By 1950 it was broadcasting programs in 31 different languages and people could hear the UN proceedings in the organization’s five official languages. Two women who were intricately involved in the early days of UN Radio were United States Delegate to the UN and former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt and Coordinator of US Station Relations at UN Radio, Dorothy Lewis. Both Roosevelt and Lewis had been radio pioneers: Roosevelt had hosted her own very successful radio programs since the 1930s and Lewis had been the Coordinator of Listener Activity for the National Association of Broadcasters, was the founder of the Association of Women Broadcasters (later AWRT) and co-founder of the International Association of Women in Radio. Both women were also keenly interested in education and international affairs and the role that the media, particularly radio, could play in these. Very little appears to have been published on Lewis, described in 1954 by Roosevelt (herself famed for her boundless energy), as “one of the most energetic people I know”. Drawing on correspondence between Eleanor Roosevelt and Dorothy Lewis, this presentation seeks to go some way towards filling that gap and add to the scholarship on the role that women played in transnational broadcasting.
An updated edition of the little booklet with rhetoric exercises for students by students. Exer... more An updated edition of the little booklet with rhetoric exercises for students by students. Exercises created by bachelor students to practice applying the theory and concepts for each of the five canons.
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Papers by Anya Luscombe
Many people believe the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, has a duty to maintain English language standards. Listeners, viewers and online readers complain vociferously when the BBC, in their opinion, fails in this regard. In particular, people appear intolerant of mistakes in ‘Auntie’s’ news output. Incorrect grammar and a poor choice of vocabulary will be noticed, if not by everyone in the audience, certainly by enough who will be troubled by a perceived decline in standards. The danger is that if the language is misused, listeners (and viewers) will start to doubt the validity of the facts reported to them.
To help journalists produce linguistically accurate copy, the BBC regularly produces so-called News Style Guides. As the publicly available 2003 version of the Guide says: ‘Our task is to tread a fine line between conservatism and radicalism, to write in such a way that we do not alienate any section of our audience.’
There is no evidence to suggest that BBC audience expectations on accuracy and fairness are any
different now than several years ago. What does appear to have changed is that many journalists themselves now also worry about a decline in standards. As 24-hour rolling news is the norm and the fewer BBC journalists have to produce more output, the layers of control have disappeared.
In this presentation Dr Luscombe will discuss the BBC News Style Guides produced between 1967 and 2008, giving a glimpse of which issues were pertinent to news coverage in different decades and the types of linguistic issues which were thought important. In addition, she will outline what BBC radio journalists and audience members have to say about language standards.
Emphasizes her challenge to gendered norms and racial relations
Presents Eleanor Roosevelt as a public intellectual, a politician, a public diplomat, and an activist
NB: there is now a second edition (July 2023) available on Academia.edu
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=45375
Volume 44, Issue 3, 2016
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03612759.2016.1094304