Book Review: Understanding Community Media

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Understanding Community Media. Howley, Kevin (ed.) (2010). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. pp. 410.

Understanding Community Media, a new compilation edited by media scholar Kevin Howley, fills a gap in current literature as it provides a contemporary overview of the area of study that is often referred to as community media, but as Howley notes, other nomenclature has also been used to refer to it including “participatory,” “alternative,” and “citizen” (pp. 2-3). However, according to Howley, what this book attempts to do with its wide-ranging collection of articles, many of which are written as case studies, is “to capture the multidimensional character of community media through an examination of a geographically diverse field of countervailing structures, practices, and orientations to dominant media” (p. 3). [Read more...]

Book Review[s]: Changing Face of Journalism, New New Media, Mass Media Scholarship

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The Changing Faces of Journalism: Tabloidization, Technology and Truthiness. Zelizer, Barbie (ed.) (2009). New York: Routledge. pp. 174.

New New Media. Levinson, Paul (2009). Boston: Allyn & Bacon Penguin Academics. pp. 226.

Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship. Potter, W. James (2009). Los Angeles: SAGE. pp. 394.

An impressive group of scholars weighs in on changing journalistic norms, and Barbie Zelizer does so understanding the challenge: “The very presence of change in academic inquiry has long been seen as a necessary but often risky aspect of the landscape of knowledge acquisition” (p. 1). Drawing upon sociology of knowledge, Zelizer sees “slow and gradual incorporation of change into academic thought” (p. 2). To the extent that we are in the business of creating new knowledge, change threatens to undo our treasured life’s work. Thus, Zelizer sees that “degrees of dissonance exist because journalism scholars have not sufficiently navigated pathways between journalism we imagine and journalism we have” (p. 3). The reminder is that journalistic realities may be diverse, even if we have greater consensus on ideals. The organizational structure of The Changing Faces of Journalism: Tabloidization, Technology and Truthiness divides essays along the three dimensions of tabloidization, technology, and truthiness—all popular concepts with limited theoretical development. [Read more...]

Book Review: Patronizing the Public: American Philanthropy’s Transformation of Culture, Communication, and the Humanities

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Patronizing the Public: American Philanthropy’s Transformation of Culture, Communication, and the Humanities. Buxton, William J. (ed.) (2009). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. pp. 350.

Communication scholars increasingly are interested in philanthropies and philanthropic activities. Scholar-ship, courses, and new programs are devoted to the study of philanthropies. Typically, the focus is on how the study of communication can contribute to philanthropies and philanthropic activities. The University of Northern Iowa, for instance, offers an M.A. degree in philanthropic development, and the Department of Communication Studies offers courses in support of this program. The courses focus on how an understanding of communication can assist in the design of philanthropic campaigns and how communication theory can inform the choices philanthropies make. [Read more...]

Book Review: International News Reporting: Frontlines and Deadlines

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International News Reporting: Frontlines and Deadlines. Owen, John and Heather Purdey (eds.) (2009). West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 280.

This collection, nicely put together by John Owen and Heather Purdey (both faculty of City University of London), is devoted to the nuts and bolts, as well as the real challenges, facing international news reporting. The book is composed of fourteen articles written by widely seasoned news professionals. The topics of the book include traumas and crises that reporters face: news staff’s personal safety, overall trends in international news, the operation and business of news agencies around the world, challenges derived from new media technologies, photo journalism, different kinds of reporting staff/careers, news sources, and diplomacy and international relations. One can immediately recognize from this list of topics that the book is rather comprehensive and incorporates all key issues that students who aspire to become international journalists must grasp. It is extremely rich with up-to-date information about the field and is full of details from great experiences that these veteran journalists and news managers share in their articles. [Read more...]

Book Review: Examining Identity in Sports Media

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Examining Identity in Sports Media. Hundley, Heather L. and Andrew C. Billings (eds.) (2010). Thousand Oak­s, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 279.

In an era of news media cutbacks, layoffs, and closures, the sports mass media segment of the industry is booming. Ratings for programming on sports cable channels are on the rise, and sports-oriented social media sites are expanding. Experts tout increased sports coverage and team-centered, subscriber-based Web sites as ways for newspapers to “rejuvenate themselves,” as veteran journalist Tim McGuire put it recently. [Read more...]

Book Review: Ubiquitous Learning

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Ubiquitous Learning. Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis (eds.) (2009). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 279.

Digital and social media are as pervasive today as the air we breathe. So it’s natural that every field claims these tools as their own. Journalists use them to create interactive multimedia news content, while public relations teams use them to build consensus or “buzz” for their clients. [Read more...]

J-Lab’s Lessons Learned from 55 Citizen News Projects

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This from a speech by Jan Schaffer, J-Lab Executive Director:

J-Lab has funded 55 projects since 2005 with small grants, about $25,000. Many of these efforts sought to train citizens to generate stories for the site. Some were university projects. Others were launched by so-called “civic catalysts” – those bumblebees that pollinate a lot of community groups and carry a lot of knowledge about their communities.

Here are five of our key takeaways >>> READ IT

Being Small Has Advantages

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By Vivian Martin, Central Connecticut State University

Like their counterparts at large universities, faculty in smaller Journalism and Mass Communication programs are challenged with integrating multimedia storytelling and social media into their curriculum. The task is configured a bit differently than it is in larger programs though, so a priority for the Small Programs Interest Group (SPIG) continues to be programming that helps members respond to the need for changes in curriculum and teaching. After surveying our membership in 2008, we had a pretty good blueprint for how to proceed, and we have hit on a few things that seem to work. [Read more...]

Commission on the Status of Women Launches Mentoring Initiative

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At this year’s convention, Commission on the Status of Women members renewed their commitment to young scholars by supporting a mentoring initiative that will begin in the coming months.

The mentoring initiative includes an annual networking lunch and a coordinated mentorship program. Both activities are aimed at helping junior female faculty succeed in the academy.

“The CSW mentoring initiative will be beneficial to new faculty like me, who are in the beginning stages of publishing, creating teaching portfolios and planning for the tenure and promotion process,” said Katie Place, assistant professor, Saint Louis University. [Read more...]

Reaching out to high school journalism students and teachers seems like a natural fit

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By Vanessa Shelton, University of Iowa

Assisting high school journalism students and teachers seems like a natural partnership for AEJMC and ASJMC members. It’s a no-brainer, so to speak, in the eyes of Scholastic Journalism Division members.

Many of us are journalism faculty assigned to teach classes and direct programs designed to lend that crucial support to high school students and teachers. Those classes and programs come in various forms, from the scholastic media association and workshop offices maintained at universities and colleges to offering classes on methods of instructing secondary journalism. For some colleges, that outreach may consist of inviting the secondary students to attend programs or meet guest speakers on campus, or simply faculty visiting the high schools to address relevant topics. [Read more...]