AEJMC — AEJMC Hot Topics

Religion and Media Interest Group’s research branches out

August 21, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

By Paola Banchero, University of Alaska Anchorage

When a group of AEJMC members petitioned to establish the Religion and Media Interest Group in 1996, they set out to do fulfill four main purposes: 1. to serve and study the religion media; 2. to serve and study the needs of journalism educators who work at institutions with religious affiliation; 3. to encourage research about the relationship between religion and the media; 4. to demonstrate that media researchers, practitioners and educators recognize the value of religion in society, and to dispel stereotypical perceptions to the contrary. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: AEJMC, Paola Banchero, Religion and Media

Jan Slater plans series of education/industry partnerships as President of AEJMC

August 6, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

DENVER, CO | Jan Slater, Illinois, was officially installed as the president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) during a special ceremony at the association’s annual conference in Denver on Friday, August 6.

Slater will succeed Carol J. Pardun, South Carolina, as the 92nd President of AEJMC. Slater will officially begin her term on October 1.

To help kick off the new year, we asked Jan in an email to share some of her thoughts and plans for AEJMC during her term as president. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: AEJMC, Jan Slater, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Civic and Citizen Journalism: Past, Present and Future

August 5, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

By Mary Beth Callie, Regis University

CIVIC & CITIZEN JOURNALISM | One of the most rewarding parts of my tenure as vice chair and now chair of the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group has been the opportunity is to learn from its founders, who are still active in the group. In 1994, when the University of Missouri’s Ed Lambeth founded the Civic Journalism Interest Group and became its first chair, two of its future chairs—Jan Schaffer and Cheryl Gibbs — were on the front lines of the civic journalism movement, which emerged in the late 1980s.

Meeting and working with people such as Ed, Jan and Cheryl has been not only personally rewarding, but also a way of understanding how what started out being known as the public or civic journalism movement continues to strive for approaches to journalism that enhance our democratic way of life. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: AEJMC

Incorporating Social Media in a Required Research Course for Advertising / PR / Strategic Communication Majors

July 29, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

By Joe Bob Hester, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

JOMC 279, Advertising and Public Relations Research, is a required course for students majoring in advertising, public relations, or strategic communications in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The primary goals of this course are for students to learn 1) to conduct research and evaluate information by methods appropriate to the advertising and public relations professions, and 2) to apply basic numerical and statistical concepts.

During the spring 2010 semester, I integrated social media, specifically Twitter, into all aspects of the course. I had previously used local/regional businesses as “clients” for a research project in the course. However, the benefit of working with real clients carried with it some fairly serious drawbacks, particularly the difficulty in finding appropriate new clients each semester. A previous instructor in the course had always used Super Bowl advertising as the topic for the research project since the course was usually taught in the spring semester. Now that the course would be taught year round, I was looking for a research project topic that would be appropriate regardless of semester. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Advertising, AEJMC, Content Analysis, Joe Bob Hester, Public Relations, Social Media, Social Media in the Classroom, Strategic Communication, Twitter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Sports & Social Media: AEJMC LIVE Chat Highlights

July 22, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

Marie Hardin, Penn State, led a recent online chat on sports journalism and social media with guests, Malcolm Moran, Knight Chair for Sports Journalism and Society; Viv Bernstein, New York Times contributing correspondent for sports; Megan Hueter, founder, Women Talk Sports; and Brad Schultz, associate professor and researcher on sports reporters and new media. The following offers a selection of highlights from the chat.

View the full unedited transcript of “Sports & Social Media: Issues & Predictions” at AEJMC LIVE.

AEJMC Members Attend World Journalism Education Congress in South Africa

July 14, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

University of Oklahoma professor Charles Self presenting the World Journalism Education Census to the delegates in attendance.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa — Joining educators from around the world to discuss the current and future challenges facing journalism education, more than 30 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication members attended the World Journalism Education Congress in South Africa.

“There’s so much traction around the world now for journalism education that there really is a lot for journalism educators to learn,” said Joe Foote, convener of the World Journalism Education Congress and dean of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma. “We need to have integration in research, teaching and professional activities that invigorate our curriculum and learn from the way others are doing it.”

The World Journalism Education Congress brings together journalism educators from around the world to advance journalism education in their own countries and around the globe. More than 400 journalism and mass communication educators from more than 50 countries attended the congress, which ran from July 4-7. Rhodes University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies, located in Grahamstown, South Africa, hosted the congress. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: AEJMC, ASJMC, Charles Self, Joe Foote, Wayne Wanta, World Journalism Education Congress

Sports & Social Media CHAT July 22, 12:30pm EDT

July 13, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

Blogs with commentary and rumors, Facebook posts with notes from athletes, Twitter updates with scores and even coach-specific YouTube channels represent some of the ways social media has changed sports and the way sports journalists do their jobs in recent years.

What do all the changes mean? And what’s next for the field?

Those questions and related issues will be addressed July 22 by professional journalists and scholars during an AEJMC LIVE online chat and panel discussion coordinated by AEJMC and the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: AEJMC, Brad Schultz, Malcolm Moran, Marie Hardin, Megan Hueter, Social Media, Sports Communication, Viv Bernstein

Public Relations Education Around the Globe

July 12, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

By Patricia Swann, Utica College | Public Relations

United States invented the modern-day profession we know as public relations. The United States has also pioneered the creation of public relations education.

Public relations educators in the United States have long rallied around Public Relations Society of America’s Commission of Public Relations Education report, “The Professional Bond,” which endorses a five-course standard. Those courses include principles of public relations, research methods, public relations writing, internship, and an additional class in campaigns or case studies. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: AEJMC, International Communication, Patricia Swann, Public Relations, Utica College