Back it up with data…
From the editor: I saw a photo of an adviser colleague on social media recently, proudly sporting a t-shirt that proclaimed “I BACK IT UP WITH DATA.” This year, College Media Review continues to uphold this sentiment by releasing Volume 58 of the print Research Annual of CMA’s flagship journal.
This past year’s scholarly publications have been compiled into a hard copy as a print-on-demand volume that can be purchased here for $5.
It features a publication by Katherine Fink of Pace University in a study titled “Freedom of Information in College: How Students Learn to File Public Records Requests.” Fink uses a qualitative approach to delve into the process of filing FOI requests and using those results to advance student reporting.
Associate Editor Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver continued her longitudinal research gathering data on the many facets of college media advising work in a study co authored with Elizabeth Smith of Pepperdine University and Jody Kleinberg Biehl from State University of New York at Buffalo. The research, “The College Newsroom Amid COVID: A Statistical Assessment of Advisers and their work in College Newsrooms in 2020,” extends and builds upon data throughout the years, starting in 1984. The authors report on the many variables that pertain to our jobs as advisers, such as responsibilities, salary, title, rank, education level, tenure status and workload. This year includes information on diversity, prior review and how COVID-19 impacted our work in college newsrooms.
In a year that was characterized largely by the pandemic, Brittany L. Fleming and Emily A. Dolan of Slippery Rock University explore how student media editorials framed COVID-19 in award-winning student publications. Their study, “What’s in a Frame? How Award-Winning Student Newspaper Editorials Framed COVID-19,” offers an analysis of the editorial tone in the college media landscape this year and provides a framework for future editorial reporting.
I hope you will consider browsing these studies in College Media Review by purchasing the Research Annual and that you not only find the data useful in your daily advising endeavors, but that it may also spark some questions or ideas for future studies. It is gratifying to report that, amid our hectic lives as college media advisers, we are guided by experience and support of our colleagues, and we, too, “BACK IT UP WITH DATA.”
Special thanks to CMR Associate Editor Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Managing Editor Bradley Wilson and Webmaster Bill Neville for their work in bringing Volume 58 to fruition.
–Lisa Lyon Payne, editor CMR