Category: College Media

College Media research papers sought

By Lisa Lyon Payne
CMR Editor

Recently appointed CMA research chair, Elizabeth Smith, assistant professor of journalism and student media adviser at Pepperdine University, will organize two annual peer-reviewed research panels showcasing top scholarly research on all aspects of college media. Smith took her post in January 2018.

Smith says examining the various aspects of college media is critical in our role as advisers.

“I believe it is the responsibility of journalism faculty to produce high-quality research on topics most pertinent to college journalism and student journalists,” Smith said. “My own line of research has followed this passion, and I want to continue to encourage and support others to do so, as well.”

Continue reading “Smith heads CMA’s research panel”

AEJMC, CMA panel showcases college media research

Each year at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention, the Council of Affiliates and College Media Association sponsor a panel where scholars present research on topics related to college media. The College Media Association is currently accepting submissions of original, non-published research on all aspects of college media and advising college media. Papers will undergo a blind review process, and top research will be presented Thursday, August 9, at the 2018 AEJMC Convention in Washington, DC (Aug. 6-9).

Submission deadline is April 1.

Only full-length research papers are acceptable. Papers should include an abstract between 250 and 500 words. Full papers should be no longer than 25 pages, excluding references, tables and appendices. Continue reading “Call for academic research papers”

Young journalists can take home lessons from ‘The Post’

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

If there was ever a time for a feel-good movie about the media, it’s now. And in “The Post,” Director Steven Spielberg and big-name stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks realize the power and role of the media.

However, the movie goes well beyond showing how a newspaper and a few strong-willed editors and reports can change the course of a country. It brings in a modern discussion of the role of women, limits that need to be placed on government, the need for the First Amendment and even how media outlets also need checks and balances.

For a long-time journalist, it was fascinating to watch molten lead set into words, newsrooms filled with typewriters, copy editors given 30 minutes to work on one story and papers shipped out in hand-tied bundles. It was disheartening to see Katharine Graham portrayed as less than powerful, even weak, leader with shaking hands. She never came across that way when played by Nancy Marchand in the television series Lou Grant. But as her character develops, watching her finally make a decision with such potential negative ramifications and then walking down the steps of the Supreme Court, even in the shadow of The New York Times, was inspirational. Continue reading “‘The Post’ inspiration even for those not working in media”

“Invitation to get more involved in CMA.”

By Lisa Lyon Payne
CMR Editor

Four years ago, I received an email from then CMA President Rachele Kanigel with the subject line “Invitation to get more involved in CMA.”

The opportunity that followed, serving as CMA’s research chair, opened my eyes to the exciting and meaningful research our college media peers conduct, enhancing our lives as educators and advisers. Helping to cultivate and showcase the important works presented at the CMA academic research panels not only forged new relationships with my colleagues, but also strengthened a deep commitment to expanding and improving the body of knowledge in college media research. I am a research nerd at heart.

I am honored to have been chosen to serve as the new CMR editor, and I am looking forward to the challenge of building upon the great work of my predecessor, Debra Chandler Landis.

I currently chair the communication department at a small, liberal arts university where, along with my journalism and communication teaching responsibilities as an associate professor of communication, I advise The Marlin Chronicle, the student-run newspaper. Continue reading “Payne assumes CMR editorship”

Workplaces can benefit from setting goals

By Debra Chandler Landis

New Year’s resolutions aren’t just for individuals. They’re for workplaces, too.

And, they can apply to college media’s news, business and advertising staffs.

December might not be the best time to ask college media staffs to set resolutions; their minds are on the last stories to report for the semester or quarter and the final projects to complete and exams to take.

However, resolution setting could be an excellent component of a back-to-school staff retreat or planning session for spring.

There are myriad possibilities for resolutions, which can serve to boost creativity, collegiality, job enjoyment, and overall production.

“The New Year is often seen as a chance to start fresh. These resolutions are probably easier to achieve than your new exercise plan….and more rewarding” is the headline for an article on the website, Inc., by Adam Heitzman, co-founder and managing partner of HigherVisibility. HigherVisiblity is a Tennessee-based agency that offers internet marketing services ranging from search engine optimization, pay per click management, affiliate marketing management, website design, social media marketing, and email marketing services.

Continue reading “Setting New Year’s resolutions can be a growth tool for college media”

Book Review and interview with author Ken Bain

By Carolyn Schurr Levin

Sometimes a book comes along that justifies repeated exploration years, even decades, after it was written.

“What The Best College Teachers Do,” by Ken Bain, is such a book.

Although it was published in 2004, its insights are uniquely applicable to journalism professors and college media advisers in 2017.

The book, which has become a top selling book on higher education, has been translated into 12 languages and was the subject of a television documentary series in 2007. It captures the collective scholarship of some of the best teachers in the United States by not just recording how they think but also conceptualizing their practices.

Bain’s premise is simple. During 15 years of study, he looked at what the best educators do to help and encourage students to achieve remarkable learning results.

Of course, that is what we all want – remarkable learning results. We strive, every week, to guide out students to achieve those remarkable results. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we don’t. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a roadmap toward that success? That is where Bain’s book comes in.

“I centrally focus on how people learn and how best to foster that learning,” Bain said in a recent telephone interview from his office at the Best Teachers Institute in New Jersey. The institute, according to its website, “collaborates with faculty and administrators to transform their curricula, courses, and even individual class sessions into powerful new learning experiences for their students.”

Continue reading “‘What The Best College Teachers Do’”

Print’s not dead and there is promising ad news, say observers

From the Editor’s Desk: As college media look to increase ad revenue in 2017-2018, there’s encouraging news on the national forefront.

Observers are predicting an uptick in national multi-media advertising, bolstered in part by native and digital ads.

Continue reading “Advertising”

Using Narrative Media Instruction and Experiential Learning to build Cultural Competency in Future Journalists

By Michael Longinow
and Tamara J. Welter

Introduction — Few lessons are more vivid from the presidential election of 2016 than the awareness that many of those most prominent in U.S news media do not know the real people that comprise audiences they claim to be serving^[1]. Linked to this lesson is the attention given, since before that election, to the growing effects of “fake news” that uses stereotype and false perceptions of cultural reality to promote stories about marginalized people groups.^[2]

Student journalism stands as a key resource for reform of these problems. As tools for guiding a grasp of critical thinking through investigation, narrative discovery and understanding of audience, the campus newsroom and classrooms of student media advisers have the potential to equip future leaders in American journalism with a deeper grasp of, and respect for, cross-cultural encounter, making students aware of the ways that audience can inform their approach to those far different from themselves.

Few research studies have brought learning theory to an examination of cross-cultural encounter as a teaching tool for guiding Millennials toward excellence in long-form journalistic storytelling in the 21^st century.^[3]  This paper will use experiential learning theory to show the ways that a cross-cultural pedagogy can have lasting effects on students’ approach to understanding themselves as journalists and their readers and viewers as a globally interactive audience. It will highlight ways in which experiential learning serves as an important pedagogical tool to bring Millennials from cross-cultural awareness to cross-cultural competency through encounter in pursuing long-form journalistic storytelling. It will suggest experiential learning as an antidote to cynicism among this age group about the role of fact-based journalism in 21^st century media cultures.^[4]

Continue reading “Research (Vol. 55) — Street Smarts”

It’s an important topic for class and newsroom staff development

By Pat Winters Lauro

CBS President Leslie Moonves scandalously said during the run-up to the 2016 GOP primary that Donald Trump is “bad for America, but he’s damn good for CBS.”

Moonves was talking about TV ratings, but the same could be said about news literacy, which includes the development of skills to discern fact, opinion, bias and hidden agendas.

While news literacy has been discussed for years, new such discussions are burgeoning, thanks to Trump’s dismissing news stories critical of him, his family, or administration as “fake news” and calling the press “the enemy.”  These discussions are beacons for all who view journalism as essential to a free society.

News literacy is a topic for classrooms and college media newsrooms.

Continue reading “News literacy”