It is both my honor and privilege to re-introduce College Media Review, as well as myself as the publication’s new Editor-in-Chief.
First, about myself. I am a third-year adviser at Samford University, a private institution in Birmingham, Ala. I accepted a role as editor for CMR in late 2023, and since that time have been eagerly anticipating the day when the leading journal for college media research returned to publication.
Today, it is a reality.
Since 1956, CMR has been the home for content that showcases the unique world of college media, a realm that is almost impossible to explain to anyone who doesn’t already inhabit it (as the popular saying goes, “If you know, you know”). The research compiled in this volume is another look into the diverse and fascinating world that college media advisers inhabit.
As an adviser at a private institution, research into the world of college media on private campuses, where First Amendment protections do not apply and where the community often has expectations that its media will help uphold the values of the institution. So it is a thrill that our reviewers accepted “Full Court Press: Fighting Restrictions on Student Journalists At Private Universities” by Sahtrese McQueen and Katherine Fink. The two of them focused on instances in which private journalists did not “self censor” in regard to campus controversies. Their research focused on the aggressive reporting by those student media outlets and their efforts to encourage support for press freedom.
The state of student media at Historically Black Colleges and Universities is an oft ignored topic as well. In “Starting a conversation: An exploration of the state of student media websites at Historically Black Colleges and Universities” Quincy Hodges, Jean Norman and Lisa Lyon-Payne provide an update to a landscape which has been declining “precipitously” in this century.
Similarly, student media on campuses with large Hispanic populations have been trying to reach those populations through Spanish language content. In their paper “Reaching New Audiences: Student News Organizations’ Spanish-language Coverage” Carrollyne Aasen, Rachel Martinez, LaVerne Seales, Kirstie Hettinga, Sheridan Wigginton and Monica Gracyalny analyze content from this coverage, finding that much of it directly references Hispanic or Latinx communities.
Finally, another overlooked realm for research in student media is the realm of campus magazines. In this edition, Carol Terracina-Hartman examines environmental content from three nationwide contests from 2018-2022. As Hartman says, these magazines have redefined “campus culture” in their content choices. This type of vital environmental coverage comes from campuses of all sizes, from different locales and from private as well as public institutions.
It is, as stated before, both a thrill and a challenge to deliver this edition to you, the faithful reader of College Media Review. And with confidence I can say, paraphrasing the now retired Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, that this edition is not the end, but represents an exciting beginning.
Will Heath, PhD
Media Adviser and Director of Professional Development, Samford University