Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » July

Four students attend NABJ

Jessica Birthisel — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:56:07 +0000

Dine at Applebee's, support NABJ (Feb. 20)
Land to guide NABJ press release workshop (Oct. 10)
NABJ chapter sets fall agenda (Sept. 30)

The School of Journalism’s Career Services Director Marcia Debnam and four officers from the school’s National Association of Black Journalists student group will attend the association’s annual convention and career fair Aug. 5-9 in Tampa.

At the conference, seniors Ashlee Green, Jeffrey McKinney, Salimata Seye and August graduate Nicole Hamilton will gain access to a wide variety of workshop sessions as well as formal and informal networking opportunities with media professionals.

Last year, more than 138 industry employers and recruiters participated in the conference. The organization has more than 3,000 members who gather annually to offer workshops geared toward improving access for journalists of color, encouraging greater collaboration among journalists’ organizations and media companies, and promoting change by focusing on diversity in newsrooms, on campuses and in news reporting, according to the NABJ Web site.

“Because the journalism industry is in such a state of transition, this year’s conference will be especially good for students because they’ll be in the company of both seasoned and younger journalists,” said Debnam, who has assisted with the group since its IU inception a year ago. Professor Bonnie Brownlee serves as the group’s adviser.

Another of the conference’s benefits to the students, says Debnam, is the excitement that it sparks within them.

“It’s very inspirational and eye-opening,” she said. “Students often come back from these conferences with a fire in their bellies.”

Conference sessions will cover a wide range of topics, such as technology training, resume preparation, the black press and multimedia storytelling. In addition to covering one conference session for the School of Journalism’s Web site, participating IU students will also have the chance to participate in cultural opportunities in the Tampa area, including the Poynter Institute, one of journalism’s flagship organizations.

Debnam said the School of Journalism’s support is crucial – and appreciated.

“I’d really like to thank Dean Brad Hamm for supporting and encouraging students to participate in these conferences and for providing the financial support to make it happen,” she said.

AEJMC presents freshman’s research paper

Jessica Birthisel — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:43:28 +0000

Courtesy photo

Freshman Thomas Miller’s paper will be presented at the upcoming AEJMC convention.

Soon-to-be sophomore Thomas Miller, a journalism major from Ft. Wayne, Ind., has accomplished something generally reserved for advanced graduate students and professors: he has been invited to present his original research at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention.

AEJMC is the country’s oldest and largest group of collegiate journalism and mass communication educators and administrators with 3,600 members around the world. The group’s 92nd-annual convention is in Boston Aug. 5-8 and features a variety of sessions for scholars to present original research on topics such as advertising, communication theory, media ethics, public relations and visual communication.

Miller, who worked under the guidance of assistant professor Emily Metzgar, will present his paper, “The Legacy of Yellow Journalism: An Issue of Class, Education, and Ambition,” in the convention’s History Division. Miller’s project is an analysis of the March 1897 issues of The New York Times and The New York Journal. Specifically, he analyzes the Times’ coverage of the Journal.

“My paper makes the argument that The New York Times really gained a lot by framing The New York Journal in a negative light,” Miller explained in a phone interview. “The New York Journal wasn’t as bad as history has remembered it, and at the same time, The New York Times used a lot of negative tactics for framing the New York Journal.”

Miller met with Metzgar through Indiana University’s Jesse H. & Beulah Chanley Cox Research Scholars program, which connects high achieving undergraduates with faculty mentors for the purpose of research and other scholarly activities. As a Cox scholar, Miller receives four years of funding, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board, and also receives a research stipend.

In an e-mail, Metzgar said she was happy to be part of the Cox program.

“In the program, a faculty member agrees to essentially take on a bright, new freshman student with an interest in her field,” she said. “The idea is to allow these new students an opportunity to participate in academic research in their field of interest from their first day on campus. Ideally, this mentor-mentee relationship will last over the student’s four-year college career.”

Miller says that Metzgar encouraged him to pursue his own project, and eventually submit it to a national paper competition, something almost unheard of for a freshman.

“Emily was the one who said go ahead, submit it to AEJMC and see,” said Miller, describing both himself and Metzgar as ambitious. “I think that every professor that I told I was submitting to AEJMC thought I was crazy. They didn’t want me to have high hopes.”

Metzgar, who describes her role in this process as “the main cheerleader for Thomas’ project,” said she knew early in the relationship that Thomas had great potential.

“Once I met Thomas and had a chance to get to know him, I knew he could pull off something like this,” she said. “When I first suggested he try writing something to submit to AEJMC, he looked at me like I was crazy — and I suppose it was a bit far-fetched, but why not? I figured: Smart guy. Passion for the subject. Good writer. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t nearly as insane as it sounded.”

Miller says he was ecstatic upon learning that his paper had been accepted.

“This AEJMC thing is really cool, because that’s a really good step toward getting the work published,” said Miller, who says he has already dreamed up an entire book project on the topic. “And it’s more than just cool, because the more time I spend with Emily and other professors, the more I think I would like to be a professor day.”

Miller says he was equal parts excited and anxious to find out that his AEJMC session discussant is W. Joseph Campbell, a scholar who wrote several books influential to Miller’s research. Both Miller and Metzgar also acknowledged the important contributions made by media historian and IU journalism assistant professor Mike Conway, who served as a sounding board on the project.

The first year of the Cox partnership has proved fruitful for Miller, and both mentor and mentee say they look forward to more work in the years to come.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with Thomas and to participate as a faculty mentor in the Cox scholars program,” said Metzgar. “I’m pleased I agreed to take part and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Thomas as he continues his studies. Thomas definitely off to a great start and I’m really proud of him.”

Faculty, students to attend AEJMC convention

SoJ Web Report — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:42:20 +0000

Several School of Journalism faculty and students will attend the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention in Boston Aug. 5-8, networking with other scholars, presenting papers and serving as panelists and moderators.

Photo by James Brosher

Roy W. Howard Professor David Weaver will receive the Paul J. Deutschmann award in honor of his research at the AEJMC convention.

Two will receive special honors. Roy W. Howard Professor David H. Weaver will receive the Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research at the convention. This award was created in the 1960s to recognize a body of significant research over the course of an individual’s career and was named in honor of Deutschmann, who developed the College of Communication Arts at Michigan State University and was a central figure in the movement to study journalism and mass communication scientifically. This award has been presented 20 times since 1969, but this is the first time an IU professor has won this award.

Alumna Leigh Moscowitz, PhD ’08, will receive the Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award, presented annually since 1984 to recognize outstanding dissertation research in journalism and mass communications. Her dissertation, “For Better or For Worse: News Discourse, Gay Rights Activism, and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate,” explores media portrayal and treatment of same-sex marriage through multiple research methods. She now is an assistant professor at College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.

Founded in 1912, AEJMC is a non-profit, educational association of journalism and mass communication faculty, administrators, students and media professionals with 3,600 members around the world. Conventions draw around half those members, who also are members of a network of AEJMC division and interest groups.

Other presenters and attendees are listed below.

In addition to collecting his award, Weaver also is a co-author, with professor Bonnie Brownlee and former IU faculty member Randal Beam of the University of Washington, of a research paper entitled “Journalism and Public Service in Troubled Times” that Beam will present to the Mass Communication & Society Division.

Weaver is author, with former doctoral student Yue Tan, of “The Trend and Impact of Media Agenda Diversity from 1946 to 2004” that he will present to the MC&S Division of AEJMC.

He will also attend a meeting of the Past Presidents’ Council to contribute ideas and support for future planning of AEJMC. He was president of AEJMC from 1987 to 1988.

Associate professor Anthony Fargo will be a discussant for the Law and Policy research paper session.

Associate professor Radhika Parameswaran, who helped organize preconference programs, will present a research paper, "Visual Images and Epidermal Fantasies: The Gendered Body and Transnational Modernity in India," for the Visual Communication Division. She also will chair and make a presentation in the panel "Globalization, Gender, and Media," which she organized for the Commission on the Status of Women Division. This panel has been designated as a signature session for the CSW Division.

Associate professor Jim Kelly will be moderator and discussant for a Visual Communication division research paper session and a panelist on a panel sponsored by the Visual Communication division, "Preparing the next generation of visual communication scholars."

He also will be program chair for the VisCom division, overseeing all division programming for the convention, including a preconvention workshop and a Mini-Plenary session co-sponsored with the Media Ethics and Mass Communication and Society divisions.

At the end of the Boston convention, he advances to VisCom division head.

Doctoral student Lindita Camaj’s paper, “Media Effects in a Transitional Country: Setting the Political Agenda in the Kosovo Elections of 2007,” has been chosen as the top student paper in the Markham Student Paper Competition awarded by the International Communication Division of the AEJMC.

The paper, accepted for presentation at this summer’s AEJMC convention in Boston, looks at the interaction between media agenda, public agenda and party agenda in order to determine the theoretical utility of the Agenda Setting to explain media effects in a developing country.

Another of her papers, "Gate keeping the gatekeepers: International Community and Freedom of Information in Kosovo," has been accepted for presentation in the Law and Policy Division. This paper derived from overseas research supported by the pre-dissertation travel grant awarded last summer by the IU Office of Vice President for International Affairs.

Doctoral student Jessica Birthisel and assistant professor Emily Metzgar‘s paper, "Understanding J-School Grad Students’ Motivations for Continuing Education," has been accepted in the Mass Communication and Society Division. The paper, using data collected in a March 2009 online survey of more than 400 graduate students in journalism and mass communication, presents a snapshot of feelings about earning an advanced degree in a rapidly changing field. The authors consider the implications of our findings for both program design and student job prospects in this shifting media climate.

Doctoral student Ammina Kothari’s paper, "A Study of NY Times Coverage of Darfur: July 2003 – 2006,” has been accepted for presentation at AEJMC in the International Communication Division.

Kothari also has been awarded the second top student paper award in the Markham Student Paper Competition for work drawn from her thesis completed at University of Oregon, and revised in an independent study with associate professor Amy Reynolds last term.

Doctoral student Spring-Serenity Duvall will present her paper, "EMPOWE(RED)?: Consumer activism in the (RED) campaign to aid Africa," in the Cultural and Critical Studies Division. She also will participate in the Commission on the Status of Women business meeting and social as the current/outgoing newsletter editor for CSW.

Doctoral student Jeff Cannon will present two papers, "Narrative News Frames in the Changing Times: New York Times Coverage of Space Disasters in Three Eras" to the newspaper division and “The Dialogism of News" to the Critical and Cultural Studies Division.

Doctoral student Gerry Lanosga has three papers accepted for presentation. They are “Blogger as Journalist," a secondary data analysis that reveals that bloggers’ use of journalistic standards such as fact-checking and source attribution correlated significantly with higher levels of audience attention.

Also, “Political Discourse on Facebook: A New Public Sphere?" has been accepted in the Communication Technology Division (CTEC). Embedded in the theory framework of the Deliberative Public Sphere, this paper investigates the content of the messages posted on the Facebook pages of the two candidates during the 2009 U.S. Presidential elections. It is a group project that came out of telecommunications associate professor Betsi Grabe’s content analysis course last year. The other authors are Lindita Camaj, Yunjuan Luo and Seongchoul Hong.

Lanosga’s paper, "`God Help Our Democracy:’ Investigative Reporting in America, 1946-1960," will be presented in the History Division.

Doctoral student Seong Choul Hong also has another paper accepted, "Television News Frames Over the Street Girls," in the Radio Television Journalism Division. This paper was a project for J660 Sex on the News.

Doctoral student Rich Powell’s paper, "We’re All Publishers Now: A New Look at Publishing in the Digital Age," was accepted for presentation by the Law and Policy Division.

Doctoral student Stacie Meihaus Jankowski’s paper: "Problems, Solutions, and Obesity: Inter-media Agenda Setting in a Heavy-weight World," was accepted in the Mass Communication and Society Division. She completed the paper during Weaver’s agenda setting class in spring 2008.

Master’s candidate Shin Haeng Lee’s paper, “Defining Journalists: The Application of the Definition of “Journalist” to Bloggers,” will be presented in the Law and Policy Division. The paper looks at the issue of whether bloggers can be regarded as journalists and protected by shield laws as much as traditional journalists.

Freshman Thomas Miller’s paper, “The Legacy of Yellow Journalism: An Issue of Class, Education, and Ambition,” will be presented in the convention’s History Division. (Read more about Miller’s work.)

Parameswaran joins journal editorial board

Gena Asher — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:36:27 +0000

Associate professor Radhika Parameswaran has accepted an invitation to join the editorial board of the Asian Journal of Communication. The Asian Journal of Communication is a flagship publication of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) located in the School of Communication and Information (SCI) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Ibold to address Rotary

Gena Asher — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:34:31 +0000

Assistant professor Hans Ibold will speak to members of the Bloomington Rotary Club Aug. 4 on "You and Me Together: New Media, New Citizens, New President."

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Johnson hosts Glass, Nasar on ‘Profiles’

Gena Asher — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:31:37 +0000

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Associate professor Owen V. Johnson will conduct interviews on two editions of Profiles, the interview program that airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on public radio station WFIU (103.5 FM).

Aug. 9, he talks to IU Athletic Director Fred Glass in a repeat broadcast. Aug. 16, he’ll visit with economist and author Sylvia Nasar, who spoke at IU earlier this year.

Melzer gifts honor friends, mentors, family

SoJ Web Report — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:30:18 +0000

Courtesy Gina Ferazzi

Leo Melzer, BS'40, honored two friends and his brother with three recent gifts to the school.

Leo Melzer, BS’40, recently gave three gifts to the School of Journalism.

The first is in memory of his friend Tom Miller, BA’40, former sportswriter and sports information director at IU. The second gift is in memory of Melzer’s mentor, Tom Buck, BA’39, who was an editor-in-chief of the IDS, a reporter, a press agent for the mayor of Chicago and a teacher of journalism. Melzer recently established his third gift, an endowed scholarship for journalism students in need of assistance, in memory of his older brother, Joseph L. Melzer.

The Miller fund will support faculty, student and staff development, including bringing speakers to campus, recognizing students through events, covering educational travel expenses and promoting special programs. The Buck fund will support three annual awards for undergraduate students in the School of Journalism who have written the best stories published in the Indiana Daily Student during the preceding academic year.

Melzer, who studied business journalism at IU and served as associate night editor of the IDS, is a docent at the Will Rogers Historic State Park in Pacific Palisades, Calif. After graduation from IU, he worked for the City Bureau in Chicago; the Evanston News Service in Evanston, Ill.; the United Press; the International News Service; and the Los Angeles Mirror.

His journalism career was interrupted by active duty in the U.S. Air Force in Burma (now Myanmar) during World War II, and he was later recalled to active duty during the Korean conflict.

Melzer spent many years employed by the federal government as an information specialist, and he continued to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Upon his retirement from the Reserves, he had earned the rank of lieutenant colonel. He lives in Santa Monica, Calif.

Pearlman gift honors family’s support of education

SoJ Web Report — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:27:51 +0000

Courtesy photo

From left, Fran Pearlman, Sarah Hutchins, Donn Pearlman and (back) Russell Pearlman met at the last scholarship ceremony. Russell Pearlman set up a scholarship in his parents' names, and Hutchins is the first recipient.

Russell Pearlman had a big surprise in hand for his parents when he took them out to dinner for their 40th wedding anniversary. Through a gift to the IU School of Journalism, he created the Fran and Donn Pearlman Scholarship to honor his parents.

“I put a letter from Dean Hamm announcing the scholarship in a diploma cover,” Pearlman recounted. “After dinner I gave them the diploma cover and my mom was like ‘Why are you giving us your college diploma?’ Then they read the letter. They were thrilled.”

"Education has always been so important to my folks,” said Pearlman, BAJ’95, MBA’00. “They always told me that I can study anything, but that whatever it is that I needed to study hard. So starting a scholarship at Indiana in their name was a no-brainer. I liked the idea of helping students go abroad and broaden their horizons, so the new journalism international programs seemed like an ideal fit."

Pearlman’s parents flew in from Las Vegas and Russell flew in from New York to meet the first winner at the school’s spring scholarship ceremony. The scholarship is awarded to a student who is an Ernie Pyle Scholar with a minimum GPA of 3.2 and an interest in study abroad programs.

“Attending the ceremonies in April to personally meet the first recipient, Sarah Hutchins, as well as other scholarship winners and faculty members certainly reinforced our already strong opinion about the excellence of the IU School of Journalism,” Donn Pearlman said. “It also brought back happy memories of previous visits to the campus.

The younger Pearlman is senior markets editor at SmartMoney Magazine, where he writes and edits stories about investing. He is a frequent commentator on CNBC, CNN, Fox and MSNBC, where he talks about the economy and the financial news of the day.

Guback supports aspiring journalists

SoJ Web Report — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:23:43 +0000

Photo courtesy IU Foundation

Steve Guback not only made a gift through the Matching the Promise campaign, but also met with a student who benefited from that donation.

Story and photos courtesy IU Foundation.

Look deeply into every gift to Indiana University, and you’ll see people connecting, creating links, perhaps forming friendships that will last a lifetime.

Take, for example, Steve Guback. In September, this IU alum (BS’50) met with staff from the Indiana Daily Student. Along with his wife, Renie, who passed away in March, Steve had made a gift through the Matching the Promise campaign to the IU School of Journalism. The couple’s goal was to support aspiring journalists like IU alumnus Matt Dollinger.

When Steve and Matt met, their connection was immediate. And it didn’t hurt that both are sports writers: one a veteran, the other aspiring. Here’s a bit of the conversation that ensued.

Steve Guback: So how was your experience this summer? You were in New York interning with Sports Illustrated?

Matt Dollinger: Right. It was great. I’d never been to Manhattan before. Being in New York City—well, it’s pretty different from being in Bloomington.

Steve: It can be challenging and daunting, I know. But it can also be a lot of fun.

Matt: That’s right. You feel like you are at the center of the world. You look out the window, and something amazing is happening right there.

Steve: One of my favorite memories was taking the subway to 161st Street. You could see Yankee Stadium from the train just coming up on you.

Matt: Yeah! We were there, at the old one, and we had seats for a game in the upper deck. But for the last inning, we snuck down to the lower level. It was crazy. And then they played Sinatra’s “New York, New York” at the end of the game. I got goose bumps. You know, they’re building a new stadium right across the street.

Steve: Well, there’s so much history in that place. I covered the so-called “Greatest Game Ever Played” between the Baltimore Colts and the NY Giants there. In those days, you wanted to get to the locker room after a game as soon as you could.

Matt: That had to be hard with the crowd and all that excitement.

Photo courtesy of IU Foundation

Steve Guback with IU student Matt Dollinger, right, whose internship was supported by a scholarship funded by Guback's donation.

Steve: Exactly. So, I started going down the stands and through the crowd before the whistle. And then Steve Myra kicks a field goal to send the game into overtime. I really had to fight hard to get back to the game.

Matt: Did you ever cover any boxing in Yankee Stadium? I always wish boxing was still in its Golden Age. These days…

Steve: Yeah, you used to be able to recognize everybody. Now, you have all these sub-weights, and you can’t tell who anybody is.

Matt: Exactly! I mean, who’s the champ these days? It’s really hard to figure out.

Steve: When I was a reporter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I talked the newspaper into letting me spend three extra days in the New York area. I wanted to do a series on heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. So I went up to the Catskills to his training camp. His manager told me Rocky boxes six days a week and wasn’t there. I had to be back home the next day, so he called Rocky, and the champ agreed to meet me halfway. I think we met at the intersection of State Roads 64 and 98. We got out of our cars and sat in the grass and did the interview. Anybody who would do that for me is number one in my book.

Matt: That’s amazing.

Steve: Journalism is a great life. You have these unforgettable experiences. It can be hard, but you really get to see a lot. You know, I almost didn’t go to IU. I was from Connecticut, and I didn’t think I could apply. But when I got here, I knew this was the place for me. And look at what it gave me.

Matt: Well, I’m glad you went to school here. I’m glad you’re back here now.

Feldman gift supports travel

SoJ Web Report — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:12:03 +0000

Courtesy photo

Jessica Feldman, BA'54, was the first to support Journalism Experiences with a gift.

Jessica Feldman, BA’54, made the first charitable gift annuity to benefit the School of Journalism’s Journalism Experiences program, which supports travel and other outside-the-classroom activities.

Feldman grew up in Goshen, Ind., where she was editor of her junior and senior high school newspapers. She said that when her first choice of college, Northwestern University, did not pan out, “I chose Indiana and have always been very pleased with that choice.”

Feldman worked at the Chicago Tribune as an editorial research assistant before moving to an advertising agency.

After many years spent raising a family and volunteering, including producing newsletters for several public schools and co-editing a 1960s edition of This is Evanston for the League of Women Voters, Feldman returned to school, earning a Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Returning home, she went to work for the City of Chicago, retiring in 2002 as the managing deputy commissioner of the Department of Environment.

Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » July

Four students attend NABJ

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AEJMC presents freshman’s research paper

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Faculty, students to attend AEJMC convention

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Parameswaran joins journal editorial board

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Melzer gifts honor friends, mentors, family

Pearlman gift honors family’s support of education

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Feldman gift supports travel