News Story

Many faculty members will present their research at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications’ annual conference Aug. 6-9 in San Francisco.

So far, the list of research includes:

“Frances Buss, Television’s ‘Playgirl’: The Groundbreaking Career and Divergent Reactions of Television’s First Female Director.”  Associate professor Mike Conway and sophomore Alexandra Hitchcock wrote this paper, which was accepted for presentation  in the History Division. It examines the career and times of Buss, who worked at CBS in the 1940s and 1950s.

“Citizens of the Margin: Youth and Resistance in a Moroccan YouTube Web Series.”  Doctoral student Mohamed El Marzouki will present his paper, which also won the best student paper award in the Cultural and Critical Studies Division for this paper.

“The Josh Wolf Case: Lessons and Legacy for Reporter’s Privilege and Participatory Journalism.” Associate professor Anthony Fargo will participate in the panel discussion about the 2006 case of Josh Wolf, a freelance journalist and activist who holds the record for the longest jail sentence served for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury about what he saw during a protest in San Francisco that he filmed. Fargo will provide insight into how the case affected reporter’s privilege law. While at the conference, Fargo also will present he First Amendment Award to famed media attorney Floyd Abrams on behalf of the Professional Freedom and Responsibility Committee.

“Study of Audience Reaction to a Celebrity’s Announcement of Cancer via Social Media: The Roles of Audience Involvement, Emotion and Gender.”  Poster session in the Communication Technology Division by assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick, about research conducted with doctoral students Rachelle Pavelko and Roshni Verghese, and Joe Bob Hester, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Media and Policy Agenda-Building in Investigative Reporting.”  Assistant professor Gerry Lanosga and DePaul University assistant professor Jason Martin, PhD’11, describe a new method of measuring the ability of investigative reporting to influence public policy. Instead of analyzing the investigative journalist’s published content, Lanosga and Martin analyzed the reporting process.

“Determinants of SNS Discussion Disagreement: The Effects of Political Interest, SNS News Use and Weak Ties.”  Paper by doctoral student Yanqin Lu and associate professor Jae Kook Lee, to be presentated to the Communication Technology Division. This study explores the predictors of discussion disagreement on SNS and results show both political interest and news-related activities on SNS are negatively associated with discussion disagreement. These negative relationships are particularly stronger among those who have a small proportion of weak ties in their social media networks.

“Political Talks on Social Networking Sites: Investigating the Effects of SNS Discussion Disagreement and Internal Efficacy on Political Participation.”  This paper by doctoral students Yanqin Lu and Kyle Heatherly, and associate professor Jae Kook Lee, shows discussion disagreement is a significant mediator in the positive relationship between SNS political discussion and participation. This paper is a project of the school’s Communications Research Group.

“Network Agenda-Building during the Ebola Crisis: Exploring the Impact of Government Messages on Newspaper Coverage.”  Doctoral students Yanqin Lu and Young Eun Park found that during the Ebola crisis, the salience of network relationships of attributes is transferred from public relations materials to news media articles. However, network centrality results also suggested that journalists do not completely follow the agenda of public relations messages.

“Integrating International News Coverage into Other Journalism Classes: Best Practices, Case Studies, Pedagogical Resources and Cautionary Strategies.”  Associate professor Emily Metzgar and alumna Lindita Camaj will serve on this panel.

“Network Agenda-Building During the Ebola Crisis: Exploring the Impact of Government Messages on Newspaper Coverage.”  Doctoral student Young Eun Park will present this work, co-authored with doctoral student Yanqin Lu. The study results indicated that during the crisis, the importance of network relationships was transferred from public relations materials to news media articles. Park will accept the Susanne A. Roschwalb Grant Award in the Public Relations Division. This award is given to students in public relations who plan on conducting international research the following academic year.

“Perceived News Media Importance: Developing and Validating a Tool for Clarifying Dynamics of Media Trust.”  New assistant professor Jason Peifer will present his paper, which received the Top Student Paper Award for the Communication Theory and Methodology Division.

“The Entanglement of Sex, Culture, and Media in Genderizing Disease.”  Doctoral student Irene van Driel is first author of this paper, which will be presented in the Communication Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division of the conference. Other authors are assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick; IU doctoral student Rachelle Pavelko; Media School associate dean Maria Elizabeth Grabe; and Paul Hendriks Vattenhen, Mariska Kleemans and Gabi Schaap, all of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.