Overview: Strengths, weaknesses, contributions

Strengths: We were able to maintain approximately the same level of submissions for convention papers as last year, with about the same ratio of faculty to student research submissions. For the third year in a row, we participated in a mid-winter conference. This year at the Southeast Colloquium, there were nine papers submitted and five presented.

Weaknesses: It is of concern that the number of faculty research submissions for the main AEJMC conference decreased from 25 to 23, and we will work to get those numbers back up. Almost one-third of the faculty papers (seven) were written with student authors. These were counted as faculty submissions. The overall acceptance rate this year was 56 percent, slightly above the recommended acceptance rate of 50 percent. And the acceptance rate for faculty submissions was high at 70 percent.

Contributions: Regarding papers accepted for presentation at the Toronto conference, methodologically they included survey, interview, content analysis, and other qualitative and qualitative methods. Topics ranged from analysis of election coverage and educational issues to various international news subjects, including the Canadian News Directors Study.

Research paper submissions

Number of faculty research paper submissions: 23
Number accepted: 16
Acceptance rate: 70%

Number of student research paper submissions: 13
Number accepted: 4
Acceptance rate: 31%

Overview of judging process

Judges were given numerical evaluation forms for papers, assessing them on six criteria. Most judges returned hard copies of the forms by regular mail, but one submitted them via e-mail.

Total number of judges: 26; number of papers per judge: 3.

This year at the Southeast Colloquium, there were nine papers submitted and five presented.

RTVJ gave out several faculty/student research awards. We gave out a top faculty paper award and recognized a second place faculty award. We also gave out a top student paper award and recognized a second place student award. We also recognized a prompt paper judge, selected randomly from the pool of judges who returned their forms by the deadline.

2004 paper Award winners

Prompt Paper Judge Winner - $50. Craig Allen, Arizona State University

Top Faculty Paper - $200. Marsha Barber and Ann Rauhala, Ryerson
The Canadian News Directors Study: How Television Newsroom Decision Makers Understand Their Journalistic Roles

2nd Place Faculty Paper - $50. Andrea Miller and David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State
"...A Suit that Touches Caesar Nearer": Television Breaking News and the Relevance Effect

Top Student Paper - $150, plus complimentary convention registration. Sooyoung Cho and Sam H. Jeon, Missouri - Columbia
How Network TV News Covered Breast Cancer, 1974 to 2003

2nd Place Student Paper - $50 plus complimentary convention registration. April Blackmon, Susan Berhow, and Kimball Benson, Kansas State
A Content Analysis of News Crawls on Three 24-Hour News Networks