Where the Chips Fell:
Panels Set for San Antonio

By Denise Dowling, M.A.
University of Montana
RTVJ Division Vice-Head '04-'05
denise.dowling@umontana.edu

The chips are down for San Antonio. After weeks of striking deals and one crazy morning when the chips were flying, RTVJ ended up with seven panels on the programming grid for the August convention. I hope you’ll agree they are all interesting topics.

Thank you to everyone who submitted panel ideas. Twenty-eight panels and one pre-convention workshop were pitched to me by members of our division. The RTVJ executive committee worked together to combine and define panels and submitted 10 to AEJMC for distribution to the other divisions. AEJMC then turned those submissions around and presented us with nearly 200 panel proposals from all the divisions and interest groups! Anthony and I sorted through all these proposals and found other divisions and groups proposing ideas similar to ours. Then the bargaining began.

Our strategy was to schedule most of our panels on Wednesday and Thursday. We tried not to schedule anything early in the morning (we know how you like your beauty sleep!) or late in the afternoon. We did our best to leave you some free time to enjoy San Antonio when you’re there in August. And while we couldn’t always maintain that strategy, I think you’ll be pleased with the result.

Below you’ll find each panel’s working title, the time and date it’s scheduled, the lead sponsor and co-sponsor(s), and the RTVJ person taking the lead. If you have suggestions for panelists please contact the RTVJ person listed. Also note the deadline for speaker travel funding requests has passed, so any panelists you suggest at this time will not be eligible for financial help from AEJMC.

Scheduled RTVJ Panels for AEJMC 2005

Here’s a bit more information on each panel and what we hope it will accomplish.

Life After Denial of Tenure
Wednesday, 8/3 10:00 a.m.
RTVJ contact: Don Heider, Donheider@mail.utexas.edu

What should you do when you apply for and fail to receive tenure? How can you make sure the institution is the right fit for you? Should you continue to work toward tenure or make a move to another university? Is there anything you can do BEFORE you make application to ensure your success?

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What I Wish I Had Learned in J-school
Wednesday, 8/3 11:45 a.m.
RTVJ contact: Kathy Bradshaw, kabrads@bgnet.bgsu.edu

We’ll talk with fairly recent graduates about what was lacking in their journalism education. Students from a number of programs will talk about how their education measured up once they landed their first jobs. We’ll ask students from programs large and small, with different ideologies and in different parts of the country to share their thoughts. We hope this will help us, as educators, improve our teaching.

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Elections & Ethics
Wednesday, 8/3 3:15 p.m.
RTVJ contact: Tim Bajkiewicz, tbajkiew@cas.usf.edu

It wasn’t just the 60 Minutes Wednesday fiasco that had viewers and listeners disillusioned about the coverage of the 2004 presidential election. In this panel we’ll explore ethical issues that arose in campaign coverage, political advertising and public relations. This session is a mini-plenary and will include panelists in print, broadcast, advertising and PR.

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The Latest Industry Research
Thursday, 8/4 8:15 a.m.
RTVJ contact: Bob Papper, rpapper@bsu.edu

The very latest print and broadcast industry research will be presented in this panel. It’s possible we’ll see the full roll-out of the Middletown Media Studies project. MMS spent 400 full days observing the way people use media. This groundbreaking study will more accurately reflect the way we use media in our lives, and will surely generate ideas on how the media can become more useful.

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Adversarial Journalism
Thursday, 8/4 11:45 a.m.
RTVJ contact: Bill Davie, wrdavie@louisiana.edu

We’ll take a look at the polarization of U.S. citizens and discuss in detail how the media is playing a role in that divisiveness. We’ll explore the history of the partisan press and contemporary charges of both liberal bias and conservative agendas. Authors and journalists will be invited to discuss the influence of the right and the left on mainstream media coverage.

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Media Consolidation
Thursday, 8/4 3:15 p.m.
RTVJ contact: Lee Hood, Lee.Hood@colorado.edu

The ownership of newspapers, radio and television are in the hands of fewer and fewer companies. What happens to “local” news content when ownership and often production comes out of a centralized operation, sometimes hundreds of miles away? Clear Channel Communications, based in San Antonio, has been called “the poster child for the evils of media consolidation”. We’ll hear directly from the CEO of Clear Channel Radio, its critics and researchers about the consolidation trend.

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The Mic on Main Street
Saturday, 8/6 10:00 a.m.
RTVJ contact: Denise Dowling, denise.dowling@umontana.edu

In light of media consolidation, how many radio stations are truly local? And what are these local stations doing to stay viable in their communities? We’ll explore new trends in community radio, from programming to sales and outreach, and find out how these radio stations are an integral part of their communities. We’ll also talk about the financial realities of local radio and hear what stations are doing to get the most out of their resources.

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