Hope you all have your calendars marked for San Francisco August 2nd through the 6th. This year’s AEJMC convention promises great panels, interesting research sessions and a special celebration for the RTVJ division. RTVJ turns 40 this year and we plan festivities to honor the occasion at the business meeting and social on Thursday evening. Jeanne Rollberg is busy planning the event. Don Heider is leading the committee to choose this year’s winner of the Edward L. Bliss award for distinguished broadcast journalism education which will be announced at the meeting/social. We know the party will begin at 7 p.m., and we’ll announce the location once that’s been firmed up.

Another bit of exciting news to report. The contract for the RTVJ division journal Electronic News is signed, sealed and delivered! The agreement with Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. calls for a quarterly publication beginning in 2007. Editors Charlie Tuggle and Bob Papper and the editorial board are in the thick of it. Submissions are out for review and the first edition will be published in January of 2007.

Electronic News is devoted to advancing knowledge and understanding of news disseminated through the electronic media. The focus will be on applied research on news topics in radio, television and the web. The editors want to encourage original research on topics of interest to practitioners and academicians. Four papers will be published in each edition with a rolling six-month deadline. Thanks to Charlie and Bob for all their hard work and to each of you reviewing or submitting papers. It’s gratifying to see the journal idea become reality. I hope you will all take advantage of this new venue for publishing the practical research sought by those in the business and those of us trying to teach the business. Additional thanks to the folks at Erlbaum, especially Linda Bathgate, for rolling up their sleeves and making this happen.

The division participated in the Southeast Colloquium in Tuscaloosa in March. Wilson Lowery and his colleagues at the University of Alabama did a wonderful job organizing and hosting the event. (I was especially pleased to be able to get out of Montana for a few days in the dead of winter!) The research and panels presented covered a wide range of topics from media advocacy to internet issues and Katrina coverage. RTVJ’s Nancy Dupont and Mary Blue won the division’s award for best faculty paper. Their research explored the use of language in the lead up to the hurricane. I find it especially impressive that these ladies managed to study the media response while living through the chaos themselves.

Kenny Irby of the Poynter Institute gave a wonderful presentation of the visual impact of Katrina coverage. The photos and video he shared brought tears to many eyes in the audience, especially to our colleagues who survived the disaster and continue to live through it daily.

We also had a chance to visit the media operations on the UA campus. Pam Doyle made us feel right at home in the student and professional outlets. It’s wonderful to see students and pros working along side each other in such a positive environment. The students are lucky to have that opportunity and to have people like Pam urging them along. My thanks go to everyone who attended and those who did all the hard work of putting the colloquium together. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to urge each of you to find a way to support RTVJ in the coming year. Submit your research for consideration, volunteer to review papers, urge your colleagues to join the division, or help with the many committees working for you. Remember the nominating committee will be fielding a new slate of officers in August and Anthony Moretti would love to hear from you if you would be willing to serve. It’s a great way to make a contribution and to get to know people in journalism education around the country. I hope each and every one of you is having a productive semester and I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco this summer.