The program panels for the San Francisco Convention have been finalized and submitted to AEJMC headquarters. We have an impressive schedule that includes one Mini-plenary session about Hurricane Katrina coverage, a teaching panel addressing how we help students deal with disaster coverage, and seven other regular panels. We think they will be terrific sessions. We were also able to lock in days and times for our four regular research panels, the Scholar-to-Scholar session, our Thursday evening off-site business meeting, and the RTVJ Executive Board meeting.

Thank you to everyone who submitted panel ideas and to those of you who have agreed to serve on panels this August. In terms of the panel selection process, the RTVJ Executive Board reviewed 25 panel proposals, we combined and refined some of the ideas and submitted 10 panels to headquarters for distribution to the other divisions. AEJMC then turned those submissions around and presented us with 268 panel proposals from all the divisions and interest groups! Denise and I sorted through all these proposals and found other divisions and groups proposing ideas similar to ours and we started negotiating. Our strategy was to schedule most of our panels on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, during the middle of the day. We also tried to leave you some free time to enjoy San Francisco.

Below you’ll find each event or 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. (Most titles link to descriptions below. Thanks to Research Chair Laura Smith for details on the research sessions.)

Wednesday, August 2

Thursday, August 3

Friday, August 4

Saturday, August 5

Programming descriptions

Refereed Paper Session:
“Making” News: Historical & Theoretical Research in Journalism
Wednesday, August 2nd, 8:15 am

Moderator/Presiding: Bill Knowles, University of Montana
Panelists:

The Stakeholder Influence on the News: Exploring the Rule that Decides Who Wins the Framing Contest
Jianchuan "Henry" Zhou (Doctoral Student), University of Georgia

Uses and Gratifications of International Television News: A Two-Way Discourse Analysis
Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. (Doctoral Student), University of Missouri-Columbia

A Pathfinding Radio Documentary Series: Norman Corwin's One World Flight
Matthew C. Ehrlich, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(Winner: R-TVJ Top Faculty Paper Award)

Discussant: Mike Conway, Indiana University

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Achieving Excellence in Multi-Cultural Instruction:
Making Diversity A Priority Across the Curriculum
(Co-sponsored panel: RTVJ and Status of Women)
Wednesday, August 2, 10:00 am

We often hear talk about diversity as a number we need to reach or as one minor unit in our syllabus, but are there ways we achieve excellence in multicultural instruction day in and day out? A couple of new journalism websites (at Michigan State University and Louisiana State University) focus on diversity issues in order to help teachers and this panel will move the discussion forward.

Moderating: Kimmerly S. Piper-Aiken - Michigan State University
Panelists:
Sandra Combs-Birdiett - Michigan State University
Laura Smith - South Carolina
Brenda J. Wrigley - Syracuse

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Teaching and Learning in a Converged Media World
(Co-sponsored panel: RTVJ and Newspaper)
Wednesday, August 2, 1:30 pm

Panelists will present different models of how to team teach “convergence” courses in which students produce media in different media platforms. Panelists will discuss how to structure these teams, issues such as administration and evaluation of the teams, creating the syllabus, coordinating lectures and assignments, and grading of students.

Moderating: Judith Cramer, St. John’s University
Panelists:
Tim Bajkiewicz, University of South Florida
Ann Auman, University of Hawaii
Vince Filak, Ball State
James Gentry, Kansas

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We'll have back-to-back PF&R and Teaching sessions on Hurricane Katrina:

Katrina as Curriculum:
Considering Media Coverage of Race and Class in America
(Mini-plenary: Newspaper, RTVJ, Critical & Cultural Studies, Minorities & Comm)
Wednesday, August 2, 3:15 pm

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and cost billions of dollars. It also gave journalists more than just the first draft of history to write. It gave them a chance to affect lives and public policy. How did they do? This Mini-plenary session will look broadly at news coverage and the ethic of trauma. We are co-sponsoring with Newspaper, Critical and Cultural Studies, and Minorities and Communication. This session will deal specifically with the PF&R aspect.

Moderator: Mark Dolan, Mississippi
Panelists:

Preparing Students for Covering Disasters
Marguerite J. Moritz, University of Colorado at Boulder

Before the Next Emergency: Emergency Preparedness for Communicating with non-English Speaking Populations
Federico Subervi, Texas State University

From ‘Sniper Kings’ to ‘New Orleans Thugs’: A Comparative Analysis of New Images of African Americans During Urban Unrest
Kirk Johnson, University of Mississippi

Race, Religion and Emotion as Rubrics for Survivor Accounts
Stephanie Houston Grey, Louisiana State University

The Color of Disaster: Coverage of Hurricane Katrina—Its Language, Its Meanings and Its Implications
Anita Fleming-Rife, Clark Atlanta University

The Ethics of Disaster: Social problems and Personal Stories
Peggy Bowers, Clemson University

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Covering Katrina:
How to Prepare Student Journalists for the Story of their Lives
(Co-sponsored panel: RTVJ and Media Ethics)
Wednesday, August 2, 5:00 pm

Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 was the worst natural disaster in United States history. The radio and television journalists in Gulf Coast markets had to cover stories of panic and despair while they dealt with their own losses and discomfort. Many were young journalists at the beginning of their careers. This panel will address the question of how we as educators can best prepare our students for the big story that has a profound impact on everyone in the coverage area, including the journalists themselves.

Moderator: Mary Blue, Loyola University, New Orleans
Panelists:
William Davie, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Nancy McKenzie Dupont, Loyola University New Orleans
Kris Wilson, Emory University
Lynda Kraxberger, Missouri
Erin Richards, Missouri School of Journalism student

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Refereed Paper Session:
Cutting Edge Issues in News Content
Thursday, August 3, 8:15 am

Moderating/Presiding: Bill Davie, University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Panelists:

Shovelcasting, Talk Radio and the Weather: A Content Analysis of News Podcasts
Vincent F. Filak, Ph.D., Ball State University
(Winner: RTVJ Top Faculty Paper Award)

A Centralcasting Postmortem and a News-Share Projection: Using Market
Theory to Assess Alternative Local Television News Strategies
George L. Daniels, Ph.D., The University of Alabama

Media Convergence: A Case Study of A Cable News Station
J. Sonia Huang (Doctoral Student) & Don Heider, Ph.D., University of Texas
at Austin

The Relationships among Audience Loyalty, Perceived Quality, and Media Credibility of Cable News Networks
Tayo Oyedeji (Graduate Student) & Felicity Duncan (Graduate Student),
University of Missouri-Columbia
(Winner: RTVJ Top Student Paper Award)

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Refereed Paper Poster Session:
Scholar-to-Scholar
Thursday, August 3, 1:30 p.m.

Coverage of Youth issues in 2004 Election: Television v. Online
Karon Reinboth Speckman, Ph.D Truman State University

Network and Cable News Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election: So Just Who's Biased
Frederick Fico, Ph.D., Geri Alumit Zeldes, Ph.D., Arvind Diddi (Doctoral
Student), & Serena Carpenter (Doctoral Student), Michigan State University

Discussant: Lee Hood, University of Colorado-Boulder

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The Latest Industry Research
(Co-sponsored panel: Council of Affiliates and RTVJ)
Thursday, August 3, 3:15 pm

We'll hear about the very latest print and broadcast industry research from this panel. It will include the follow-up results from Bob Papper's group at Ball State University. His research is trying to more accurately measure the way we use media in our lives.

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Profs in a Pod:
Examining the efficacy of podcasting as a teaching tool
(Co-sponsored panel: RTVJ and Comm Tech)
Thursday, August 3, 5:00 pm

Podcasting is comparable to blogging, but usually audio and sometimes video are involved in this new wave of media publishing. Print journalists are dealing with blogs and how that affects their work, now electronic journalists need to recognize the power of podcasting and find a way to co-exist. Mainstream journalists are jumping on the podcasting wagon, but anyone with a microphone and a computer can produce content.

Moderator: Denise Dowling - Montana
Panelists:
Lynda Kraxberger - Missouri
Stephen Page - KYOU General Manager-San Francisco
Charles Pearce - Kansas State

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Refereed Paper Session:
News Content Production & Delivery
Friday, August 4, 8:15 am

Moderating/Presiding: Tamyra Pierce, California State University, Fresno
Panelists:

The Effect of Screen Size and Audio Delivery System on Memory for Television News
Mark Kelley, The University of Maine

A Time Series Analysis of Network News Editing Strategies from 1969 through 2005
Richard J. Schaefer, Ph.D., University of New Mexico

Selling News: Behind the Content of Cable and Broadcast News Morning Shows
Johanna Cleary, Ph.D. & Terry Adams, Ph.D., University of Miami

Breaking in Your In-box: An Exploratory Content Analysis of Online Network
Breaking News E-mails
Tim Bajkiewicz, Ph.D., University of South Florida & Jessica Smith,
Adjunct/Instructor, Abilene Christian University

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Teaching Sports, Community, and Society
(Co-sponsored panel: Mass Comm & Society and RTVJ)
Friday, August 4, 1:30 pm

The popularity of sports-related coursework in communications curricula continues to grow. Although many programs provide skill-related courses, it is also imperative that these programs also help students understand the impact of sports media on the culture and focus on the myriad ethical and social issues involved in their future careers. Such courses can help sports departments lose their “toy department” status and become more socially engaged and responsible. Panelists will present the concrete ways they address such issues with students.

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Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks
(RTVJ Sole-sponsored panel)
Friday, August 4, 5:00 pm

The newsroom environment from writing, reporting and producing, to equipment and its use often seems like it changes with the speed of light. Many programs make tremendous efforts to constantly upgrade their equipment, but those teaching electronic journalism may need a little upgrading too. This panel will explore ways in which older faculty, those who haven’t worked in “the business” in some time, can reconnect with it and learn new concepts and skills they can integrate into their teaching.

Moderator: Judith Cramer – St. John's University
Panelists:
Judy VanSlyke Turk, Virginia Commonwealth University
Deb Halpern Wenger, Virginia Commonwealth University
Ed Chapuis, News Director, KTVU

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Al-Jazeera and Truth
(Co-sponsored panel: Media Ethics and RTVJ)
Saturday, August 5, 10:00 am

Al-Jazeera is known around the world and controversial in both the United States and its home base in the Middle East. Al-Jazeera has a code of ethics emphasizing truth. To what extent does it represent truth in its programming and practices? This panel would examine the latest information on Al-Jazeera.

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Refereed Paper Session:
News Research on Health & Well Being
Saturday, August 5, 11:45 am

Moderating/Presiding: Kenneth Killebrew, University of South Florida

Panelists:

Preparing for the Worst: Making a Case for Trauma Training in the
Journalism Classroom
Gretchen Dworznik (Doctoral Student) & Max Grubb, Ph.D., Kent State
University

Network News Coverage of Lung Cancer, 1968-2005
Sooyoung Cho, Ph.D, University of South Carolina

Health, Homeland Security & Self Efficacy: Does contextual story placement
in a television newscast affect perceptions of helplessness?
Andrea Miller, Ph.D. & Lesa Hatley-Major (Doctoral Candidate), Louisiana
State University

Discussant: Tony Rimmer, California State University, Fullerton

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