Published: Aug. 5, 2022

Moderators, Discussants, Panelists and Workshop Leaders

  • Kathleen Alaimo (Dayton, JRNL PhD alum)
  • Angie Chuang (associate professor, JRNL)
  • Patrick Ferrucci (associate professor, JRNL)
  • Harsha Gangadharbatla (professor, APRD)
  • Fahad Humayun (PhD student, JRNL)
  • Ross Taylor (assistant porfessor, JRNL)
  • Paul Voakes (professor Emeritus, JRNL)

Students and faculty in the College of Media, Communication and Information traveled to Detroit, Michigan, this month for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference.

Scholars from around the country returned to AEJMC in person this year after two years of remote programming during the coronavirus pandemic. The conference, held Aug. 3–6, featured 20 peer-reviewed papers from CMCI scholars, including seven papers that earned top awards.

The award-winning scholarship from CMCI and its alumni spanned topics like job satisfaction in journalism, market models for digital newspapers in Africa, the evolution of media ethics, and communicating about health literacy on social media.

Of note, Assistant Professor Ross Taylor received a first place award for his documentary on Colorado refugees, Mango House. PhD student Sima Bhowmik and Assistant Professor Jolene Fisher also received first place for their paper, “Framing the Israel-Palestine Conflict 2021: Investigation of CNN’s Coverage From a Peace Journalism Perspective.”

In total, 24 CMCI faculty members and students from three departments joined the conference. They participated as moderators, discussants, panelists and workshop leaders in 16 of the conference’s divisions, interest groups and panels.

Founded in 1912, AEJMC is the oldest and largest alliance of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the college level. Today, the nonprofit organization includes thousands of educators, students and practitioners from around the globe.

Below is a complete list of this year’s papers and participants from CMCI, including from the departments of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design (APRD); Information Science (INFO); Journalism (JRNL); and Media Studies (MDST).

Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division

  • “Framing the Israel-Palestine Conflict 2021: Investigation of CNN’s Coverage from a Peace Journalism Perspective”: Sima Bhowmik (PhD student, JRNL) and Jolene Fisher (assistant professor, APRD) – First Place Faculty Paper Award

Communicating Science, Health, Environment Risk Division

  • “Communicating Health Literacy about Pharmaceutical Medication on Social Media: ‘It Works for Me, but May Not For You’”: Erin Willis (associate professor, APRD), Kate Friedel (PhD student, APRD), Mark Heisten (PhD student, APRD) and Melissa Pickett (PhD student, APRD) – Third Place Faculty Paper Award

  • “The Political Economy of Freelance Climate Journalists”: Mushfique Wadud (PhD student, JRNL)

Critical and Cultural Studies Division

  • “What Actually is Peace Journalism? Uncovering Its (Lack of) Definition and Related Practices”: Sima Bhowmik (PhD student, JRNL) and Patrick Ferrucci (associate professor, JRNL)

Entertainment Studies Interest Group

  • “A Theoretical Model for Understanding Journalism and Film”: Patrick Ferrucci (associate professor, JRNL)

  • “Building Boundaries: The Depiction of Digital Journalists in Popular Culture”: Chad Painter (Dayton) and Patrick Ferrucci (associate professor, JRNL)

Graduate Student Interest Group

  • “Visual Framing of Panic Buying during the Pandemic”: Sima Bhowmik (PhD student, JRNL) and Saima Kazmi (PhD student, APRD)

International Communication Division

  • “Assessing Influences on Pakistani Journalists’ Use of Twitter for News Sourcing and Verification”: Fahad Humayun (PhD student, JRNL)

  • “Defensive Digital Journalism in Bangladesh: Consequences of the Digital Security Act”: Sima Bhowmik (PhD student, JRNL) and Jolene Fisher (assistant professor, APRD)

  • “Moral Foundations and Brown Envelope Journalism Among Ghanaian Student Journalists: An Exploratory Study”: Kwaku Botwe (PhD student, APRD) – Third Place Student Paper Award

  • “The Role of News Fixers in the International Reporting of the Rohingya Genocide: Postcolonial and Critical Political-Economic Perspective”: Mushfique Wadud (PhD student, JRNL)

Media Ethics Division

  • “A Comparative Approach to Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities Public Interest Journalism Faces in the New Media Economy”: Nicola Redl (PhD student, JRNL)

Media Management, Economics and Entrepreneurship Division

  • “A Comparative Approach to Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities Public Interest Journalism Faces in the New Media Economy”: Nicola Redl (PhD student, JRNL)

Minorities and Communication Division

  • “From Take a Knee to ‘S.O.B.’: How Trump’s Performative Speech Compounded the Protest Paradigm and Hijacked Colin Kaepernick’s Protest”: Angie Chuang (associate professor, JRNL) and Autumn Tyler (PhD student, MDST)

Newspaper and Online News Division

  • “COVID-19 as a Contributing Factor to Job Satisfaction and Alienation Among Journalists”: Kathleen Alaimo (Dayton, JRNL PhD alum) and Miles Davis (Miami University, JRNL PhD alum) – Second Place Student Paper Award
  • “Digital Newspapers in Africa: Examining Market Models, Audience Engagement, and Ethics in Tanzania”:  Gregory Gondwe (California State, San Bernardino, JRNL PhD alum) and Adenife Modile (PhD student, SOCY) – Second Place Top Faculty Paper Award
  • “The Impact of a Journalist’s and Audience Members’ Involvement in Comment Sections on the Perceived Credibility of the Journalist, the Story, and the News Organization”: Kirsten Johnson, (Elizabethtown) and Burton St. John (professor, APRD)

Public Relations Division

  • “Primal Indigenous Wisdom for a Postmillennial Future: A Forgotten Inspiration for CSR”: Raaj Chandran (PhD student, APRD)

Scholastic Journalism Interest Group

  • “Moral and Communicative Ecology in College Newspapers: How Student Journalists Navigate the Questions of Ethics” Gregory Gondwe (California State, San Bernardino, JRNL PhD alum) and Sima Bhowmik (PhD Student, JRNL)

Visual Communication Division

  • “Mango House”: Ross Taylor (assistant professor, JRNL) – First Place Faculty Creative Research Award