Graduate Education Interest Group
When do Journalists Learn About Ethics? An Examination of Classroom and Professional Attitudes About Ethical Standards • Scott Reinardy and Jensen Moore, University of Missouri-Columbia • A survey (n=1,195) included broadcast and print journalist students at a large Midwestern university, and broadcast and newspaper professionals. The study compares the ethical perceptions of introductory journalism students to graduating students, as well as professional journalists. The results indicate that in general terms the introductory students appear more ethically grounded than graduating students, and graduating students have a higher standard of ethics than professional practitioners.
Vietnam and Iraq: Memory vs. History During the 2004 Presidential Campaign Coverage • Sue Robinson, Temple University • This paper contrasts two ideas of journalistic ritual — a macro view of communication and a more micro level of objectivity — by textually analyzing five newspapers’ coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign between John Kerry and President George W. Bush, whose mnemonic battles over Vietnam served to clash two fundamental concepts of objective history and cultural memory. Journalists’ professional norms failed to reframe the politicized memories in any meaningful way.
Social Presence, Interactivity and Engagement: A Human-Centered Approach Towards Instructional Technology • Bimal Balakrishnan and Keston Pierre, Penn State University • This paper looks at the question of technology in education from a communication perspective and attempts to make the case for a more human-centered approach. Concepts of social presence, engagement and interactivity are identified as key variables and the relevance of these are theorized. A results of a pilot study carried out to explore the effect of these variables on student satisfaction in an online course are encouraging. The limitations and future directions for the research are discussed.