[June 22, 2010]

A 30-year review of research comparing and contrasting accredited journalism schools with unaccredited ones shows many more similarities than differences, and no conclusive evidence that accredited ones are significantly or consistently better than un-accredited ones in any important way.

The literature review, by Dr. Marc C. Seamon, assistant professor of communication at Robert Morris University, was printed in the Spring 2010 issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, a refereed quarterly published by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Columbia, S.C. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator is the world’s largest and oldest scholarly journal devoted entirely to education and training in journalism, media, and other mass communication.

In the United States, accreditation of journalism schools is available from only one agency, the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC), headquartered at the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Kansas. ACEJMC accredits approximately one-quarter (about 110) of the journalism and communication colleges, schools, departments, and programs that are normally counted as such as in the United States (about 450).

Titled, “The Value of Accreditation: An Overview of Three Decades of Research Comparing Accredited and Unaccredited Journalism and Mass Communication Programs,” Dr. Seamon’s essay’s abstract reads, in part, that no study has “discovered evidence that accredited programs are strongly or clearly superior in major ways to unaccredited programs. In fact, studies generally find many more similarities than differences. A review of literature comparing accredited and unaccredited J&MC programs seems to suggest that ACEJMC accreditation is a credential whose reputation exceeds its actual benefit. Although the idea of a formal process by which programs can be evaluated and ‘certified’ as high quality is well intentioned, operationalization of that idea has proved to be difficult. Some accreditation standards ACEJMC has deemed most important (diver-sity and liberal arts curriculum) have resulted in controversial chapters in accreditation’s history.”

CONTACT: Dr. Seamon may be contacted at seamon@rmu.edu. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator’s editor, Dr. Dane S. Claussen of Point Park University, may be contacted at dsclaussen@hotmail.com.

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[October 17, 2011]

The October 2011 issue of the Journal of Communication Inquiry (JCI) marks the tenth anniversary of Hardt and Negri’s groundbreaking book Empire (2000) with a special theme issue devoted to its impact on critical communication studies.

The issue, guest edited by Jack Z. Bratich of Rutgers University, contains 19 essays from internationally recognized academics in communication, cultural, and media studies.

The focus of this issue resonates with the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) movement, as Hardt and Negri’s books (especially Empire) are believed to have predicted and helped shape the current wave of radicalism.

A key essay, “Corruption and Empire: Notes on Wisconsin” by M.R. Greene-May, directly links the concept of “corruption” from Hardt and Negri’s works to street action and thus would be useful in understanding current social activism.

Examining the (eventually failed) class struggle in Wisconsin that began with Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting legislation earlier this year, Greene-May argues how framing the solution to the problem of union busting as an electoral solution (through the ballot box strategy of recall and referendums) threatens the possibility of compositional and autonomous politics in class struggle. By demonstrating how party politics can politically capture and exploit class composition, as in the case of Wisconsin, Greene-May asserts that events of class struggle should “create their own conditions of possibility unfolding in their own time” rather than being defined and controlled by “the terms of the debate” by others. This claim parallels Hardt and Negri’s argument of how a successful radical movement should be like a “swarm:” that despite being decentralized, spontaneous, and free-flowing, a radical movement can self-organize, self-regulate, and self-govern.

We encourage those who are interested in seeing how Hardt and Negri’s works connect to current events to check out our entire October 2011 special theme issue.  The Greene-May essay abstract can be accessed at: http://jci.sagepub.com/content/early/recent. (Full text download is available to Sage Journals Online subscribers.)

Contacts: M. R. Greene-May (essay), North Carolina State University, mrmaygreene@gmail.com, Jack Z. Bratich (guest editor), Rutgers University, jbratich@rutgers.edu, Hye-Jin Lee (managing editor, JCI), University of Iowa, hye-jin-lee@uiowa.edu.

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[May 19, 2010]

Sports reporters on the high school beat, often the youngest and most inexperienced in the newsroom, are also the most likely to believe they can operate by more relaxed ethical codes than their counterparts, according to a new survey.

The telephone survey, conducted by researchers in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, asked 263 reporters who cover sports at the high school, college or professional level about their attitudes toward ethical codes and professional norms for reporters.

More than one-third of the reporters surveyed covered prep sports, and almost as many said they covered professional teams. Far fewer – 14 percent – said they covered college sports. Eighteen percent reported on several beats.

Researchers analyzed responses by beat and found that reporters covering high school sports were more likely than those on professional beats to advocate a more “relaxed” code of ethics for sports reporters than for other parts of the newsroom. Preps (high school) reporters also more often reported friendships with sources and endorsed home-team boosterism in stories than did those who covered pro teams.

At the same time, preps reporters were more likely to agree with the idea that sports journalism should work in a public-service, “watchdog” role.

Marie Hardin, associate director of research in the Curley Center, said the findings may reflect both the idealism and inexperience of reporters at the preps level. Reporters covering high school sports had less journalism experience than those on other beats, and 65 percent of reporters on this beat were under 40.

“These reporters – often the least experienced in a sports department – are also the closest to their communities and face different types of ethical issues than do other sportswriters,” Hardin said. “Their jobs are often just as much about public education as they are about sports.”

Results of the survey, “Sports Reporters’ Attitudes About Ethics Vary Based on Beat,” by Hardin and Bu Zhong, who both teach in Penn State’s College of Communications, is published in the Spring 2010 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.

Other questions on the survey—administered by students in COMM 412 Sports, Media and Society, one of the core class offerings of the Curley Center—asked reporters about job satisfaction. Reporters covering prep sports less often said they had considered quitting their jobs. They also more often said they saw their career futures as bright.

“This could be a reflection of their age,” Hardin said. “They’re younger and more likely in a career-building stage.”

Their optimism may also reflect the perception that their beats are more secure than those at the professional or even college level, added Hardin, where travel costs and competition from a variety of sources – including sports leagues – is cutting into sports-department budgets.

“Meanwhile, the high school beat is a staple in sports sections, and that’s not going to change anytime soon,” Hardin said. “These journalists may understand the key role they play for their papers and in their communities.”

Contacts: Marie Hardin e-mail: mch208@psu.edu or Bu Zhong e-mail: zhongbu@psu.edu.

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[May 26, 2010]

A recent study in the Newspaper Research Journal found that citizen journalism sites differ significantly from Web site supported by newspapers. As a result, most citizen journalism sites serve as complements rather than substitutes for commercial news Web sites.

The content analysis of the sites by researchers at Michigan State University, the University of Missouri, and the University of North Carolina studied the content at 86 citizen blog sites, 53 citizen news sites, and 63 daily newspaper sites. Citizen news sites were those that produced news articles similar to those found on newspaper sites, and citizen blogs were opinion sites.

Newspaper sites in the study were more likely to have contact information, a wide range of electronic distribution technology and more interactive elements than were citizen journalism sites. Daily newspaper sites allowed more uploading opportunities than did citizen blog sites, but not more than citizen news sites.

Of the 137 citizen journalism sites, 24% had not posted any material within a month of the downloading for the study.

The study, which was financed with grants from the Knight and Pew foundations, examined the design and features of the sites rather than the nature of the content.

Contact: Stephen Lacy e-mail: slacy@msu.edu.

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[July 15, 2010]

Reporters are using Internet tools, such as blogs and social media sites, to aid in coverage of public meeting as staff cuts in newsrooms across the nation mean fewer meetings are covered, a recent study published in Newspaper Research Journal reports.

In-depth interviews of 19 reporters from newspapers across the Southeast facing newsroom cutbacks found that reporters often use social media and blogging tools to report extra information, often procedural and content-related, while the final article in print focused on meeting outcomes. The researchers also found reporters use the Internet to avoid attending public meetings by doing things such as e-reading meeting minutes.

Researchers John C. Besley and M. Chris Roberts also found that journalists differed in their opinion of the importance of covering local public meetings. Some reporters said they did not like covering public meetings and while others said they view the newspaper as the record of public meetings for citizens.

Besley is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina and Roberts is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Alabama.

The study was published in the summer 2010 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.

Contacts: Sandra H. Utt Cell: (901) 628-2553 e-mail: nrj@newspaperresearchjournal.org or Elinor Kelley Grusin e-mail: egrusin@memphis.edu.

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