Summer 2020 newsletter

RELIGION MATTERS: Summer 2020

Welcome to the 2020 pre-convention RMIG newsletter. To read articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Michelle Baker, Penn State University Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

Letter from the Head: Farewell and thank you

By Gregory Perreault

In 2011, I came to the Religion and Media business meeting as a graduate student to accept my Top Student Paper award. As our interest group began discussing the need for officers, I found myself as the newsletter editor for the division. Over the past nine years, I have touched and been a part of just about every aspect of this interest group. And, as I suspect you would guess, I was routinely impressed by the insight, thoughtfulness, kindness and leadership in our interest group.

Gregory Perrault portrait

Gregory Perreault

As an interest group, we are—since Political Communication has moved up toward division status—the largest interest group at AEJMC. We are in fact, larger than many of the divisions at AEJMC. The reason for that is simple: what we do is essential. It’s impossible to not look at the world today and see the “winds” of religion swaying the trees, and our job as media and communication scholars is to dissect, predict, understand and teach about the nature of those winds.

When I came into this head position, I decided that my primary goal would be to make sure that our leadership had a chance to say “thank you” to the scholars who made this possible.

We owe a tremendous debt to a number of people who guided this interest group through some tricky waters. If you want to know who many of those people are, check the officer rosters. You’ll see that we have devoted leaders who year after year serve in some capacity. This year, we’ll be saying thank you to two individuals in particular: Dr. Daniel Stout and Dr. Judith Buddenbaum. It is safe to say that without their influence not only would we likely not have an interest group, but would also not have the Journal of Media and Religion and we would likely not have a subfield devoted to this topic. It is impossible to overstate their influence to both Religion and Media and to the field of journalism and mass communication. They drew attention to topics and brought together theories and methods to lay the foundation for our work today.

The work for this year’s conference was different than we had anticipated. We went into the year desiring to emphasize developing new avenues for research for our subfield, as Judie and Dan had done before us. As much of that work was progressing, the coronavirus hit, forcing us to focus on the most important aspects of our work: passing on what we’ve learned. We worked in collaboration with the Council of Divisions and AEJMC leaderships to chart a course for the 2020 conference. And we also offered up RMIG funds in a call for assistance to help graduate students and faculty from at-need institutions be a part of this work. After all, without the people in our interest group, we don’t have one.

Despite the choppy waters, I couldn’t be more thankful to have had the opportunity to serve this division. I’ll be stepping back from the group this year as I focus on tenure and a Fulbright Scholar Award to Austria in the spring. I will be conducting research on digital journalism and teaching at the University of Vienna from March to July 2021. I look forward to working with Folker Hanusch and the team at the Journalism Studies Center. I thank Karen Fletcher, Katie Howard and Nina-Jo Moore for helping me write the grant.

Our subfield has only become more vital and more important — not less — and I look forward to seeing the bright future ahead for this group.

Posted in Officers.

AEJMC president-elect on virtual convention as a time for DEI and RMIG

Heading toward this year’s online #AEJMC2020, President-Elect Tim P. Vos reflects on imperatives for these times, including opportunities for RMIG. Vos is professor and director of the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. Vos designed and taught units on religion and media at the University of Missouri, he has presented his own work, been an adviser for Gregory Perreault’s religion-related dissertation and reviewed for the Journal of Media and Religion.

Vos spoke June 23 with Joe Grimm. These are edited excerpts of Vos’ remarks.

Dr. Tim P. Vos

The beauty of the online convention is that you can attend more of it because the sessions will be recorded. You can attend sessions live, but they will also be recorded.

This is an opportunity to actually attend a lot more of the conference. I think there is going to be a lot of value in that for members. There are some things that you don’t get from a virtual conference, of course: the serendipity of running into people and learning about their research or an exercise that they’re using in classes. And there is so much that gets learned in these contexts. But, in terms of the actual sessions in the conference, there is going to be an opportunity to attend more of those.

I think smaller interest groups that don’t always get lots of general membership engaged in their programming might now actually have the occasion for them to peek in and be drawn in and engage. Some divisions are using social media to talk about their sessions, their special guests …

(Recordings will be available for 90 days after the convention.)

Being part of an academic association in a field that’s not enormous means we can learn from each other. People get to know each other. There are communities of like-minded scholars and teachers that grow in an association like AEJMC. There’s bound to be exchanges in the collective if we’re engaged in listening to one another, talking to one another. The wisdom of the crowd doesn’t happen magically, and it’s not just doing a poll and saying, “Ah! That’s what the majority of people think.” No, it’s in exchange, it’s in debate, it’s in cross-examination.

As president-elect, I was able at the very last minute to arrange a hot-topics session, something that would be very timely that maybe at the time of the paper competition or setting panels wasn’t necessarily on the radar. I chose to do a session on the sort of consequences for our field with the death of George Floyd and the unrest that’s ensued and what seems to me to be a really renewed focus on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). This will be a panel of both research and teaching. This is a chance to learn from each other. We’ve had scholars in our field studying these issues for a very long time. They haven’t received the attention that their work deserves. I think now is a moment to bring these scholars to a more visible place in our association and for us to engage in discussion and debate. (The session will be 1:30-3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7.)

A refocus on DEI is of course going to focus on the plight of African American communities because that’s the moment that we’re in, but in dealing with these issues there are implications for all kinds of groups, of course, including religious groups, religious minorities. So, maybe this time doesn’t directly lead to re-energizing RMIG, but I think it shows the importance of this interest group in our field.

I hope that, moving forward, we can see the importance of covering topics related to religion and media.

There’s a lot of good research and teaching that’s being done in this area already. And, as it should be, I think the focus is on representation. Underrepresented voices have been systematically excluded from media, from journalism and other media portrayals and in advertising and probably public relations, as well. So, I think these issues of representation when they come to religious minority groups become really important topics for us.

I think there is room in the field — and this is from someone who doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of the literature, but I try to stay abreast — is sort of the role of religious institutions, religious groups, religious ideologies in media development itself and media systems and media practice. There is a really rich and interesting history there of different religious groups being intimately involved in the creation of media systems in North America.

Book coverThe book series that I edit for the University of Missouri Press had a book a couple years ago by Ronald R. Rodgers, “The Struggle for the Soul of Journalism: The Pulpit versus the Press, 1833-1923.” It’s the story of mainline Protestant Christianity and its institutions being very involved in the creation or professionalism of journalism. Some of the norms of journalism are deeply affected by these institutions and groups. We don’t always understand these religious roots.

The history of broadcasting is also one in which there were religious groups, including the Paulist Fathers, who owned radio station WLWL in New York in 1925 and who are active in publishing, film and the web. They contributed to debates about media broadcast policy. There’s some really fascinating history there that I think is very relevant to the media systems and professional cultures that we have today.

Posted in Conferences, Officers, Professional Development, Research.

Dan Stout, renaissance man

By David W. Scott

I want to talk about Dan Stout, my friend and colleague. When we celebrate his accomplishments at AEJMC this year, I’ll add more thoughts on his outstanding contributions to the study of media and religion. They are many.

I met Dan Stout when I began my MA degree in 1993. When we met, I assumed he was like every other professor, but after a brief conversation in his office, my opinion shifted considerably. I discovered that Dan is a true intellectual — not the kind who sits in an ivory tower and shouts knowledge at the students or who relies on posturing and self-aggrandizing behavior to garner respect. Instead, Dan invites all into his world. Nobody is an outsider.

Dan exudes pathos to all he speaks with, whether it’s a freshman studying advertising, a renowned intellectual at a conference, or a heavily tattooed pizza cook at a dive in Boston. His ability to connect and make those around him feel important inspires them to share their own ideas and rethink their world views and learn in the process. That he does this with such humility is a manifestation of his great character.

This level of humility is astounding given his intellectual abilities.Dan can read a 500-page tome in a few days and afterward distill its contents as if it were a 20-page graphic novel. It doesn’t matter if the book covers technological determinism, social constructionism, or the Grateful Dead. Dan will read it, deconstruct it, and enjoy it.

Dan’s love of the “life of the mind” is contagious. (Is that OK to say in the current climate of Covid-19?) So much so, that within a semester of studying with him, I was convinced to jettison my plans to go to law school and instead seek a Ph.D. He continues to inspire me and many others.

He is a true renaissance man.

Posted in Officers.

A most loyal steward of religion and media research: Judith Buddenbaum

By Debra L. Mason

Dan Stout perhaps said it best: Judith Buddenbaum is the sine qua non — the essential element — in the field of religion and media. Dan wrote that description when he was honoring Judie in an article for the Journal of Media and Religion’s 10th Anniversary volume, back in 2012.

Dan, who has worked closely with Judie more than any other scholar, chose his words wisely.

When I decided to study religion and news at the start of my doctoral program in 1990, it was a lonely business.

But no one knew about that loneliness better than Judie. In my earliest literature searches, all roads led to Judie. Content analysis of religion news? Check. Broadcast news coverage of religion? Check. Use of religious communication by news outlets? Check. Judie alone kept a consistent and focused research agenda on highlighting audiences and content creation of religion news.

As a novice scholar, I knew I had to meet Judie. Once I did, she became my most trusted advisor and mentor on religion research.

When you do research on religion and media, you quickly learn that it’s not a sexy or highly popular topic. It’s not often rewarded with publication in the highest prestige journals. Regardless of the challenges, Judie modeled excellence in research technique and strategies, and expected others to adhere to excellence as well. She kept on pushing the field and didn’t settle for easy shortcuts.

The reasoning was clear: No one would be calling religion and media research lightweight while Judith Judie was around. Her proclivity toward quantitative research thrilled me and made me a life-long fan. When she asked me to co-author a book about news that included religion news supplemented with historical context, I was honored. Helping junior scholars was instinctive to Judie, who also co-authored a research methodology textbook with her daughter, Butler professor Kate Novak, in 2001, when Kate was a young sociology professor.

It was Judie’s partnership with Dan Stout that became her longest and most productive partnership. Every conceivable significant topic related to religion and media became the topic of a book. It was with Judie’s nudging in the form of research and statistics about religion research that Taylor & Francis agreed to begin publishing the Journal of Media and Religion.

Buddenbaum was a stickler for standards but kind in her reviews. She never failed to take on extra papers to review for RMIG, served in RMIG leadership positions, and agreed to be a discussant more times than I can count.

After a distinguished faculty career at Colorado State University, Buddenbaum displayed the same loyalty toward her home state — Indiana — that she has shown the field of religion and media. She retired in Indianapolis, near her daughter and several grandchildren, and with her husband, Warren.

Posted in Officers.

If you have to teach on Zoom, make it matter

By Michael A. Longinow

OK, March was a train wreck. Let’s agree on that. Even if we started out in January with an inkling, we were mostly unprepared for the order to vacate our classrooms, labs and offices — and keep our teaching up via Zoom. All those little face boxes on our screens with students in various states of dishevelment, some munching food or walking around their rooms or apartments while the laptop or phone showed us ceilings, walls, dogs or cats — it made us crazy. And it made our students crazy too. It also wore on us — and them — out (Zoom fatigue is real.) There are reasons why what we did was hard.

Michael Longinow, Biola University

I got from March to May and landed the plane without any injuries or damage. My students didn’t have to fill our evaluation forms (thank you, provost), but I got a sense they finished with a sense of closure — even some degree of satisfaction, though the experience wasn’t what they signed up for. (OK, maybe my choice to curve grades up a bit helped the mood.)

I learned a few things that I think will help me going into the next semesters and what I’m sensing will be a new normal in a world where pandemic isn’t some scary movie, it’s our shared global experience.

In the interest of brevity, here’s my top five list (in no particular order of magnitude).

1. Smile more. My wife tells me to do this all the time when I teach, but it’s crucial for Zoom teaching. Students watch you for cues and mood all the time, but with teleconferencing, they can’t get away from your face; when you’re happy, they can be pulled into that. Open class with a grumpy face and it will be one long session.

2. Watch for cues. Students tell us when we’re not connecting (if we’re alert to it, and we should be). Some students will yawn loudly to let you know, but most do it with their eyes or body language. When you see more than 2-3 cues, stop in mid-sentence. Switch gears. Tell a corny joke. Hold up the statue next to your laptop and ask it why it hasn’t painted the kitchen. You’ll see all eyes on you, and you can think of a segue into the next point. But you might need to just ditch the presentation and do something else that day.

3. Ask how what you’re teaching relates to their generation. The “OK, Boomer” phenomenon is real. Your students know you don’t understand them. So admit it. And ask them to be cultural interpreters for how NY Times v. Sullivan or the Kerner Commission or plagiarism actually figure into the thinking of their peers. They’ll tell you. They’ll disagree with each other doing it. And they’ll be processing Media Law or Media History or Media Ethics while they’re yelling.

4. Get them talking to each other. In Zoom, you have a little button that breaks the class into “breakout rooms.” Kids being sent to their rooms isn’t a nice memory for most, but I’ve found it’s just what students need. They hear from us all the time. What they crave is each other. When you assign them rooms, give them something gripping to talk about. Ask why they should never run a photo like the Bakersfield drowning photo (or why they always should). Ask if cheating in college factors into the job they get after graduation. Then pull them out of the rooms after 20 minutes (that will seem like an eternity). Sure, they’ll spend part of it diddling around, but they’ll also get at the question. And they’ll be listening to each other in ways they don’t to you. They’ll learn. And they won’t want to miss class.

5. Name them in new ways. A colleague did this and it floored me. On a Zoom meeting call, she told our task force she appreciated each one of us. Then she named us one by one with a single word that she’d picked that symbolized our contribution. Nobody on that call broke eye contact. So I tried it with my Philosophy & Ethics of Media class. In the final 15 minutes of our last session in the semester, I pulled out a piece of scratch paper on which I’d listed each student and I just went down the list alphabetically and gave a kind of “blessing” to each. I did it for the A+ students and the D+ students. And I got feedback from that session that students were touched in a way they hadn’t been in any other class. They knew they mattered to me — and they heard me say it in front of everyone. That kind of connection takes teleconference instruction to a whole new level.

An addendum: Class photo

A Zoom screen showing student head shots.

Michigan State Bias Busters guide authors.

In the Bias Busters class at Michigan State University, students produce and publish cultural competence guides. Typically, their names and a class photo appear on one of the first pages in the books, which have both print and digital editions. When Covid-19 forced classes to meet online without notice, the class doing “100 Questions and Answers About Latter-day Saints” lost its picture day. Solution: This Zoom postcard reflecting the authors and the times in which they worked. This will appear in the guide.

— Joe Grimm.

Posted in Teaching strategies.

Pintak named dean of Graduate School of Media and Communications at Aga Khan University, Nairobi

On July 1, I assume the role of dean of the Graduate School of Media and Communications at Aga Khan University in Nairobi. The goal is to help the young program broaden its footprint across East Africa and beyond, building on the foundation laid by my predecessor, former Newsweek editor Michael Meyer. While this is an extremely challenging time for universities and journalism organizations around the world, I firmly believe the crisis also opens opportunities for new ways of thinking about what we do.

Lawrence Pintak

I will be dividing my time between the Aga Khan campuses in Kenya and the UK.

Aga Khan University is a multi-national institution that operates on three continents, employing more than 15,000 faculty and staff. Its medical school runs the most respected hospitals in Pakistan and East Africa. The university was founded by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the world’s Isma’ili Muslims, though the university is secular. The university is part of the Aga Khan Development Network, one of the world’s largest philanthropies, with an annual budget of $1 billion.

Journalism is extremely important to the Aga Khan, who founded Kenya’s dominant media group, The Nation, and who was responsible for creating the Graduate School of Media and Communications, which offers an MA in Journalism and Digital Media and conducts a range of professional training and research activities, a model similar to that of the center I ran at the American University in Cairo and another I helped establish in Karachi.

I look forward to exploring ways the GSMC faculty might partner with RMIG members.

— Dr. Lawrence Pintak

Posted in Officers.

RMIG members support each others’ projects

A big thank you from Joe Grimm to Joel Campbell, associate professor of journalism in the School of Communications at Brigham Young University and Michael Longinow of Biola University.

Campbell wrote the foreword for “100 Questions and Answers About Latter-day Saints,” an upcoming guide in the Michigan State University School of Journalism’s Bias Busters series. The guide for which Campbell wrote is an important addition to the religion sub-series.

Longinow has agreed to write a piece for another guide, about American evangelicals. Both groups are important in this election year.

Grimm met Campbell and Longinow through RMIG and, if the truth were known, one of the reasons Grimm joined was to get the help he needed from scholars and teachers of religion and media for this series-within-a-series.

Posted in Opportunities.

Conference schedule; 2019-2020 Annual Report

Religion and Media Interest Group
Annual Report, 2019-2020

Standing Committee of the Religion and Media Interest Group

Head: Gregory P. Perreault
Appalachian State University
perreaultgp@appstate.edu

Vice head: Bellarmine Ezumah
Murray State University
bezumah@murraystate.edu

Teaching co-chairs:
Rick Moore
Boise State University
rmoore@boisestate.edu

Rebecca Frazer
Ohio State University
frazer.39@buckeyemail.osu.edu

Research chair: Taisik Hwang
University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
hwang7@uwm.edu

Professional freedom & responsibility chair: Paul Glader
The King’s College in New York City
pglader@tkc.edu

Newsletter co-editors:
Michelle Baker
Pennsylvania State University
mkd155@psu.edu

Joe Grimm
Micihgan State University
joe.grimm@gmail.com

Membership chair: Derek Moscato
Western Washington University
moscatd@wwu.edu

Please provide an overall statement weighting the division or interest group’s activities for this year in the Research, Teaching and PF&R areas. The new assessment process recognizes that the relative weighting of these three activities will be different from year to year, but over the five-year reporting period, the three areas should receive generally balanced attention.

This year we focused on honoring the founders of RMIG. This was accomplished through planned newsletter pieces (to be released in July) discussing contributions by founders Judith Buddenbaum and Daniel Stout to the field of journalism and mass communication. Furthermore, at the annual conference they will be presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards and have speeches honoring their contributions. New voices were brought into the conversation. We believe this not only is important for the good of the interest group but allows the group to look to the future.

We also enhanced the number of research paper submissions this year, which was a goal we posed last year.

Covid-19 complicated other goals this year, and forced us to shift our focus to respond to it to encourage attendance of our members, many of whom are students, at universities with frozen conference spending. This was done through a call for funding assistance through the division Four students and faculty received registration assistance this way and through expanding our student research competition to include a first-, and second-place student paper.

In terms of administrative matters, we have three new members serving as officers for the first time. We have succeeded in working as a team more than in previous years. The newsletter has improved with two editors.

Please write a bullet-point statement (500-word maximum), to be co-authored by the outgoing and incoming Heads, addressing:

* What are your most important goals for the upcoming year?

At RMIG, we would like to create a plan for increasing scholarly opportunities for RMIG members (there are currently two journals in Religion and Media, but neither are formally associated with our interest group). Furthermore, as our interest group has grown (it is one of the largest interest groups at AEJMC, dwarfing several divisions), it seems reasonable to revisit our interest group bylaws.

* What goals did your group set this year that you were unable to reach? Why?

We were unsuccessful in creating more scholarly opportunities for RMIG. We confirmed that the Journal of Media & Religion receives no monetary support from RMIG and is not a formal “journal of” the Religion and Media Interest Group. With former head Mariam Alkazemi, we reached out to the journal and proposed a special issue based on a panel from the prior year’s AEJMC in order to try to reach out to the journal. But it was unsuccessful.

* How may any or all of the Standing Committees help you to achieve your goals in the coming year?

In the coming year, the Standing Committee could help us figure out how to proceed with developing a new journal. The Journal of Media and Religion is associated with the AEJMC Religion and Media Interest Group according to its website (please see https://www.aejmc.org/home/publications/division-journals/) but not monetarily or formally. This does provide RMIG opportunity to develop a new journal.

RESEARCH
RMIG had a total of 15 papers submitted.
Our overall acceptance rate was 46.7% (seven accepted papers).
Number of faculty research paper submissions: six; acceptances three (50% acceptance rate)
Combined Faculty-Student paper submissions: four; acceptances two (50% acceptance rate)
Number of student research paper submissions: five; acceptances two (40% acceptance rate)

We followed the All-Academic review system as suggested by the Council of Divisions.
Total number of reviewers: 15; Most judges read three papers each.
Total number of reviews per paper: Minimum of three.
This meets our goal from last year of enhancing our research paper submission.

Please list your conference activities related to research.
Friday, 5 to 6:30 p.m. / F000
Religion and Media Interest Group

Refereed paper session

Religion in News and Social Media
Moderating/presiding
Daniel A. Stout, Brigham Young-Hawaii
News Media Perceptions and Evaluations Among Jews in Germany*
Philip Baugut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
“They Are Amongst Us.” News About Terror: Perceptions of Sleeper Terrorists, and Negative Stereotypes Toward Muslims**
Joerg Matthes and Ruta Kaskeleviciute, University of Vienna
News, Pews and Polls: How Religiosity Moderates News and Voting During a Mid-term Election
Timothy Macafee and Sarah Holtan, Concordia University Wisconsin Political Consumerism, Religious Factors and Social Media
Jan Wicks, Shauna Morimoto and Robert Wicks, Arkansas
* Top Faculty Paper
** Second-place Faculty Paper

Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. / S000
Religion and Media Interest Group

Refereed paper session

Religious Stereotype and Conspiracy Theory
Moderating/presiding
Christina Littlefield, Pepperdine
North American Muslim Satire on YouTube: Combatting or Reinforcing Stereotypes?*
Omar Hammad, Rutgers
Negotiating Normality: Using Digital Media to Combat the Stigma and Perceptions of Islam in the West**
Ahmet Aksoy and Nihar Sreepada, Texas Tech
Flat-Smacked! Converting to Flat Eartherism
Alex Olshansky, Robert Peaslee and Asheley Landrum, Texas Tech
* Top Student Paper
** Second Place Student Paper

TEACHING

At the 2020 annual conference, we will be presenting the following teaching sessions:

Thursday, 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. / T000
Religion and Media Interest Group and Electronic News Division

Teaching Panel

When Communicators Actually Communicate: Models of Reciprocity in News Coverage of Social Conflict
Moderating/presiding
Bellarmine Ezumah, Murray State
Panelists
Rick Clifton Moore, Boise State
Michael Longinow, Biola
Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi
Kenneth Fischer, Oklahoma
Defined simply, reciprocity is the positive exchange of information that leads to better understanding (even if it does not lead to agreement). Scholars have long suggested that reciprocity is a desirable goal in news coverage of social conflict, whether the conflict relates to environmental resources, politics, religion, sexual morality, or any other recurring facet of social experience. Ideally, after an issue is presented in the news, audiences have an accurate understanding of the real positions of various parties in the conflict. In this panel, scholars present, analyze, and critique contemporary news accounts to provide positive models of this important journalistic feature.

Thursday, 3:15 to 4:45 p.m.
Small Programs and Religion and Media Interest Group

Teaching Panel

NGOs and Global Nonprofits: Preparing Students for the Changing Technology Landscape
Moderating/presiding
Carolyn Kim, Biola
Panelists
Michael Longinow, Biola
KiYong Kim, Biola
Michael Ray Smith, Regent
Bellarmine Ezumah, Murray State
Carrie Buchanan, John Carroll
This panel examines ways people of faith send and receive messages, how miscommunication can divert meaning, and how to prepare students to navigate the media environment. Practical applications for classes and course conversations will be shared.

13. The majority of RMIG’s teaching resources are housed and maintained at our website: http://religionandmedia.org/

14. The goals of teaching in Religion and Media Interest Group are difficult to elaborate, in part because our members hail from multiple perspectives: (1) journalism and mass communication scholars interested in the variables associated with religion, religiosity, and spirituality, (2) religious individuals who work in journalism and mass communication education, and (3) journalism and mass communication scholars who work at religiously affiliated institutions. There is not an exhaustive list, nor does it take into account the fact that there are individuals who would check multiple of the boxes above. However, this does illustrate the difficulty our division would have in articulating teaching goals—they would necessarily be different depending on the perspectives of our members. In the future, it may be worthwhile for members to consider teaching goals to coincide with our clearly articulated research goals every year.

PROFESSIONAL FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY
At the 2020 annual conference, we will be presenting the following PF&R sessions:
Friday, 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. / F000
Religion and Media and Internships and Careers Interest Groups

PF&R panel

Student Media Censorship vs. Freedom on a Religious Campus: Liberty University
and the Problem of Student Initiative in Matters of Faith in the Public Sphere
Moderating/presiding
Michael Longinow, Biola
Panelists
The Law, Private Colleges and Censorship of Campus Press
Sommer Ingram Dean, lawyer from Student Press Law Center
Sensitive Topics in Theory and Practice on Christian College Campuses
Doug Mendenhall, Abilene Christian
Censorship Survey on Christian College Campuses
Cassidy Grom, Taylor; data reporter at NJ.com
Sensitive Topics in Theory and Practice on Christian College Campuses Part II
Alan Blanchard, Taylor
Liberty University as Exhibit A of Censorship of Campus Press at Christian Colleges
Paul Glader, King’s College
Student Media Censorship vs. Freedom on a Religious Campus: Liberty University and the Problem of Student Initiative in Matters of Faith in the Public Sphere. How do professors at Christian colleges navigate pressure to censor student media?

Saturday, 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Public Relations Division and Religion and Media Interest Group
PF&R panel

Public Relations and Religion: Nonprofit Religious Advocacy and Media Relations
Moderating/presiding
Miriam Alkazemi, Virginia Commonwealth
Panelists
Rebecca Frazer, Ohio State
Jordan Morehouse, North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Cylor Spaulding, California State, Fullerton
Bellarmine Ezumah, Murray State
Mimi Perreault, East Tennessee State
In addition to examining established religious faiths and organizations, this panel will explore public relations and media relations approaches taken by organizations considered to be part of the New Religious Movement (e.g. Church of Scientology).
16. A common function of the PF&R chair of RMIG is to produce newsletter items, and that has been the case for Paul Glader this year.
17. This past year, we aimed at lowering the threshold for graduate student entry by decreasing the fee for graduate student membership, increasing the number of research awards for graduate students and significant outreach to graduate students to help them attend the 2020 conference in the amidst of the coronavirus pandemic.
18. Our newsletters (three this year) are housed at our website.

Posted in Officers.

Spring 2020 newsletter

Priest with beard, flanked by students in exterior photo

Father Mark Hannah with students Alex Brouwer and Brian Marcus.

Read how how project-based learning helps students overcome their cultural fears and qualms in our second story.

RELIGION MATTERS: Spring 2020

Welcome to the spring 2020 newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Michelle Baker, Penn State University Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

Racing The Washington Post on a $100 billion story

By Michelle Baker

A whistleblower in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reached out to a friend because he wanted media attention on a 74-page complaint his twin brother had filed with the IRS on Nov. 21, 2019.

The focus of the complaint: the church had secretly put members’ money into a set of investment funds, where it grew to $100 billion in just over 20 years.

That friend connected the whistleblower, Lars Nielsen, with Paul Glader, executive editor of Religion Unplugged, a non-profit online news magazine.

Paul Glader portrait“When I saw the findings, I knew it would be a big story,” Glader said.

Glader was a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years and has written stories for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Christianity Today and Forbes.com.

Nielsen told Glader he had sent the complaint to The New York Times and The Washington Post, but he had not received a response from either. Frustrated, Nielsen agreed to an exclusive story with Religion Unplugged.

“He had this on his conscience,” Glader said. “He wanted it to appear in December for end-of-year giving and settling tithes with the church.”

Glader read the complaint and began investigating the laws related to Nielsen’s claims. He retained an attorney on behalf of Religion Unplugged.

The complaint stated that the church’s investment division, Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. (EPA), had not met the requirements for operating as a tax-exempt organization. EPA is registered as a 509(a)3 and serves as an auxiliary to the church; however, according to the complaint, EPA has made no religious, educational, or charitable distributions in more than 20 years.

The complaint urged the IRS to strip EPA of its tax-exempt status. It also alleged that EPA could owe billions in taxes.

Story required extreme care

“There were elements in the report that were easily verifiable and other elements that were not,” Glader said. “I wanted to be extra careful about some of the assertions about non-profit structures and tax laws.”

Based on this careful reporting strategy, Glader bumped back his publishing deadline by one week and set a new deadline of Monday, Dec. 16.

“We considered every word, every sentence, every fact,” Glader said.

In early December, though, Nielsen told Glader he had heard from The Washington Post.

At that point, Nielsen was faced with leveraging his promise of an exclusive to Glader against greater media exposure in The Post.

“He was trying to be as honest as he could with both sides,” Glader said. “He informed me that The Post was working on something.”

The Washington Post had created a Rapid Response Investigative Team to cover the story and hired a reporter from The Guardian. It also put an IRS specialist on retainer.

And Nielsen told The Washington Post when Glader planned to publish his story.

Religion Unplugged, The Post in a race

“I was hoping they would let me go first,” said Glader, who wanted to push the publication date back one more day to Tuesday, Dec. 17, to contact EPA and the church for comment. “But I realized they might try to publish the story on Monday.”

Glader did reach EPA Managing Director Roger Clark by phone–something The Post did not do. Clark’s response before hanging up was straightforward: “We don’t really answer questions with the public press. So, thanks.”

An email from church spokesman Eric D. Hawkins indicated that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not give information about its financial decisions beyond what it provides on its website.

Glader made both contacts before Tuesday.

On the evening of Monday, Dec. 16, The Post published its story.

Glader published 20 minutes later.

On Tuesday, the story appeared on page one of The Post’s print edition.

“We broke the story at the same time,” Glader said. “It was essentially the same story with some differences between them.”

To name the whistleblower, or not?

Perhaps the biggest difference in their coverage was that The Washington Post named the whistleblower who filed the complaint–Nielsen’s brother David A. Nielsen–and Glader did not.

“We felt there was an ethical issue there,” Glader said. “Federal code doesn’t look favorably on naming whistleblowers, and it was not worth a possible lawsuit.”

Glader said Religion Unplugged named David in its second story, since The Washington Post had already made his identity public.

The Washington Post also published allegations that, as a 509(a)3, Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc., was committing fraud and violating tax laws. Glader’s expert analyst said it was unknown if EPA’s actions were fraudulent.

“It’s a gray area of the law and unclear,” Glader said. “And we don’t know what kind of 509(a)3 Ensign is, and that makes a difference.”

Though the two news outlets broke the story minutes apart, The Washington Post began Tweeting that its story was exclusive. After Glader spoke out via Twitter about the disingenuous nature of this claim, The Post removed the exclusive label from its headline on the web and made no more similar claims on Twitter.

As a result of the story, Glader said Religion Unplugged’s web traffic in December was its best since its February launch.

He also allowed other news outlets, including Zero Hedge and Newsweek, to republish his story.

“I don’t have hard feelings toward anyone,” Glader said. “We did things right, and I even thought we were fair to the church in our follow-up stories that week.”

Practicing what he teaches

Since this story broke, close to 30 more stories have been published related to the complaint. This reporting has put pressure on the church to intensify its response to its members, which included three YouTube videos from church leaders. Glader said he is confident the reporting will pressure the government to act.

“I don’t know what’s happening in the IRS related to this story,” he said. “but if it’s on the front page of The Post and other sites, we should see some action in state legislatures or Washington.”

Glader is unsure if the news coverage has impacted church attendance, membership, or tithing.

“The church may already be struggling a bit on some of those fronts,” he said. “Transparency is good for religion. It’s good for the members, the same way it’s good for governments.”

Glader is an associate professor of Journalism, Media and Entrepreneurship at The King’s College in New York City, where he directs the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute. He is also professional freedom & responsibility chair for AEJMC’s Religion and Media Interest Group.

He said he did not talk with his students about the story while he was working on it, but he is glad to see his students talking and Tweeting about it. He intends to use this story as a case study in classes.

“I think it’s good for our students to see us practicing what we teach,” he said.

Religion Unplugged is funded by The Media Project, a global network of journalists that provides worldwide training for journalists in the area of religion. Glader is executive director of The Media Project.

Posted in News.

Project-related teaching to take students beyond cultural fear

Priest with beard, flanked by students in exterior photo

Father Mark Hannah with students Alex Brouwer and Brian Marcus.

By Michael Longinow, Biola University

and Rebecca Frazer, The Ohio State University

Hate comes from many places in our world. And the students in our classrooms see it—sometimes right around them: gun violence aimed at faith groups, racist graffiti, and the social media of those who seem so full of rage and vendetta.

It scares them. And the fears Gen Z students have are shaping how they approach their education, their career preparation and even their relationships. Studies show that anxiety, stress, depression and—in extreme cases—suicidal thoughts and action are part of their generation more than what we experienced. We as their faculty have to find ways to mix teaching of journalism and media with a sense of something more, something spiritual.

Parker Palmer, in “To Know As We Are Known: Education as Spiritual Journey” says American higher education suffers from a fixation on knowledge as power and isolation as a means to the end of individualistic success. It leads, Palmer claims, to despair and loneliness. Humans crave so much more. And that more, he says, is knowledge aligned with compassion, learned in community.

A student project I’ve written about before in this newsletter became a perfect example of Palmer’s perspective. This project, part of an upper division course for writers and photographers, produces an in-depth reporting and documentary photo book. It has centered on cross-cultural themes over the nine years we’ve done it. But last year I wanted the students to take on the racial profiling of Middle Eastern people in Southern California. The book topic was migrants and refugees from Middle Eastern countries and how they cope once here. This site includes student blogs on each chapter and has video clips highlighting two chapters.

I assigned chapters on men & boys, women & girls, struggles with housing, the legal hurdles migrants and refugees face, food that Middle Eastern migrants make and sell, and the kinds of music and entertainment that are unique to people from that part of world living in California.

It made my students anxious. Joshua Starr, in November’s Phi Delta Kappan, wrote that cross-cultural encounter interests Gen Z, but to actually do it—that’s a stretch for some.

The way it worked in this project, borrowing from Palmer, was framing the work in compassion. I appealed to the students’ hearts, not just their heads. I told them about a student, someone many of them knew, who is regularly pulled out of line in airports and searched and questioned because her passport is from a Middle Eastern country. It’s scary and uncomfortable for her, even after all the times she’s had to go through it. Many students in the class live out of state so the TSA process is familiar—yet they’d never thought of those who get targeted by the system.

The other success, also from Palmer, was to build a community in the class. We were a team—not just individuals cranking out media work for their own grade. I pointed out regularly how much they needed each other. No chapter in the book could stand alone. Students working on one chapter would learn about people and contacts that they could share with people from other chapters. And the sharing happened.

To promote the group experience, I took time in the class to circle up our chairs and talk about what we were learning, what was hard, how we were growing in our grasp of people so different from us culturally. It bonded the students in this cross-cultural journey. It made the work more personal. And we prayed together about how to make it work.

Palmer would say the work of religion and media are integrally aligned. Our grasp of the supernatural “other” beyond our senses makes the work of storytelling, of news-gathering into a far more comprehensive and meaningful pursuit.

Students who encounter an unfamiliar culture—whether in their own state or on another continent — face new perspectives of the world around them that can be jarring and even painful. The way they once made sense of the world may never be the same. Assumptions will be challenged, self-protective stereotypes may be shattered and, in some cases, hearts may be broken. How can we encourage students to take cross-cultural journeys that may rock their worlds in uncomfortable ways? The opportunities are all around us.

Posted in Teaching strategies.

RMIG member establishes student-run international news site

IUConline.com journalists meet for dinner in Klaipeda, Lithuania. From left are Anna Audare, Latvia; Hanna Motorina, Ukraine; Mariia Lysikova, Ukraine; Alina Kovyrialova, Lithuania; and Michael Ray Smith.

An RMIG member recently established a student-run international news site, considered one of a kind in Europe.

RMIG member Michael Ray Smith helped LCC International University students create a student-run web site, iuconline.com. It’s produced by students who typically speak English as a second language at a faith-based university that uses a North American-style of instruction, Smith said.

“We have students from up to 50 countries working on a news site operated by students who receive no course credit, receive no stipends and are new to the free press–and are writing articles in English,” Smith said.

A student from Syria built the web site. Because his country is involved in war, the webmaster is unidentified. The staff includes students from Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia, Latvia, Russia and others nations. Their goal is to produce western journalism for the 600 students and others at the private LCC International University in Eastern Europe. Founded in 1991, LCC has its roots in the Mennonite tradition and is a Christian-based, liberal arts university.

Posted in Teaching strategies.

Jesus in the Food Court goes online

Overhead of people etinhg in a photo court that has a mural of Jesus on the cross.

RMIG member Doug Mendenhall went live Feb. 8 with dougmendenhall.com to house a weekly religion column that he’s written for almost two decades.

Mendenhall, an associate JMC professor with the title of Journalist in Residence at Abilene Christian University, began writing the column in 2000 for The Huntsville Times, an Alabama daily newspaper for which he was design editor.

Portrait

Doug Mendenhall

“I was asked to lead a committee about how we could improve our features sections, and one of the suggestions was to create more personality for Faith & Values,” he said. “So, I volunteered to write a weekly personal column – and nobody stepped up to say I couldn’t.”

Doug Mendenhall Mendenhall wrote the column for The Times until 2012, although in 2008 he left Alabama to join the faculty of ACU in Texas. Once there, he also wrote for the Abilene Reporter-News as well. That stopped at the end of 2019 when the Gannett paper cut all funding for freelancers.

“It was nothing personal,” Mendenhall said. “Such a common story these days. I felt worse for the other people who lost their platform than for myself. But I did want to keep writing.”

Mendenhall said he uses his columns as examples in some of his classes: Media Writing, Opinion Writing, Race & Media and Media & Religion.

The website is branded as “Jesus in the Food Court,” a reference to a collection of Mendenhall’s early work in the 2006 book How Jesus Ended Up in the Food Court.

“I’ve always liked that title, and it’s a good thing for me to keep up there as a focus for my work – thinking about how Jesus would act in the more secular or mundane settings in which we find ourselves,” he said.

The site includes an archive of Mendenhall’s columns for the past 20 years, which he uploaded individually from old Word documents. “That’s a scary and sometimes wonderful thing, to see all your work flash before your eyes like that,” he said. “I can really tell how my thinking has changed in 20 years, but I also patted myself on the back some for those early pieces.”

Posted in News.

Article examines frames and stereotypes in burkini coverage

Burkini in Milan, Italy Credit: By Giorgio Montersino, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9437456

Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of the Burkini Debate” was published in the winter 2019 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

The burkini, a modest swimsuit marketed to Muslim women, was at the center of controversy in France when it was banned from the beaches in dozens of cities. This research examines how the three leading international newswires (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images, Associated Press, and Reuters) visually framed this debate and whether they visually stereotyped women wearing the burkini.

Brian J. Bowe and Joe Gosen of Western Washington University and Shahira Fahmy, University of Arizona-Tucson and The American University in Cairo.

Posted in Research.

Religions–our largest social networks–meet the coronavirus

Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government has restricted travel to Islam’s holiest sites. Photo by Ali Mansuri, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5

The International Association of Religion Journalists is finding plenty of stories in the outbreak of COVID-19 because, as it says, “religious groups represent the world’s largest social networks.”

That factor ties many religions to the health crisis.

In Italy, Elisa Di Benedetto reported: “Religious services, as well as church groups and any other activities and gatherings have been suspended in several parishes of Northern Italy this week. In Milan, tourist will not be able to visit the Duomo, Milan’s Cathedral, which was closed except for personal prayer, after the Archdiocese suspended Masses beginning in the evening of Sunday until further notice.”

In Saudi Arabia, the BBC reported, “The Saudi government said it would suspend visas for Muslims seeking to visit Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia has also suspended visas for tourists from countries with confirmed cases of the virus. It is not clear when the visa restrictions will be lifted or how Ramadan and the major Hajj pilgrimage – which begins in July – will be affected.”

In South Korea, where the outbreak centered around the small Shincheonji Christian sect. NPR reported, “Critics say the disease may have spread within the church quickly because of the way that it worships. ‘Shincheonji followers hold services sitting on the floor, without any chairs,” packed together “like bean sprouts,’ says Shin Hyun-uk, director of the Guri Cult Counseling Center, an organization in Gyeonggi province that works to extract members from the church. ‘A bigger problem is that they shout out ‘amen’ after every sentence the pastor utters, pretty much every few seconds. And they do that at the top of their lungs,’ sending respiratory droplets flying everywhere, he adds. These droplets are believed to transmit the coronavirus.”

In the Holy Land, pilgrimages from South Korea for Lent could be suspended, and Roman Catholics in several dioceses ares suspending the practice of taking consecrated wine from chalices.

— Joe Grimm

Posted in News.

November 2019 newsletter

Exterior of three-floor theater.

Hollandsche Schouwburg is the former theater used by the Nazis as a deportation center for Jews in Amsterdam beginning in 1942.

RELIGION MATTERS: Fall 2019

Welcome to the fall 2019 newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Michelle Baker, Penn State University Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

Note from the Head: Why are we here?

By Gregory Perreault

Welcome to the 2019-2020 AEJMC calendar year! After being a member of RMIG since I entered graduate school and in leadership since my first year of a Ph.D. program, I have the duty and honor this year of serving as the head of our interest group. In this first newsletter offering, I want to address what motivates the research and teaching we promote within this interest group. We all have our stories as to what made religion and media “stick” for us.

Gregory Perrault portrait

Dr. Gregory Perreault

For me, it started as a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. I kept receiving press releases from evangelical softball associations, Jewish community centers—all of them with relevant topics related to sports … but all of them carrying language and values with which I was wholly unprepared to engage. Following the news in the 2000s, I recall reading a piece in Post one day about a rising Muslim presence in the Palm Beaches. I remember sitting at my desk troubled: I’d never written about a Muslim (that I knew of) in a sports story, I’d never received a press release. Why was that? When I really confronted myself, it occurred to me that I could have been ignoring a robust and vital community simply as a result of my own religious illiteracy. In the months that followed, and amidst technological change at the Palm Beach Post and journalism more broadly, I decided to pursue academic study of how journalists represent difference and how it could be done more effectively.

Certainly within the broad scholarly tradition of “difference” there are numerous areas that vitally need attention: race, gender, sexuality. But how interesting that so often the discussions of difference ignore religion. They do so at a peril: it is hard to look at any of the news of the day without seeing the sweeping influence religion retains throughout the world. The rise of hate groups using religious rhetoric, the populist enthusiasm of world leaders using religious rhetoric, the proliferation of Islam and Pentecostal Christianity worldwide. One could look from a US-centric perspective and conclude that “religion is decreasing” but this does not take into account the development in scholarly discussions of religion nor the statistically inverse trend occurring within the global south. It might be more correct to assume in actuality that religion is increasing—just not where we academics are often looking.

This is why our group matters. As members of the scholarly community of AEJMC, we have the opportunity (and perhaps responsibility) to expose and highlight issues of religion on a global scale. We have been based in a firm foundation through contributions of innumerable scholars of media and religion, in particular Dr. Judith Buddenbaum of Colorado State University, and Dr. Daniel Stout of Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Through their work in developing this interest group with AEJMC and the Journal of Media and Religion with Taylor & Francis, they laid a theoretical and methodological foundation that has helped many (myself included) work through complicated research within our field.

We are in a vibrant era for scholarly discussion in religion and media. Thank you for being a part of it.

Posted in Research, Teaching strategies.

The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam and the question of ethical displays

Exterior of three-floor theater.

Hollandsche Schouwburg is the former theater used by the Nazis as a deportation center for Jews beginning in 1942.

By Michelle Baker

What are the ethics of displaying images of brutality in the context of war and genocide? What moral issues are raised by using visual materials to publicly expose others’ victimization? These are questions journalists, photographers and scholars often grapple with, but they are questions that can also create uncertainty and conflict in museum spaces.

Such questions are now being debated at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam as it prepares to close in 2020 to transform its current temporary and semi-permanent exhibits into a permanent exhibit scheduled to open in 2022.

The permanent exhibit will use more than 1,000 objects, documents and testimonies the museum possesses, but the question about whether to display photographs of victimization is of topmost salience to exhibit curators.

A temporary installation invites those visiting the exhibit to share their opinions about how the future museum should display—or not display—such images. Individual, private booths show photographs one at a time, and the visitor can hear the opinions of curators, historians, filmmakers and survivors as they share their opinions, often disparate, about whether the image under consideration should be displayed publicly.

Such images include a photograph taken by a Nazi doctor of a young boy whose body shows the effects of tuberculosis-related medical experiments, as well as a photograph taken by U.S. liberators of nude, emaciated men outside of a barrack at Bergen-Belsen.

Questions raised include, “How does the photograph do the subject justice?” “Is the photograph a revictimization?” “Does it serve as evidence of crimes against humanity?” “What is our moral responsibility to the victims in the photographs?” And, “Does the intention and point of view of the photographer influence the meaning of the image?”

According to its website, The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam seeks to do “justice to the continuity of Jewish life since the war” with the purpose of distinguishing the future permanent exhibit from other Holocaust museums by placing strong emphasis on the consequences of the Holocaust on Jewish community and identity as well as the consequences for the whole of Dutch society. The museum intends to demonstrate how the Holocaust still affects the entire population of the Netherlands.

The permanent exhibit will be housed in two historic locations in the Jewish Cultural Quarter: a building that was once the Reformed Protestant Teachers College, next to the Crèche (daycare) from which 600 Jewish children were rescued, and the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a former Dutch theater that, beginning in 1942, was used as a deportation center to transfer an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Jews to the Westerbork transit camp.

In total, approximately 107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands, primarily to Auschwitz and Sobibor, where they were murdered. This represented 75 percent of the country’s total Jewish population, the highest percentage of Jews deported from any Western European country. Approximately 30,000 Jews went into hiding throughout the Netherlands, assisted by the Dutch resistance. Two-thirds of those in hiding survived.

Posted in News.

Download RMIG members’ report on anti-Muslim mid-term election tweets

Dr. Lawrence Pintak of Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication was lead author on a major Social Science Research Council report on anti-Muslim sentiment on Twitter against Muslim candidates in the 2018 mid-term election, “#Islamophobia: Stoking Fear and Prejudice in the 2018 Midterms.”

The report launched with a New York Times OpEd by the team, which included Jonathan Albright, director of digital forensics at Columbia’s Tow Center, and Brian J. Bowe of Western Washington University. It generated coverage in The Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, Wired Magazine, Al Jazeera and other media outlets.

The report follows Pintak’s most recent book, “America & Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump,” which was published in June by I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury.

—Lawrence Pintak

Posted in Research.

RMIG members publish 2-volume set about religion online

Book cover

Cover of first volume in two-volume set

Past RMIG heads Dan Stout, Amanda Sturgill and Chiung Hwang Chen along with Augie Grant published “Religion Online: How Digital Technology is Changing the Way We Worship and Pray” this year. It’s a two-volume set with contributions from several RMIG members that covers everything from United Methodists to Jains to Little Monsters, with experts from around the world authoring chapters on the intersections of all kinds of digital technologies. It’s been a multi-year effort and is a good reference for your university library or possibly for a graduate course. It was published by Praeger.

— Amanda Sturgill

Posted in News, Research.

RMIG invites research papers on religion and media

The Religion and Media Interest Group invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG’s goal is to enhance theoretical development in the study of the interface between media and religion through the production of rigorous, high-quality research that fosters understanding. The interest group promotes the study of media and religion within the context of the overall mission of AEJMC, which emphasizes scholarship, teaching, and professional freedom and responsibility.

Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; impact of new digital/social media on religious practice; etc. Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered.

Papers will be considered for presentation as standard referred research sessions and poster sessions. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred). Please limit papers to no more than 25 pages (double-spaced) in length, excluding title page, abstract, tables, figures, references, and notes. In addition, papers should have 1-inch margins and use 12-point Times New Roman, Times or Arial font.

The Religion and Media Interest Group sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference.

Posted in Call for papers.

Holmes researching book on spiritual stories

Cecile S. Holmes

Cecile S. Holmes, former RMIG head, will be on sabbatical in spring 2020. During that period, she will be researching her third book, which may also turn into AEJMC paper. It is titled, “The Power of Telling One’s Spiritual Story and Spiritual Autobiography.”

Holmes is doing a set of 12 primary, 2- to 3-hour interviews, a national qualitative survey, and secondary research through the University of the South’s School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee. She might also do secondary research at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.

Holmis an associate professor at University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Posted in Research.

Wanted: Allies/critics on beginning religion series

Michigan State University students discuss the questions to address in their Bias Busters guide, “100 Questions and Answers About American Evangelicals.”

By Joe Grimm

Put your knowledge and scholarship behind a print and digital religion guide.

Since 2014, Michigan State University’s School of Journalism has been publishing guides to greater cultural competence. Our latest, out this spring, answers 100 questions about Chaldeans. Not widely dispersed or known in the United States, Chaldeans are Catholic Iraqis who are keeping Aramaic alive. They became prominent in 2017 when several hundred were detained for deportation to Iraq, fallout from the proposed ban on visitors from Muslim countries. In Iraq, Christians face persecution from the government and extremists. Deportation would divide families, and some say it would be a death sentence.

100 Questions and Answers About Chaldean Americans” is our 15th Bias Busters guide.

All are available as print or digital books on Amazon, Barnes&Nobles, Google Play, iTunes and Kobo.

We have used text, of course, and video, audio, charts, maps and motion graphics to answer questions.

Our goal is to publish accurate, authoritative, accessible guides that help people overcome their awkwardness about talking to their neighbors and co-workers by giving clear answers to their basic questions.

This is where RMIG comes in. With guides about Judaism, Islam and Chaldeans, we have found that interfaith groups love these guides for group discussions. Guides on American Hindus and Buddhists are in editing and can use more eyes on them, and we are moving to Pivoting from Chaldeans, to other groups in the United States. This academic year we will publish guides about Hindus and Buddhists. With 2020 election politics in mind, we will next move to Evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A key part of our process is to have knowledgeable allies vet our questions and answers.

Please email me at joe.grimm@gmail.com and tell me you can be a reader on any of these guides. We rely on critic-allies to ensure accuracy. Perhaps one of these subjects lines up with one of your areas of expertise. We will send copies of the guide you help on and credit you in it.

If you would like a copy of any of our guides, just ask. They are all here. I will mail you one so you can see what we do.

Thank you.
Joe
joe.grimm@gmail.com

Posted in Opportunities.

Junior scholar call for May 6-10 workshop in Boulder

The research project “Religion and Public Scholarship in the Media Age,” announces a call for applications from Junior Scholars (early-career faculty, post-docs, or dissertation-level doctoral students) to participate in a four-day collaboration and mentoring workshop.

It is called “Public Scholarship of Religion in an Age of Hypermediation”

Participants will take part in a series of conversations and interactions with the project’s Working Group (below) focused on emerging critical questions focused on the challenges of public scholarship in contemporary media cultures. The present era has been said to be defined by “hypermediation” where the speed, acceleration, logics, layerings, contradictions and affordances of ubiquitous mediation have become the conditions of contemporary knowledge-building. This calls into question traditional approaches to public scholarship which conceive of it according to a “publication model” where scholarship is seen as a hermetic resource that simply needs to be shared along known and taken-for-granted avenues of dissemination. Hypermediation means that this model is too simple and at least fails to account for the range of ways and locations that religion and knowledge of religion are produced today.

Applications are sought from scholars whose work responds to or addresses these conditions, or who wish to engage their work with evolving discourses about public scholarship. In addition to participating in dynamic conversations with Working Group members, successful applicants will have the opportunity to present their work in a seminar setting and receive feedback from other participants and from Working Group members. We intend these four days to be an opportunity for engaged scholarly interaction and dialogue, and to form a network of interaction and collaboration on these important questions. These ongoing conversations may well for the basis for further opportunities, including publications of various kinds and in various forms.

Applicants should prepare a dossier with a brief letter of proposal, a current CV and an example of recent written scholarship and send these materials to: cmrc@colorado.edu noting “Spring Workshop Application” in the subject line.

Applications will be considered until Jan. 31, 2020 and successful applicants will be notified soon after. All expenses for travel and attendance will be paid by the project.

Center for Media, Religion, and Culture
1511 University Avenue, 0478 UCB
Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0478 USA
+1 303 492 1357

Questions may be addressed to any of the project’s directors: Deborah Whitehead
(deborah.whitehead@colorado.edu); Nabil Echchaibi (nechchai@colorado.edu); Nathan Schneider (nathan.schneider@colorado.edu); Stewart Hoover (hoover@colorado.edu).

Posted in Conferences, Opportunities, Professional Development.

2019-2020 officers

Religion and Media Interest Group members attending the AEJMC conference in Toronto chose officers for the 2019-2020 academic year. Officers lead program planning, research competition, teaching programming, PF&F programming, newsletter, website and all other RMIG efforts. Our new officers are:

Head: Greg Perreault, Appalachian State University

Vice head: Bellarmine (Bella) Ezumah, Murray State University

Research chair: Taisik Hwang, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Teaching co-chairs: Rebecca Frazer, Ohio State University, and Michael Longinow, Biola University

Newsletter co-editors: Michelle Baker, Penn State University, and Joe Grimm, Michigan State University

Professional freedom & responsibility chair: Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City

Membership chair: Derek Moscato, Western Washington University

Head: Greg Perreault is a multimedia journalism professor at Appalachian State University. He’s a media sociologist who researches phenomena associated with journalism and gaming.

His research appears in the New Media & Society, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, and Games & Culture. His papers have won awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a journalist for seven years. He’s worked as a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post (circ. 145, 000), served as managing editor of a hyperlocal multimedia website Columbia Faith & Values, and had work published at USA Today, Miami Herald, and The Los Angeles Times.

Greg holds a Ph.D. from the Missouri School of Journalism and an M.A. in Communication, Culture, Technology from Georgetown University. email

Vice head: Dr. Bellarmine (Bella) Ezumah is an associate professor and director of graduate programs in the Journalism and Mass Communications Department of Murray State University, Kentucky. She teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in mass media theory, international communications, mass media effects, media in contemporary society, and new technologies.

She has directed over 40 theses and other empirical research with undergraduate and graduate students. Bella has published more than 22 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings and has presented her work at several national and international conferences. She has received six best-paper awards. The Murray State Alumni Association named her its 2014 Emerging Scholar. Her research interest is multi-disciplinary incorporating mass media effects, international communication, religion and media, and the impact of emergent technologies on education, business, and interpersonal realms.

Bella’s research is informed by a wealth of experiences — having lived, studied, visited, and conducted research in several countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, Greece, Austria, Germany, Canada and the United States. Bella has received several grants and awards including a National Science Foundation grant to study educational technology adoption in Nigeria and Ghana and a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program grant to research and develop a new journalism and mass communication curriculum/program in Uganda. email

Research chair: Taisik Hwang (Ph.D. University of Georgia) teaches and does research in the area of social media, strategic communication, public opinion, and religion and media at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

His research currently focuses on how various organizations utilize social media to better engage with their community and to fulfill their goals and missions.

His teaching areas include social media analytics, social media and society (seminar), and web design and data visualization (online). email

Teaching co-chair: Rebecca Frazer is a Ph.D. student in communication at The Ohio State University, where she is also pursuing a joint master’s in public administration in the John Glenn College.

Rebecca’s research focuses on the impact of entertainment media on people’s political and moral views. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Rebecca worked briefly in public relations, and she taught high school debate and communication classes for several years. email

Teaching co-chair: Michael Longinow, a former RMIG head, is a former chair in the Department of Media, Journalism & Pubic Relations in the School of Fine Arts & Communication at Biola University in Los Angeles County, California. His teaching areas are convergent journalism writing, reporting, and philosophy and ethics. He has made cross-cultural understanding, particularly between faith communities, an underlying theme of his pedagogy in all courses.

His recent research areas have been trauma in journalism and the role of Millennials in trends facing the media industries in the U.S. and internationally. He taught English and Journalism previously at Asbury University in Central Kentucky.

He grew up in greater Chicago where, in a mixed ethnicity home, he learned the interplay of Slavic and Latino groups in their faith practices, media and cultures. His undergraduate degree from Wheaton College, Illinois, led to a MS in journalism from the University of Illinois (Urbana). His Ph.D from the University of Kentucky focused on the role of media (print and broadcast) in the growth and development of Christian liberal arts colleges and universities in the U.S. (1888-1942). email

Newsletter co-editor: Michelle Baker is an assistant teaching professor in the department of advertising and public relations at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University. She directs the College’s online programs in strategic communications, including the newly developed Master of Professional Studies in strategic communications. Baker has been teaching both in-residence and online courses for Penn State since 2009 and has nearly 20 years of teaching experience in higher education. She has worked as a journalist and freelance writer, and she served as the assistant editor for Bucknell University’s alumni magazine.

Baker’s research explores such topics as the impact of spirituality on health decision-making, health messaging designed to reduce stigma associated with illness, and most recently the marketing ethos of televangelism, particularly marketing messages within the Word of Faith movement. She also explores media messages related to antisemitism and representations of the Holocaust in popular film. email

Newsletter co-editor: Joe Grimm is visiting editor in residence at Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. He teaches and is course coordinator for the first real reporting class most students take and teaches editing for print and digital, professional branding and a course in cultural competence. The cultural competence course is called Bias Busters. It has published 15 guides about cultural groups. Guides cover Muslim Americans, American Jews, Chaldean Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, East Asian cultures, Native Americans, gender identity, veterans, police officers, Indian Americans and more.

Grimm plans to spend the next few years exploring religious groups starting with Hindus, Buddhists, evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The guides are available through online booksellers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google Play and Kobo in print and digital editions. He has published seven other books on his own. Grimm has a B.A. and M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan and worked for more than 25 years at the Detroit Free Press, most as recruiting and staff development editor. email

Professional freedom & responsibility chair: Paul Glader is associate professor of journalism at The King’s College in New York City, where he co-advises the student news outlets and directs the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute. He spent 10 years as a staff writer at The Wall Street Journal, covering a variety of beats including technology, health/science, travel, metals/mining and finance. He’s written for countless publications including The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Der Spiegel, The Indianapolis Star, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Christianity Today and Forbes.com.

Glader received a M.S. from Columbia University as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at the graduate schools of business and journalism. He is a media scholar and EMBA participant at The Berlin School of Creative Leadership at Steinbeis University in Germany. He lived in Germany from 2011-2013 as a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow and as a European Journalism Fellow at Freie Universität in Berlin. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of South Dakota, where he was a Neuharth Scholar and edited the USD Volante.

His research and writing interests include the startup economy/technology innovation; journalism ethics and history/the new journalists; urban planning/transportation; Religion and media; Europe/Germany/Scandinavia; parenthood/fatherhood; creativity in leadership and media entrepreneurship. He enjoys surfing, reading and traveling with his wife and two daughters. email

Membership chair: Derek Moscato is an assistant professor in the department of journalism at Western Washington University. Moscato’s research interests lie at the crossroads of environmentalism, globalization, strategic communication, and media ethics. His recent work has appeared in International Journal of Communication, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Public Relations Inquiry, and International Journal of Strategic Communication. A 2019 research collaboration with RMIG members Brian J. Bowe and Mariam Alkazemi, “An Appeal to Shared Values: Faith, Advocacy, and Persuasion in the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Public Relations,” was recipient of AEJMC’s Newsom Award for Global Ethics and Diversity (PR Division). He received his PhD from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. email

Posted in Officers.

Summer 2019 newsletter

RELIGION MATTERS: Summer 2019

Welcome to the summer 2019 Newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

From the RMIG head for July 2019

Reflecting on RMIG, looking ahead to Toronto!

By Mariam Alkazemi

As we approach the annual convention in August, I wanted to take some time out for reflection. Having worked as part of the team that is the Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) for five years, it has been a privilege and honor to be your head for the 2018-2019 academic year. I’d like to take a moment to reflect before I look forward.

Mariam Alkazemi

As I look back, I remember being a graduate student preparing to present my first paper about religion and the media at a conference. Nervous, I arrived at the session early. Although I did not know anyone, there were very kind people who pulled up a chair next to me to show that I belonged.

It took me some time to relax, but I was ecstatic to hear about all the different studies that were being conducted by various scholars. As I spoke to an audience made up of people I did not know, I learned that I was speaking to a journal editor in the audience among other accomplished scholars.

Gregory Perreault

After the session, a professor invited me to the RMIG business meeting. Another professor asked if I wanted to co-edit the newsletter with another graduate student from the University of Missouri. The other graduate student has been the most wonderful collaborator, with whom I’ve been lucky to work, learn and share the joys and frustrations of being a graduate student and professor. Five years later, Dr. Gregory Perreault and I have worked in different positions as part of RMIG. He will be the head next year, and I am quite confident he will do an excellent job. I’m confident not only because of his stimulating intellect, compassionate communication, sense of humor or energy, but because we have seen RMIG change over time.

This year, we had several officers with no prior experience with our interest group. They brought new content and more visuals to our newsletter in addition to interesting panels that we are co-sponsoring with other AEJMC groups. They worked alongside some of our long-term, committed members to meet deadlines and prepare for the Toronto convention. It is this synergy that makes me feel excited about what the future holds for RMIG as I step down and watch my trusted colleagues and friends take RMIG in directions I may have never thought of.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to the eight officers who have worked closely to make sure that we had content to share in our newsletter, on social media, and at the annual convention—some of which had to go through a rigorous peer-review process. On behalf of the officers, I would like to thank our members for submitting papers to our interest group. Looking forward, I hope my story encourages you, our members, to participate in RMIG in the 2020-2021 academic calendar. RMIG has been open to new ideas and welcoming of diverse perspectives, and I believe that the way to move forward is to incorporate the ideas that come from our members. Please join our business meeting at the convention in Toronto.

I hope you are as excited as I am to explore Toronto. For those of you who, like me, have never visited it before, there is a food market called St. Lawrence Market where I look forward to tasting a variety of global delicacies that demonstrate the diversity of the city. For those of you who like to take a walk to clear your head outdoors, the conference hotel will be within 2 miles of the Fort York historical site on Lake Ontario.

I look forward to seeing you in Toronto and I wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe summer.

Posted in Conferences, News, Newsletters.

Where to meet RMIG at AEJMC

Wednesday

8:15 to 9:45 a.m. / W000                                    

Place TBA

Religion and Media Interest Group and Electronic News Division

Research Panel Session

Political Messages in Religious Broadcasting

Moderating/presiding: Michael Longinow, Biola

Panelists

Paul Glader, The King’s College
Paul Marshall, The Hudson Institute
Ceri Hughes, Wisconsin-Madison
Dylan McLemore, Central Arkansas

Some religious broadcasters have received access and relevance in the Trump presidency, leading typically apolitical religious broadcasters to enter the fray. This panel will consider the political messaging done by religious broadcasters.

1:30 to 3 p.m. / W000

Religion and Media Interest Group and International Communication Division

Teaching Panel Session

Religious Education and Its Connection with the Wider Media Environment

Moderating/presiding: Jatin Srivastava, Ohio

Panelists

Zakaria Tanko Musah, Ghana Institute of Journalism
Bellarmine Ezumah, Murray State
Charles Ebelebe, SIST, Nigeria
Chijioke Azuawusiefe, Pennsylvania State
Mohammed Al Azdee, Bridgeport

This panel aims to validate the need for a formal/semi-formal international education and training for religious leaders, media producers and practitioners by identifying the scope and need for religious education and evaluating current practices.

Thursday

11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. / T000

Place TBA

Religion and Media Interest Group and Cultural and Critical Studies Division

Research Panel Session

The Handmaid’s Tale: Identity, Representation & Power

Moderating/presiding: Peter Gloviczki, Coker

Panelists

David Scott, Utah State
Boyd Petersen, Utah State
Erika Engstrom, Nevada-Las Vegas
Michael Longinow, Biola
Katie Foss, Middle Tennessee State
Rebecca Frazier, Ohio State

This panel presents a variety of perspectives on the religio-cultural entertainment drama “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Research presenters discuss their findings in regards to issues of religio-cultural domination, sexuality, gender, race and religion.

1:30 to 3 p.m. / T000                                          

Place TBA

Religion and Media Interest Group and Mass Communication and Society Division

PF&R Panel Session

Media Coverage of Hate Speech: Challenges, Responsibilities and Opportunities

Moderating/presiding: Wat Hopkins, Virginia Tech

Panelists

Jeffrey Smith, Wisconsin-Madison
Shaheen Pasha, Massachusetts-Amherst
Clay Calvert, Florida
William Oglesby, Virginia Commonwealth
Jennifer Greer, Alabama
Keran Billaud, Florida

The inalienable right of Freedom of Speech is often misconstrued, especially when it relates to hate speech. This panel seeks to incorporate theoretical, contextual and ethical approaches to exploring hate speech.

3:15 to 4:45 p.m. / T000  

Religion and Media Interest Group and Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Divisions

Teaching Panel Session

Interaction and Conflict of Science and Religion

Moderating/presiding: Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth

Panelists

Paul Glader, The King’s College
Matthew Van Dyke, Alabama
Michelle Frazer, Princeton

The debate between science and religion has a long history, and at times it impacts communication about health. The purpose of this teaching panel is to prepare students to report issues that spark conflict between science and religion.

6:45 to 8:15 p.m. / T000
Place TBA

Religion and Media Interest Group

Business Session
Members’ Meeting

Moderating/presiding: TBA

Friday

11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. / F000
Place TBA

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Scholar-to-Scholar Refereed Paper (Poster) Session

Religion and Media Interest Group

Faith in the White House: Public Perceptions of U.S. Presidents’ Communicative Performance of Spiritual Leadership+
Kirsten Adams, North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Religiosity as a Concept in Communication Research*
Taisik Hwang, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Semantic and Visual Primes of Stereotypes of Muslim Women: Evaluative and Behavioral Consequences
Alex Tan, Anastasia Vishnevskaya and Heena Khan, Washington State

Social Media, Religious Authority, and the Arab Gulf Crisis
Ibrahim Abusharif, Northwestern University in Qatar

The Impact of Religion in Situational Crisis Communication Theory: An Examination of Religious Rhetoric and Religiosity**
Jordan Morehouse and Lucinda Austin, North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Washington, D.C.,-based Religious and Secular Media Coverage of the District’s Death with Dignity Act***
Sean Baker, Central Michigan University and Kimberly Lauffer, Ball State

* First-Place Paper, Religion & Media Interest Group open competition
** Second-Place Paper, Religion & Media Interest Group open competition
*** Third-Place Paper, Religion & Media Interest Group open competition
+ First-Place Paper, Religion & Media Interest Group student competition

Saturday

Posted in Conferences.

Thou art in a deal: Trump and references to God

By Ceri Hughes

In the previous newsletter, I outlined the finding from my research which indicated that Donald Trump is apparently the most pious man to sit in the Oval Office during the last century or so. To be more precise, the research found that he uses religious terms and explicit references to God in his major public addresses at a significantly higher rate than all presidents from FDR forward.

Ceri Hughes

This intriguing finding demanded a sequel and, so you don’t have to, I examined 175 campaign rally speeches by Trump and 30,000+ tweets to further detail his use of religious language in public communications. Campaign rally speeches were split into three periods: those delivered during the primary season, those delivered while he was the Republican nominee and those delivered at rallies while president. There was very little religious language early in the campaign, but the rate of use of both “faith terms” and “God terms” increases sharply between the primary and nominee periods, continuing at the higher rate during the presidency period.

Nominee speeches were also examined by state. States were split into equal quartiles dependent on the average level of religiosity of residents of the state. A clear and significant trend was found–a higher rate of faith and God terms were used in states with more religious populations. This suggests that either Trump, when going off-script, was able to tweak his religious messaging, or that speech writers would up the religious content where appropriate.

On Twitter, citizen Trump (prior to announcing his candidacy) used almost no religious language. Primary candidate and nominee Trump used slightly more, but President Trump uses such language at a much higher rate. Again, this change either comes from Trump’s personal tweeting or staffers writing the tweets.

It seems that either the importance of religion is increasing to Trump personally, or the importance of the religious is increasing to Trump politically.

Posted in Research.

A good time to reflect on pedagogy: Book reviews


By Rick Clifton Moore
Boise State University

And Rebecca D. Frazer
The Ohio State University

Though many faculty and grad students think of summer as a time to take a break from the grind, or to try to make progress on that research paper that was put on the back burner in February, summer is also a wonderful time to think about teaching. So, perhaps when taking a break from gathering or analyzing data, you could throw a book on pedagogy into your beach bag (alongside one good pleasure-reading tome, of course).

With that in mind, we’d like to provide some quick insights into three books on college teaching that we’ve recently encountered.

Any of the three might just provide some great ideas to implement when back on campus in the fall. The topics of the three vary greatly, with one providing a research-based guide to overall best practices, the second presenting information on the use of technology in teaching, and the third offering insights into the inclusion of religion in the college curriculum.

What the Best College Teachers Do

By Ken Bain

Ken Bain’s award-winning book What the Best College Teachers Do blends empirical research with engaging anecdotes as it explores the shared values and practices of outstanding college teachers. Although it could not be considered a comprehensive how-to manual for college teaching, it serves as a meaningful guide to improving teaching skills for beginning and seasoned teachers alike. Basing his work on qualitative research analyzing 63 exceptional college instructors and their students and colleagues, Bain identifies common traits of success and incorporates those traits into six key questions about excellent teachers.

First, Bain asks, what do the best teachers know about how we learn? Bain argues that by truly caring about the interests of their students and inspiring students to formulate good questions and engage the material, teachers can help students construct knowledge, not just memorize.  Unlike rote memorization, learning formulated through deep thinking and engagement will last far beyond the end of the term.  Bain shares practical strategies for promoting deep levels of engagement, emphasizing the importance of harnessing students’ motivation.

Second, how do the best prepare to teach? Bain introduces a series of 13 questions gleaned from successful teachers that he believes teachers should ask as they prepare for a class. While the questions range from course goals to communication strategies to grading policies, each answer is distinctly student-focused. Bain systematically argues that successful teachers care enough to prepare well and anticipate the needs of their students, while also being willing to adjust their approach as the semester advances.

Third, what do the best teachers expect of their students? In short, Bain’s research reveals that the best teachers expect “more” from their students. But “more” should not be confused with meaningless difficulty. Bain observes that students succeed when they are motivated by a real-world connection with the material. Further, students are fueled by the faith teachers express in their pupils’ ability to learn and succeed. Ultimately, Bain concludes that teachers’ expectations of students rest on their fundamental understanding of human nature. He writes, “The best teachers believe that learning involves both personal and intellectual development and that neither the ability to think nor the qualities of being a mature human are immutable” (pg. 83).

Fourth, how do they conduct class? Rather than taking a side in the “to lecture or not to lecture” debate, Bain argues that the best teachers share an ability to create a critical learning environment in whichever class format they choose. Sparking curiosity, provoking students to think, and involving students in the problem-solving process are all crucial components of successful class time.  While perhaps not surprising, Bain’s chapter makes a strong argument that in any field, effective classroom teaching is founded on a deep commitment to critical learning, not on a rigid set of pedagogical rules. Yet despite his thematic focus, Bain also provides a number of invaluable practical tips for teaching styles and exercises.

Fifth, how do they treat their students?  Through a series of poignant examples, Bain demonstrates that excellent teachers fight for the trust of their students. This type of devotion involves more than simply being kind. Instead, humility, openness, devotion of time, and a rejection of all power-hunger characterized the teachers Bain examined. “The best teachers we studied,” Bain writes, “displayed not power but an investment in the students.”

Sixth, how do they evaluate their students and themselves? In his final section, Bain offers perhaps his most provocative advice: stop enforcing deadlines with grade penalties. Bain argues that appealing to peer respect or personal development produced better results than more draconian point penalties for late assignments.  Further, Bain discusses the importance of formulating tests that reward critical thinking and skill mastery, not simply regurgitation of memorized course material. Bain also explores the crucial importance of teachers evaluating themselves, advising that instructors go above and beyond departmentally required evaluations to seek feedback from their students in creative ways.

Overall, Bain’s work is impressive in his combination of careful research with powerful anecdotes. Each of Bain’s answers to his six big questions leads back to the simple yet powerful concept of student-focused teaching, challenging the narcissistic culture that is known to threaten the academy. For new and experienced teachers alike, Bain’s book provides a much-needed dose of inspiration and practical advice for teaching excellence.

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

By Jose Antonio Bowen

The first thing to note about this book is that faculty should not attempt to make adjustments to how they teach based solely on the first two words of the title. Removing clothing is not part of this process. “Teaching naked” is the term the author uses for the quality face-to-face interaction that good faculty have used for centuries. That could include lecture, but more importantly, critical dialog between faculty and students. Bowen argues, however, that technology is posing a significant threat to this beloved tradition, but also can save it.

The threat, Bowen suggests, is the growing presence of online learning. In the future, as more and more online degrees become available, prices for higher education will probably drop. In addition, some students will focus merely on learning, and not on the credentials that come from an accredited degree. Thus, most state and regional institutions of higher education will have much stiffer competition, and will have to deliver their material more efficiently. More than that, they’ll have to prove that students are learning from those brilliant profs to whom they are paying a premium—relative to the market—for their expertise.

Those profs, says Bowen, should spend as much of their class time as possible demonstrating their expertise. More importantly though, they should inspire students, and help with critical thinking in relation to their class content. This requires students work through some of the more rudimentary aspects of learning outside of class. Thus far, then, what Bowen is proposing is merely another example of “flipping the classroom,” something many have proposed for years. For example, the prof might post the lecture on YouTube, and expect students to watch it before class rather than sitting through it in class. Once in the face-to-face environment, the focus should be on “interaction, integration, and deep processing” (p. 115).

Bowen takes this a step further than flipping the classroom, though. He argues that today’s students are so internet-oriented that faculty are missing out if they don’t find a way to use any/all digital technologies to learn outside of class. For example, he suggests faculty might use Twitter to ask students about material they are studying. “A tweet will reach students immediately, wherever they are and whatever they are doing.” He gives numerous other examples throughout the book.

Of course, the example just mentioned helps readers recognize one potential shortfall of Bowen’s approach: if faculty kick technology out the door of the classroom, but then invite it into the education process 24/7 between class periods, when do students and faculty find time to rest from learning?

In addition, we might note that—in spite of the book’s title—Bowen eventually devotes only one chapter in the book to true “naked teaching,” the time spent in class. There, he fully admits that “college is boring.” Here, too, we might thank Bowen for introducing some issues that all college educators must face. To what extent do the technologies we use bear some responsibility for increasing the general sense of boredom among students, and even faculty? Many years ago, Neil Postman suggested that the primary result of the age of television was that it created citizens who feel the constant need for stimulation. If he was correct, to what extent do YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter exacerbate that? And, to what extent does a reliance on those technologies for a significant part of the college education process actually increase the expectancy of constant thrill among students?

Encountering Faith in the Classroom: Turning Difficult Discussions into Constructive Engagement

Miriam Rosalyn Diamond (ed.)

This book, a compilation of essays from faculty at a wide variety of U.S. colleges and universities, may be of interest to members of RMIG, as it specifically addresses the perils and possibilities of bringing discussion of faith into the classroom. For those new to teaching in the area of religion/media, the book may provide valuable insights. Seasoned RMIG faculty may find that they have considered most of the implications the scholars in this volume provide.

Introductory sections of the book offer a wide variety of data regarding American higher education, and faith perspectives of U.S. students. There is a lot of potential here, as the sections may include research of which even seasoned religion researchers are unaware. On the down side, the book was published in 2006, so the data, depending on the specific questions asked, may no longer be very reflective of cultural realities.  For example, much of the information is from the 2005 HERI study of first-generation college students. In a few years, we’ll find that the students entering our classrooms for fall term were not born when the data for that particular study were gathered.

More than being a book with useful information for research, though, this work might be better as a conversation-starter for faculty at all schools, regardless of discipline. As a “group-read” among faculty, with open discussion following, the essays might provide some rich insights into the assumptions about religion we all bring to the classroom, and the practices we have developed for dealing with conflicts that inevitably arise when people with different faith patterns are required to learn new material. Indeed, many of the assumptions authors of the book bring to the table, and the recommendations they make for dealing with religion are thought-provoking in and of themselves.

For one thing, there seems to be a recurring imagery in the book that suggests faculty views of religion and their ability to converse about it are radically different from those of students. Throughout, religiously oriented students are portrayed as having been tossed to and fro by their religious teachings, whereas faculty views are the product of “the principles of rational discourse.”

To provide one example, a chapter on fundamentalist students suggests they have a “dualistic” mindset, which the author describes as having an attitude that there is a “we” who are right, and “others” who are wrong. At a certain point in her chapter, the author clearly communicates that moving students away from such a mindset is a good thing. For example, she suggests that a dualistic mindset is not to be “displaced,” but rather is “modified out of existence.” The odd thing, of course, is that the author seems to be saying that most faculty at the contemporary university (“us”) are not fundamentalists, and that fundamentalist students (who, ironically, can be identified as “others”) are wrong. Another chapter, on the relationship between cognitive dissonance and teaching about religion devotes significant attention to how religiously oriented students will experience dissonance when presented with new material, but devotes little or no attention to how faculty might do so. There are hints at the end of the chapter that the instructor might be a learner, too, but no discussion of the possibility faculty members will have their world view shaken by new information.

If faculty did indeed use this book for a discussion group, this last point could be a clear avenue for fruitful dialog. After all, as has been mentioned, the world we are teaching in is probably already radically different than the world at the beginning of this millennium. Given that, a significant portion of reader discussion could relate to ways that the book needs updating. For example, the work makes very few references to Islam. This lacuna might provide faculty an opportunity for critical thinking. To what extent are the book’s discussions related to “fundamentalists” readily applicable to the increasing number of Muslim students entering the academy in the United States? Or, perhaps less contentious, to what extent do students who increasingly claim to be “spiritual, but not religious” represent similar challenges to those the book attributes to students who have been brought up in traditional (typically Christian) religious bodies with formal catecheses?

Those, and other good questions, tend to suggest themselves in these three books. Perhaps summer is a good season to devote some time to thinking about them.

Posted in Book Reviews.

Michigan State religion guides win MC&S Service Learning Award

AEJMC’s Mass Communication and Society group has announced its Service Learning Award will go to help Michigan State University students reach out to religious and spiritual groups for which they will publish 100-question Bias Busters guides.

The cultural competence series now has 17 guides in print and digital formats, and the MC&S award will help Michigan State with its new focus on religion. So far, the series has guides on Judaism, Islam, and, new this year, Chaldeans. Hinduism and Buddhism are in editing. The $500 grant can go for student transportation and photography on upcoming guides. Evangelical Christians are planned for the fall and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is planned for spring, 2020.

Please, if you can be an ally or reader on any of these upcoming guides, email me at joe.grimm@gmail.com. I am also looking for suggestions on other religion guides. You can find the series on Amazon. Thank you so much.

–Joe Grimm

Posted in Opportunities.

Lilly announces $4.9 million religion journalism initiative

The Lilly Endowment announced one of the largest religion journalism grants in decades, the long-anticipated Global Religion Journalism Initiative.

The $4.9 million package will go to the Religion News Foundation for an 18-month startup phase. The collaborative will involve the Associated Press, Religion News Service and The Conversation US.

Lilly reported “The initiative will establish a coordinated strategy for reporting on religion and increase significantly the number and reach of high-quality stories about religious faith and practice and the impact of religion in the United States and around the globe.”
The grant is to support:



  • A collaborative religion desk at the AP

  • More reporters dedicated to religion

  • Enhanced capacities to produce and distribute video through digital and social media

  • A new weekly news series focused on religion and faith

  • A Web-based news channel focused on religion

  • Enhancement of the AP and RNS for distributing religious content

The three news organizations are to test strategies for revenue streams needed to make these efforts self-sustaining.

— Joe Grimm

Posted in News.

Pew analysis of church and state in western Europe suggests further research

Public support for the separation of church and state is widespread in western Europe, even where government-mandated church taxes fund religious institutions, according to a May report from the Pew Research Center.

The report said most adults in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, which have mandatory church taxes for members of major religious groups, agree that “religion should be kept separate from government policies.” The alternate position was that “government should promote religious values and beliefs in the country.”

Pew reported that majorities in several other western European countries that don’t have a church tax also support church-state separation.

Pew reported, “The difference in opinion between church-tax payers and those who have opted out may be fueling a wider debate in these countries about religious freedom and the role of churches in European societies today.”

– Joe Grimm

Posted in News, Research.

Spring 2019 newsletter

Six students crowd around an altar as a rabbi shows them what a Torah scroll looks like and explains how they are created and used.

Students working on “100 Questions and Answers About American Jews” learn about the Torah from Rabbi Amy Bigman at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing, Michigan. That guide was one of 15 published so far in a series that has examined racial, ethnic and cultural groups. Now, the Bias Busters guides, available in print and digital formats, will spend several years focused exclusively on religion and faith. Make your scholarship part of this.

RELIGION MATTERS: Spring 2019

Welcome to the spring 2019 Newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters. Tagged , , , .

From the RMIG head for March 2019

RMIG officers and I have been excitedly preparing for the upcoming conference in Toronto. Every day, we are drawing nearer to the April 1 deadline for the 2019 convention of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. We have partnered up with other divisions and interest groups in hopes of arranging for the intellectual exchange of ideas on various topics, including hate speech and religious broadcasting. We will also hold panels to learn about religious media coverage’s influence on sexual minorities and public health. We hope that a diverse and wide-ranging number of interests are covered in the panels to be held in Toronto.

I’d also like to point out that the AEJMC convention is being held Toronto, Canada for the second time. The first time AEJMC convened in Toronto was in 2004. According to a Pew Research Center study reported last summer, approximately 27 percent of Canadians reported religion as being important. Other sources report that 76 percent of Canadians claim to have a religious affiliation, and yet religion is more embraced in private than in public life. We have tried to reach out to different organizations based in Toronto to look for panelists with limited degrees of success. Regardless, we hope that the new location provides an opportunity for us to learn about the interaction between the media and religious institutions in Toronto next summer.

My best,
Mariam Alkazemi, Ph.D.
RMIG Head
Robertson School of Media and Culture
Virginia Commonwealth University

Posted in Conferences, News, Newsletters.

Bias Busters needed: Be a critic/ally on a religion guide

A lineup of 14 small publications.

Bias Busters guides have covered faith, race, ethnicity, gender and will now focus on religion for several years.

By Joe Grimm

Here is an opportunity to put your scholarship to work on a print and digital religion guide.

Since 2014, Michigan State University’s School of Journalism has been publishing guides to greater cultural competence. Our latest, out this spring, answers 100 questions about Chaldeans. Not widely dispersed or known in the United States, Chaldeans are Catholic Iraqis who are keeping Aramaic alive. They became prominent in 2017 when several hundred were detained for deportation to Iraq, fallout from the proposed ban on visitors from Muslim countries. In Iraq, Christians face persecution from the government and extremists. Deportation would divide families, and some say it would be a death sentence.

100 Questions and Answers About Chaldean Americans” is our 15th Bias Busters guide.

All are available as print or digital books on Amazon, Barnes&Nobles, Google Play, iTunes and Kobo.

We have used text, of course, and video, audio, charts, maps and motion graphics to answer questions.

Our goal is to publish accurate, authoritative, accessible guides that help people overcome their awkwardness about talking to their neighbors and co-workers by giving clear answers to their basic questions.

This is where RMIG members come in. With guides about Judaism and Islam, we found that interfaith groups love these guides for group discussions. Pivoting from Chaldeans, we will now focus several guides to increase understanding about faith groups in the United States. This year we will publish guides about Hindus and Buddhists. With 2020 election politics in mind, we will next move to Evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A key part of our process is to have knowledgable allies vet our questions and answers. You can help in three ways:

1. Please email me at joe.grimm@gmail.com and tell me you can be a reader on any of these next four guides. We always recruit critic/allies to ensure accuracy. Perhaps one of these subjects lines up with one of your areas of expertise. We will send copies of the guide you help on and credit you in it.
2. Suggest what faith group you think we should do after these. The Black Church? Anabaptists? Where do you see interest or bias that should be addressed?
3. Ask me for a guide, any guide that we have already published. They are all here. I will mail you one so you can see what we do.

Thank you.
Joe
joe.grimm@gmail.com

Posted in Opportunities, Teaching strategies.

A course I wish I could have taken

By Khadija Ejaz

A few days ago, I received a set of two books from Praeger under the umbrella title “Religion Online: How Digital Technology is Changing the Way We Worship and Pray.” Across their 624 pages, the books lay out a comprehensive picture of the intersection of religion and digital media. The first volume, “Religion in Cyberspace,” is organized conceptually around digital media like social media, online communities and websites. The second volume, “Faith Groups and Digital Media,” is organized by religion itself. Sections include, but are not limited to, Jainism, Seventh-Day Adventists and Scientology.

Khadija Ejaz

I had been expecting the books. They were being released in March 2019, and I had authored a chapter, “Muslims in the Digital Age,” in volume 2.

I am a doctoral candidate at the University of South Carolina, and in my second year, a professor in my department, Dr. August E. Grant, asked me to contribute the chapter to Religion Online.  Grant was going to co-edit the books with Drs. Daniel A. Stout, Chiung Hwang Chen and Amanda F. C. Sturgill. The offer interested me a great deal.

I am originally from India, a secular democratic country with a very old, very visible pluralistic religious landscape – Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and others. I also grew up in Oman, a unique country on the Arabian Peninsula because it is predominantly Ibadi Muslim. Being surrounded by so many different religious traditions made me curious about religion – what can it tell us about how people make sense of the world? My curiosity only increased after moving to the United States as I encountered its specific religious makeup.

As a doctoral student, I often wished for more exposure to the study of media and religion, perhaps a graduate-level course in the subject that I could have taken. My interest further strengthened as I gravitated toward the study of cultural meanings as they manifested in various media. Grant’s proposal was exciting to me precisely because the books addressed these needs. According to Praeger, “Religion Online” does many things. It showcases diverse voices from different religions, highlights the importance of religion in contemporary public affairs, and addresses how young adults use new media as part of religious practices. The complete table of contents can be found on Praeger’s website.

Khadija Ejaz is an award-winning doctoral candidate in the field of mass communication. She has been published in the Journal of Communication Inquiry, Journal of Gender Studies, and Journalism Practice and has served as the instructor of record for undergraduate courses in research methods and writing. Khadija is also active in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Broadcast Education Association, and International Communication Association. She has a background in information technology and is also the author of many children’s books, including one on Islam. Her title on Hinduism was awarded the South Asia Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

Posted in Research.

Islamophobia in swimwear and politics

Brian Bowe

RMIG research chair Brian J. Bowe recently published an article examining the visual framing of a swimsuit targeted toward Muslim women in news coverage in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. The article, titled “Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of the Burkini Debate,” was written with Joe Gosen (Western Washington University) and Shahira Fahmy (University of Arizona/American University of Cairo).

Bowe’s research into media representation of Muslims continues with an examination of the 2018 midterm elections, which saw an unprecedented number of Muslim-American candidates seeking office. Bowe and Lawrence Pintak, of Washington State University, received funding from the AEJMC’s Senior Scholars Program for a research proposal titled “Mediatization of Islamophobia in the 2018 Election.”

Bowe is an associate professor of journalism at Western Washington University and a current Fulbright scholar to the University of Jordan.

Posted in News, Research.

New digital magazine platform to showcase religion reporting

By Paul Glader

With fewer newspapers employing religion reporters and publishing religion reporting, how do journalists interested in religion land bylines and publish their work?

ReligionUnplugged.com is a new, non-profit journalism platform designed to help develop a new ecosystem for religion reporting in the U.S. and the world. The site publishes at least one story per day on its site, distributing its content via social media and in an email newsletter as well.

Paul Glader

The editors, based in New York City, welcome story pitches from both seasoned journalists worldwide as well as from student journalists and journalism professors who have a strong pitch. We pay $100 per original story and more if they come with high-quality original photos or other multimedia assets.

Although we welcome original scoops, we also welcome step-back reporting that shows broader trends or a fresh angle. We realize that other news organizations such as the Associated Press, Religion News Service, Catholic news outlets and other faith-based publications cover a good deal of religion-related news. ReligionUnplugged aims to provide more magazine-style enterprise reporting about religions and religious people around the world.

While it welcomes smart pieces about political conflict within religion or about religion in society, it also appreciates wholistic coverage about religion in society and culture. That means we welcome interviews, profiles, in-depth pieces, data journalism investigations and video mini-documentaries. We also green light reporting and reviews about religion in film and TV, theater, music, literature and other parts of the arts. We have a new feature called “Pilgrimages” that reports on religion-related travel destinations.

Any stories published on ReligionUnplugged can be republished by other news outlets as long as they identify that the piece first appeared at RUP and link back to the original. The site publishes content by seasoned religion reporting veterans such as retired AP religion reporter Dick Ostling and Ira Rifkin, alongside new religion reporters such as stories from undergraduates and graduate students from former former New York Times religion reporter Dr. Ari Goldman’s religion reporting class at Columbia Journalism School.

ReligionUnplugged was created and funded by The Media Project, a non-profit journalism training organization with offices in NYC and Irvine, California. It conducts training programs for hundreds of journalists around the world on five continents. It includes religion reporting as a key topic in each one of its training programs. With more than 1,400 member journalists around the world, many Media Project members send freelance reports to ReligionUnplugged from their countries.

We welcome AEJMC members to use content from ReligionUnplugged in their classrooms. We welcome AEJMC members and their students to pitch stories to ReligionUnplugged. They can email executive editor Paul Glader at Paul@TheMediaProject.org or managing editor Melissa Harrison at Melissa@TheMediaProject.org.

About The Media Project: TMP empowers journalists to provide a more profound understanding of the role of religion in public life through accurate, thorough and intellectually honest reporting. Our organization educates journalists on the importance of religion at training programs worldwide. We welcome friends from all faiths to these events and discussions.

Posted in News, Opportunities, Professional Development. Tagged , , , , , .

The God card: Strategic employment of religious language in U.S. presidential discourse

By Ceri Hughes

Though the Constitution explicitly forbids any religious qualification for holding public office, the religiosity of the holder of the highest public office—the presidency—has been an issue of salience to voters. Every occupant to date of the Oval Office is or was a Christian—something they are essentially required to promote in their public addresses.

Some presidents appear to be keener than others to do this. Research by RMIG Membership Chair Ceri Hughes examines the rate at which presidents from the past hundred years use general religious language and explicit invocations of God in their public addresses. The most notable, and perhaps surprising finding is that the president with the highest rate of usage is the current Oval incumbent, Donald Trump.

Some argue that Trump’s faith is developing—evangelical leaders referring to him in 2016 as a “baby Christian.” Yet, in 2016 white Evangelicals voted overwhelmingly for him — support he has largely retained. Whether his high level of religious language in public addresses is an artifact of the increasing importance of religion to him personally, or whether it is more due to the increasing importance of the religious to him politically, is a question this research raises.

This research concludes that the use of religious language escalated from the presidency of Ronald Reagan. There is also evidence to suggest that post-Reagan presidents use religious language as an aid to “trespass” into areas of opposition strength.

Democrats use such language at a higher rate than their Republican contemporaries in collocation with text on the economy, defense and terrorism. Republicans, meanwhile, were using such language more than Democrats on issues traditionally “owned” by Democrats.

Posted in Research.

2019 Religion and Media Interest Group paper call

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG’s goal is to enhance theoretical development in the study of the interface between media and religion through the production of rigorous, high-quality research that fosters understanding. The interest group promotes the study of media and religion within the context of the overall mission of AEJMC, which emphasizes scholarship, teaching, and professional freedom and responsibility.

Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; etc. Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered.

Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred). The maximum length for research papers is 25 pages (excluding endnotes and tables).

The Religion and Media Interest Group sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. In order to be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify either a student submission or a faculty submission on the cover page of the paper. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. Student papers may not have a faculty co-author.

All paper submissions must follow formatting and procedures in the 2018 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call. Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

All authors should carefully check their manuscripts for self-identifying information of any kind prior to submission. Paper submitters should try to submit at least 48 hours before the deadline of 12:59 p.m. CDT, April 1, 2019, so they can check to make sure that the uploaded document does not contain any self-identifying information in its properties. This can happen sometimes, mysteriously, via “save as pdf” or as a result of some other technical issue. An early submission will allow individuals to fully check submissions as they are entered into the system so that a resubmission prior to the deadline is possible. Papers should be submitted through the AEJMC All Academic Portal.

Questions should be submitted to the RMIG Research Chair Brian J. Bowe at brianj.bowe@wwu.edu. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating via e-mail. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/our-mission-and-goals/.

Posted in Call for papers.

Women & Religion call for papers

Women & Language, an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal publishes original scholarly articles and creative work covering all aspects of communication, language, and gender. Contributions to Women & Language may be empirical, rhetorical-critical, interpretive, theoretical, or artistic. All appropriate research methodologies are welcome.

Affiliated with the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender, the journal espouses an explicitly feminist positionality, though articles need not necessarily engage or advance feminist theory to be appropriate fits for the journal, and articles that critically examine feminisms are welcome. Other potential topics include but are not limited to studies of human communication in dyads, families, groups, organizations, and social movements; analyses of public address, media texts, literature, activism, and other cultural phenomena; the role of gender in verbal and nonverbal communication, intercultural exchanges, listening, relationship building, and public advocacy; linguistic analysis; and many others. The journal operates from a nuanced and expansive understanding of gender, so contributions about sexuality, gender identity, and the complexity and limitations of gender as a concept are especially appropriate. Contributions that center intersectional perspectives are particularly encouraged, as are those that explore gender and language from non-Western or global perspectives. Articles published in Women & Language need not come from a communication perspective, but should reflect thoughtful engagement with language and/or communication processes or theory.

Submissions are welcome from scholars, students, activists, and practitioners at any stage of their careers. All submissions undergo rigorous peer review in a mentorship-centered process committed to developing excellent scholarship.

To submit, email Leland G. Spencer at editorwomenandlanguage@gmail.com.

All submissions to Women & Language should be electronically submitted in a Word file.

Articles should be prepared in standard American written English.

Preferred length for scholarly research and theory manuscripts is 6,000-10,000 words including endnotes and references; a 150-word abstract and 4-5 keywords should accompany submissions. Creative submissions may be shorter.

Preferred font is Times New Roman; following these guidelines will help in the retention of formatting.

Any accompanying graphic needs to be at least 500kb file size with a resolution of at least 150 pixels per inch. Authors are responsible for securing permission to reprint images, lengthy quotations, and other copyrighted material.

Prepare materials with no author identification on the manuscript itself, including in the Word metadata; otherwise, submissions should adhere to the sixth edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual. Please note that APA style requires DOI numbers for all digital references.

Articles for general issues are accepted on a rolling basis, with initial decisions typically issued in about three months.

Editor: Leland G. Spencer, PhD | Miami University

Posted in Call for papers.

From the RMIG head for December 2018

As head of the religion and media interest group, I would like to take a moment to express the current state of religious news content in the media.

In the current political climate, there have been horrific stories of the massacres in places of worship such as the shooting in the Pittsburgh synagogue. There has also been a coming together of different religious groups that have sometimes been described as being in opposition to one another. One example is the donations to the synagogue by Pittsburgh’s Muslim community. It is important to study the effects of media content, which includes both religious conflict and cooperation. Our members’ work can provide insight into best practices for journalists, news consumption and society.

In the spirit of collaboration, Dr. Greg Perreault and I have decided to increase the number of panels  co-sponsored  with other AEJMC groups. Our proposals, outlined in this newsletter, are a break with the tradition of having our separate competitions in order to examine the interaction of religious communication with politics, gender, entertainment and other topics. We will still have a paper competition, but we will present that via scholar-to-scholar to be able to provide additional collaborative research opportunities. In following our usual tradition, the top paper awards will be presented in our business meeting.

As we work toward finalizing programs for these meetings, please let us know if you are interested in being a panelist. Please note that final decisions will be the result of a process of negotiation with our co-sponsors. We will also pay careful attention to the diversity of the panelists.

As the 2018 calendar year draws to an end, I want to wish our members a happy season of holidays. We look forward to communicating with you further.

My best,
Mariam Alkazemi, Ph.D.
RMIG Head
Robertson School of Media and Culture
Virginia Commonwealth University

Posted in News, Newsletters, Teaching strategies.

Call for panelists

The panels for AEJMC 2019 are now set and are described below. If you want to be involved as a panelist, please email Dr. Gregory Perreault and Dr. Mariam Alkazemi by Jan. 15, 2019. Please note that requests cannot be guaranteed because the selections will be negotiated with our co-sponsors. We are committed to ensuring the diversity of panelists this year, as per the request of 2019 AEJMC President Dean Marie Hardin.

Communicating Religion in international contexts: Religious education and its connection with the wider media environment

Panel type: Teaching

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and International Communication Division

Description:
Much has been written in the area of religion and media. The majority of the work on this topic has employed cultural, political, ethnographical, and social perspectives in examining the role of media in socio-religious movements. Some literature addresses the (mis) appropriations of mass media by religious leaders, impact of religious media messages on audience members’ beliefs and religious practices, various manifestations of religion in mass media, including motion pictures, music, books, and other artistic forms. Further, scholars have examined various mediums of information and communication technologies employed in transmitting religious messages. This teaching panel, while revisiting and highlighting recent developments in these areas, also aims to explore issues related to communication education and training of religious leaders, media practitioners, and content producers of religious messages in international contexts. This panel therefore aims to validate the need for a formal/semi-formal education and training for religious leaders, media producers and practitioners by identifying the scope and need for such education and evaluating current practices related to expertise, curriculum, delivery formats, and related legal and ethical issues in such training environments.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Identity, Representation & Power

Panel type: Research

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and Cultural and Critical Studies Division

Description:

This research panel presents a variety of perspectives on the religio-cultural entertainment drama “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In this panel, research presenters will discuss their findings in regard to the following:

  • Issues of religio-cultural domination and power
  • Issues of gender and sexuality as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Issues of race and religion as represented in The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Interrogation of the cultural commentary as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Interrogation of the political commentary as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale

Panelists will be selected through a call distributed by both the Cultural and Critical Studies Division and the Religion and Media Interest Group.

Media Coverage of Hate Speech: Challenges, Responsibilities, and Opportunities

Panel type: Professional Freedom and Responsibility

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and Mass Communication and Society Division

Description:

The inalienable right of freedom of speech or expression of ideas is often misconstrued, especially when it becomes offensive, thus hate speech instead of free speech. With the ubiquity of emergent technologies, creating and disseminating hate speech and the consequential violence and crime against the victims becomes easy. So, the burden lies in the rigor of deciphering what constitutes hate speech and free speech. However, there seems to be a lack of consensus in terms of how hate speech is defined among journalists and academics. The prohibition of discrimination, hostility or violence by the law needs to be balanced with the protection of people’s rights of free expression. Often, there comes the ambiguity about where the free expression ends and where the incitement of hostility begins.

Some scholars have suggested censoring hate speech, while others oppose censorship and argue for resisting hate speech with free speech. This panel seeks contributions from scholars and journalism practitioners about their experiences with the coverage of, and navigating through materials that constitute hate speech whether in the political, religious, social, racial or sexual realm. Also, we seek contributions that incorporate theoretical, contextual and ethical approaches to exploring hate speech with regard to professional freedom and responsibility.

Teaching and Reporting on the Intersection of Religion and Sexuality

Panel type: Teaching

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Interest Group

Description:

Some of the more sensitive topics that appear in the media involve religion and sexuality. How can we teach and report on the intersection of the two groups in media coverage?

In May of 2018, NPR reported on an Egyptian seeking asylum in Canada for holding a gay pride flag in a picture posted on social media. In 2014, the Calgary Herald reported on protests greeting the decision to open Christian fast food franchise for the chain Chik-Fil-A, based on its stance opposing same-sex marriage. The media can have a powerful impact on religious and sexual minorities, and sometimes there is conflict between religious individuals and LGBTQ individuals. How should these differences be reconciled?

At the same time, certain religious leaders are expressing views that are increasingly supportive of LGBTQ issues. For example, Pope Francis made headlines for telling a gay man that he should love himself because God created him as he is. Similarly, a newspaper article counted eight openly gay imams around the world. Although the media covered these religious elites, there is controversy about the extent to which many religions accept non-heterosexual lifestyles. How should minority perspectives be represented in reporting? To which extent can the conflict be reported to demonstrate changes in the religious landscape while accurately presenting the status quo?

Political Messages in Religious Broadcasting

Panel type: Research

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and Electronic News Division

Description:

Some Christian television and radio broadcasters have long aired conservative-leaning political programming. These broadcasters have received new access and relevance in the Trump presidency, leading other typically apolitical religious broadcasters to enter the fray. Political messages from stalwarts of the Religious Right, as well as Christian voices that push back against the church’s association with one party have grown louder and more frequent. This panel will consider the political messaging done by these religious broadcasters, and how the political side of evangelicalism is communicated through media more generally.

In examining the political messages, this panel will also look at some of the factors that have affected religious messages. For example, religious audiences are sometimes studied and analyzed so that political messages can be crafted toward a given religious audience. Furthermore, early religious broadcasters set precedents that can be important in considering their work (e.g. Jerry Falwell was one of the first Christian televangelists in the United States).

This panel welcomes research relevant to this topic that illuminates a further understanding of:

  • The religio-politics of religious broadcasters
  • The history, norms and values of religious broadcasters
  • The development of religious broadcasting into a political entity
  • How evangelicalism is communicated through religious broadcasting
  • How the Trump presidency is communicated through religious broadcasting
  • Characteristics of religious audiences that are considered when religious messages are crafted

 

Interaction and Conflict of Science and Religion

Panel type: Teaching

Co-sponsors: Religion and Media Interest Group and Communicating Science/Health Risk Division

Description:

The debate between science and religion has a long history, and at times it impacts communication about health. The purpose of this teaching panel is on how to prepare students reporting issues that interact between science and religion.

Sometimes, the reporting of science and religion is harmonious. Prophetic figures are often seen as healers, and so religious figures may inspire health practitioners and health communities. This perspective manifests itself in religiously affiliated hospitals, as demonstrated in Missouri with both the Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Christian Hospital in St. Louis.

Other times, religious groups are targeted with misinformation, as demonstrated in a New York Times story about Russian bots spreading misinformation about vaccines. Some religious groups also make headlines because their beliefs about health issues like breastfeeding, circumcision and birth control may conflict with current scientific practices and norms.

The purpose of this proposal is to involve individuals from the Communicating Science, Health, Environment, Risk Division and the Religion and Media Interest Group on a panel that shares various perspectives. Panelists will share their experience with classroom activities and case studies that prepare students to address the challenges of reporting on the conflict between science and religion.

 

Posted in Conferences, Teaching strategies.

2019 call for papers deadline is April 1

The Religion and Media Interest Group invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG’s goal is to enhance theoretical development in the study of the interface between media and religion through the production of rigorous, high-quality research that fosters understanding. The interest group promotes the study of media and religion within the context of the overall mission of AEJMC, which emphasizes scholarship, teaching and professional freedom and responsibility.

Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to):

  • Studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media
  • Exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news
  • Media strategies of religious organizations
  • Religious advertising
  • Religious and spiritual content in popular culture

Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered.

Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style, although APA is preferred. The maximum length for research papers is 25 pages, excluding endnotes and tables.

The Religion and Media Interest Group sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. To be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify on the cover page of the paper whether it is a faculty or student submission. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. Student papers may not have a faculty co-author.

All paper submissions must follow formatting and procedures in the 2019 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call. Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information will not be considered for review and will automatically be disqualified from the competition. All AEJMC divisions, interest groups and commission paper submissions must abide by this rule without exception.

All authors should carefully check their manuscripts for self-identifying information of any kind prior to submission. Paper submitters should try to submit at least 48 hours before the deadline so they can check to make sure that the uploaded document does not contain any self-identifying information in its properties. This can happen sometimes, mysteriously, via “save as pdf” or as a result of some other technical issue. An early submission will allow individuals to fully check submissions as they are entered into the system so that a resubmission prior to the deadline is possible.

Questions should be submitted to the RMIG Research Chair Brian J. Bowe at brianj.bowe@wwu.edu. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating via e-mail. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/our-mission-and-goals/.

Posted in Call for papers.

Winter 2018 newsletter

Newly elected U.S. Sen. Ilhan Omar as she marched in the 2008 Twin Cities Pride Parade in Minneapolis. In this newsletter, Rebecca D. Frazer and Rick Clifton Moore describe how recent news events such as anti-Islamic statements about Omar can enliven classroom discussions. Photo by Tony Webster. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70261828

RELIGION MATTERS: Winter 2018

Welcome to the winter 2018 Newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

RMIG Officers for 2018-19

Attendees at the 2018 Religion and Media Interest Group elected officers for the 2018-2019 academic year. Officers lead the program planning, research competition, teaching programming, PF&F programming, newsletter, website and all other RMIG efforts. Our new officers are:

Head: Mariam Alkazemi, Virginia Commonwealth University

Vice head: Greg Perreault, Appalachian State University

Teaching co-chairs: Rick Moore, Boise State University, and Rebecca Frazer, Ohio State University

Newsletter co-editors: Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City and Joe Grimm, Michigan State University

Research chair: Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University

Professional freedom & responsibility chair: Bellarmine Ezumah, Murray State University

Membership chair: Ceri Hughes, University of South Carolina

 

Head: Mariam Alkazemi, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of public relations at Virginia Commonwealth University. She served as an assistant professor of mass communications at Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait between 2015 and 2018. She has also served as a Carnegie fellow in support of the Arab social sciences and a research fellow at both the London School of Economics and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Her research appears in International Communication Gazette, Communication Law & Policy, Journal of Media and Religion and Health Environments Research & Design Journal. Alkazemi has received several awards for teaching and research. She has taught a wide range of courses dealing with international communication, public speaking, public relations and advertising.

Vice-head: Greg Perreault is a multimedia journalism professor at Appalachian State University. He’s a media sociologist interested in lifestyle journalism and its role in minority representations. He serves as a sports analyst for AppTV’s “A Game.” and he has blogged for Gnovis Journal and The Huffington Post.

His papers have won awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. His research appears in Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Howard Journal of Communication, Journal of Media & Religion, Journalism Studies, Games & Culture, and Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a journalist for seven years. He’s worked as a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post (circ. 145,000), managing editor of the hyperlocal multimedia website Columbia Faith & Values, and had work published at USA Today, the Miami Herald, and The Los Angeles Times.

Greg holds a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and an M.A. in Communication, Culture, Technology from Georgetown University.

Teaching co-chair: Rick Clifton Moore is a professor of media arts at Boise State University. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon.

He has published in more than a dozen peer-reviewed journals, including The Journal of Media and Religion, The Journal of Communication, Mass Communication and Society, the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Journalism Studies, and the Journal of Communication and Religion.

His teaching and research interests cover a wide range of topics in regard to media, ideology and religion.

Teaching co-chair: Rebecca Frazer is a Ph.D. student in communication at The Ohio State University, where she is also pursuing a joint master’s in public administration in the John Glenn College.

Rebecca’s research focuses on the impact of entertainment media on people’s political and moral views. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Rebecca worked briefly in public relations, and she taught high school debate and communication classes for several years.

Research chair: Brian J. Bowe is an associate professor at Western Washington University and 2019 Fulbright scholar to the University of Jordan. Bowe is a veteran journalist, author, and educator whose work examines the interplay of journalism and culture in multiple settings. Bowe earned his Ph.D. in Michigan State University’s Media and Information Studies program, where he was named the 2013 Outstanding Ph.D. student. His research interests include media framing, news coverage of Muslims, and journalism curriculum design. His research has appeared in top-tier journals such as Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Media, Culture & Society, and Public Understanding of Science. In 2010, he co-produced the award-winning short documentary The Death of an Imam.

Professional freedom & responsibility chair: Dr. Bellarmine (Bella) Ezumah is an associate professor and director of graduate programs in the Journalism and Mass Communications Department of Murray State University, Kentucky. She teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in mass media theory, international communications, mass media effects, media in contemporary society, and new technologies. She has directed over 40 theses and other empirical research with undergraduate and graduate students. Bella has published more than 22 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings and has presented her work at several national and international conferences. She has received six best-paper awards. The Murray State Alumni Association named her its 2014 Emerging Scholar. Her research interest is multi-disciplinary incorporating mass media effects, international communication, religion and media, and the impact of emergent technologies on education, business, and interpersonal realms. Bella’s research is informed by a wealth of experiences — having lived, studied, visited, and conducted research in several countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, Greece, Austria, Germany, Canada and the United States. Bella has received several grants and awards including a National Science Foundation grant to study educational technology adoption in Nigeria and Ghana and a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program grant to research and develop a new journalism and mass communication curriculum/program in Uganda.

Newsletter co-editor: Paul Glader is associate professor of journalism at The King’s College in New York City, where he co-advises the student news outlets and directs the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute. He spent 10 years as a staff writer at The Wall Street Journal, covering a variety of beats including technology, health/science, travel, metals/mining and finance. He’s written for countless publications including The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Der Spiegel, The Indianapolis Star, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Christianity Today and Forbes.com.

Glader received a M.S. from Columbia University as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at the graduate schools of business and journalism. He is a media scholar and EMBA participant at The Berlin School of Creative Leadership at Steinbeis University in Germany. He lived in Germany from 2011-2013 as a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow and as a European Journalism Fellow at Freie Universität in Berlin. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of South Dakota, where he was a Neuharth Scholar and edited the USD Volante.

His research and writing interests include the startup economy/technology innovation; journalism ethics and history/the new journalists; urban planning/transportation; Religion and media; Europe/Germany/Scandinavia; parenthood/fatherhood; creativity in leadership and media entrepreneurship. He enjoys surfing, reading and traveling with his wife and two daughters.

Newsletter co-editor: Joe Grimm is visiting editor in residence at Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. He teaches and is course coordinator for the first real reporting class most students take and teaches editing for print and digital, professional branding and a course in cultural competence. The cultural competence course is called Bias Busters. It has published 15 guides about cultural groups. Guides cover Muslim Americans, American Jews, Chaldean Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, East Asian cultures, Native Americans, gender identity, veterans, police officers, Indian Americans and more. Grimm plans to spend the next few years exploring religious groups. The guides are available through online booksellers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google Play and Kobo in print and digital editions. He has published seven other books on his own. Grimm has a B.A. and M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan and worked for more than 25 years at the Detroit Free Press, most as recruiting and staff development editor.

Membership chair: Ceri Hughes is a Ph.D. student who hails from Wales. He earned both his B.A. in journalism and broadcasting and his M.A. in political communication from Cardiff University. He has worked as a research analyst and union officer for the Welsh government. He studies minor/alternative political voices and the role the media play in relaying them (or not). His other area of interest is the role of religious discourse in the political arena. Current work examines the strategic use of religious rhetoric in presidential addresses.

He has been published in the European Journal of Communication, and his papers have been awarded at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has taught courses in journalism and strategic communication at UW-Madison.

He has been a project assistant for the Civic Culture and Contentious Politics research group from participating in the study, “Communication Ecologies, Political Contention, and Democratic Crisis.” He was previously a project assistant for “Project DATA: Digital Ad Tracking and Analysis.”

Posted in Conferences, Newsletters.

Call For Papers: European Islamophobia Report 2018

The annual European Islamophobia Report, presented since 2015, is seeking writers.

The EIR documents and analyzes trends in the spread of Islamophobia in various European nation states. Every year on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21), the EIR is published online and in print and disseminated among leading stakeholders, politicians, NGOs, and anti-racist organizations. The EIR is presented at several supranational institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR, the European Parliament, and other important international and national institutions. One or more persons can author a report of his/her country of expertise. The executive office will disseminate the reports among key policy-makers, journalists and NGO activists on the local, national, and European level.

The full details are here.

Posted in Call for papers.

Welcome from the RMIG Head for 2018-19

By Mariam Alkazemi

I am honored to serve as the RMIG head for the 2018-2019 academic year. I am committed to the goal of involving our members in more of our activities. As we kick off another academic year, I want to express my appreciation, enthusiasm and hopes for the upcoming year.

First, I am truly grateful to the previous officers. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Dr. Rick Moore for organizing the pre-conference tour and tirelessly communicating with RMIG members to make our annual convention a success.  Also, a special thank you to Dr. Brian J. Bowe and all the reviewers and authors who ensured the rigor of this year’s research panels. Finally, a special thank you to the membership—especially those who volunteered to help with panels even though they were not named in the conference bulletin, including Dr. Anthony Hatcher and Dr. Myna German.

As I look to the future, I am excited by the new RMIG officers for the 2018-2019 academic year. I continue to work closely with the wonderful RMIG vice head, Dr. Gregory Perreault. Since our graduate student days, the two of us worked together as co-newsletter editors in the 2014-2015 academic year.  This year, we are excited by the decision of several graduate students to join our board. We believe that the greatest strength of RMIG lies in the inclusion of our members’ voices. If any of our members want to share a syllabus or column, please reach out to our co-newsletter editors for the 2018-2019 term.

Finally, I am hopeful that we will have great research, teaching and professional freedom and responsibility panels in the next year. In our most recent business meeting, we discussed several possibilities, and we are currently working closely with other divisions and interest groups to make them happen. If you have any ideas, please reach out to Dr. Perreault and I. We would like to include a wider range of panelists, discussants and moderators for next year’s meeting in Toronto!

 

Posted in News, Newsletters.

Fall 2018 Newsletter

RMIG members were taken up for a rare look at the National Cathedral from a narrow walkway just beneath its large Rose Window, which features a creation theme. Photo by Glenn Cook

RELIGION MATTERS: FALL 2018

Welcome to the fall 2018 Newsletter. To read the articles, simply click the headline for the individual posts. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Paul Glader, The King’s College in New York City
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism
Newsletter editors 

Contents

Posted in Newsletters.

An Opportunity for Your Students in NYC

By Paul Glader

Are your students ready for a journalism experience in New York City with a religion and media studies component? Wall Street Journal veteran Paul Glader and former New York Daily News editor Clemente Lisi co-direct a program called the NYC Semester in Journalism (NYCJ) at The King’s College in lower Manhattan.

Current undergraduate journalism students accepted to the 15 slots each semester are placed in a newsroom at outlets such as The New York Daily News, The New York Post, Newsweek, The Brooklyn Paper, The Queens Times Ledger and The Queens Courier. The journalism students take three class at King’s, including Entrepreneurial Journalism, which involves newsroom tours of media outlets such as Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, Quartz, ProPublica and The New York Times.

NYCJ has been an amazing springboard for young journalists from our 32 partner schools, with students landing internships and jobs at outlets such as Newsweek, American Banker and Fox News in NYC after the program.

While most of the partner schools are Christian colleges, NYCJ welcomes state schools such as Ole Miss as partners. And students from any college can attend even if their school is not a partner. Journalism students from religious backgrounds (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, other) often appreciate the semester that gives them a supercharged journalism internship and studying experience in NYC. It provides this in a context that helps the students think about their religion and faith and how that relates to their work in media and journalism.

Students live and study at The King’s College, which is a Christian liberal arts college in the heart of Lower Manhattan, near the New York Stock Exchange. They study with Profs. Glader, Lisi and syndicated religion columnist Terry Mattingly. The cost of the semester is $12,000 for tuition and housing for students from the 32 partner schools of NYCJ and $17,000 for tuition and housing for students who are not from partner schools (some partial scholarships are occasionally available for students who demonstrate need and / or merit). NYCJ’s team is happy to talk to your college about becoming a partner school. Students can Apply here by the Oct. 15 early deadline for Spring 2019.

NYCJ’s admissions director Eleni Glader is at eglader@tkc.edu. Prof. Glader is at pglader@tkc.edu. Clemente Lisi is clisitkc.edu.

Posted in Opportunities.

Photo story: Pre-Conference Sacred Spaces Tour in Washington, D.C.

Religion is part of the political mix in Washington, D.C., and members got a taste of that in the 2018 edition of RMIG’s pre-conference tradition of touring sacred spaces.

Organizer Rick Moore, professor of media arts in the Department of Communication at Boise State University, mixed national political offices with some landmarks and a lunch stop for a packed day. National offices included the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Church of Scientology. Landmarks, with guides, included the Newseum’s Religious Freedom Center and the Washington National Cathedral.

RMIG members were taken up for a rare look at the Washington National Cathedral from a narrow walkway just beneath the large rose window, which features a creation theme. Photo by Glenn Cook

The cathedral is still undergoing repairs for damage caused by a rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake in 2011. Photo by Glenn Cook

RMIG members visit the Washington National Cathedral pulpit, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last Sunday sermon. Photo by Joe Grimm

The U.S. Capitol dome appears in the background of this scene in which a guide explaining things to five journalists.

The RMIG group visits the Newseum rooftop deck, which offers a clear view of the Capitol. Photo by Joe Grimm

A Newseum docent describes this photo of Ieshia Evans being arrested for blocking traffic at a 2016 protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Evans, a licensed practical nurse, described her actions as “the work of God.” Evans was photographed by Jonathan Bachman for Reuters. “Pictures of the Year: 75 Years of the World’s Best Photography,” will be on display through Jan. 20, 2019. Photo by Joe Grimm

Joel Campbell of Brigham Young University examines the religion display, one of five at the Newseum representing First Amendment Freedoms. Photo by Joe Grimm

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Arsalan Bukhari describes a controversy in which Nike created a shoe with a design on the heel similar to the Arabic word for Allah. CAIR objected and worked with Nike on a resolution. Bukhari told RMIG members that CAIR is seeing more slurs slip into headlines in 2018 and that he believes this is related to a rise in Islamophobic speech and the record level of hate crimes against Muslims.
Photo by Joe Grimm

This table at the Religious Action Center is where the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were drawn up. RMIG members sat at the table on Aug. 5, 2018, one day before the 53rd anniversary of the act’s signing. Photo by Joe Grimm

Pubic Affairs Director Sylvia Stanard explains Church of Scientology issues in the boardroom. The 1890 beaux arts building was the home of home of New York merchant George S. Fraser. Scientology acquired the building in 1994 and now uses is as its national affairs office. Photo by Joe Grimm

Follow RMIG’s newsletters and social media as we get closer to the 2019 AEJMC conference in Toronto to see plans for the next Sacred Spaces Tour.

Posted in Conferences.

Summer 2018 Newsletter

Hello RMIG Members,

We are very happy to share with you the summer newsletter, and we hope to see you in Washington, DC next week!

In this newsletter, you will find:

Please join us on our business meeting between 7-8 p.m. next Wednesday!

Posted in Newsletters.

Sessions on Thursday, August 9, 2018

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

 

Refereed Paper Session: Contemporary Issues in Religion and Media

Moderating/Presiding

Mariam Alkazemi, Virginia Commonwealth

Discussant: Myna German, Delaware State

No Compassion for Muslims? How Terrorism News About Muslim Victims Influence Emotions and Policy Support

  • Desiree Schmuck, Jörg Matthes
  • and Christian von Sikorski, University of Vienna

A Multi-method Approach to Examining Online Sermons from Religious Organizations

  • Jordan Morehouse
  • and Daniel Riffe, North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Religion and the Media: A Study of Student Perception of Media Bias in Georgia

  • Elizabeth Johnson-Young and Alexander Clegg, Washington
  • and John Guidon, University of Mary Washington

Framing the Death of Cardinal Law

  • Giselle A. Auger, Rhode Island College

 

 

Posted in Conferences.

RMIG Annual Report: 2017-2018 Academic Year

For information about the vision for RMIG in 2018-2019 as well as acceptance rates, please view our 2017-2018 annual report.

Posted in Other RMIG Documents.

Sessions on Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Scholar-to-Scholar Refereed Paper Research Poster Session

Wednesday, August 8, 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

An Analysis of the Rise and Fall of “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven”

  • Jim Y. Trammell, High Point

Effective Intercultural Workgroup Communication Theory: The Impact on Church Dynamics

  • Stephen Kabah, Regent

Terrorism News Coverage and Attitude Towards Islam: Does Following Terrorism News Cultivate Opinions about Muslims

  • Michelle Michael, Ohio

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Linguistic Tone of American Churches Online

  • Doug Mendenhall and Lani Ford, Abilene Christian

“In the World, Not of It: Exploring Evangelical Christian Women’s Negotiation of Meaning Within a Shared Community

  • Jennifer Huemmer, Ithaca

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Invited Research Panel: Forecasting Avenues for Religion and Media Research

Wednesday, August 8, 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

  • Guy Golan, University of South Florida
  • Sahar Khamis, University of Maryland
  • Kimberly Meltzer, Loyola University
    Title: Student newspaper bylaws and structures at religiously affiliated universities.

    College student media organizations may be structured in a variety of ways, including as independent off-campus groups, on-campus organizations hosted or sponsored by the university, and even as groups that are formally folded in to an academic course. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these models. Similarly, wide variety exists in the bylaws or policies that student media groups and their university administrations develop and maintain. Some student media groups have no bylaws while others may have detailed, rigorous, and legal language, and their ability to be enforced or upheld may also be determined by whether the particular university is public, private, and/or religiously affiliated. The institutional structures and policies and procedures for student media organizations that reside at religiously affiliated universities carry with them additional considerations. This paper discusses the different approaches and their benefits and drawbacks, focusing particularly on the challenges and opportunities for student media at religious colleges and universities. The first-hand experience of the presenter, who is also a college media adviser, will also be shared.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t Ask me That: Using Compassion in Covering Religion Amid Conflict

  • Cosponsored with: Electronic News Divisions
  • Moderator: Mike Longinow, Biola University
  • Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018, 3:30- 5 p.m.  
  • Panelists:
    • Kim Lawton from PBS religion and ethics;
    • Kellie Stanfield from Salisbury University;
    • Chad Curtis from University of Kansas;
    • Andrea Scott from Military Times;
    • Peter Morello from University of Missouri, Kansas City

Journalists covering stories in war zones or in cities where conflict has been rampant based religion or faith too often use questions that are reductive, that promote misunderstanding of religion or faith principles. This panel will examine how journalists are learning to ask better questions, choose sources better, and even refrain from some questions or approaches to preserve dignity, get at the story from a unique angle, or build relationships of trust with sources that are skeptical or cynical about journalists’ pursuit of truth in religious contexts.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Business Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m.

Please come and meet the RMIG officers. Any members with fresh ideas or with an interest in becoming an officer is especially welcome!

Posted in Conferences.

Sessions on Monday, Aug. 6, 2018

RMIG Top Paper Session

Moderating/Presiding: Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington

Papers:

Media as Religion: Practices of Mediation in a Catholic Community in South India

  • Subin Paul, Iowa and Deepika Rose Alex, Jawaharlal Nehru University

The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse**

  • Ceri Hughes, Wisconsin-Madison

True Believers, Poseurs, and Becoming “Woke”: Portrayals of Religion in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black***

  • Erika Engstrom, Nevada-Las Vegas
  • and Joseph Valenzano, Dayton

What Would Jesus Do in Cyberspace?****

  • David Scott, Utah Valley

* Top Student Paper Award Winner

** Second Place Student Paper Award Winner

*** Top Faculty Paper Award Winner

****Second Place Faculty Paper Award Winner

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Demystifying the Academic Job Market

  • Cosponsored with: Mass Community & Society Division
  • Moderator: Gregory Perreault, Appalachian State
    Panelists include:

    • Brian Bowe, Western Washington
    • Michael Longinow, Biola
    • Jack Karlis , Georgia College 
    • Monday, Aug. 6, 2018, 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
  • Navigating the academic job market can be a confusing experience. The purpose of this panel is to help both job seekers and employers provide insight to the process. The Mass Communication and Society Division and Religion and Media Interest Groups would like to partner in order to assess the academic job market, and to begin a dialogue that includes understanding what different universities are looking for relative to different positions at different universities (e.g., religions affiliated universities, state universities, private universities, liberal arts universities, etc.).

    Applicants must employ different approaches in applying to various types of jobs. For example, how would application materials appear differently when applying to liberal arts universities than religiously-affiliated institutions of higher education? How do search committees review applications differently at public universities that private universities? How does one talk about one’s research, particularly if the research interests are not particularly common or deal with taboo subjects such as religion or sexuality? To which extent would the university tolerate or encourage communication about such subjects within the teaching context? This panel seeks to add clarity to institutional factors should job seekers consider when applying to various positions?

    Beyond the research and teaching experience, many soft skills are required, including mastering the art of job interviews. How do telephone or Skype interviews differ from campus visits? At conferences,But how can one advocate for oneself without engaging in pretentious self-promotion? This panel aims to address such questions from the perspective of job seekers by providing them with the opportunity to hear comments provided by representatives of a range of universities.

    Lastly, this panel will discuss how to handle the negotiation process after securing a job offer. For example, some universities offer benefits for domestic partnerships while others do not.

    How should job seekers think about some of these features as they consider which job options are realistic for them and their families?

    In the end, this proposal will provide information on the job search process. Moreover, it will discuss the different expectations for different types of institutions.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Faith in the Beltway: Creating and maintaining community bonds through religious-themed news organizations

  • Cosponsored: Community Journalism
  • Moderator: Joel Campbell
  • Monday, August 6th, 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. :   

Panelists:

-Hannah Monicken, Senior Writer, Washington Jewish Week
-Michael Clay Carey, Samford University

-Mark Zimmerman, Editor, Catholic Standard
-Minhaj Hasan, Editor, The Muslim Link

-Vicki Brown, Ph.D. Candidate, The University of Missouri
-Tom Strode, Correspondent, Baptist Press

Religious communities have often formed news organizations in order to serve their community interests and cover events of interest. News organizations in and around the Washington, D.C., area have the added responsibility of covering the intersection of faith and politics. This panel will feature academics who study such publications and professionals who work for both independent and affiliated outlets. They will discuss how these organizations build community bonds, cover national politics, and inform their faith-centered audience.

 

 

Posted in Conferences.

Sessions on Sunday, August 5, 2018

Preconference Offsite Tour: Religion in the Capital

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Moderating/Presiding

Rick Moore, Boise State

A tour of important religion-related sites in the capital city, including conversations with communication professionals who work at those sites and interact with the media. Lunch will be provided. For information contact Rick Moore at rmoore[at]boisestate[dot]edu (RMIG)

Posted in Conferences.

AEJMC 2018 RMIG Schedule

Please remember to register for the 2018 AEJMC convention in Washington, DC! We look forward to reconnecting with our members. 

Please click below to check out the RMIG activities by order of the day:

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Monday, August 6, 2018

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Please join us at our sessions!

Posted in Conferences.

Call for Chapter Contributors: Essays on African-American Media

Below is a note from Dr. Alice Tait from Central Michigan University. 

Dear colleagues and friends,

We have a contract with Wayne State University Press to edit a work tentatively titled Essays on African-American Media, to be completed by Fall 2019. We are looking for contributions (not to exceed 30 pages) that help to answer the following questions:

  1. What is the rationale for African-American media ownership? Is it necessary in order to address scholarly and popular complaints of mainstream media coverage? To what extent has African-American ownership actually corrected perceived problems? Is significant African-American employment and managerial control a viable alternative to ownership?
  2. What is the current state of media ownership by African Americans (e.g., across media, by medium)?
  3. What factors currently inhibit or enhance African-American media ownership (e.g., economic, governmental, legal, citizen action)?
  4. What is the current state of African-American employment within mainstream media institutions and organizations, and how significant is their influence?
  5. What is the history and/or current state of African-American entrepreneurial media-activities (e.g., “Tony Brown’s Journal’ or The Oprah Winfrey Network)?
  6. What is the current African-American involvement in Twitter, YouTube, and other social media?
  7. What is the outlook for African-American media, in general or in a particular medium?

We welcome inquiries and referrals. Please contact:

Alice A. Tait, Ph.D., Professor at alana_project[at]hotmail[dot]com

Or at 989-774-6603

Central Michigan University

Department of Journalism

407 Moore Hall

Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858

Important Dates:

  • Deadline to submit abstracts or completed chapters: October 1, 2018.
  • Invitation to write book chapters: October 31, 2018.
  • Deadline to submit book chapters: December 31, 2018.

 

Posted in Call for papers.

Religions and media a never-ending field of study

Rick Clifton Moore, Boise State University

One of the invigorating aspects of studying religion and media is that there is an endless supply of subject matter. Each day new “case studies” (so to speak) avail themselves. Indeed, a rewarding element that occurs in reviewing papers for RMIG–and, of course, attending presentations at the conference–is hearing about religion/media cases that one was unaware of.

With that in mind, I thought I would use the newsletter as a place to share what I think are some of the more intriguing places where faith and mass communication interfaced within the last year. These seven are, obviously, manifestations that I was aware of, and found interesting. I’m hoping some are new and/or intriguing to you as well.

Donald Trump and Religious Belief. The average member of the public is most likely reminded very often of the strong differences of opinion that exist in regard to the U.S. President, but not the varied attitudes American religious leaders have toward him. The disparate views are especially evident (unbeknownst to many) within the American “evangelical” community, where leaders such as Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson have shown tremendous support for the chief of state, while others such as Max Lucado and Russell Moore have expressed significant doubts about him. How these various leaders have expressed themselves in the media, and how mainstream journalists have reported about the various attitudes toward the U.S. President can make for fascinating discussion.

Growth of Islam. Though it is not a single news story, and has been in development for several years, the fact that data indicate the Muslim faith may become the majority world faith this century has recently gained media traction. The Pew Research Center has been studying this for a long time, and has released numerous reports over the years. News outlets such as CNN and the BBC gave it ample coverage in 2017.

Passing of Cardinal Law. Bernard Law was a Roman Catholic priest and  a fascinating figure. He gained accolades for his courageous support of African Americans when he served in the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson Mississippi in the 1960s. Indeed, media scholars might find it fascinating that he edited a diocesan newspaper at the time and won a national award from the Catholic Press Association. Little of that is remembered, though, as he later faced ignominy for his role in covering up sexual abuse among clergy in Boston. (There is a good deal of reference to him in Tom McCarthy’s 2015 film Spotlight.) Law passed away in December and was interred at the Vatican, with little comment from the church about his role in protecting pedophiles within the priesthood.

Why Buddhism is True. Journalist/Professor Robert Wright may be known to some readers for his earlier work The Evolution of God. In 2016, he released Why Buddhism is True, which earned a high level of critical praise and (more importantly, perhaps, for scholars of media and religion) rose to the top five in the New York Times Best Sellers list. Admittedly, Wright’s vision of “Buddhism” is highly scientific and secular, tending to ignore issues such as spiritual reincarnation. Wright treats Buddhism in a rather instrumental fashion, seeing it as a technique for overcoming problems resulting from our odd evolutionary origins. A number of traditional media outlets helped promote the book’s success. NPR, for example, devoted two segments to the publication.

Family Christian Stores Shuttered. Originally founded by the Zondervan family (publishers of Bibles and Christian books), the chain eventually expanded to have outlets in 36 states. The retailer had developed a niche by attracting Christians by way of products not readily available in large chain stores. It was also critiqued for stocking its shelves with books that were theologically shallow, and for peddling home decor that acerbic detractors referred to as “Jesus junk.” Of course, a key question remains. To what extent is the shuttering of these stores related to decreasing interest in their products, and to what extent is it related to the rise of online sales of those very same products?

Jewish Community Center Bomb Threats/Rising Anti-Semitism. Early in 2017 over one hundred bomb threats were phoned into Jewish Community Centers around the U.S. In March of the year, two individuals were arrested in connection with some of these acts. A “unite the right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that included neo-Nazi elements gained national news attention, but less discussion has been devoted to the possibility of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment among western nations in general. The Guardian has reported that anti-Semitism increased significantly in 2017, citing the Community Security Trust whose data suggest such incidents were the highest since the charity began keeping records. Forbes magazine and The New York Times recently ran stories about the large number of Jews in France who are wondering if they should move to another country.

Tim Keller and Princeton Seminary. The average newsreader has no conception of who Timothy Keller is. That same individual probably only hears about “Princeton” when the university’s basketball team is in the NCAA basketball tournament bracket. Many RMIG members might be aware that Keller is a Presbyterian (Presbyterian Church in America, more specifically) pastor who developed a small 1980s “house church” into one of the most visible religious organizations in New York City, now with four congregations and total membership in the thousands.  Princeton Seminary–historically connected to, but distinct from the famed university–had announced plans to grant a major award to Keller, but received significant pushback, based on the pastor’s views on issues of gender and sexuality.  The seminary’s president, in conjunction with Keller, decided to withhold granting of the award for the year. This decision led to further protests from a different coalition. The story appears to have not received widespread national news coverage, suggesting that most of the discussion of the event took place via smaller news outlets and social media. “Google News,” where many of us start the process of determining how much coverage an event has received, shows only five entries if one searches under “Timothy Keller and Princeton.” As Google often does, it has a “View All” button below the initial list of stories. In this case, however, the button links to a page that says, “Sorry, there is no additional coverage at this time.”

These are just a few of the stories from the last year or so that I have found stimulating. Don’t hesitate to use the RMIG newsletter as an outlet for making colleagues aware of other ways in which religion and media have recently intersected.

Posted in News.

Reflections on a student trip to Haiti

By Michael Longinow, Biola University

To teach visual journalism in Haiti is as much about lenses, tripods and audio levels as it is about the spiritual. My colleagues and I landed in Port-Au-Prince on a Sunday morning at about 9 a.m. The shuttle taking us from the airport to our compound sped by sidewalks packed with vendors selling everything imaginable: fresh food, tires, iron-work, packaged bread, clothing, furniture. And standing out from the crowds were the church-goers: women in bright yellow or blue dresses, men in suits and ties. Some of the well-dressed were on motorcycles or in the makeshift buses comprising a small pick-up truck with a canopy. These were packed with men, women and children at all hours of the day. But this was Sunday morning, and at least a third of those in traveling mode were headed to a worship service.

We were going there to refresh these students’ grasp of shooting and editing video interviews, stand-ups, B-roll. And as we made our way to the compound where we’d live and teach for a few days, I was taken again by the contrast of spiritual atmosphere between this place and the religious worlds I navigate in the United States.

To read the research literature about Haiti one would wonder if Christianity is at all thriving in this country. Voodoo is the dominant culture of spirituality, woven into Roman Catholic traditions of icons and liturgy. Voodoo mixed with Christian awareness is in the music, in the public artwork — a kind of atmosphere that all Haitians know and live with but few can articulate to Americans with their insistence on concrete lines of socio-cultural demarcation. To most Americans, even I daresay some researchers, it’s either this or it’s this. It can’t be both (variables like that mess up the statistics and data-gathering). But it is both. It’s many things all at once. And that’s what makes it a place of fascinating socio-religious complexity.

What I learned, upon returning from Haiti after our fourth trip, was that I know less now about socio-religious experience — and the pedagogies necessary to navigate it — than when I began talking with these Haitian students about visual journalism done with an ethical perspective. In August, I’ll be returning to Haiti to do a capstone course in ethics with them, and the teaching will be a challenge. Media ethics is familiar to me. But I don’t speak Creole.

That’s been a barrier since Day 1, but the longer I’m with these students, the more I see the language barrier is deeper than just using the correct words. Even if I found those words, I’m a half-Mexican, half-Ukrainian male who grew up in greater Chicago and now teach in Southern California. I don’t get what it means to be Haitian. I don’t know poverty like these students do — or what that poverty feels like juxtaposed with the wealth of some in Haiti. I don’t know the ways that faith and spiritual experience live out in the daily experience of the women carrying massive loads on their heads, the crowds of young men huddled around small motorcycles near alleyways, or the little children lifting one side of heavy crates being hoisted onto battered trucks. This is a country whose belief systems trace back centuries mixing traditions of other countries on other continents. Haitians are aware of spirits and spiritual influence in ways we in the U.S. are not — or have awareness of only rarely. They fear, for good reason, the evil personified that stalks the darkness around them. And some have an awareness of God, even an experience with God, that makes them courageous in their faith.

What I have learned most from my experiences with Haiti is that when I take students there, I must take them slowly, guiding them into the socio-religious encounters in ways that respect the people and the complex richness of their faith traditions. To be reductive, to be in a hurry about this, is to defeat the purpose of going at all.

Posted in News.

Spring 2018 newsletter

Greetings, RMIG! In this edition of the newsletter:

AEJMC Deadline is April 1

The annual AEJMC national convention is back in Washington, D.C., in August. The call for papers at the intersection of media and religion is posted along with the general call. Papers for all divisions and interest groups must be submitted through All Academic by midnight April 1. Discounted early-bird registration is available until July 9.

The Year in Religion and Media News

Rick Moore chronicles seven stories from 2017 that show the timely timelessness of studying the interaction of media and religion.

News and Projects From Your Colleagues

Reflections on a Student Trip to Haiti

Michael Longinow reports on capturing images, communicating across cultures, and pedagogical lessons learned.

Sahar Khamis Publishes Book Chapter on European Muslims

“The Internet and New Communication Dynamics Among Diasporic Muslims: Opportunities, Challenges, and Paradoxes” appears in a new collection edited by Merve Kayikçi and Leen d’Haenens, European Muslims and New Media (Leuven U.P., 2017). 

Sahar also has introduced a new course, Islamic Discourses in the Digital Age, at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Julia Duin Publishes First Research on Serpent Handling and Digital Media

Julia Duin, formerly the Snedden Chair at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks, has published her sixth book: In the House of the Serpent Handler: A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in an Age of Social Media with the University of Tennessee Press. It is the first study of how practitioners of this 100-year-old custom have interacted with Facebook and other 21st-century   innovations and one of only a few books studying this unusual group of Christian believers.

Now based in Seattle, she was just named the winner of the 2018 Wilbur Award for best magazine writing for her November 2017 piece in the Washington Post about televangelist and Trump spiritual advisor Paula White.

Survey on Use of ResearchGate

Raluca Cozma (Kansas State) and Daniela Dimitrova (Iowa State) are conducting a 10- to 15-minute survey on how academics are using ResearchGate. The survey is available at ResearchGateInAcademia.

In Memoriam

Sources and Resources

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown has funded a project to digitize and post thousands of ancient occult manuscripts.

Recent additions at the Association of Religion Data Archives include the Perception and Acceptance of Religious Diversity survey (Europe, 2010), the Longitudinal Study of Generations (U.S., 1971-1994 available), and the Presbyterian Panel Survey (U.S., 2016).

Religion and Media Papers Presented at the Midwinter Meeting (March 2-3) and Southeast Colloquium (March 8-10)

  • Saleem Abbas (Forman Christian College Pakistan), “Conventional Female Images, Islamization and Its Outcomes: A Study of Pakistani TV Dramas”
  • Kenneth Campbell (South Carolina), “Religious Preparation and Ministry as Influences on Samuel E. Cornish Before Founding Freedom’s Journal
  • Abbey Little (Baylor), “Framing ISIS: A Comparative Analysis of Time and Newsweek Magazines’ Coverage of a Global Threat”
  • Valentina M. Michael (Ohio), “Terrorism News Coverage and Attitude Towards Islam: How Following Stories About Terrorism Events in the U.S. Cultivates Opinions About Islam and Muslims”

New Books and Journal Articles

Have you or your colleagues published or presented recently on media and religion? Have you encountered recent published research or a data source that others might find helpful? Let us know!

  • Murali Balaji, ed., Digital Hinduism: Dharma and Discourse in the Age of New Media (Lexington Books, 2017).
  • Felicitas BeckerJoel Cabrita, and Marie Rodet, eds., Religion, Media, and Marginality in Modern Africa (Ohio, 2018).
  • Daniel Biltereyst and Daniela Treveri Gennari, eds., Moralizing Cinema: Film, Catholicism, and Power (Routledge, 2018).
  • Caroline Blyth and Nasili Vaka’uta, eds., The Bible and Art: Perspectives From Oceania (Bloomsbury, 2017).
  • Maureen K. Day, “From Consensus to Division: Tracing the Ideological Divide Among American Catholic Women, 1950-1980.” Journal of Media and Religion 16, no. 4 (December 2017): 129-140.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2017.1401408
  • Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger (eds.), Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus (Routledge, 2018).
  • Ted G. Jelen, Andrew R. Lewis, and Paul A. Djupe, “Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech: The Effects of Alternative Rights Frames on Mass Support for Public Exemptions.” Journal of Church and State 60, no. 1 (January 2018): 43-67.
    https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csw101
  • Ayse Kok, The Web and Faith: Theological Analysis of Cyberspace Technologies (River Publishers, 2018).
  • Gregory P. Perreault, Margaret Duffy, and Ariel Morrison, “Making a Mormon?: Peacemaking in U.S. Press Coverage of the Mormon Baptism for the Dead.” Journal of Media and Religion 16, no. 4 (December 2017): 141-152.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2017.1401410
  • Lauren Pond, Test of Faith: Signs, Serpents, Salvation (Duke, 2017).
  • Jordi Pujol, “Magisterium of John Paul II and the Moral Dilemmas of Free Speech: A Communication Based on Freedom and Truth.” Journal of Communication and Religion 40, no. 3 (Fall 2017): 102-115.
  • Andrey Rosowsky, ed., Faith and Language Practices in Digital Spaces (Multilingual Matters, 2017).
  • Edward Slingerland et al., “The Distant Reading of Religious Texts: A ‘Big Data’ Approach to Mind-Body Concepts in Early China.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85, no. 4 (December 2017): 985–1016.
    https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfw090
  • Kenneth Suit, James Friedrich and Cathedral Films: The Independent Religious Cinema of the Evangelist of Hollywood, 1939-1966 (Lexington Books, 2017).
  • Ruth Tsuria, “From Sick to Sin: Digital Judaism and Pornography.” Journal of Media and Religion 16, no. 4 (December 2017): 117-128.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2017.1401407
Posted in Conferences, Newsletters.

Chapter Summary

The Internet and New Communication Dynamics among Diasporic Muslims: Opportunities, Challenges, and Paradoxes

By Sahar Khamis, Ph.D.

University of Maryland, College Park

The chapter titled “The Internet and New Communication Dynamics among Diasporic Muslims: Opportunities, Challenges, and Paradoxes,” was authored by Prof. Sahar Khamis, Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park, and published in the book “European Muslims and New Media,” edited by Merve Kayikci and Leen d’Haenens and published by Leuven University Press in 2017.

In this chapter, Khamis argues that the expansion of new diasporic Muslim communities in many parts of the world, especially in the West, is paralleled by the simultaneous explosion in new media technologies. These two complex and mutual processes imposed new realities and invited new communication dynamics, in the political, social and cultural domains simultaneously. They also created a number of unprecedented opportunities, challenges, and paradoxes, which are worth exploring in details.

This chapter sheds light on some of the opportunities which the expansion of new media technologies, especially the internet, has enabled among diasporic Muslim communities, such as opening new avenues for members of these communities to establish better and stronger links with both their communities of origin back home, as well as their new communities in the diaspora, in addition to opening new windows through which they can better see the rest of the world, while allowing the rest of the world to better see them, at the same time.

It also discusses some of the challenges and paradoxes which the introduction of the internet invited among these diasporic Muslim communities, such as the question of religious authority or obtaining authoritative religious knowledge in the age of the internet, the possibility of being exposed to extremist or radical ideas through the internet, in addition to the tensions between diversity and cohesion; hegemony and resistance; religiosity and secularization; and globalization and localization.

The chapter complicates the discussion of all of these issues, arguing that it is, indeed, at the intersection of all of these diametrically opposed binaries that new, hybrid, and, indeed, eclectic Muslim identities are born. At the heart of this discussion, Khamis makes the argument that new media tools and technologies, especially digitally-enabled modes of communication via the internet, are both mirrors and molders, or reflectors and shapers, of these new eclectic Muslim identities, with all their complexities, ambivalences, and nuances, which manifest themselves in numerous ways, both online and offline, in this modern age.

Keywords: Internet; social media; diasporic Muslim communities; Virtual Umma; globalization

 

Posted in News.

Fall 2017 Newsletter

Happy fall, RMIG members!

In this newsletter edition:

  • The officers have changed for the 2017-2018 academic year. Click here for officer bios.
  • Click here to sign up as a reviewer for the 2018 conference.
  • Click here to cosponsor a teaching panel at the 2018 AEJMC conference.
  • Click here to read about a call for book chapters.
  • Click here to call about a call for conference papers.
  • Read about the 2017 Sacred Space Tour from the AEJMC conference in Chicago.
  • RMIG sends its best wishes to Daniel Stout.
  • Click here to read the annual report from the 2017 AEJMC conference.

We wish you a happy semester.

The RMIG team.

Posted in Newsletters.

Call for Sponsored Teaching Panels

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) is looking to partner with some of the other AEJMC divisions and interest groups to co-sponsor panels dealing with teaching and professional freedom & responsibility (PFR).

If you have any ideas, please contact Mariam Alkazemi at alkazemi[dot]m[at]gust[dot]edu[dot]kw and Gregory Perreault perreaultgp[at]appstate[dot]edu by Wednesday, October 4th. We look forward to working with you.

Posted in Conferences.

Call for Book Chapters

A note from Amanda Sturgill:

Posted in Call for papers.

CFP: National Association for Baptist Professors of Religion

Adam Brett, the social media manager for the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion (NABPR), shared the link for the call for papers for the group’s annual meeting.  For more information, please click on the linked URL: https://nabpr.org/2018-nabpr-call-for-papers/.

Posted in Call for papers.

Pre-Conference Event in Chicago: 2017 Sacred Space Tour

Chicago has long been an important city for people interested in studying religion and culture — most notably thanks to its hosting of the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. During the 2017 AEJMC pre-conference session, a group of RMIG members continued the recent tradition of visiting important sacred sites in the convention’s host city.

This year’s tour began north of the city, with a visit to the Baha’i House of Worship in Willmette — the only one in North America and one of only eight in the world. After a scenic drive down Lakeshore, the tour stopped at Soka Gakkai International’s Chicago Buddhist Culture Center. The group then made it to the Downtown Islamic Center in time for midday prayers, followed by lunch and a robust discussion with members of the community about media coverage of Islam. Next, Rabbi Gerry Rosenberg of Chicago Loop Synagogue discussed that facility’s architectural features. The last stop was Grace Place, the current incarnation of Grace Episcopal Church, which functions as a community center that is deeply engaged with the local community.

 

The tour was organized by incoming RMIG Research Chair Brian J. Bowe, and 2016-17 Head Joel Campbell drove.

”The 2017 sacred spaces tour was extremely beneficial to me as a person who teaches and researches in the area of mass communication and religion,” said current RMIG Head Rick Moore. “Brian lined up some great sites, each of which had local adherents who could really speak to issues related to their own faith traditions, and how they interact with media. The event combined the best elements of a sight-seeing tour, a seminar, and a party, all rolled into one eventful day. This was one of the most productive and enjoyable elements professional elements of the last year for me.”

 

 

Left: Baha’i House of Worship / Photo by Srishti Puri

Above: Chicago Loop Synagogue / Photo by Srishti Puri

Posted in Conferences, News.

2017-2018 Officer Bios

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is proud to present its officers for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Head: Rick Moore, Boise State University

Rick Moore earned his doctorate from the University of Oregon and has taught at Boise State since 1994. He loves teaching a wide variety of courses in mass communication, both in media practice and in media criticism (including law/ethics).

 

Dr. Moore’s research interests are in the area of mass communication and ideology. Much of his writing has investigated media portrayal of religious and environmental issues. Writing under his full name of Rick Clifton Moore, Dr. Moore has published articles in: The Journal of Communication; Mass Communication & Society; The Journal of Media and Religion; The Journal of Communication and Religion; The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture; The Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society; Advertising and Society Review; The Communication Review; The Ellul Forum; and The Journal for Peace and Justice Studies.

 

When not in his office, in the classroom, or the library, Rick enjoys spending time with his wife Kim and his children Emily and Danny. He also has a fondness for old houses (the Moore’s version being a perpetual work-in-progress) and occasionally gets to spend time wading in Idaho’s beautiful mountain streams.

Co-Vice Head: Mariam Alkazemi , Gulf University for Science and Technology

Mariam Alkazemi (Ph.D., 2014, University of Florida) is currently a Carnegie fellow at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill while on leave from an assistant professorship of mass communication at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. Her research appears in Communication Law & Policy, International Communication Gazette, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Media and Religion, Journal of Religion, Media & Digital Culture, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism and Health Environments Research & Design Journal. Dr. Alkazemi has been a recipient of several awards for teaching and research. Further, she has served as a research fellow the London School of Economics in the summer of 2016. Dr. Alkazemi holds degrees from George Washington University (B.A., 2007, Journalism) and Michigan State University (M.A., 2009, Advertising/Public Relations). Dr. Alkazemi has taugh

 

t a wide range of graduate, undergraduate and online classes dealing with international communication, information gathering, public speaking, public relations and advertising. She is currently serving as a co-vice head of the Religion and Media Interest Group, which is affiliated with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
· ·
Co-Vice Head: Greg Perreault, Appalachian State University

Gregory P. Perreault (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Appalachian State University. His research focuses on journalism studies and media paradigms. His research has explored embedded values in journalistic content, paradigm maintenance activity among journalists, how paradigmatic values have shaped minority representations, and how social media audiences shape media narratives. His papers have won awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. His research appears in the Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Howard Journal of Communication, Journal of Media & Religion, Journalism Studies, Games & Culture, and Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a journalist for seven years. He’s worked as a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post (circ. 145, 000), served as managing editor of a hyperlocal multimedia website Columbia Faith & Values, and had work published at USA Today, Miami Herald, and The Los Angeles Times. He earned his masters degree in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University. He graduated with honors from the Missouri School of Journalism. Perreault serves as co-vice head for the Religion and Media Interest Group.

 

 

Research Chair: Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University

Brian J. Bowe (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor in Western Washington University’s Department of Journalism. His research focuses on the connections between media and culture in a variety of contexts. His research specialties include framing, agenda setting, and media coverage of Islam. He has taught at Michigan State University, the Sorbonne, and Grand Valley State University. His research has been published in journals such as Media, Culture and Society, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Public Understanding of Science. A noted music journalist, Bowe has written biographies of The Ramones, The Clash, and Judas Priest. He co-edited the anthology CREEM: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine (2007, Collins).

PF&R Chair: Michael Longinow, Biola University

Michael Longinow, a former RMIG head, is a former chair in the Department of Media, Journalism & Pubic Relations in the School of Fine Arts & Communication at Biola University in Los Angeles County, California. His teaching areas are convergent journalism writing, reporting, and philosophy and ethics. He has made cross-cultural understanding, particularly between faith communities, an underlying theme of his pedagogy in all courses. His recent research areas have been trauma in journalism and the role of Millennials in trends facing the media industries in the U.S. and internationally. He taught English and Journalism previously at Asbury University in Central Kentucky. He grew up in greater Chicago where, in a mixed ethnicity home, he learned the interplay of Slavic and Latino groups in their faith practices, media and cultures. His undergraduate degree from Wheaton College (IL) led to a MS in journalism from the University of Illinois (Urbana). His Ph.D from the University of Kentucky focused on the role of media (print and broadcast) in the growth and development of Christian liberal arts colleges and universities in the U.S. (1888-1942).

Teaching Chair: Vicki Knasel Brown, University of Missouri

Newsletter and Social Media Editor: Andrew Pritchard, Iowa State University

Andrew D. Pritchard is an assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, where his principal teaching area is media law, regulation, and policy. He is a lawyer and former journalist, with research interests in media law, media history, and how individuals in modern societies use media to shape their own religious experiences. He received his B.A. in political science and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. in communication from North Dakota State University. His research has appeared in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterlythe Journal of Communication and ReligionHistorical Methods, and Visual Communication Quarterly.

To share content for the newsletter and/or social media, please contact Andrew at aprtich[at]iastate[dot]edu.

Membership Chair: Cecile Holmes, University of South Carolina

 

Posted in News.

Distinguished Lecture by Daniel Stout

 

RMIG’s best goes out to Professor Daniel Stout in Hawaii. He’s had some health issues last semester, but has told RMIG officers that he’s back in the classroom. In March, he delivered a distinguished university lecture on “Tendencies and Tensions of Interpretative Communities.”

Posted in News.

Call for AEJMC Reviewers-2018 RMIG

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) calls upon all interested parties to serve as reviewers for the 2018 conference in Washington, DC.

If you are interested in reviewing please enter your information here.

Posted in Conferences.

Annual Reports 2016-2017

In the previous academic year, RMIG was renewed within AEJMC and an annual report has been produced in order to document its activities. Please click on the links to review these documents.

 

Posted in News, Other RMIG Documents.

Spring 2017 newsletter

The AEJMC conference deadline is fast approaching! The past few months have showcased anew the importance of understanding religion and media as forces in modern society, so submit your latest work for discussion with your colleagues in Chicago. In this issue of the RMIG newsletter:

For the latest religion and media news, like and follow RMIG on Facebook.

Andrew D. Pritchard, Iowa State University
Mariam Alkazemi, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Co-newsletter editors (2016-2017)

Posted in News, Newsletters.

Reviewing Debra Mason’s 20 years of service to RNS

 Debra Mason

By Tiffany McCallen
Religion News Service
Used by permission

I was a barely 18 when I first met Debra Mason in a cramped study room in the library at Otterbein College in quaint Westerville, Ohio. Having never stepped foot on the campus I’d chosen to pursue my degree in journalism, she was my first impression of the professors and instructors I would meet who would shape my four-year journey there.

I soon learned I would get to know her well; she taught most of the journalism courses in the communication department and she also advised the Tan & Cardinal student newspaper for which I would later serve as editor.

As we pored over the course catalog together to choose my freshman year classes, I had no way of knowing then that Debra would would serve as my mentor, and later my boss, for the next 20 years.

It’s funny how fate works.

In 1996 Debra became RNA’s first part-time executive director, taking the nearly 50-year-old membership association from a largely volunteer operation and housing it in her spare bedroom, where each Friday she would process membership dues, collect contest entries and help plan the annual conference.

By the year 2000, under Mason’s leadership the association had created a charitable foundation and it, in turn, had accepted its first major grant. It also happened to be the year I graduated and the year Debra offered me a job.

We were the original “Women of Westerville” — a moniker coined by board members that later included development directors, business managers, administrative assistants and a revolving door of interns. By the mid 2000s (and just before the recession hit in late 2007), our staff had bloomed to its largest numbers, buoyed by an abundance of grant funding for religion and public life projects.

Our work was bountiful:

  • The RNA Annual Conference attendance topped 300 for the first time.
  • We awarded between $43,000 and $93,000 in Lilly Scholarships in Religion money each year for journalists to take college religion courses.
  • We held dozens of brown bag training sessions in newsrooms across the country.
  • ReligionLink’s story idea and vetted source service grew by thousands of database entries and story ideas and contributed to countless news reports.
  • RNA contest categories were expanding for media of all types, including the creation of the Chandler Award for student religion reporting.
  • The foundation created an annual silent auction to raise money for conference scholarships, and it successfully held several matching grant drives to further our cause.

And later, when our offices moved to the University of Missouri, the prolific work continued as the foundation acquired Religion News Service following Newhouse’s decision to end its funding; when we held overseas training on religious/press freedom and countering hate speech; when student RNA Chapters sprouted; and when we created the Handa Fellowships in Interreligious Communication last year.

We’ve been fortunate to have had engaged and patient officers and board members, then and now, who encouraged and supported the work of our organization, and who have spent many, many hours in the trenches of management, committee leadership and strategic planning.

But there hasn’t been a single person in the history of Religion News Association and Foundation who has spent more time championing and furthering the work of religion reporters than Debra Mason.

It has been my pleasure and privilege to have had a front-row seat to seeing her translate a fiery passion for informed, accurate religion reporting into usable tools, resources and training for journalists around the world.

I have learned much from her in the last two decades, and there is much for which I am thankful. She taught me there’s a time to tell it like it is and there’s a time for compassion, which she extended to me and to our staff countless times over the years. And despite her workaholic tendencies, I credit her with steering me toward a work-life balance that put motherhood at the forefront while still allowing me the room to grow the professional skills and talents that have come to serve me well in my role.

In a farewell speech at the 2015 RNA Annual Conference in Philadelphia — Debra’s last as RNA’s Executive Director — former RNA President Kevin Eckstrom referred to her as our organization’s North Star.

Indeed, when I came back to the office on Jan. 3 following a holiday break — my first official workday without Debra overseeing the foundation in some way — it felt different without that familiar light.

But I know that Debra remains our biggest fan. She has no intention of slowing down her support of religion reporting, and she’ll be loudly cheering on the work of our members that will be produced at what appears to be a breakneck pace this year.

RNF’s new CEO Tom Gallagher is eager to fill her shoes in carrying out our mission to equip journalists with the tools they need to cover religion with balance and accuracy, and to elevate the public discourse on religion.

As for me, along with my treasured colleagues, I plan to enjoy my 17th year helping to grow our membership, shining light on award-winning religion coverage, planning an educational and entertaining conference and simply being there in any way I can for the more than 500 members who call RNA home.

It is my hope that as Debra watches from her post at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, we’ll make her proud.

Posted in News.

Latest research from the Journal of Media & Religion

In God We Trust, with God We Fight. Religion in U.S. Presidential War Rhetoric: From Johnson to Obama

Miriam Diez-Bosch & Pere Franch

In times of war, religion features prominently in U.S. presidential rhetoric. It may be used to strengthen courage and hope or to serve as a powerful tool for accepting sacrifices and losses. In this article we examine the speeches of five presidents given specifically in periods of war: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Then we analyze variations in the volume and type of religious content among these presidents; we use a textual content analysis methodology to study a representative sample of speeches given by the above-mentioned presidents in time of war. We conclude that U.S. presidents try to persuade the audience that the country is going to war to accomplish God’s will. Under this light, religious rhetoric appears to have a higher correlation with the enemy being fought than with the personal convictions of each president.

Religion and New Media: A Uses and Gratifications Approach

Amanda Jo Ratcliff, Josh McCarty & Matt Ritter

This research examines specific relationships between new media and religion. While prior research has focused on the question of whether a relationship exists, we explore technology usage as a predictor of specific religious behavior. Using a sample (N = 423) comprising a cross-section of religious and cultural backgrounds, results indicate that attitudes toward technology and use of social media contribute to how people view religion as a mechanism for meeting needs. Applying uses and gratifications theory in a unique way, three needs related to religion emerged: religion as a means of passing time, religion as a mode of meeting self needs, and religion as a catalyst for learning. We discuss implications of our findings.

The Medium Is the Danger: Discourse about Television among Amish and Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Women

Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar

This study shows how Old Order Amish and ultra-Orthodox women’s discourse about television can help develop a better understanding of the creation, construction, and strengthening of limits and boundaries separating enclave cultures from the world. Based on questionnaires containing both closed- and open-ended questions completed by 82 participants, approximately half from each community, I argue that both communities can be understood as interpretive communities that negatively interpret not only television content, like other religious communities, but also the medium itself. Their various negative interpretive strategies is discussed and the article shows how they are part of an “us-versus-them” attitude created to mark the boundaries and walls that enclave cultures build around themselves. The comparison between the two communities found only a few small differences but one marked similarity: The communities perceive avoidance of a tool for communication, in this case television, as part of the communities’ sharing, participation, and common culture.

Posted in News.

April 1 deadline for AEJMC 2017

The 100th AEJMC Annual Conference

Closing the Gap: Media, Research and the Profession
2017 Paper Call

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media.

RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred).

Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered. Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of  media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; etc.

Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts out-  side the U.S. are strongly encouraged. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/ our-mission-and-goals/. Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions. The maximum length of research papers is 25- pages, excluding endnotes and tables. The Religion and Media Interest Group also sponsors a  Top  Paper  competition  for both student and faculty papers. (Note: student papers may not have a faculty co-author.) The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each.  Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. In order to  be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify either a student submission or a faculty submission on the cover page of the paper. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. All paper submissions must follow formatting and procedures in the 2016 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call.

Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Before  submitting  your  paper, please make certain that all author-identifying  information  has  been  removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION  PAPER  SUBMISSIONS  WILL  ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Follow instructions for how to submit a clean paper for blind reviewing.

Questions should be submitted to  the RMIG Research Chair Debra Mason at MasonDL@Missouri.edu. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating  via e-mail.

Posted in Call for papers, Conferences.

Career and research opportunities

Faculty openings:

  • Bucknell: visiting assistant professor, with emphasis on Hinduism and South Asia
  • Cal State-Northridge: assistant professor of religious studies, with emphasis on Central America, the Catholic Church and politics, and liberation theology
  • Claremont McKenna: visiting faculty in African-American religions
  • Denison: visiting assistant professor in Asian religions
  • Habib: faculty in the humanities core and comparative culture and religion
  • Hong Kong Baptist: assistant or associate professor, with emphasis in Christianity, Chinese religions, or comparative religion
  • North Carolina A&T State: lecturer in world religions and religion and culture
  • Soka: postdoctoral fellowship in minority religions of the Pacific
  • Stetson: visiting faculty in Islamic studies, the Middle East, and North Africa
  • Syracuse: assistant professor of contemporary American religion, with emphasis on race and gender issues
  • UC-Berkeley: postdoctoral fellowships in Buddhist studies
  • Utah State: postdoctoral teaching fellowship in world religions
Posted in Opportunities.

Winter 2016 Newsletter

Welcome to the Winter 2016 Newsletter! In this issue, we are honored to share with you opportunities as well as contributions from our members.  These contributions highlight the importance of understanding the interaction of religion and media in the current political climate.  To read the articles, simply click on the links below.  Each link will take you to the individual post described.

  1. Notes from the RMIG Head
  2. RMIG Members’ Publication
  3. Call for Papers: AEJMC 2017 in Chicago
  4. Opportunities for Faculty and Undergraduate Students
  5. Lessons from Brexit and Trump
  6. Teaching Religion and Media
  7. Plans for the Sacred Space Tour of 2017
  8. Chicago Attractions

Finally, please follow our page on Facebook!

Happy holidays,

Andrew Pritchard, Iowa State University
Mariam Alkazemi, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Co-newsletter editors (2016-2017)

Posted in Newsletters.

Chicago Attractions

Chicago offers a host of attractions for people with different interests.

The RMIG interest group will be taking a tour of sacred spaces in Chicago.  Please click here for more information.

This New York Times “36 Hours in Chicago” article recommends various music venues for the blues in addition to various restaurants and bars.

This website highlights the museums in Chicago, providing options for people who would enjoy contemporary art or an aquarium among other options.

There is also a host of sporting events, and more information about these recreational activities can be found here.

We hope that those attending the conference can find ways to enjoy being in Chicago!

 

Posted in News.

Chicago Sacred Spaces Tour Being Planned for 2017 Conference

Chicago has long played an important role in the diverse history of religion in the U.S. The city is filled with iconic churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. In the fall of 1893, the Windy City hosted to the first Parliament of the World’s Religions, which scholars frequently suggest was a major turning point in the practice of religious pluralism in the U.S.

When AEJMC’s annual conference rolls into town in August 2017, RMIG members will have the opportunity to visit some of Chicago’s important sacred spaces in a pre-conference tour that is in the planning stages.

The day-long tour builds on a similar sacred spaces tour held during the Minneapolis conference [LINK: http://religionandmedia.org/1401-2/}. The 2017 tour is still in the planning stages, but a visit to the the Bahá’í House of Worship — the only one of its kind in North America — has already been confirmed. If members have suggestions of sites to add to the itinerary, contact tour organizer Brian J. Bowe at brianj.bowe@wwu.edu.

Posted in Conferences.

Notes from the RMIG Head

 

By: Joel J. Campbell

As we look toward 2017, the best way to celebrate the work of the Religion and Media Interest Group is to honor our members’ accomplishments. Here’s a sampling of some of their accomplishments. If you know of other RMIG member news, please forward me a note and I’ll get it in the next newsletter.

 

New publication

Congrats to Brian J. Bowe (Western Washington) and Jennifer Hoewe (Alabama) for their publication in Winter 2016 Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Night and Day: An Illustration of Framing and Moral Foundation in the Oklahoma Shariah Amendment Campaign.

http://jmq.sagepub.com/content/93/4/967.full

 

Blogging about media and Mormons

Past RMIG Dan Stout (BYU-Hawaii) has started a fascinating venture with a “digizine” entitled Mormonsintomedia.com. The digizine’s subtitle says it’s a “thoughtful review of contemporary movies, books, TV, music and more. In a recent entry, Dan takes his unique vantage point from Hawaii where Pacific Islanders weigh in about the cultural accuracy in the new Disney movie “Moana.” One source cited the movie’s omission of a heroic goddess and the reduction of the mighty god Maui to “a one-dimensional selfish borderline abusive buffon.” Read more at https://mormonsintomedia.com

 

Mormon Media Studies Conference in Hawaii

Speaking of Dan, he and former RMIG head Chiung Hwang Chen hosted the third Mormon Media Studies Symposium in November. This one was held at BYU-Hawaii in Laie. John Durham Peters, the A. Craig Baird Professor of the Department of Communications Studies at the University of Iowa, was the keynote speaker. Paper presentation topics ranged from making of the “Mormon Moment” to “media representations of gender, sexuality and race and the future of the Mormon faith.” To see the program, click here: http://mormonmediastudies.weebly.com/program-information.html

 

Very busy in Mass.

Shaheen Pasha (University of Massachusetts Amherst) has been very busy. Here’s some of her recent accomplishments:

— AEJMC Annual Conference (August 2016): Invited to present “Pakistan’s Silent War Against Journalists” at pre-conference workshop panel entitled The Shrinking Public Sphere: Growing Restrictions on Press Freedom in South Asia and South-East Asia

— SPJ Excellence in Journalism Conference (September 2016): Invited as speaker/trainer for “Covering Islam” workshop breakout session. Link to podcast: https://islamforjournalists.wordpress.com/eij-conference/–

–Poynter/Kent State Media Ethics Workshop (September 2016): Invited to speak on panel entitled “Media and Safe Spaces on College Campuses. Link to panel:http://mediaethics.jmc.kent.edu/archive.php

— New England Public Radio (November 2016): Invited to voice personal commentary on U.S. presidential elections and children Link: http://nepr.net/news/2016/11/04/115253/

— ARTICLE: By boycotting Iran over hijab, the U.S. chess player wastes a valuable opportunity

URL: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2016/10/19/boycotting-iran-hijab-us-chess-player-wastes-valuable-opportunity

— ARTICLE: Trump won, and now my teenage daughter wishes she were white

URL: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2016/11/15/trump-won-now-teenage-daughter-wishes-white

 

An expert among us

Current RMIG officer Debra Mason (Missouri) was invited by the Newseum’s Religious Freedom Center to teach a Media and Religion course in Fall 2016 as part of the new program to educate religious leaders, scholars and journalists about Religious Freedom and Human Rights. The Center is accepting applications through Dec. 15. http://www.religiousfreedomcenter.org/

 

New issue of Journal of Media and Religion

The latest issue of the Journal of Media and Religion is out. Here’s the articles:

Third-Person Effect, Religiosity and Support for Censorship of Satirical Religious Cartoons

 Larry Webster, Jo-Yun Li, Yicheng Zhu, Alex Luchsinger, Anan Wan and Mark Tatge (South Carolina),

Consumers’ Insights About Spirituality in Advertising

Galit Marmor-Lavie and Patricia A. Stout (University of Texas-Austin)

Coverage of Christianity in South Korea, 1996–2005

Taisik Hwang (Georgia)

“I Pray We Won’t Let This Moment Pass Us By”: Christian Concert Films and Numinous Experiences

 Jim Y. Trammell (High Point)

Here’s a link to the issue:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjmr20/15/4?nav=tocList

 

 

 

 

Posted in News.

RMIG Members’ Publication

RMIG members Brian J. Bowe (Western Washington University) and Jennifer Hoewe (The University of Alabama) recently published a study titled “Night and Day: An Illustration of Framing and Moral Foundations in the Oklahoma Shariah Amendment Campaign” in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

When Oklahoma’s “Save our State” amendment was passed, Oklahoma voters decided that the Islamic Shariah moral code could not be used in courtroom rulings. Though the amendment was eventually overturned in higher courts, the repercussions were felt and expressed across the state, particularly in the opinion pages of Oklahoma’s newspapers. To understand these responses to the amendment, Bowe and Hoewe examined the moral arguments made in letters to the editor.

Using Moral Foundations Theory to guide a cluster analysis of the frames used in these letters, the study unveiled three frames. First, the Patriot frame emphasized the harms surrounding Shariah, and it was only found in letters in favor of banning Shariah. Second, the Heritage frame focused on loyalty and commitment to the American way, again only appearing in letters favoring the ban. Third, the Golden Rule frame was used by letter writers against the amendment, and this frame promoted the equal treatment of Muslims.

The emergence of these frames surrounding a discussion of Shariah illustrated individuals’ reliance on moral arguments to shape their opinions. However, the content analysis showed that individuals who supported the ban of Shariah in Oklahoma were more likely to frame their arguments using morally-motivated language.

Posted in News.

Lessons from Brexit and Trump

1f19a1bBy Dr. Gregory Perreault (PF&R Chair)
Appalachian State University

Contemporary events have left many in dumbfounded. In the United Kingdom, many media professionals assumed that naturally the British people would want to stay in the EU. The vote for Brexit showcased just how wrong that assumption was. In the United States, media professionals again assumed that naturally a traditional politician like Hillary Clinton would be elected as opposed to someone as untraditional as they come, Donald Trump. And yet, President-elect Donald Trump is currently selecting his cabinet.

What does this mean for us as scholars of media and religion? I would argue that these surprise developments should serve as a reminder of why our field is so integral. Furthermore, it should challenge us to find new and novel ways to share our findings more publicly.

In the British exit (abv. “Brexit”) from the EU, Muslim and Christian communities showcased a variety of perspectives regarding the vote. Among communities concerned with immigration, Brexit held appeal in that only by leaving the EU could the UK effectively restrict immigration. And yet, the “Muslims for Britain” campaign argued that by leaving the EU, the UK could increase free trade among Commonwealth nations such as India. Among Christians, Protestants favored leaving the EU while Roman Catholics favored remaining. A former Archbishop of Canterbury likened leaving the EU to the Isrealites leaving Egypt in the Old Testament. In short, the motivations on both sides are related to diversity and unity, fear and safety.

In the US election cycle, Donald Trump had very publicly mocked a disabled reporter, thrown a woman with a screaming child out of a campaign rally, been hounded by a Entertainment Tonight video showing him bragging about assault on a woman, and refused to release his tax returns—as has been done by every other presidential candidate in recent history. And he won decisively in electoral college votes. It does appear that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but that’s beside the point: its clear that something about Donald Trump resonated in America. It resonated among white evangelicals who voted more heavily for Trump (81%) than even for George W. Bush (78%) and among Catholics who voted for Trump at (52%).

The “why” behind these votes has been a topic of consternation in the news media. Journalists and pollsters seem to have discovered, too late, the proliferation of fake news on social media. This, taken with low media literacy rates and an inability to distinguish commentary from news from fake news, is a perfect storm for such integral votes.

For myself as a media sociologist, these two events were reality checks. They reminded me who my neighbors are and who my students are. As media and religion scholars, some of us could see the writing on the wall, but not all of us. I didn’t. This begs for further research into religious groups, news consumption, and media literacy. It showed us that there are some limitations on predicting voter behavior (remember that polls overwhelmingly showed a Brexit loss and a Clinton win), but the results showed us an increasing need to understand our neighbors.

Some of these neighbors work at our universities (yes, it’s true) and some do not. But the likelihood is that most are not going to read our academic works. Unless they need to cite it.

This calls upon us to find ways to share what we’re learning more broadly. It might be on a blog, it might be in letters to the editor, maybe TMZ, I don’t know. The problem of course is that this will do nothing for your tenure dossier. But it might help us prepare for, or learn from, the next Trump/Brexit.

Posted in News, Professional Development.

Teaching Religion and Media

By: Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Department of Journalism and Integrated Media
Biola University

 

Teaching thrives on predictability: clear syllabi, thorough rubrics, links to good parallel documents.

But even in a good semester, you know to watch for danger signs — like fear and worry in students’ eyes. An anxious classroom slows everything down. And the aftershocks of Election 2016 have created fear on college and university campuses in ways we haven’t seen in decades. It’s not just our students who are uneasy. We’re as troubled as they are.

The primaries, the debates, the election cycle, election night — all of it created uncertainty for us as educators of media, journalism and communications about religion in public life. National news media got their predictions wrong in epic proportions. Christians have been, and still are divided about support for a Trump presidency. Muslims who feared a Trump presidency could happen are afraid in new ways. A post-election wave of hate incidents, though eventually denounced by Trump, has affected our students in ways we can’t ignore.

We lament the fear. But like anything, it has a flip side: it’s the beginning of teaching we could not otherwise do. Below is a short-list that might help you in the classroom in coming months.

Teach by numbers. Data really matters when approaching faith, religious motivation and action — and it’s easy to get it wrong. Your students are attentive to religion within data now in ways they weren’t when faith at street level was merely a concept. Who claims to be Christian? How do Muslims vote? Is hate crime mostly elsewhere? Some, by hard personal experience, know perhaps for the first time what data collectors know: that numbers on hate incidents are probably understated. Build numeracy into your teaching, maybe with help from statistics faculty. Religion data is available: use it to help students craft good (or just better) questions.

Talking is learning. Each of your sections and courses is a unique chemistry. No syllabus can bring effective learning to every type of student with the baggage each brings to the learning experience. Truth be told, many students don’t know who they are or what they think about religion in an unfolding 2017. Hate, in any context including religion, scares them. This link from a Ball State University project brings in some ideas, but the point is to get students talking about it — to each other, in groups, in panels that dialogue about issues, and in ways that get at their feelings about faith, fear, and the ambiguities of belief.

Let students’ media be their listening device. Students are never so facile with the tools we’ve taught them as when they’re passionate. Put aside quizzes and tests and emphasize projects that allow your students to find the stories of fear and anxiety (or confidence) among people of faith in their worlds. What they find might impress learning on them in ways neither they, nor you, had anticipated. This professor used that approach on the day after the election.

It helped the students, but helped the professor as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in News.

Call for Papers: AEJMC 2017 in Chicago

Chicago, IL 2017 AEJMC Paper Competition Uniform Call

 

The programming groups within the Council of Divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invite submission of original, non-published, English language only research papers to be considered for presentation at the AEJMC Conference, August 9 to 12, 2017, in Chicago, IL. Specific requirements for each competition — including limits on paper length — are spelled out in the listing of groups and research chairs that appear below.  Papers are to be submitted in English only.

 

All research papers must be uploaded through an online server to the group appropriate to the paper’s topic via a link on the AEJMC website: www.aejmc.org. The following uniform call will apply to ALL AEJMC paper competitions. Additional information specific to an individual group’s call is available at the end of the uniform call information.

 

  1. Submit the paper via the AEJMC website link (www.aejmc.org) to the AEJMC group appropriate to the paper’s topic. Format should be Word, WordPerfect, or a PDF. PDF format is strongly encouraged.

 

  1. The paper must be uploaded to the server no later than 11:59 P.M. (Central Daylight Time) Saturday, April 1, 2017.

 

  1. Also upload a paper abstract of no more than 75 words.

 

  1. Completely fill out the online submission form with author(s) name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. The title should be printed on the first page of the text and on running heads on each page of text, as well as on the title page. Do NOT include author’s name on running heads or title page.

 

  1. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION. NOTE: Follow instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind reviewing.

 

  1. Papers are accepted for peer review on the understanding that they are not already under review for other conferences and that they have been submitted to only ONE AEJMC group for evaluation. Papers accepted for the AEJMC Conference should not have been presented to other conferences or published in scholarly or trade journals prior to presentation at the conference.

 

  1. Student papers compete on an equal footing in open paper competitions unless otherwise specified by the individual division or interest group. Individual group specifications are appended to this uniform call.

 

  1. Papers submitted with both faculty and student authors will be considered faculty papers and are not eligible for student competitions.

 

  1. At least one author of an accepted faculty paper must attend the conference to present the paper. If student authors cannot be present, they must make arrangements for the paper to be presented.

 

  1. If a paper is accepted, and the faculty author does not present the paper at the conference, and if a student author does not make arrangements for his/her paper to be presented by another, then that paper’s acceptance status is revoked. It may not be included on a vita.

 

  1. Authors will be advised whether their paper has been accepted By May 20 and may access a copy of reviewers’ comments from the online server. Contact the paper chair if you are not notified or have questions about paper acceptance.

 

Special note: Authors who have submitted papers and have not been notified by May 20, MUST contact the division or interest group paper chair for acceptance information. The AEJMC Central Office may not have this information available.

 

  1. Authors of accepted papers retain copyright of their papers and are free to submit them for publication after presentation at the conference.

 

Important Paper Submissions Information

  • Upload papers for the AEJMC 2017 Chicago, IL Conference beginning January 15, 2017. Paper submitters should follow instructions on the front page of the submission site to create your account and complete the information required.

 

  • Deadline for paper submissions is April 1, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Any submissions after this time will not be accepted.

 

  • Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call.

 

  • A COVER SHEET or a sheet with the 75-word required ABSTRACT that is included with a paper upload should be EXCLUDED from the page number limits set by all AEJMC Groups

 

Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. All AEJMC Divisions, Interest Groups and Commission will abide by the rules below WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

 

NOTE: Follow online instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind review at aejmc.org/home/papers. Contact Felicia Greenlee Brown with comments, concerns and other Conference Paper Call inquiries at Felicia@aejmc.org.

Posted in Call for papers, Conferences.

Opportunities for Faculty and Undergraduate Students

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows Program is now accepting applications. Since 2000, the AJC Fellows Program has provided a unique educational opportunity for graduate students and seniors to learn about the Holocaust in situ in the context of Poland’s history and Jewish heritage. Through travel in Poland for three weeks, during which time Fellows visit Krakow, Warsaw, Lód?, Treblinka, and O?wi?cim (Auschwitz), Fellows gain not only knowledge of the Holocaust sites they visit, but also an understanding of the legacy of the Holocaust in Poland, its effects on collective memory, and complexities surrounding such categories as victim, bystander, and perpetrator. All program costs, except travel to the program’s start in New York, are covered.To learn more about past Fellows, please see bios of recent cohorts here: 2016 and 2015. The Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows Program will run from June 30 – July 23, 2017. The application is due on January 15, 2017. Candidates of all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

 

The Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) announces its eighth Faculty Development Seminar on Palestine. This 12-day seminar is for U.S. faculty members with a demonstrated interest in, but little travel experience to, Palestine. PARC will select 10 to 12 U.S. faculty members to participate in Jerusalem-based activities that will include roundtable discussions, tours of historic cities, and visits to local universities, research institutes, and cultural institutions in the West Bank. Through these activities, participants will learn about the region, deepen their knowledge of their particular fields of interest as they relate to Palestine, and build relationships with Palestinian academic colleagues.  PARC will provide up to a $1,000 travel stipend for airfare for two professors from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and one professor from a community college. Funding for these three participants is provided by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through an agreement with CAORC. For complete information, visit PARC’s website at http://parc-us-pal.org. Click here to be directed to the online application system https://orcfellowships.fluidreview.com.

 

The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University <http://harvard.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ef13e6d75b74b1791f13115cd&id=69555502f8&e=713200df58>

is now accepting fellowship applications for the 2017-2018 academic year through our annual open call <http://harvard.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ef13e6d75b74b1791f13115cd&id=77944a3e29&e=713200df58>.  This opportunity is for those who wish to spend 2017-2018 in residence in Cambridge, MA as part of the Center’s vibrant community of research and practice, and who seek to engage in collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sectoral exploration of some of the Internet’s most important and compelling issues.  The Berkman Klein Center’s fellowship program encourages and supports fellows in an inviting and playful intellectual environment, with community activities designed to foster inquiry and risk-taking, to identify and expose common threads across fellows’ individual activities, and to bring fellows into conversation with the faculty directors, employees, and broader community at the Berkman Klein Center.  Applications will be accepted until Monday January 16, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

 

Organizations working in the areas of media, youth, women, democratization, community development, and rule of law and human rights are eligible.  The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) is inviting civil society organizations to apply for funding projects to advance and support democracy. Project grants range between US$100,000 and US$300,000.  Projects that are two years long are accepted. Project proposals must fall under one of the following main areas: community activism; rule of law and human rights; tools for knowledge; women’s empowerment; youth engagement; media and freedom of information; and strengthening interaction with government.  Proposals must be submitted online in either English or French.  The deadline is Dec. 18.

 

College and high school students can submit their short films and win a US$5,000 cash prize.  The Girls Impact the World Film Festival, presented by the Harvard College Social Innovation Collaborative and Connecther, is a film festival and scholarship program for high school and undergraduate college students.The festival accepts short films that either raise awareness or propose solutions to a variety of global women’s issues, including maternal health, microfinance initiatives, child marriage, sex-trafficking and poverty alleviation.  Films must be 3 to 5 minutes long and can be narrative, documentary, investigative reporting, music video, animation or curated film (film collage).  The festival will award US$20,000 in prizes.  Applicants must be 25 or under and currently enrolled undergraduates or full-time high school students.  The deadline is Jan. 20, 2017.

 

Full-time undergraduate journalism students can compete for a trip to Japan.  The Scripps Howard Foundation, with the Indiana University School of Journalism, is hosting the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.  Winners will be awarded a guided tour to Japan to study journalism in local cultures, visiting media organizations as well as cultural and historical landmarks.  Tentative travel dates are May 11 to 20, 2017. Last year participants visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima.  Applicants must submit an entry form, a portfolio of their work, a letter of recommendation, a 400-word essay and a resume to the Scripps Howard Foundation.  The deadline is Jan. 10, 2017.

 

 

 

Posted in Professional Development.

Fall 2016 RMIG Newsletter

The Religion and Media Interest Group had a successful convention at the 2016 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In the September 2016 newsletter, we are excited to share with you:

Please do not forget to Like our Facebook page.  We regularly upload interesting news articles and opportunities for our membership there. Further, we would like to thank TJ Thomson, a second-year doctoral student from the University of Missouri, for redesigning our interest group’s logo.

Thank you for your participation in RMIG events!

Posted in Newsletters.

John Durham Peters award acceptance

RMIG honored John Durham Peters with an award at the 2016 AEJMC conference. His remarks after accepting the award can be heard here. Special thanks to Anthony Hatcher for capturing the audio.

Posted in Conferences, News.

Reading Religion: a new book review resource

The American Academy of Religion has created Reading Religion, a collection of reviews and discussion of recently published books on a variety of subjects in the scholarship of religion. Reviews are sorted by date or topic, and books available for review also are listed.

Posted in News.

Call for 2017 panel proposals

Now is the time for us to begin considering our panel programming for the 2017 conference. If you think you have an idea for a panel that we should consider, please share it. Here is the crucial information we need to get the process started.

  • Your Name and Contact Info
  • Panel Category (Teaching, Professional Freedom and Responsibility, Research)
  • Prospective Co-Sponsors (Other divisions or IGs that might help us organize this)
  • Proposed Panel Title
  • Panel Description
  • Possible Panelists
  • Possible Moderator
  • Estimated Speaker Costs

Send proposals or questions to Rick Clifton Moore, rmoore@boisestate.edu

Deadline for submissions is September 30.

Posted in Call for papers, Conferences.

Opportunities

American Academy of Religion conferences. Four regional conferences of the American Academy of Religion invite paper submissions with upcoming deadlines.

  • Western region (deadline Sept. 30). Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to the appropriate unit chair, listed at http://www.aarwr.com/call-for-papers.html. The conference theme is “Religion, Race, and Racism.” It will be held March 10-12, 2017, in Los Angeles.
  • Southeast region (deadline Oct. 1). Proposals should be submitted through a Google Docs link and emailed to the appropriate section chair. Links and contact information is available at http://secsor.org/uncategorized/2017-call-for-papers-available. The conference theme is “Utopia and Dystopia.” It will be held March 3-5, 2017, in Raleigh, N.C.
  • Southwest region (deadline Oct. 15). Proposals should be submitted to the section contacts listed at http://aar-sw.org/call-for-papers/, and papers may be submitted to more than one section. The conference theme is “Religion Matters.” It will be held March 10-12, 2017, in Irving, Texas.
  • Upper Midwest region (deadline Jan. 6). Proposals for papers to be presented at a joint conference with the Society of Biblical Literature may be submitted beginning Sept. 30. Proposals should be submitted through the region’s website at http://www.umw-aarsbl.org/. The conference will be held March 31 to April 1, 2017, in St. Paul, Minn. A complete call is available at https://www.aarweb.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Membership/Regions/UpperMidwest/2017 CALL FOR PAPERS UMAAR .pdf

Seventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society. Proposals for papers, workshops, posters, or colloquia are invited for a conference to be held April 17-18, 2017, at Imperial College London. The conference theme is “Respecting Difference, Understanding Globalism.” Submission should address one of these topics:

  • Religious Foundations
  • Religious Community and Socialization
  • Religious Commonalities and Differences
  • The Politics of Religion

A complete call is available at http://religioninsociety.com/2017-conference/call-for-papers.

 The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy 2017. Abstracts should be submitted by Nov. 15 for this conference, to be held March 22 to March 25 in Kobe, Japan. Full papers must be submitted by April 25. Proposals are invited for traditional paper or poster presentations, virtual presentations, workshops, or panels. A complete call is available at http://iafor.org/acerp2017-call-for-papers/.

National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. The National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion invites paper proposals in any area pertaining to scholarship in religion for its annual meeting, to be held May 22-24, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn.  In an effort to develop innovative conversations among scholars, papers which create integration between traditional disciplines or broaden the margins of disciplinary conversations are encouraged.   Although many NABPR members work primarily in the traditional disciplines of Biblical Studies, Church History, Theology, etc., proposals are encouraged from any field, including Ministry Studies. Paper or panel proposals on any aspect of pedagogy related to the teaching of Religion are encouraged. Proposals must be received by January 15, 2017.  Send a 300-word abstract to Dr. Eileen Campbell-Reed, 6210 Bresslyn Road, Nashville, TN 37205, eileen.campbellreed@gmail.com. Papers will be scheduled into a 30 minute time period, including discussion. Graduate Students are encouraged to submit proposals. More information is available at http://nabpr.org/cfp-2017-nabpr-annual-meeting/.

Yearbook of International Religious Demography. The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of religious statistics around the world. Every year large amounts of data are collected through censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and a host of other sources. These data are collated and analyzed by research centers and scholars around the world. Large amounts of data appear in analyzed form in the World Religion Database (Brill), aiming at a researcher’s audience. The Yearbook presents data in sets of tables and scholarly articles spanning social science, demography, history, and geography. Each issue offers findings, sources, methods, and implications surrounding international religious demography. Each year an assessment is made of new data made available since the previous issue of the yearbook. Email submission ideas for the 2017 edition to Gina Zurlo, gzurlo@bu.edu, or visit http://theweeklynumber.com/weekly-number-blog/call-for-papers-international-religious-demography.

International Society for Intellectual History. Paper and panels proposals are due by Dec. 31 for the 2017 Conference of the International Society for Intellectual History. The conference theme is “The Rethinking of Religious Belief in the Making of Modernity.” It will be held from May 30 to June 1, 2017, at the American University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. For more information, please contact the convenor, Diego Lucci, at dlucci@aubg.edu, or go to http://isih.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=5093.

Center for Islamic Studies. The Center for Islamic Studies welcomes abstracts for paper presentations at its national conference in Dallas. Topics include, but are not limited to, religion, role of women in society, social issues, the arts, medical practices, beliefs, education, and more. Participants are also welcome to schedule panel discussions. All papers presentations will be scheduled for 25 or 45 minutes. An abstract of the paper should designate the amount of time required for presentation. Abstracts should be submitted by Nov 5. This conference is being co-sponsored by the National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates. More information is available at http://www.naaas.org/.

 

Faculty positions. Calls for faculty applications are open for:

Posted in News.

2016-2017 Officer Bios

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) proudly presents the 2016-2017 officer list.

 

RMIG Head — Joel Campbell

Dr. Joel Campbell is an associate professor in journalism in Brigham Young University Department of Communications. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University. Previously, he worked for nearly 20 years as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Salt Lake City. He teaches media writing, journalism principles, media and religion, media ethics and research courses. His new-found research interest is media and religion, but has also been active in First Amendment and Freedom of Information research and advocacy. He has presented or published papers on media coverage of the Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, Artemus Ward’s 19th Century “Among the Mormons” show, media coverage of Mormons’ posthumous baptism of Jews, “The Mormon” newspaper in New York City from 1850-1857, and Marie Ogden’s New Age “Home of Truth” colony in southeast Utah.

RMIG Vice Head —  Rick Moore

Rick Clifton Moore is a professor in the Department of Communication at Boise State University. He holds a B.A. from Pepperdine University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon. He teaches a variety of classes in the area of mass media writing, production, and criticism, especially classes focusing on legal/ethical dimensions of media and media’s role in democratic culture. At the university level, he teaches a class for freshmen on the role of religious thought in the development of western culture. His research mostly relates to mass media portrayal of religion, especially ideological and hegemonic aspects of those portrayals.

RMIG Professional Freedom & Responsibility  — Greg Perreault

Dr. Gregory P. Perreault serves an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Appalachian State University. He has a Ph.D. in Journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism, an M.A. in Communication, Culture, Technology from Georgetown University and a B.A. in News and Information from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Research – Debra Mason

Debra Mason is among the leading scholars and trainers of how religion is portrayed in the media. She brings more than 30 years of professional and scholarly experience to her position as director of the Center on Religion and the Professions, an interdisciplinary center at the world-renown Missouri School of Journalism working to improve the religious literacy of professionals so they can better serve a multi-faith public. Since 1997, she’s also directed Religion Newswriters Association, a professional association of journalists writing about religion in the mass media. She is publisher emeritus of Religion News Service (RNS), the world’s only non-sectarian wire service exclusively covering religion.

Teaching  — Michael Longinow, Brian Bowe

Dr. Michael Longinow, originally from Chicago, is  one of the founders of the Department of Journalism & Integrated Media at Biola University in La Mirada, California. After award-winning newspaper reporting in Illinois and Georgia, he began teaching journalism in 1989 at Asbury University in Kentucky, where he developed specialties in cross-cultural media, interactivity of religion and media, and the connections between journalism’s past and its future.  He has been a campus newspaper adviser from his first days in academia. He earned a B.A. at Wheaton College (IL) in political science and a M.S. in news-editorial journalism from the University of Illinois. His Ph.D from the University of Kentucky involved dissertation research on the interplay of Christian media, higher education and cultural change between 1888-1942. Since entering academia, Longinow has been a newspaper columnist and writer for national and regional magazines, academic journals, and scholarly anthologies. He and his wife live in Yorba Linda.

Brian J. Bowe (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Assistant Professor in Western Washington University’s Department of Journalism. He researches the connections between media and culture in multiple contexts. His work focuses on framing, agenda setting, and media coverage of Islam. He has taught at Michigan State University, the Sorbonne University, and Grand Valley State University. His research has been published in journals such as Media, Culture and Society, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Public Understanding of Science and International Communication Gazette. With a background in music journalism, he has written several books, including biographies of bands The Ramones, The Clash, and Judas Priest. He co-edited the anthology CREEM: America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine (Harper/Collins).

Newsletter – Andrew Pritchard, Mariam Alkazemi

Andrew D. Pritchard is an assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, where his principal teaching area is media law, regulation, and policy. He is a lawyer and former journalist, with research interests in media law, media history, and how individuals in modern societies use media to shape their own religious experiences. He received his B.A. in political science and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. in communication from North Dakota State University. His research has appeared in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Communication and Religion, Historical Methods, and Visual Communication Quarterly.

Mariam Alkazemi is an assistant professor of mass communication at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait, where she teaches courses in public speaking, public relations and advertising. In the summer of 2016, Dr. Alkazemi served as a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Middle East Centre. She completed her Ph.D. in Mass Communication at University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communication, where she focused on media effects research.  She is interested in media effects as applied to religion, and is also interested in examining routine factors impacting the media industry.  Her research appears in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Media and Religion, Journal of Religion, Media & Digital Culture, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism and Health Environments Research & Design Journal.

Posted in News.

The Minneapolis Sacred Space Tour

 

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Twin Cities are home to unique collection of houses of worship, but shifting demographics and influx of immigrants are reshaping the religious landscape of the metro area.

A pre-conference tour hosted by the Religion and Media Interest Group offered a glimpse of these changes as well as a look back at the area’s religious history. Packed in a 12-passenger, participants viewed on of the largest Hindu temples in the United States, a Beaux Arts Catholic treasure, a growing inner-city Muslim religious center, and an historic Episcopal cathedral.

 

The daylong tour started at one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States in Maple Grove, a Minneapolis suburb. To be correct, the single structure houses many Hindu “temples” devoted to separate deities and has a large central tower created by artists from India. It’s rural juxtaposition to nearby farmhouses and corn fields surprised observers.

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Next the group paid homage to Jewish culture by visiting the famous Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul serving a long menu of traditional deli cuisine including matzo ball soup, kosher meat, latkes, Reubens, bagels and unique breads.

 

Next up was the Cathedral of St. Paul, which is also known as the National Shrine of the Apostle Paul. The cathedral is unique because of its ornate Beaux Arts styling.   At the Cathedral, RMIG “tourists” also had a question and answer session with the communications director for the Archdiocese and communications director of the cathedral. The archdiocese has recently been embroiled in settlings priest sex abuse claims that resulted in bankruptcy of the archdiocese.

 

The next sacred space hearkened to a Catholic heritage in inner-city St. Paul, but dwindling Catholic numbers force the church to sell the parish church and adjacent school. Now a diverse and growing Muslim population have remade the old church into a mosque and religious center.  Where pews once lined the sanctuary, an expansive piece of carpet, with two layers of padding for kneeling adherents, is the site for daily prayers and other worship services. The center serves a mix of Somali and Bosnia Muslims, most of them immigrants. Conversation about the influence of ISIS on local teens was one of the topics raised during the visit as well as statements about Muslim immigrants by Donald Trump, GOP presidential candidate.

 

The group travelled back to Minneapolis and to St. Mark’s Cathedral. The Episcopal cathedral dates its beginnings to 1858 and its current Gothic-inspired home was built in 1910. Group members listened intently as a docent lead them on a tour of the sanctuary and then to basement which houses a mausoleum with both marked vaults for ashes of the dead and a common vault for those who want to share a common grave with the ashes of many.

SacredSpaces1

 

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Posted in News.

Summer 2016 Newsletter

The annual conference for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota between August 4-7, 2016.  This year, the Religion and Media Interest Group had a total of 19 papers submitted. Of the 19 papers, 9 were accepted. These papers will be presented in two research panel sessions. We had 101 reviews submitted, for an average of 5 reviews per paper. We had great reviewer participation, and we would like to warmly thank our reviewers for making this possible!

In the June 2016 newsletter, we are excited to share with you:

Please do not forget to Like our Facebook page.  We regularly upload interesting news articles and opportunities for our membership there.

Posted in Newsletters.

AEJMC 2016 Research Panels

The annual conference for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota between August 4-7, 2016.  The Religion and Media Interest Group is hosting two research panels.  The first research panel is entitled, “Christians and culture: Making and interpreting the news”.  The second is entitled, “Framing faith, morals and coping in the media”.  More details on each of the sessions is provided below.

Christians and culture: Making and interpreting the news

Moderator and Discussant: Michael Longinow, Biola

Date and time: 8:15-9:30 AM Thursday, Aug. 4

Paper 1: Believing news from the Christian Broadcast Network: The intersection between source trust, content expectancy, and religiosity, by: Robin Blom, Ball State University (Presenter)

Abstract: A randomly-selected sample of 200 U.S. adults indicated their believability of a news headline attributed to the Christian Broadcast Network to test whether an interaction between news source trust and content expectancy could predict believability levels. Overall, the data indicate that certain non-religious people or those with low levels of religiosity considered the Christian Broadcast Network headline highly believable, whereas some people with high levels of religiosity did not—depending on whether they were surprised on unsurprised that the headline was attributed to CBN—and not just because of their religiosity level. In fact, religiosity was not a statistically significant predictor of believability in a regression model with news source trust, news content expectancy, and its interaction. This provides new insights to whether non-secular media outlets could be considered valuable news sources for people outside the traditional, religious target audience for those organizations.

Paper 2: Defining the Christian Journalist: Ideologies, Values and Practices, by: Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi (Presenter) & Mary Sheffer, University of Southern Mississippi

Abstract: This study sought to understand how working Christian journalists perceive themselves in terms of how their faith shapes their professional practice. An international survey of self-identified Christian journalists showed that they perceive themselves differently from their secular counterparts primarily in terms of ideology (ethics and public service). Younger Christian journalists were the drivers of these perceptions more so than older journalists, who remain more tied to traditional journalistic practice. Interestingly, those who worked at non-religious media outlets were more connected to ideology, while those at Christian outlets were more committed to journalism practice. The implications of these findings were discussed.

Paper 3: Moral Mondays in the South: Christian Activism and Civil Disobedience in the Digital Age, by: Anthony Hatcher, Elon University (Presenter)

Abstract: This paper is a case study of the 2013 Moral Monday movement in North Carolina and the use of progressive Christianity and religious rhetoric as tactics for protest in the modern media era. Themes explored include: 1) the role religious rhetoric played in this 21st century protest movement; 2) the tone of media coverage; 3) how social media was used by both protestors and their critics; and 4) the political effectiveness of the protests.

Paper 4: “I Pray We Won’t Let This Moment Pass Us By”: Christian Concert Films and Numinous Experiences, by: Jim Trammell, High Point University(Presenter)

Abstract: This manuscript analyzes the Christian concert film Hillsong United: Live in Miami to investigate how mass media evoke numinous experiences. Using a framework that locates technological determinism within theories of religious encounters, the analysis explores how Christian concert films create numinous experiences through shot composition, editing, and content selection. The manuscript argues that mass media technologies and aesthetics can create expectations of religious encounters, and challenges the use of mass media to manufacture religious experiences.

 

Framing faith, morals and coping in media

Moderator and Discussant: To Be Announced

Date and time: 3:15-3:45 PM Friday, Aug. 5

Paper 1: Just a Phone Call (or Facebook Post) Away: Parents’ Influence at a Distance on Emerging Adults’ Religious Connections, by: Andrew Pritchard, Iowa State & Sisi Hu, Iowa State

Abstract: New communication media have to a great degree erased the barriers of distance that once diminished parents’ ability to keep their emerging adult children (ages 18 to 25) connected to the family’s religion. A survey of emerging adults (N = 727) finds that parents’ influence is greatest when they communicate through media in which emerging adults are willing to discuss intimate subjects, and when religiosity and spirituality are frequent topics of conversation.

Paper 2: Media Framing of Muslims: A Research Review, by: Saifuddin Ahmed, University of California, Davis  & Jörg Matthes, University of Vienna

Abstract: This study provides an overview of English language academic research on media framing of Muslims from 2001 to 2014. Through content analysis of 128 studies we identify patterns involving research trend, methodological approach, media analysis, and authorship. A qualitative review results in presentation of seven common frames. Attention is paid to frame commonality across media sources and regions. Current research gaps are highlighted and findings point to key directions for future scholars.

Paper 3: Morality and Minarets: The moral framing of mosque construction in the U.S., by: Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University

Abstract: Journalism is a moral craft with particular social obligations. Moral evaluations are one of the main functions of media frames. Yet morality is a complex concept that includes both individualizing and binding elements. This study applies Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to examine the moral dimension of frames. Analyzing news articles (n=349) from five newspapers about controversies surrounding the construction of mosques in the United States, this study found four moral frames: Ethnocentric Loyalty, Social Order, Altruistic Democracy and Moderate Individualism. These frames were strongly rooted in socially binding moral foundations, and they were connected to enduring values of journalism.

Paper 4: Religion, coping and healing in news about school shootings, by: Michael McCluskey, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga & Hayden Seay, University of Tennessee-Chattanoog

Abstract: Religion offers comfort to those undergoing trauma, including communities affected by a school shooting. News content offers one means to heal. Analysis of news content about school shootings showed the presence of five key functions of individual religious coping methods identified in prior research. Most common were comfort/spirituality, meaning and control, followed by intimacy/spirituality and life transformation. Presence of healing and coping themes in the news reflect a journalistic role to heal the community.

Paper 5: Thoughtful, but angry: Media narratives of NFL star Arian Foster’s “confession” of nonbelief, by: John Haman, University of Iowa & Kyle Miller, University of Iowa

Abstract: In 2015, Arian Foster became the first active professional football player to announce he was an atheist. To analyze the media’s framing of Foster’s nonbelief within the context of the overtly evangelical Protestant religious culture of the NFL, we analyzed all news and editorial coverage of Foster’s “confession.” By extending Silk’s methodology for examining religious topoi, we examine how journalists use familiar themes to negotiate the boundary between belief and nonbelief in American culture.

 

 

Posted in Conferences, News.

Sacred Space Visits: A Pre-conference Tour

On Wednesday, August 3rd, the Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) has organized a pre-conference tour to visit sacred spaces in the Twin Cities.

The inclusion of at least three sacred spaces has been confirmed.  These sites include:

  • Hindu Temple of Minnesota, which is the largest Hindu Temple in the state of Minnesota.  For more information about the temple, please visit https://www.hindumandirmn.org/.

Hindu-temple-exterior-700x300

 

  • The Cathedral of St. Paul. National Shrine of the Apostle Paul in St. Paul, which is one of the best known cathedral in the twin cities. For more information about the cathedral, please visit: https://www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/.

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  • St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, a remarkable cathedral in
    downtown Minneapolis. For more information about this cathedral, please visit http://ourcathedral.org/.

Pilgrim_Baptist_Church

Although unconfirmed, the RMIG team plans to include two other places.  These sites include:

  • Karmel Square Mosque, the largest mosque in the area serving the  Somali community. It is located in large Somali-focused shopping mall.
  • Pilgrim Baptist Church, the oldest African-American church in the twin cities.

 

For any questions, please feel free contact Joel Campbell, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Brigham Young University. You can reach him by e-mail at foiguy[at]gmail[dot]com or by Twitter @joelcampbell.

 

 

Posted in News.

Opportunities

Conferences. Registration for the Summer Session  Oxford Symposium on Religious Studies (1, 2 & 3 August) is now open. The meeting will be held at The Old Library in the Oxford University Church of St Mary. Constructed in 1320, The Old Library is the first university (as opposed to college) building in Oxford and therefore uniquely important; this is where the nascent University began. They are also accepting abstract submissions for our 5–7 December 2016 session. You are invited to present a paper on an aspect of religious studies, or you may wish to attend as an observer. The symposium is inter-disciplinary and has a broad-based theme. For more information, please visit: http://www.oxfordsymposiumonreligiousstudies.com/.

Call for Papers. The Journal of Communication and Religion publishes original articles that advance theory and research about communication in religious contexts. Articles are expected to use rigorous theory and methodology to develop insightful arguments that further knowledge, understanding, and care about the intersections of communication and religion. The journal accepts articles dealing with communication within the purview of any religion. Manuscripts should show strong scholarship, exemplary in its research type (either quantitative or qualitative). Writing should be clear, aesthetically pleasing, and effective. Its style should be gender-sensitive. At best, articles will contribute to the stock of knowledge in communication and religion, offering insights that can lead to positive religious, social, and cultural change. Each article is blind-reviewed by two members of the editorial board and/or readers, as well as the editor. Suggestions for revision will keep issues of argument, style, and contribution to the area of communication and religion in mind. The editor makes final publication decisions.  For more information, please see http://www.relcomm.org/journal-of-communication-and-religion.html.

Call for Papers. The Journal of Christian Teaching Practice (http://www.theccsn.com/journal-of-christian-teaching-practice/) publishes original work focusing on pedagogical examples and teaching strategies that demonstrate the integration of Christian faith with collegiate instruction in private and public institutions. Submissions should discuss exemplary teaching practices, their success in the classroom, along with an explanation of observed student outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are welcome. For more information visit: http://www.theccsn.com/journal-of-christian-teaching-practice/

Fulbright Scholar Opportunities in Israel. The 2017-2018 Fulbright U.S Scholar Program competition to the Middle East and North Africa is underway. Each year, U.S. scholars in a wide variety of academic disciplines teach and/or conduct research at educational institutions across the Middle East and North Africa. Applications for 2017-18 are currently being accepted from all levels of faculty, including early career, and professionals. Awards to Israel this year are highlighted below. The fellowship is designed to support research activity over two academic years, or 20 months total. To be eligible, candidates must have received their Ph.D. degrees no earlier than April 2014. Prior to confirmation of an award, candidates will be required to provide proof of acceptance as a postdoctoral research fellow at an accredited institution of higher education in Israel. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and the deadline for complete applications is August 1, 2016. For questions, please contact middleeastnorthafrica[at]iie[dot]org.

 

 

 

Posted in News.

Reflections on an Honors Seminar in Media & Religion

By: Andrew D. Pritchard, Ph.D., Esq.
Assistant Professor of Media Law and Ethics
Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication
Iowa State University of Science and Technology

I enjoy few things more than bragging about rock-star students, so I am especially happy to pass along some lessons learned this past semester as I facilitated an honors seminar titled “Media and Religion in American History. After the first week, I did little more than nudge and suggest as Maddy, Baylie, Garret, Jeff, and Chrissy taught each other through their perceptive observations and lively discussions.

The class met weekly for two hours. The only assignment was that students take turns being the discussion leader for the week, responsible for coming to class with a brief written summary of the week’s readings and a list of questions and discussion topics.

In designing the courses, I held to two main goals. First, I wanted to exploit the universality of historical writing to make the topic accessible to students from a variety of majors. I tried to avoid chapters or articles that depended heavily on specialist vocabulary or specific technical or theoretical knowledge. (When these were unavoidable, I paused discussion to explain them.) Second, I wanted to course to proceed beyond chronology and explore patterns, questions, and debates that transcend time periods or media formats. Thus, I alternated weeks between historical periods and more wide-ranging conceptual readings. Historically, the class began with the first North American printing press in the early 1600s. Thematically, students encountered such persistent controversies as who should control religious media, how religious and secular content creators depict one another, the commercialization of religious symbols, and depictions of non-Western religions and “fringe” spiritualities in popular entertainment.

At our last class meeting, I asked the students to assess the course, since honors seminars do not participate in the usual course evaluations. They had many heartening things to say about the course, echoing observations they had made throughout the semester:

Students enjoyed stepping outside their majors. The students majoring in technology or physical sciences, in particular, noted that they deliberately sought honors seminars on more humanistic topics than the rest of their coursework.

At the same time, they connected the seminar to their other coursework. The semester was replete with stories about topics or historical events from our readings that had come up in other classes. Students shared excitement and humor at recognizing the name of an important philosopher in readings for a different class, or encounter other aspects of a historical period we had studied.

Students liked the discussion format. Without question, the students’ most common and most forcefully expressed opinion about the class was how much they enjoyed following the discussion of difficult and complex subjects wherever it led, rather than the lecture-driven memorization they encountered in many other classes.

They appreciated not having the pressure of exams. It’s tempting to write off this point with a bit of snark, but these students were as diligent and organized as I could ask for. They noted throughout the semester that they read differently and got more value from their out-of-class time knowing that they were reading for ideas rather than for likely exam questions.

It’s difficult to imagine teaching a course in this structure, so dependent on student preparation and interaction, in a large lecture setting or with less-dedicated students. In the honors setting, however, the students came away from the course with not only an arsenal of insights about media and religion in society but also with an appreciation for this style of intrinsically motivated education in a community of learners.

I’ll happily share my syllabus, including full citations for the readings, with anyone interested in this kind of course. You can email me at apritch[at]iastate[dot]edu.

Posted in News.

Faith and American Voters

By: Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Department of Journalism and Integrated Media
School of Arts & Sciences
Biola University

 

For Christians, the video clip is hard to watch. Donald Trump is standing behind a podium at Liberty University, squinting out at the 13,000 packing the gym, attempting to quote a biblical passage. It’s in the New Testament, and his staff has given him the passage on cue cards or his speech paperwork. But his citation of it, and his quoting of it made national news for clumsiness. CNN’s headline says students laughed. The New York Times confirmed this, saying he had quoted Scripture “sort of.”

But that was mid-January. And by early May, Trump had nearly locked up the Republican nomination with Christian evangelicals voting for him by large percentages as caucuses clicked through state by state.

Why? Research by the Pew Center for Religion and Public Life posted about a week after Trump’s visit to Liberty suggests Americans might be less interested in a presidential candidate’s faith than in the past. Survey research is notoriously tricky to unpack, but the Pew Center study suggested more people regarded Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio (in that order, by order of magnitude) as religious — in percentages far higher than their view of Trump. In fact, even Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders rank above Trump in respondents’ perception of religiosity.

Does it matter? Hard to say. In fact, it’s the not saying of things — or saying them badly — that has gotten Trump in trouble with Christian conservatives, but also with Muslims, across the U.S. and in other countries. His is a bombastic style of political rhetoric that crashes the gates of any topic he approaches. His political rivals in the Republican Party have, to a person, been people of more careful articulation. And their reticence to offend seems not to have won over the wider populace of Republican potential voters.

Hillary Clinton, a lifelong Methodist, was quoted by the Latin Post as being committed to her faith (she says she gets daily email devotionals from a minister who posts by 5 a.m.) But she, like her rival Bernie Sanders, speaks of openness to people of all faiths.The January Pew study suggested about one quarter of Americans see the decreasing influence of religion over public life as a good thing. And it also suggested the number of Americans is growing who say a president who has no personal faith at all is a good thing.

By way of comparison, the Pew Center, in 2012, found survey evidence that Americans said Mitt Romney’s faith was important to his winning the GOP nomination, but would be of little help in November against the incumbent president.

American Christians, we’re told, have in the last decade or so begun eschewing labels. The Pew Center, a year ago, reported evidence that Millennials as a whole were increasingly likely to check the “none” box on surveys about their faith. This response, the research suggests, does not mean they are not religious — it means their faith is more complex than the descriptors being arranged by those their parents’ and grandparents’ age.

And it’s those young people who are populating our classes. They are unenthused with news, are sensitive to hate speech, but are also suspicious of promises that have not come true for them (which might explain why young people have not fled from Trump wholesale, as might be expected, and why Bernie Sanders’ wildly idealistic rhetoric about change has its appeal to even well-educated young adults.)

Election cycles are a mirror put to our faces as Americans. We see ourselves in ways we can’t when the stakes are not as high, when the allure of voting power rises in our midst, and when hunger for new directions beckons.

And it is in election years, as well, when we see the faith questions of our students become more pointed, more real than ever. Something about a loud voice behind a podium — a voice saying something that draws roaring applause from massive crowds — has a way of setting off alarm bells in some of our students’ minds. Perhaps they hear themselves. Perhaps they hear the quiet warnings of someone they read in our classes (or that they heard from us or a peer in those classes.)

Now is the time for some serious teaching and learning about religion in the lives of our students — students whose participation in the upcoming election could matter very much to the future of American democracy and faith within it.

Posted in News.

The Interdisciplinary Study of Religion

 

By Myna German
Professor
Mass Communications Department
Delaware State University

Anthropologists view religion as a response to life’s hazards (Davies, p. 10, in Eerdmans, 1982). Evolutionary psychologists would view it as an adaptive response, with believers selected for genetically because the religious impulse creates hope, fostering survival. Those with hope adapt better to stressful situations and survive in greater numbers.

Sociologists would view religious ritual as binding community, creating “in-gathering for special events” that unites a people, develops a community belief system that is pro-social. Theologians would look at layers of meaning, scriptural texts and decipher linguistic codes through the study of ancient languages.

What do professors do when they teach Religion and Media?  Essentially, they act as social scientists, bridging these fields, hoping that prospective reporters will catch the spark and write about these issues on various media platforms. In earlier times, the “religion beat” at a newspaper involved covering church barbeques and outings, new clergy appointments and was regarded as almost similar to a social
“beat.”

In the last twenty years, religion reporters have branched out to cover pressing social issues, ranging from The Boston Globe’s award-winning coverage of the pedophile priest scandal to the first ordination of female clergy in some denominations. Religion writing became thoroughly intertwined with religious philosophy and social change, coverage of racism and sexism. Like business in the 1980s, it left the back-page segregated status and moved onto the front page of the newspaper.

Therefore, a good religion reporter will have background in history, politics and the social sciences. While the trend in journalism education has been shifting toward cultivation of high-technology skills, more emphasis has to be placed on a basic and versatile social science education. It is not enough to know about technology, although that is a necessary but not sufficient condition. One must have the thorough analytical and research skills to connect the dots, be entrepreneurial enough to work on self-contained investigative teams and versatile enough to turn that reporting into multi-platform presentation.

How do professors accomplish this? Professors at major institutions sit on general education committees, university policy committees and shape curricula. These seats offer them a chance to comment on a variety of conditions in the university, not just journalism management. From these seats, they have to exert their leadership to shape the undergraduate curriculum, to make it not just technical or career-oriented but broad and critical-thinking oriented. We cannot afford to have a new generation of Facebook journalists who lack depth-reporting skills. The new journalist has to be a social critic, as always, but interdisciplinary and knowledgeable about everything that is going on in the world. This cannot be “trained for” technically. It involves everything from attending cultural and intellectual events on campus for their own sake, speaking up, writing about these events in a “macro” perspective, beyond attendance that one night.

Campus radio stations and TV stations play their role, but aspiring journalists need to be on-air as synthesizers, analysts of information, not just reporting on events. That is how a good religion reporter is born, by connecting the dots and finding patterns in these events, and then relating them to the “religion beat.”

 

Bibliography

Daives,D. (1982). The Study of Religion, in Eerdman’s, E., Handbook to the World’s Religions, pp. 10-18.

Posted in News.

Spring 2016 Newsletter

Welcome to the Spring 2016 Newsletter! In this issue, we are excited to share opportunities for our membership to participate in our activities.  These opportunities range from calls to papers to call to reviewers and beyond.  To read the articles, simply click on the links below.  Each link will take you to the individual post described.

1. Call for Papers: AEJMC 2016 Religion and Media Interest Group
2. Do a good deed; serve as an AEJMC Reviewer
3. Call for Newsletter Co-Editor
4. Take 5 Minutes to Help RMIG
5. Do we push journalism students too hard?
6. Opportunities
7. Tentative Schedule for AEJMC 2016
 Sincerely,
Dr. Mariam Alkazemi, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Newsletter editor (2015-2016)
Posted in Newsletters.

Call for Papers: AEJMC 2016 Religion and Media Interest Group

Religion and Media Interest Group

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred). Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered. Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; etc. Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/our-mission-and-goals/. Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions.

The maximum length of research papers is 25-pages, excluding endnotes and tables. The Religion and Media Interest Group also sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. (Note: student papers may not have a faculty co-author.) The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. In order to be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify either a student submission or a faculty submission on the cover page of the paper. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. All paper submissions must follow the 2016 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call.

Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Questions should be submitted to the RMIG Research Chair Joel Campbell at joeljaycampbell [at] gmail [dot] com. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating via e-mail.

Posted in Call for papers.

Do a good deed; serve as an AEJMC Reviewer

The Religion & Media Interest Group seeks reviewers for this year’s juried paper competition. Reviewers typically have 5 papers to evaluate during the month of April. It’s a quick turnaround, so only volunteer if you can deliver. You will be rewarded with enthusiastic words of thanks! If you are willing and able, please contact Debra L. Mason, University of Missouri School of Journalism, MasonDL[at]Missouri[dot]edu. Thanks!

Posted in Conferences.

Do we push journalism students too hard?

1f19a1bBy Dr. Gregory Perreault
Appalachian State University

I know, I know. The answer is “no,” right? The problem is that “we don’t push them hard enough.”

As a journalism professor, the question of “how hard is too hard,” is a question I’ve faced teaching introductory journalism classes at both the Missouri School of Journalism and Appalachian State University. While the students are different, the dilemma is not—you can see where the journalism students are in terms of their skillset and yet you know where they need to be to be competitive for a job. That’s sometimes a challenge, as anyone who teaches those classes can tell you. Because the gap is large and, depending on whom you ask, getting larger. I’ve had assignments turned in where the president’s name is misspelled, where information from Wikipedia is just blatantly cut-and-pasted in the document (“you’re allowed to do this as a paraphrase–right?”), and where the writing reads like a text message.

And so I’ve pushed pretty hard in my classes to try to get students competitive. But recently I received an email from a former student that made me reconsider just how hard I was pushing.

The email was from a student who is far from what I would consider a “whiner” and it is a student who has become fairly successful in his college career. He noted that through the way that I worded my critiques and challenges to students he got the impression that he “couldn’t do it” and felt he had to prove me wrong.

The problem here was that his motivation for his success became “proving me wrong” as opposed to something else. This ended up being troubling for him. It motivated him through journalism school but now he’s not entirely sure, as a graduating senior, he even wants to be in this field.

It is worth considering if the way we motivate students to success–by making it hard–also sometimes forces people into a field, or conversely, forces people out of field they would have chosen.

It’s easy to forget that many journalists just fell into the field. As for myself, I fell into journalism during college inbetween a stay in pre-med and creative writing. But that choice led me to a field that I’ve enjoyed. In a “harder” program, perhaps I wouldn’t have stayed. Journalism is a big tent that requires and benefits from a variety of personalities and skillsets. Journalism would be deprived if only a single “type” of person can brave the gauntlets.

Granted, different programs have different expectations as students continue through the ranks, but I suspect we can all agree that its worth considering how to best motivating students to move through them.

Posted in News.

Call for Newsletter Co-Editor

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) distributes a quarterly newsletter and manages a Facebook page.  Those interested in sharing some of the duties required of this position should send us a private message through Facebook to discuss the possibilities of doing so for the 2017-8 academic year.  The tasks would include developing a list of opportunities for scholars and students interested in religion and the media research and practice. The responsibilities would also include updating the Facebook page with interesting articles relevant to media and religion and asking for contributors of content to our quarterly newsletter.

Posted in News.

Opportunities

Researchers with expertise in digital media and an interest in child development may apply for a yearlong fellowship at the Sesame Workshop in New York. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is accepting applications for researchers interested in digital media and learning for its residency program in New York. Fellows receive a stipend of US$50,000. The program seeks early-career investigators, including recent master’s and doctoral graduates and current doctoral students, with research interests in the fields of communication, education, learning sciences, psychology, computer science, design and public policy. Applicants from ethnic minorities or underrepresented populations are also encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply is April 4. See more at: http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/initiative/cooney-center-fellows-program/

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. The organization recently advertised research positions for both journalism and religion.  See more at: http://www.pewresearch.org/about/careers/

Journalism Exchange Program gives journalism students and young journalists with up to 5-years of experience a chance to improve their journalistic skills and acquire new professional experience by working in the best newsrooms around Ukraine.  The program was first launched in August 2014. More than 50 young journalists have already completed their internships in various regions of Ukraine. And 12 of our colleagues are working in over a dozen newsrooms around the country right now.  See more at: http://jep.com.ua/programa-en.html

The HBOAccess Writing Fellowship is open to diverse and female writers 21 and older who must be able to work in the US. The program will give emerging writers from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to attend a week of master classes held at the HBO campus in Santa Monica, California focusing on character and story development, pitching ideas and projects, securing an agent, and networking.

All submissions must be made through the online portal, Without A Box, and will require a resume, a writing sample, a completed release form and a personal essay in 500 words or less explaining how his/her background has influenced his/her storytelling. For more information on eligibility, visithttps://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?festival_id=13830.

School of Data is inviting journalists, civil society advocates and anyone interested in pushing data literacy forward to apply for its 2016 Fellowship Programme, which will run from April to December 2016. Up to 10 positions are open, with an application deadline set on March 10, 2016. – See more at: http://schoolofdata.org/2016/02/10/apply-now-for-school-of-datas-2016-fellowship/#sthash.wX3tfBCr.dpuf

 

Posted in Professional Development.

Tentative Schedule for AEJMC 2016

This year, the annual conference for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota between August 4 and 7.  The tentative schedule for the Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) sessions at the annual conference is shown below.
2016Schedule

Posted in Conferences.

Take 5 Minutes to Help RMIG

By Rick Moore, RMIG Membership Coordinator & Professor of Communciation at Boise State University

With the recent stock market plunge, most of us witnessed something in journalism we have seen over and over again and have come to predict every time the Dow takes a dive. Typically, there are numerous news stories about how bad the damage was. Reports basically ask, “What portion of people’s retirement funds has somehow vanished with a puff of smoke (or, with a drop in oil revenues)?”  In addition to this, journalists sometimes try to make the audience feel better by explaining how many billions of dollars Bill Gates, or some other uber-rich citizen, lost in the most recent sell-off.  Finally, there’s often a news piece where reporters consult financial advisors to help readers determine how to react. The experts tend to say things as profound as “You should trust the system and assume we’ll get over this, but here are some things you can do right now.”

This might seem an odd way to introduce a newsletter story about the membership in a professional organization, but the direction I’m taking is probably obvious. Our interest group membership could be thought of like the stock market. It goes up, and down, sometimes precipitously. If you are curious about the most recent of plunges, the official numbers—kindly provided by Pamella Price at AEJMC—tell us that our membership dropped from 92 in 2014 to 85 in 2015. Thus, we experienced about an eight percent decline in one year.  If reading such bad news gives you a frisson, I might add that our all-time high for the last ten years was in 2007, when 133 persons deigned to check the box to add a few dollars to their membership bill and join RMIG.  Do the math and you realize that the number of members in our group dropped by about a third since then.

By the way, Pamella informed me that AEJMC as a whole has declined in numbers recently. I suppose my next task, then, is to make you feel better by telling you how much the extremely wealthy have been hurt by such a catastrophe. But, you probably realize that the Newspaper Division—377 members, by the way—is not going to be decommissioned anytime soon. And, you probably don’t want them to be. Many of you are members of numerous divisions and interest groups and want all of them to be as fruitful as possible.

So, the final obligatory element for this predictable news article about the slings and arrows of outrageous membership misfortune is the “What to do?” part.  Of course, the answer is rather trite. We need to do a better job of making people aware of our group.

I would like to propose here a few ways of doing that.

For example, I might note that many of us are working on putting the final touches on a paper we hope to submit to RMIG for the Minneapolis convention. In the process, have we encountered researchers who seem to do important research in religion and media but (as far as we know) are not members of our collective? Perhaps sending a quick e-mail to some of those scholars letting them know of the interest group would help our numbers.

In a similar vein, many of us are part of other professional organizations that might have members who are unaware that RMIG exists. Does that group have a Facebook page, or a listserv on which some kind of announcement could be placed?  At the group’s annual gatherings, is there a bulletin board where a simple announcement about the existence of our group could be placed?

Obviously, there are numerous other strategies available to us, and all of them could have the potential to “pay dividends,” or “increase our stock,” or, whatever silly economic metaphor you wish to use. The main message here is that, to a certain extent, we do have some ways of improving RMIG’s status. Yes, the market works in mysterious ways, but there is no mystery to the fact that we can do some things to improve our organization’s economic forecast.

I want to make you aware of an opportunity to join with a group of scholars who might have teaching and research interests that overlap with yours. The Religion and Media Interest Group is a dynamic group of academics and professionals within the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. It’s composed of individuals who think that understanding religious dimensions of mass communication are worth very serious consideration. Every year at the AEJMC conference they have research, teaching, and professional sessions within this broad area. They’d love for you to consider joining them. If you have interest in submitting a paper for the 2016 conference (Minneapolis), the call information is here.

 

http://religionandmedia.org/aejmc-2016-religion-and-media-interest-group/

 

If you would like more information about RMIG, feel free to contact Rick Moore (rmoore@boisestate.edu), the Membership Coordinator for the group.

 

 

 

Posted in News.

2015 Winter Newsletter

Welcome to the Winter 2015 Newsletter! In this issue, we are honored to share with you contributions from our memberships.  These contributions range from an undergraduate students’ experience of the AEJMC annual conference to the perspective of senior scholars on the challenges facing the media when dealing with religion and spirituality.  To read the articles, simply click on the links below.  Each link will take you to the individual post described.

  1. Call for Papers: Minneapolis, MN 2016 AEJMC Paper Competition Uniform Call
  2. Call for Papers: AEJMC 2016 Religion and Media Interest Group
  3. The Increasing Importance of Religious Education for Journalists
  4. Spotlight: Required Viewing for Religion Journalism Teachers, Scholars
  5. Reflections on the University of Missouri
  6. Ideas on Transforming Religion News into the Small Journalism Program
  7. Journal of Media and Religion
  8. An Undergraduate’s Reflection on the AEJMC Annual Conference
  9. Opportunities: Jobs
  10. Opportunities: Conferences and Manuscripts
  11. Our new Facebook page!

Finally, we wish you a holiday season filled with happiness, love and peace!

Until 2016,

Dr. Mariam Alkazemi, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Newsletter editor (2015-2016)

Posted in Newsletters.

Minneapolis, MN 2016 AEJMC Paper Competition Uniform Call

The programming groups within the Council of Divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invite submission of original, non-published, English language only research papers to be considered for presentation at the AEJMC Conference, August 4 to 7, 2016, in Minneapolis, MN. Specific requirements for each competition — including limits on paper length — are spelled out in the listing of groups and research chairs that appear below.  Papers are to be submitted in English only.

 

All research papers must be uploaded through an online server to the group appropriate to the paper’s topic via a link on the AEJMC website: www.aejmc.org. The following uniform call will apply to ALL AEJMC paper competitions. Additional information specific to an individual group’s call is available at the end of the uniform call information.

 

  1. Submit the paper via the AEJMC website link (www.aejmc.org) to the AEJMC group appropriate to the paper’s topic. Format should be Word, WordPerfect, or a PDF. PDF format is strongly encouraged.

 

  1. The paper must be uploaded to the server no later than 11:59 P.M. (Central Daylight Time) Wednesday, April 1, 2016.

 

  1. Also upload a paper abstract of no more than 75 words.

 

  1. Completely fill out the online submission form with author(s) name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. The title should be printed on the first page of the text and on running heads on each page of text, as well as on the title page. Do NOT include author’s name on running heads or title page.

 

  1. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION. NOTE: Follow instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind reviewing.

 

  1. Papers are accepted for peer review on the understanding that they are not already under review for other conferences and that they have been submitted to only ONE AEJMC group for evaluation. Papers accepted for the AEJMC Conference should not have been presented to other conferences or published in scholarly or trade journals prior to presentation at the conference.

 

  1. Student papers compete on an equal footing in open paper competitions unless otherwise specified by the individual division or interest group. Individual group specifications are appended to this uniform call.

 

  1. Papers submitted with both faculty and student authors will be considered faculty papers and are not eligible for student competitions.

 

  1. At least one author of an accepted faculty paper must attend the conference to present the paper. If student authors cannot be present, they must make arrangements for the paper to be presented.

 

  1. If a paper is accepted, and the faculty author does not present the paper at the conference, and if a student author does not make arrangements for his/her paper to be presented by another, then that paper’s acceptance status is revoked. It may not be included on a vita.

 

  1. Authors will be advised whether their paper has been accepted By May 20 and may access a copy of reviewers’ comments from the online server. Contact the paper chair if you are not notified or have questions about paper acceptance.

 

Special note: Authors who have submitted papers and have not been notified by May 20, MUST contact the division or interest group paper chair for acceptance information. The AEJMC Central Office may not have this information available.

 

  1. Authors of accepted papers retain copyright of their papers and are free to submit them for publication after presentation at the conference.

 

Important Paper Submissions Information

  • Upload papers for the AEJMC 2016 Minneapolis, MN Conference beginning January 15, 2016. Paper submitters should follow instructions on the front page of the submission site to create your account and complete the information required.

 

  • Deadline for paper submissions is April 1, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Any submissions after this time will not be accepted.

 

  • Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call.

 

  • A COVER SHEET or a sheet with the 75-word required ABSTRACT that is included with a paper upload should be EXCLUDED from the page number limits set by all AEJMC Groups

 

Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. All AEJMC Divisions, Interest Groups and Commission will abide by the rules below WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

 

NOTE: Follow online instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind review at aejmc.org/home/papers. Contact Felicia Greenlee Brown with comments, concerns and other Conference Paper Call inquiries at Felicia@aejmc.org.

Posted in Conferences.

AEJMC 2016 Religion and Media Interest Group

Religion and Media Interest Group

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred). Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered. Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; etc. Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/our-mission-and-goals/. Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions.

The maximum length of research papers is 25-pages, excluding endnotes and tables. The Religion and Media Interest Group also sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. (Note: student papers may not have a faculty co-author.) The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. In order to be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify either a student submission or a faculty submission on the cover page of the paper. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. All paper submissions must follow the 2016 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call.

Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Questions should be submitted to the RMIG Research Chair Joel Campbell at joeljaycampbell [at] gmail [dot] com. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating via e-mail.

Posted in Conferences.

The Increasing Importance of Religious Education for Journalists

By Stephen D. Perry, Ph.D., Associate Dean, Regent University
At my former university, the student wellness offices emphasized seven areas of health. I probably cannot rattle off all seven. Certainly there were the main areas of physical, social, psychological, and nutrition. But one of the other seven listed was “spiritual.” Yes, my state sponsored university’s student wellness office acknowledged that students needed spiritual wellness.

In what ways does our media deal with issues of spiritual wellness? There are programs that deal with such questions such as the current Madame Secretary. In that show, the Secretary of State is married to a professor of religion who often wrestles on the edge of the battle between a religious ethic and serving his country in various capacities. But the way he wrestles with the questions of faith are not purely ideological nor are they portrayed as naive. They are immersed in theological and philosophical depth and nuance and require inward soul searching for the best option between choices that many would see as bad and awful.

Other programs have had their faith moments. House had them. The Simpsons had them. Reality shows like Survivor or The Surreal Life had them. While less central to the storyline in these cases, religion still made its mark.

Another of today’s reality shows is playing out on our 24-hour cable news channels that are covering jihadi bent religious zealots. But the news channels cannot even agree how to discuss the religious motivation of the zealots. One channel regularly uses terms like “radical Muslims” and describes some of their attacks for their religious motivations against Christians, Jews, and even peaceful Muslims. Other channels parrot back the language chosen by the US State Department that largely avoids recognizing that the motivations behind the actions of ISIS are heavily religious.

So what is the result of how the networks handle religion? I believe that without the depth of compassion and nuance exhibited in shows like Madame Secretary, the news coverage is likely causing increasing apathy and skepticism toward religion in viewers.

This is a subject that needs study. How does the media’s lack of clarity and depth on the religious issue simply turn people off toward one of the areas of wellness that everyone needs. Would the media be acting responsibly if it were to increase people’s apathetic response toward exercise or toward vegetables? No! Thus, the First Lady goes around championing healthy eating practices, and the media covers it.

It is time for scholars and media practitioners to stand up and call for religiously astute journalists, both intellectually and experientially, to take major roles in the coverage of the activities of ISIS. Thus, we must train journalists in religion. It should be a strongly encouraged minor or second major. Further, just like we expect diversity in order to properly represent the experiences of different people groups, we need to have religious diversity in the newsroom with journalists reflecting experientially multiple religious perspectives.

Never has there been a time where excellence in reporting on religion was more crucial than in this day. And if I have any ability to look to the future, the need is likely to continue escalating as populations and national boarders continue to change in religiously oriented ways. The RMIG is properly positioned to be at the center of this effort. I encourage you to champion the religious education component for journalists at your universities, and would love to see research and theory advanced on the effects of religious coverage.

Posted in News.

Spotlight: Required Viewing for Religion Journalism Teachers, Scholars

By Debra Mason, Director of the Center of Religion and the Professions, University of Missouri’s School of Journalism

As a religion reporter and director of a professional association of religion journalists, I knew much of what to expect from Spotlight, the critically acclaimed film that details efforts by The Boston Globe’s investigative unit to cover clergy abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

The film, which opened nationwide Nov. 18, details the Globe’s investigation, from its start under then new editor Marty Baron, to the first day of publication in January 2002. The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for its documentation of “systemic” cover-ups of dozens of abusive priests being moved from parish to parish, without criminal charges.

The story line was familiar. In the 2000s, following The Globe’s explosive report, nearly every religion journalist in the country received calls from abuse victims whose complaints had previously gone unreported. Some of us heard from victims decades earlier; for me it was in the late 1980s, when I was a religion beat reporter in Ohio. But the unsealing of court records, pressure from advocacy groups and other changes that opened up troves of documents, moved the story from he-said, she-said, to documented criminal acts more easily reported.

Although documents were more easily found after The Globe coverage, it nonetheless remained grueling to listen to the life-long mental and physical effects of abuse on its victims. The beat lost a number of veteran journalists in the 2000s, victims of burnout from covering clergy abuse day after day. For several years, religion beat reporters wrote of little else.

But what Spotlight does superbly is show some hazards of writing about terrible moral failures of an institution you rely on for spiritual guidance. Each Spotlight team—The Globe’s name for its investigative journalist unit—was raised Roman Catholic. Although most were “lapsed” Catholics, it nonetheless shows the anger, emotional pain and confusion they experienced individually as the magnitude of abuse and coverup became clear.

Covering corruption, hypocrisy, and crime within a faith is a hazard of the religion beat and one caution I share with religion reporting students. Religion beat specialists learn things that make you question, in intimate ways, the meaning of faith, power, human agency, vocation and values. For some, notably former Los Angeles Times Reporter William Lobdell, it’s too much. Lobdell famously wrote the book Losing My Religion, about losing his faith after covering a string of clergy abuse and other stories.

The film also shows, if briefly, how victims of child abuse often struggle with shame, guilt and emotional fragility their entire lives. Substance abuse, suicide and an inability to function in social settings are among the brokenness journalists sometimes encounter among abuse victims. Young journalists, especially, need to see beyond the short-term gain of a story and understand the need to take extra care when reporting on this population.

The movie also doesn’t gloss over problems that exist in every newsroom, with many investigative stories. For example, previous stories about abuse were buried in the Globe’s metro section years earlier. Skeptical colleagues were considerable nay-sayers. The Catholic Church put up repeated road blocks, as did some civil servants.

Finally, as the closing notes say, the Globe did more than 600 followup stories. Many of these were written by Globe Religion Reporter Michael Paulson. Although Michael is only mentioned a couple times in Spotlight, he heavily tracked the impact and followup of the reporting, sharing in the paper’s Pulitzer.

Some of the journalists in real life have complained about their portrayals, so it is important to remember that the story is fictionalized to some extent.

Veteran journalist and trainer Steve Buttry has added his suggestions (https://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/responding-to-spotlight-advice-for-investigating-sexual-abuse-by-clergy/s) for lessons on how to cover clergy abuse. It’s a powerful teaching moment that will remain relevant for years to come.

Posted in News.

Reflections on the University of Missouri

1f19a1bBy Dr. Gregory Perreault
Appalachian State University

As a recent alum of the Missouri School of Journalism doctoral program, I followed the events this November with a mixture of concern and fascination. Great pieces have been presented analyzing the questions regarding race in Missouri and the First Amendment flare up. In particular, many media scholars watched in horror as a fellow mass media scholar and professor, Dr. Melissa Click, asked for some “muscle” to have a student journalist removed from a public space. This blog will not address any of these.

Whether Dr. Click was justified in her emotions (not necessarily her understanding the law) depends entirely on your perspective, but the situation in Missouri begs for us to consider our responsibility as professors.

Being a professor is a great job and I tell that to everyone who will listen. Professors don’t have to sell a certain number of women’s shoes, we don’t have to work the night shift, and we even get health insurance. But the position holds a cultural status and, by extension, responsibility.

indexIn watching the famous video of the student photojournalist’s encounter with Dr. Melissa Click I stopped the video earlier than most when I saw that a former professor and dissertation committee member, Dr. Chip Callahan, was there at the protest raising his arms with the others. When we’re given our job descriptions “protesting with students” is not in there, yet we are asked to be advocates for our students, to mentor them, and to teach them to be citizens and participants in our field. That’s exactly why Click and Callahan were in the place that they were. Similarly, during Missouri’s less publicized protests on graduate student rights, Missouri faculty participated in graduate student walkouts.

Our participation in the causes of our students at once validates their concerns and perhaps, from an administrative standpoint, also lends them a bit of credibility. But once we’re a part of such causes, we must be cautious about our actions. Click may not lose her job, but she will have to go through the process of a Title IX proceeding for her physical handling of a student.

Similarly, one nutrition professor had an exam the day after the protests, and in the midst of troubling racially charged responses that followed the events in Missouri, he refused to cancel the exam. Several students argued that they were afraid to come to campus because of threats of a school shooting following the ouster of System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin. The professor responded:

“If you give in to bullies, they win. The only way bullies are defeated is by standing up to them. If we cancel the exam, they win; if we go through with it, they lose,” Dr. Dale Brigham wrote in an email.

Under pressure from students and social media, he submitted his resignation later that day (although the university did not ultimately accept it).

This event struck home to me in that his idealistic response sounds exactly like something I would have said. I often envision my role as an instructor as one of a coach—pushing my students be their best and to face obstacles like they would face opponents in a football game. Yet the students’ frustration with their professor was entirely justified because it wasn’t a game. And like the professor, I as a white male, have not idea what it is like to fear being shot trying to do my job and for no other reason than the color of my skin.

Such events beg us to consider what roles we can play to better mentor our students and validate their concerns, while continuing to hold ourselves to the high professional standards implicit in our position.

Posted in Professional Development.

Ideas on Transforming Religion News into the Small Journalism Program

By:Julia Duin, RMIG Member and Snedden Fellow
Journalism Department at the University of Alaska

The Religion and Media and Small Programs interest groups combined forces on the last day of the recent AEJMC conference  to present “Putting Religion into the Nut Graph: Ideas on Transforming Religion News into the Small Journalism Program. The panel was proposed by Julia Duin, who taught at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks during the 2014-2015 year. As one of the panelists, she offered research naming specific general journalism textbooks commonly used on college campuses and how none of them teach on religion reporting.

Other panelists included Wally Metts, of Spring Arbor University; Regent University professor Stephen Perry and Biola University professor Michael Loginow. What follows is the part of Julia Duin’s presentation that would interest R&M members:

I suggested this panel because I was so disgusted with the lack of any kind of instruction on religion reporting in the typical journalism textbook. There are chapters on sports writing, business writing and several other specialties in these textbooks. But to paraphrase the late George Cornell of the Associated Press whose famous 1994 piece comparing money spent on religion vs sports, people spend millions on sports but billions on religion. This priority is not reflected in the typical basic journalism text.

I’ve taught religion writing at two different places: the University of Maryland and the University of Alaska. The latter, located in Fairbanks and known as UAF, is where I’ve been this past year. Both times, I had to put together 15 weeks of instruction not only about how to report on various religions but also some basic information about the religions themselves. Fortunately, I’ve master’s degrees in both journalism and religion and have covered religion for more than 40 years.

Most students at state universities, I’ve found, know next to nothing about religion and even at a Baptist university where I taught two years ago, their knowledge was limited to their own group. When I’ve taught other journalism courses, there’s been no lack of textbooks to use. In teaching religion reporting, there’s very little out there. I spent the early part of this summer going through every textbook I could find. I split them into before 9/11 and after 9/11. As for the “before” ones, you’d expect the investigative ones to have something on religion. Cults have been big since the 1970s, so this omission was inexcusable. Even advanced reporting textbooks like “Getting the Story: An Advanced Reporting Guide to Beats, Records and Sources (McMillan Publishing Co., 1994) had sections on labor, business, education, environment, science, medicine and health. Religion wasn’t even mentioned in the index!

The only thing out there – and this was published in 1995 – was Judith Buddenbaum’s Reporting News About Religion.

As for the post-9/11 – and post Catholic sex abuse crisis which came to a head in 2002 – textbooks, the choices weren’t much better. For instance, recent editions of Marvin Mencher’s News Reporting and Writing book has whole chapters on sports and business reporting and education. He briefly mentions religious stereotyping, mentions creation science in the education chapter and gives a half page to religion in an ethics chapter way at the end of the book. Specifically, it was the last chapter and it’s called “The Morality of Journalism.” As most of us know, it’s the rare journalism class that deals with the final chapters in a textbook.

Tim Harrower’s Inside Reporting book, which is very popular and has cool graphics, has sections on covering meetings, politics and sports. On one page, they list other specialized beats, including religion, environment, children/families, obits, health, biz and education.

John Bender’s Writing and Reporting for the Media, which is one of my favorites, does say in a chapter on feature reporting that you might have to cover Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah and St. Patrick’s Day but makes NO mention of the religious beliefs behind these days and how to be on the alert for them.

I also checked out News Reporting and Writing, published by the Missouri Group. They had chapters on sports and business but only threw in two mentions of religion in a chapter on ethics.

And then there’s Routledge, which has specialty books on everything from AIDS, health, Bollywood and digital storytelling to family communication, climate change in China and family communication language in public spaces in Japan. Also, business, cyberspace law, gender, branding, comics and graphic novels. I went through 840 listings to find Daniel Short’s 2012 book Media and Religion, which includes chapters on world religions and denominations, cultural religion, the Internet and entertainment and the media. I’d like to know if anyone is using it but I will suggest that its $41.95 price tag is high. That is the closest to a recent textbook. There were related titles such as Mindful Journalism and New Ethics in a Digital Era: A Buddhist ApproachReligion and HipHop,Japanese Religion on the Internet and God, Jews and the Media, which is about religion and Israeli media. All very interesting but none are quite what I’d need for a beginner course on the God beat.

And then there’s the ReligionLink web site, which has suggestions and resources for everything from Pope Francis’ “going green” encyclical to a religion stylebook, reporting guides and a religion primer by Debra Mason and the late Diane Connolly. Some things are very up-to-date; other things like the religion calendar, are not. But it’s the main game in town.

As good as many of these resources are, they’re not part of the main course for the typical college journalist. We’re out there as a specialty but we’re not good enough to be included up there with politics, sports and business.  I’m thinking the answer is not to write yet another textbook on religion reporting but to think up ways to get a chapter in existing textbooks. Some of these are already adding material on gender, which is a much newer subject area than religion. If we do not strategize how to do this, we may lose this opportunity forever.

 

Posted in News.

Journal of Media and Religion

The latest issue of the Journal of Media and Religion centers on a topic long ignored in scholarly journals: The teaching of religion and news.

The Journal of Media and Religion’s Vol. 14, No. 3 issue, published by Taylor and Francis, includes an analysis of religion and media syllabus plus a study of religious literacy among journalism students.

Debra L. Mason of University of Missouri served as guest editor and writes an introductory review of the topic. Articles include one by Louisville’s John Ferré on using games to help his students understand religion. An article by Dan Stout of BYU Hawaii looks at the use of drama to teach about religion. Greg Perreault from Appalachian State has an anlaysis of religion and media syllabi, while Jeremy Litteau from Lehigh reports the results of a religious literacy survey of college students, including journalism students.

Check your library for availability or order a copy directly from Taylor and Francis: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjmr20/current.

Posted in News.

An Undergraduate’s Reflection on the AEJMC Annual Conference

By: Amr A. Elafifi, Undergraduate Research Ambassador, University of Kansas

In my first semester, I enrolled in an independent study because I needed an extra class. Every semester since, I’ve been able to work on a research project with a fellow student or a faculty member. Research is a daunting process full of obscurities and gaps to be investigated that often are not expressed in textbooks or even classrooms. The critical skills higher education allegedly supplements its students could be overseen by the degree of certainty expressed by professors throughout one’s college career.

The project my co-author and I presented last August taught me a lot. I learned how to construct a survey, write consent forms, fill out IRB applications and dig for literature. I had to contact over a hundred journalists in Egypt and follow-up with them regarding any questions they had about the project. Most of the work I did he could’ve done in half the time; but he took the time to help me. His encouragement and patience were crucial.

My co-author was a graduate teaching assistant with which I was acquainted with, but involving undergraduate students doesn’t always have to go this route. Assignments in methods classes could be structured to investigate a particular question and finally written cohesively into a research paper, or a reasonable start to one. Specifically in Media Studies, professors have the opportunity to teach students how to code texts, construct surveys, or hold scholarly interviews. In large introductory classes, teaching assistants could speak to students about their own research. This is particularly important for journalism and other fields that don’t have typical labs, as many of the students we speak to don’t know that research in these fields exist. Students could be encouraged to attend brown-bag sessions where graduate students share their work or even graduate-level classes. Departments can also offer scholarships to undergraduate researchers to incentivize students to work on research, which should not be too hard because most professors I’ve dealt with have been very kind, encouraging, and supportive.

This semester, I am an undergraduate research ambassador at the University of Kansas. As ambassadors we are hired by the Center of Undergraduate Research to visit classes and talk to the students about research and how they could get involved. The office has research awards (worth $1,000) and travel awards (worth $500) that we promote too. Finally, we help organize events that host work that is being done to encourage students.

Finally, attending an academic conference was important to me because it humanized a very abstract academic community I aspire to be a part of. The most enjoyable part of the conference was witnessing the professor’s curiosity closely and their critical faculties coming to play. In a presentation on oral histories for instance, the presenter and a faculty member attending had a heated discussion about the real difference between it and long journalistic stories. Furthermore, I was able to meet some of the scholars I’d only known through their work—which was very inspiring.

At the time of this writing, college campuses are undergoing political contentions, as are some cities around the country. If there is an epistemic value to a democracy we can truly appreciate and live with, it is one that must be characterized be deepened respect and understanding. That is, one that does not appreciate fetishized generalization. This is perhaps the timeliest reason why the tools deeper readings and critical assessments should be shared with students.

 

Posted in News.

Opportunities: Jobs

According to the website of the U.S. News and World Report, Seton Hall University has a Roman Catholic religious affiliation. The new College of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University is has publicized several open positions:

Founding Dean, College of Communication and the Arts

Associate Professor of Graduate Communication

Assistant Professor of Journalism

Assistant Professor of Public Relations

Faculty Associate of Digital Film & Television Production

For more information on these openings, please go to: https://jobs.shu.edu

***

Also, Pepperdine University has an Organizational Communication/Public Relations position open. The Communication Division invites applications for a tenure-track appointment in public relations and organizational communication, beginning in the fall of 2016. The successful candidate will be able to teach several courses within our majors including, but not limited to, Principles of Public Relations, Public Relations Writing and Media, Public Relations Strategies and Tactics, Organizational Theory, and Training and Development. Additional courses might include communication theory, research and ethics. The successful candidate will also serve as an academic adviser for students and co-adviser of Waves PRSSA and/or The Waves Effect, the integrated student-run strategic communication firm. Documented research interest, teaching experience, and professional experience in public relations are required. Ph.D. or Ed.D is required.

Pepperdine’s undergraduate Seaver College is a residential liberal arts college of nearly 3400 students situated in Malibu, Calif. The successful candidate should be able to express a commitment to Christian mission of the university. We encourage applications from persons with diverse backgrounds and cultural experiences, including women and persons of color.  Application review began November 1 and will continue until a candidate has been selected. For more information contact Search Committee Chair Michael Murrie (Michael[dot]murrie[at]pepperdine[dot]edu).

***

The Pew Research Center has listed 15 positions in public opinion and media research.  Some of these positions involve analyses of religious populations or survey data.  The qualifications for the positions vary, and various types of degree holders are encouraged to apply.  For more information, please visit http://www.pewresearch.org/about/careers/.

***

Finally, the Department of Communication Studies at New Mexico State University invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor, beginning August 2016, with primary teaching and research interests in communication technology and a preferred secondary interest in persuasion, political, health, interpersonal, or culture. The position requires a Ph.D. in Communication, excellence in teaching, and excellent references. Ability and willingness to teach quantitative or qualitative research methods courses is desirable. Evidence of or the initiation of programmatic research is also required. A history of external funding and/or an interest in pursuing such funding is preferred.

 

For complete job description and to apply visit https://jobs.nmsu.edu, position number #1500142. For more information contact search committee chair Dr. Greg G. Armfield at Armfield@NMSU.edu. Please attach the following documents to your online application: 1) letter of interest, 2) curriculum vitae, 3) evidence of teaching effectiveness, 4) example of scholarship, 5) unofficial transcripts, and 6) a list of three references including contact information. Deadline date: January 4, 2016.

 

 

Posted in News.

Our new Facebook page!

We have begun post articles on the Religion and Media Interest Group’s Facebook page that our membership may find interesting.  These posts vary in nature for several reasons.  First, we hope that the media coverage of religion and religious groups can be used as examples for those teaching Religion and Media.  Second, we hope that the curiosity of our membership may result in posing research questions that can be further current understandings of interactions between media and religion.  Finally, the diversity of the news coverage posted is meant to be inclusive and create opportunity for intellectual consideration of media and religion.

In addition to posting about Pope Francis’ trip to the United States, we are posting about less frequently covered events.  These events include violence at times.  For example, the attack of a Catholic mission in Bangladesh.  Other times, the posts discuss social trends about the growth of minority faiths in the United States. While some articles may exemplify the emergence of religious coverage in sports news, others may pose philosophical questions about the challenges of religion in contemporary society.

We invite you to like our Facebook page to join in on the discussion!

Posted in News.

Opportunities: Conferences and Manuscripts

Below, you will find the titles of the calls for papers that will be found below.

  1. World Journalism Education Congress
  2. Call for Manuscripts- Teaching from the Heart
  3. Call for Chapters: Book about journalists’ beliefs and work
  4. International Association for Media and Communication Research  
  5. Call for Papers gamevironments. games, religion, and stuff 

World Journalism Education Congress

Identity and Integrity in Journalism Education
July 14-16, 2016, Auckland, New Zealand

Call for Abstracts

The fourth World Journalism Education Congress will be held at the Auckland University of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand between July 14 and 16, 2016. It follows the successful third congress held in Mechelen, Belgium, in July 2013. (For details see www.wjec.aut.ac.nz and http://wjec.ou.edu/congress.php)

With the support of journalism education organizations worldwide,* the Congress is designed to provide a discussion forum on common issues and interests and a foundation for supporting the continuing development of journalism and journalism education around the globe.

The WJEC is inviting academic paper abstracts related to the wider issue of journalism education for presentation as refereed research papers at the conference.

Abstracts will be accepted on any topics related to mass communication but submitters are encouraged to focus their submissions on the broader conference theme, “Identity and Integrity in Journalism Education” and to specifically relate their work to:

Mobile/Social/User-generated Media and Journalism

Research Trends in Journalism

Utilizing the Professional Connection in Journalism Education

21st Century Ethical Issues in Journalism

Journalism Education and an Informed Citizenry

Journalism Programs Offered by the Industry

Journalism Education in the South Pacific

Journalism Education in Asia

Abstract submission guidelines: WJEC invites interested presenters to electronically submit abstracts only (minimum 500 words; maximum 800 words) by December 1, 2015.

The abstracts should give a clear sense of the scope of the research, research objectives and method of inquiry. If researchers have completed their projects by the submission deadline, paper abstracts should also include research results and conclusions/discussion. Full papers are due June 1, 2016 to be eligible for publication in the online conference proceedings.

Submission process: To submit a paper abstract, go to www.wjec.aut.ac.nz and follow the directions. Note the following:

Ensure that the document you upload does NOT include ANY information that identifies you or your affiliation/institution. Abstracts submitted with author identifiable information will automatically be removed from the pool of submissions and will neither be considered for review nor possible inclusion in the conference program;

Ensure that you add ALL required information in the form you fill out before uploading your paper abstract. This enables the conference organizers to keep track of individual authors and their abstracts. Ensure the email address you include is the one you want the organizers to communicate with you about your submission and where you will receive a confirmation once you have successfully submitted your abstract.

Review process: A panel of international judges will blind-review all submissions. Paper selections will be finalized by the end of January 2016 and presenters will be informed accordingly.

For more information about the 2016 WJEC in Auckland please contact the Steering Committee Chair, Verica Rupar (Verica.rupar@aut.ac.nz)

For more information about the call for paper abstracts please contact the Paper Competition Chair, Elanie Steyn (elanie@ou.edu).

*The World Journalism Education Council (WJEC) is a coalition of 32 academic associations worldwide that are involved in journalism and mass communication at the university level. They include: African Council on Communication Education (ACCE), Arab-U.S. Association for Communication Educators, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Association for Journalism Education (U.K.), Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC), Brazilian Society of Interdisciplinary Studies on Communication (Intercom Brazil), Broadcast Education Association (BEA), Canadian Committee for Education in Journalism (CCEJ), Chinese Journalism Education Association, Chinese Communication Association (CCA), European Journalism Training Association (EJTA), Global Network for Professional Education in Journalism and Media (JourNet), Israel Communication Association, Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication (JSSJMC), Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA), Journalism Education Association of New Zealand, Journalism Research and Education Section International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Journalism Studies Section, European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies, Latin American Association of Communication Researchers (ALAIC), Latin American Federation of Social Communication Schools (FELAFACS), Nigerian Association of Journalism and Mass Communication Teachers, Nordic Journalism Training Association, Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE), Russian Association for Education in Journalism, Russian Association for Film & Media Education, Saudi Association for Media & Communication, Scientific and Methodological Communication in Journalism and Information, South African Communication Association, and Theophraste Network.

Call for Manuscripts- Teaching from the Heart

We are pleased to announce that we are soliciting teaching activities for our new book entitled, “Teaching from the Heart & Learning to Make a Difference: Teaching the Introductory Communication Course through Critical Communication Pedagogy” to be published in 2016 through Cognella. We are looking for classroom activities that have an explicit social-justice focus. Please submit format the submission according to CSCA’s GIFTS format:

– Title of the activity
– Course(s) for which this activity is intended
– Objective(s) of the activity
– Rationale for conducting the activity
– Description of the activity, including any preparation/preliminary steps and materials needed
– Debriefing of the activity, including typical results
– Appraisal of the activity, including any limitations or variations
– References and/or Suggested Readings

Submissions should be no more than 1,200 words excluding references/title information, completely original, and not under consideration at another outlet (e.g., Communication Teacher).
Submissions will be reviewed by the author team. Please submit your manuscript by December 1st 2015. Please send submissions and/or questions to ckylerudick@gmail.com.

Call for Chapters: Book about journalists’ beliefs and work

Professors Eric Freedman (Michigan State University), Robyn Goodman (Alfred University) and Elanie Steyn (University of Oklahoma) are developing a proposal for a research-grounded book about global perspectives on how professional journalists do their jobs and what they believe.

We are looking for proposals for chapters of about 3,000 words based on your latest research and insights that fit such themes as:

  1. Journalists’ attitudes toward their jobs, including economics, professional standards, contribution to society.
    2. Impact of industry changes on professionals.
    3.      Professional ethics.
    4.      Gender and minority issues in the newsroom and in the profession.
    5.      Impact on journalists of censorship, self-censorship and other constraints on press freedom.
    6.      Training for professional journalists.
    7.      Adaptation to rapidly changing technologies.
    8.      Physical safety in conflict and war zones.
    9.      Unionization and professional organizations.
    10.  Coping with psychological pressures.
    11.  Use of user-generated content.

We are looking for a broad geographic range of chapters. Our primary focus is on journalists themselves, not their news organizations and not journalism students or faculty.

If you are interested in our reviewing a chapter proposal, please email us:

  • A working title of your chapter
    • An abstract of 100-200 words
    •         The names and affiliations of the chapter authors
    •         The CVs of the chapter authors
    •         If your chapter would be based on a recently presented paper or published article, please attach a copy.

Deadline: March 15, 2016

Email submissions to all three editors: freedma5[at]msu[dot]edu, fgoodman[at]alfred[dot]edu and elanie[at]ou[dot]edu.

International Association for Media and Communication Research  

The IAMCR Emerging Scholars Network Section (ESN) welcomes submissions for the 2016

Annual Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) to be held from 27 to 31 July, 2016 at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Conference theme: “Memory, Commemoration and Communication: Looking Back, Looking Forward

See the conference key dates and deadlines: http://iamcr.org/leicester2016/keydates

See all Calls for Papers for IAMCR 2016: http://iamcr.org/leicester2016/cfp

Visit the conference website: http://iamcr.org/leicester2016

We invite you to submit abstracts (250-300 words) of your research papers. We welcome submissions on a variety of topics pertinent to communication and media studies research. We also encourage submissions that address this year’s conference theme “Memory, Commemoration and Communication: Looking Back, Looking Forward”. For more information on this year’s conference theme, please refer to the general conference CfP available here.

The deadline for abstracts submission is 15 February 2016 via the Open Conference System (OCS). Submissions must include author name(s), affiliation, address, e-mail address, and paper title. Please note that this deadline will not be extended. Individual papers and panels are possible, but all proposals must be submitted through the OCS from 1 December 2015 to 15 February 2016. Early submission is strongly encouraged. There are to be no email submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head.

An author can submit a maximum of two (2) abstracts to two (2) separate sections or working groups. It is expected that for the most part, only one (1) abstract will be submitted per person for consideration by the Conference. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same applicant either individually or as part of any group of authors. Please also note that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to other Sections or Working Groups of the Association for consideration. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be automatically rejected by the Open Conference System, by the relevant Head or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Such applicants risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.

Upon submission of an abstract, you will be asked to confirm that your submission is original and that it has not been previously published in the form presented. You will also be given an opportunity to declare if your submission is currently before another conference for consideration.

Unlike other sections of IAMCR, if you are submitting a work in progress, ESN welcomes your submission! Please state that it is a work in progress in your abstract. Please bear in mind, however, that presenters are expected to bring to the conference work that has reached some degree of development. Prior to the conference, each presenter needs to upload a completed paper to the OCS. Discussant feedback has a special place in ESN and is often provided by Chairs of other sections or working groups that ESN members may wish to join. Therefore, a timely submission of the full paper ensures comments and questions by esteemed senior scholars in the field.

This year, ESN will host two co-sponsored sessions. We welcome submissions that tackle the intersections of gender, identity and sexuality with media and communication processes for our joint panel with the Gender and Communication Section. We also welcome submissions that examine regulatory and legal frameworks for media and communication from a wide range of conceptual and methodological perspectives for a joint panel with IAMCR’s Law Section entitled “Emerging Scholars’ Panel on Communication Law.” Please indicate in your abstract if you would like to be considered for any of these joint sessions.

Decisions on acceptance of abstracts will be communicated to individual authors by the Section co-chairs on 8 April 2016. For those whose abstracts are accepted, conference papers are to be submitted by June 30, 2015.

Conference registration will be open in March 2016. Please make sure to inform ESN co-chairs if you are unable to present your paper at the conference by April 28, 2016 at the latest.  Failure to do so disrupts the flow of the conference and is disrespectful to fellow presenters. It may also result in a suspension to present at the following IAMCR conference.

About ESN

ESN (http://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/emerging-scholars-network-section/home) is a section dedicated to the work and careers of emerging scholars in the field of media studies and communication.

Therefore, we especially look for works in progress from graduate students and new university instructors/professors who are interested in substantial feedback and comments intended to advance their projects.

The ESN organizes emerging scholar panels and joint panels with other sections. Our emerging scholar panels provide a comfortable environment for the presentation of theses and works in progress, where emerging scholars can receive feedback from colleagues also at the beginning of their careers and from senior scholars who act as respondents to individual papers.

In line with the purpose of our section, the ESN also organizes panels and special sessions about issues affecting emerging scholars, such as:

Publishing research results;

Mentoring and the Student-mentor relationship;

Academic work and academic jobs;

Neoliberalism in the academy;

Language barriers in academia.

These panels often feature conversations between senior scholars, emerging scholars, and/or practitioners of media and communication professions.

Further announcements on panels and events on such topics, and practical information on the ESN mentorship programme, will follow over the coming months. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact the section co-chairs Francesca Musiani <francesca.musiani(at)cnrs.fr> and Sandra Ristovska <sristovska(at)asc.upenn.edu>.

Important dates and deadlines to keep in mind:

1 December 2015 Open Computer System (OCS) available for abstract submission
15 February 2016 Deadline for submissions
8 April 2016 Notification of acceptances of abstracts
15 April 2016 Deadline to apply for travel grants and awards
28 April 2016 Deadline to confirm your participation
20 May 2016 Last day to register at discounted early-bird fee
30 June 2016 Deadline for full paper submission
7 July 2016 Final conference programme published on the website
27-31 July 2016 IAMCR 2016 Conference

 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS: Feminist Media Histories: An International Journal/

Special Issue on Middle Eastern Media

Guest Editor: **Eylem Atakav

We invite proposals for a special issue of /Feminist Media Histories/ devoted to Middle Eastern Media.  Considerations of difference in religion, nationality, race and ethnicity remain crucial to interrogating feminist media histories across diverse social and political contexts.  This special issue will explore feminist media histories in the Middle East, through an examination of different media forms, practices, audiences, and institutions.  We are interested in articles that are historical in scope and that consider a range of media including film, television, radio, video, playable media, and digital technology.

 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

* women’s media production and pioneers
* feminist activism and/in the media
* women’s use of media
* gender politics, cultural identity and the media
* women as consumers of media

 

We are also interested in photo essays, oral history interviews, and reprints of notable original documents.

Interested contributors should *contact guest editor Eylem Atakav* directly, sending a 300-word proposal no later than *February 1, 2016: *E.Atakav [at] uea [dot] ac [dot] uk.**Contributors will be notified by March 1, 2016; articles will be due June 1, 2016.

 

Feminist Media Histories is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to feminist histories of film, video, audio, and digital technologies across a range of periods and global contexts. Inter-medial and trans-national in approach, Feminist Media Histories examines the historical role gender has played in varied media technologies, and documents women’s engagement with these media as audiences and users, creators and executives, critics and theorists, technicians and laborers, educators and activists. Feminist Media Histories is published by the University of California Press. More information is available here: http://fmh.ucpress.edu/content/submit

 

 

Call for Papers gamevironments. games, religion, and stuff Papers Due: 15.01.2016

 

The online journal gamevironments, http://www.gamevironments.org/, highlighting video gaming as related to religion, culture, and society, invites paper submissions for its next regular issue.

As the journal’s title suggests, researching video games by today is not limited to the established media-centered approaches. On the contrary, also the ‘games/gaming’ – ‘environments’ and actor-centered approaches need to be highlighted. Gamevironments consist of both, the technical environments of video games/gaming and the cultural environments of video games/gaming. The journal welcomes contributions applying all approaches and highlighting all fields of investigation related to video games/gaming and religion, culture, and society in the diverse global video game and gaming landscape.

We include different categories of texts in the journal: regular academic articles, interviews (f.e. with games designers), research reports, book reviews and game reviews. For more information, please see http://www.gamevironments.org/?page_id=61.

15.01.2016 Full Chapter Submission
28.02.2016 Review Results Returned
30.04.2016 Revised Chapter Submission
31.06.2016 Online Publication

 

If you have any questions, for instance if you want to discuss your paper idea or abstract prior to submission, don’t hesitate to contact us: radde [at] uni-bremen [dot] de.

 

 

Posted in Call for papers.

2015 Fall Newsletter

Welcome to the Fall 2015 Newsletter! In this issue, we have:

  1.  A column with ideas on how to make the study of religion and the media more pragmatic by Dan Stout, the Head of the Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG).
  2.  A call for panel proposals due on October 2, 2015 for the next annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
  3. Opportunities for faculty jobs and research.
  4. RMIG officer information for the 2015-2016 year.
  5. A summary of RMIG membership meeting at the 2015 AEJMC convention.
  6. A column by a the owner of the Arizona Muslim Voice.
  7.  Also do you like our Facebook page? We have been posting interesting articles involving religion and the media in the world press–including Pope Francis’ travel plans in his upcoming trip to the United States.

To read the articles above, simply click on the link and it will take you to the individual post.

Sincerely,

Mariam Alkazemi
Newsletter editor (2015-2016)

 

Posted in Newsletters.

AEJMC 2015- Membership Meeting

The slides summarizing the Religion and Media Ineterest Group membership meeting at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications’ annual convention in August 2015 can be found here.

Posted in News, Other RMIG Documents.

Panel Proposals due Oct. 2

Aloha RMIG Colleagues:

It’s not too early to think about the upcoming AEJMC Conference in Minneapolis, Minn.  Aug. 4-7, 2016 . Please submit your panel proposal to RMIG by October 2, 2016. In an era where religion is as salient as politics in world public affairs, we have the chance to create an outstanding 2016 program.

 Please also consider proposing a pre-conference off-site tour or session on Aug. 3. These do not count against RMIG’s total number of sponsored or co-sponsored panels.

http://www.slideshare.net/JoelCampbell/2016-religion-and-media-interest-group-call-for-panel-sessions-and-preconference-activities-aejmc

 Dan Stout
BYU Hawaii
RMIG Head

Joel Campbell
BYU
Vice Head

Posted in Call for papers, Conferences.

Lessons from John Dewey: Media and Religion is a Vibrant Research Field, but is it a Pragmatic One?

Philosopher John Dewey argued that the value of research and theory rests in pragmatics or the degree that they are experienced in everyday life.

Philosopher John Dewey argued that the value of research and theory rests in pragmatics or the degree that they are experienced in everyday life.

From the Interest Group Head

Lessons from John Dewey: Media and Religion is a Vibrant Research Field, but is it a Pragmatic One?

By: Daniel A. Stout, BYU-Hawaii

Commencing a new year in the Religion and Media Interest Group, I’m mindful of our progress in the last two decades. As the new head of the organization, my first column flows out of experiences stored up over years of working with so many of you. Not long ago the topic of media and religion was missing from the AEJMC conference program. Few articles, books, and university courses. Much has changed; research abounds, and a scholarly journal houses much of our literature. In contemporary culture, media use is changing, and religiosity reveals much about the cultural shifts bringing this about. While popular media often treat our subject superficially, our work provides deeper descriptions of religious audiences, more precise depictions of denominations, and credible theorizing in a digital age comparable in its societal impact to the industrial revolution. I wonder, however, if the pragmatic dimension lags behind our research contributions. If the preeminent pragmatist of the Chicago School of Sociology John Dewey observed our work, he might praise the productivity yet question the degree of its application. Do our graduates apply or at the very least think with the concepts we write about while working in media industries and fulfilling roles as conscientious citizens? As Dewey’s Art and Pragmatics stresses experiential engagement as the sine qua non of popular culture, it behooves us to ask: Are students equipped to experience ideas about media and religion upon leaving the university?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner laments, “Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” Such is the gulf between much of media – religion research, and the need to insert it into the classroom. Research should not be confined to journals; we have a moral obligation to tell pupils what we know. This came up in a doctoral seminar at Rutgers when my professor Stan Dietz, former president of the International Communication Association (ICA), was distressed about the absence of current research in basic textbooks. He challenged textbook author Joseph Devito on this point at a conference, who replied that undergraduates aren’t ready for sophisticated scholarly studies. When Dietz disagreed, Devito challenged him to write such a research-based primer, which Dietz ultimately did. The point is, our field will not progress without a rich discussion of the latest studies with students, who in turn, give such concepts life as journalists, public relations practitioners, and other roles including citizens and family members. We are poised to tackle the pragmatics dimension in the next phase of our work.

In short, pragmatics is the application of theory and the expectation our ideas will find their way into actual experience. Where do we begin to make this happen? How do we give research life, and not let it die on the vine? While good ideas inevitably surface, curricula provide outlets for important discussion among students and faculty, who, gradually diffuse ideas into the larger community. Here are some ideas toward this end:

  • Create a course on media and religion. While the number of schools offering such courses has grown, many do not yet offer such classes. If your institution has a course, teach it regularly and update material as needed.
  • Engage deans, chairs, and faculty members in discussions about the subject of media and religion. Be assertive in making our case. Decision-makers are often unfamiliar with the literature and theoretical underpinnings of the field, despite the fact that religion has risen in importance comparable to politics in world public affairs. As head of the interest group this year, I plan to discuss our discipline with academic stakeholders, informing them about RMIG and our progress.
  • Offer lectures and special presentations at your university. Many students will opt out of the media and religion course, so speakers and panel discussions are effective ways of reaching the larger campus community.
  • Host a one-day RMIG meets once a year, so smaller conferences provide additional forums for research presentations and student involvement. Elon University has hosted such events as has BYU with its “Mormon Media Studies Conference.”
  • Invite interested colleagues to the 2016 AEJMC conference in Minneapolis and to join RMIG. Be a mentor. Begin new collaborations. Submit panel ideas and invite professors outside the interest group to participate. Encourage graduate students to submit papers and participate in panels.

Bridging our research to the pragmatic realm of students’ everyday experience won’t occur over night.  In the general field, ideas such as diffusion, elaboration likelihood model, interpretive community, integrated marketing communication, postmodern theory, and others have made the leap from the Academy to pragmatic use in the larger society. This would not have happened without a prior presence in the university curriculum.

Returning to Dewey, theory and experience have no distinction:

“Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of the man who speaks them but does them not.” There will come a time when our ideas are put into practice on a grander scale. Professionals, theologians, and politicians will seek us out as they ponder the media – religion question. This requires bolder action on our part including accelerated efforts to make our case for greater prominence in communication programs. Take a dean to lunch this week!

 

Posted in News.

Like Our Facebook Page!

Did you know about the Religion and Media Interest Group Facebook page?

Starting this fall, our Facebook presence is growing.  In addition to publicizing our activities, we are including numerous examples of media coverage of religion.  Please like our page and read our newsletter!

We also have some great resources on our newsletter that can be helpful.  Some syllabi are available for different courses and you can access that  (http://www.religionandmedia.org/syllabi/).  Further, there are other resources for teaching (http://www.religionandmedia.org/resources-for-reporting-religion-news/).  We encourage you to check out our website (www.religionandmedia.org) and to follow us on Facebook!

If you have any ideas, questions or concerns, please send us a a message and we will be happy to consider your suggestions.

 

Posted in News.

Opportunities: Jobs and Research

Trinity University

San Antonio, Texas
Advertising
Tenure Track Assistant Professor
Fall 2016
Department of Communication

Communication: Trinity University. Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Communication, Fall 2016. Ph.D. required by August start date. Teach six undergraduate classes per year (9 contact hours per semester) with primary teaching responsibilities in the theory, critical study, and practice of advertising.

Candidates would be expected to (a) develop and teach courses in advertising principles, strategy, analytics, and/or copywriting, (b) be active in teaching core communication courses in the department, and (c) contribute to teaching courses in the university’s interdisciplinary general education program. Because our department values the integration of theory and practice, at least one year of professional experience in advertising is strongly preferred.

Trinity University is an independent, highly selective, primarily undergraduate liberal arts and sciences institution with an ideal student-faculty ratio, and excellent facilities, equipment, and services. Embracing the liberal arts and sciences mission of the university, the Department of Communication stresses an integrated, non-sequenced approach to its curriculum. Students in Communication at Trinity build their major upon three core courses: Mass Media, Media Interpretation and Criticism, and Media Audiences. They complete the major by undertaking a Senior Capstone Seminar where they synthesize their understanding of communication theories and practices into a substantial academic, professional, or creative project.

Deadline for receipt of applications is Monday, October 5, 2015.

Women, minorities, and applicants who demonstrate substantial interdisciplinary or liberal arts experience at any level are encouraged to apply. Send letter of application, curriculum vitae, three letters of recommendation, graduate institution transcript(s), a sample of written work, samples of advertising course syllabi, and teaching evaluations from those courses (if available) to Dr. Jennifer Henderson, Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200, jennifer.henderson@trinity.edu. Electronic submissions preferred. EEO Employer.

 

 

Saint Mary’s College of California

Assistant Professor Tenure Track, Global Communication, School of Liberal Arts

Closing Date/Time: Sat. 10/31/15 11:59 PM Pacific Time

Faculty contractual responsibilities are equivalent to seven (7) courses each academic year. Typical teaching load is six (6) courses with one (1) additional course equivalent reassigned for dedicated work with students. This position is primarily responsible for instruction and curricular development for courses in public communication with an emphasis on contemporary global media. We are particularly interested in scholars with an emphasis in non-Western countries and contexts. A strong commitment to the Communication field is important with demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: a) theories and practices of journalism and mass media, b) transnational/transcultural critique, d) strategic mediated communication for social change, e) social movements theory, or f) political economics of global media industries.

While the candidate must have knowledge and experience in teaching their area of specialization within the context of a Public Communication curriculum, a strong understanding and commitment to the broader components of the Communication field is also desired to allow for instruction in general courses within the department, such as lower division intro courses and Senior Capstone, as well as mentoring of internships in the media, and academic advising for undergraduate majors.

Faculty are expected to regularly participate in two core liberal arts programs, the Collegiate Seminar Great Books Programs and the January Term and serve the College on committees and engage in scholarly activities. The work is collegial in a highly collaborative and culturally diverse campus environment. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the mission of the College, which is informed, animated and expressed through its Catholic, Lasallian and Liberal Arts traditions.

Experience and Qualifications:
Candidates must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in Communication or related field with evidenced teaching experience and scholarship. Candidates must hold a strong commitment to student-centered teaching and research and professional activity at the national level. Candidates should also be committed to a liberal arts education and are expected to participate in departmental and College service activities. Appreciation of and deep respect for the learning/teaching environment and for the students, staff and faculty who comprise it and the willingness to embrace the Lasallian commitment to teaching and learning is required. Demonstrated commitment and success working in diverse, multicultural communities, preferably in higher education settings should be apparent.

For more information and to apply, visit http://apptrkr.com/631984

Consideration and review of applications will begin immediately and continue until filled.

For earliest consideration and possible interview at the NCA conference, apply by October 1, 2015. For further information, please contact Lori Erokan at le6@stmarys-ca.edu, (925) 631-4048.

 

John Carroll University

 

Associate or Assistant Professor of Communication-Integrated Marketing Communication

The Russert Department of Communication and Theatre Arts seeks a candidate for a full-time tenure track position at the Associate or Assistant Professor level to teach in the Integrated Marketing Communication track both at the undergraduate and Master’s levels. The successful candidate will possess the following minimum qualifications: PhD in Integrated Marketing Communication, Public Relations or related field; professional Public Relations experience; experience in teaching courses in PR Writing and Research, Social and Digital Media, Health Communication, and/or other subjects in the candidate’s area of specialty; knowledge and expertise in utilizing technology in IMC campaigns. Preference will be given to candidates with a demonstrable record of culturally-responsive teaching. In addition to a PhD, the associate level position requires at least 7 years of previous teaching experience at the college/ university level.

Additional responsibilities include student advising, assisting in PRSSA advising, service on department and/or university committees, research, mentoring senior capstone projects, and continuing professional development. A demonstrated track-record of working with students, colleagues, and community members that contribute to diverse cultural perspectives related to integrated marketing communication is expected.

John Carroll University is a Catholic, Jesuit University with approximately 3,000 students. The Russert department currently has one of the largest enrollments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The department offers a major in Communication with tracks in: IMC, Visual Media, Journalism, Persuasive and Relational Communication and two minors: General Communication and Theatre Arts. The department’s home in the O’Malley Center includes a television laboratory, an Apple computer lab; and support for faculty development and travel. The department’s curriculum has been recognized by PRSA and has an approved PRSSA chapter. The department is also a member of NCA’s national honor society, Lamda Pi Eta. With the implementation of a new core curriculum in the Fall of 2015, there is opportunity to contribute to new and vibrant curriculum. The department’s namesake, Tim Russert , was a 1972 graduate of John Carroll. Since 2009, the University sponsors one student each year for the Russert Meet the Press Fellowship Visit our website at: http://sites.jcu.edu/russert/

Candidates should send a letter of application, a current vita, a statement of teaching philosophy, a research plan, and the names of three references. Summary course evaluations or other evidence of student learning are also appropriate to include. Review of materials will begin immediately and continue until position is filled. Please submit materials to: Mary E. Beadle, Chair, Russert Department of Communication, John Carroll University, 1 John Carroll Boulevard, University Heights, OH, 44118; telephone: 216 397 4356; fax: 216 397 1759; email: mbeadle@jcu.edu. Online applications are preferred.

John Carroll University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to diversity in the workplace and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities. JCU will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, age, sex, religion, ethnic or national origin, disability, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any factor protected by law. JCU is committed to inclusion and diversity as constitutive elements of our Jesuit Catholic identity.

John Carroll University’s campus is located in a beautiful, residential suburb of Cleveland, 20 minutes from downtown and 20 minutes from scenic countryside. Cleveland is host to a wide variety of industries and has experienced significant growth in the areas of biotechnology, health care and engineering. The city of Cleveland has undergone a series of transformations in recent years in downtown and lakefront development and is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Great Lakes Science Center. The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Playhouse Square are all nationally acclaimed cultural centers.

In addition to the wealth of cultural activities that are available, there are numerous opportunities to participate in outdoor activities. The Cleveland Metroparks represents one of the largest interconnected series of parks in the United States and has hiking trails, golf courses, campgrounds and a host of other outdoor activities. Approximately 30 minutes from campus is one of the newest U.S. national Parks, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, there are 30 state parks within a 2-hour drive, and Lake Erie shores and islands offer boating, swimming and fishing as well as 150 miles of pristine natural coastline.

 

Southern Methodist University

Assistant Professor of Film & Media Arts

Position Number #49347

 

The Division of Film & Media Arts is seeking a tenure-track candidate to join a creative and productive faculty and student body located in one of the leading media markets in the nation. We are looking for a top?notch production colleague who will take an active role in expanding and strengthening a growing department. The ideal candidate is one who can effectively shape a new generation of storytellers for a convergent media landscape, and can maintain a high-caliber creative output. Teaching will cover introductory, intermediate, and advanced undergraduate courses in film and media production, as well as specialized courses in the candidate’s particular area(s) of expertise and interest.

 

Minimum qualifications: MFA or equivalent is required, along with previous teaching experience, and experience in media production techniques and fundamentals.

 

Preferred qualifications: Experience in television, documentary, and/or new media production. Other potential areas of expertise or interest can include editing, animation, special effects, production design, directing, screenwriting, producing, and programming. The tenure-track position is funded with a start date in August 2016.

 

Application: Please submit the following: vita, statement of teaching philosophy and experience, and a statement of current and future creative production interests, along with a portfolio of completed work. We encourage digital applications: E-mailed files should be saved to the smallest size, preferably in .pdf format, with any appropriate links to websites. All emailed materials may be sent to film@smu.edu and all mailed information directed to: Chair, Search Committee, SMU Division of Film & Media Arts, P.O. Box 750113, Dallas, Texas, 75275-0113. To ensure full consideration for the position, the application must be received by October 30, 2015. The committee will continue to accept applications until the position is filled, and will notify applicants of its employment decisions only after the position is filled. Hiring is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of a background check.

 

Division of Film & Media Arts

The Division of Film & Media Arts guides its students through the practical and conceptual aspects of film and related media, and encourages interdisciplinary connections to related fields. The Division plays an active role in the annual Dallas International Film Festival and is affiliated on campus with the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection. Our faculty includes a uniquely-talented group of scholars, writers, and award-winning filmmakers. Our alumni have become successful industry professionals with distinctions that include Emmys, a student Academy Award, and various film festival awards. We award the Bachelor of Arts, the Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Masters of Arts degrees. Visit the Meadows School and the Division’s web site for detailed information http://smu.edu/meadows/

 

SMU

SMU is an inclusive and intellectually vibrant community of teachers and scholars that values diverse research and creative agendas. SMU offers excellent benefits including full same-sex domestic partner benefits. Explore Virtual SMU at http://www.smu.edu. Our beautifully shaded campus of Georgian-Revival-inspired architecture is situated in the heart of Dallas. The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, a culturally rich arts and global business center, is home to many universities, arts organizations and Fortune 500 & 100 corporations. http://www.dallaschamber.org

 

SMU will not discriminate in any program or activity on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. The Executive Director for Access and Equity/Title IX Coordinator is designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies and may be reached at the Perkins Administration Building, Room 204, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, 214-768-3601, accessequity@smu.edu.

 

Postdoctoral Fellowships

These fellowships foster the academic careers of scholars who have recently received their Ph.D. degrees, by permitting them to pursue their research while gaining mentored experience as teachers and members of the departments and/or programs in which they are housed. The program also benefits Dartmouth by complementing existing curricula with underrepresented fields. Applications will be accepted in the various fields of humanities, social sciences, interdisciplinary programs, sciences, engineering, business and medicine.

Society Postdoctoral Fellows

  • participate in the activities of the Society, including presenting their own work;
  • hold appointments as a Lecturers in a department and/or program as well as Postdoctoral Fellows in the Society; this appointment is not tenure-track;
  • teach one course each of the second and third academic years;
  • are in residence for the fall, winter and spring terms, and during one of two summer terms;
  • receive training in teaching via the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL);
  • off-campus research leave during academic terms is permitted only in rare cases, only for brief periods of time, and only upon written application to the Faculty Director of the Society well in advance of the proposed leave.
  • are not asked to teach basic language courses;
  • have access to college resources such as the library and computing center;
  • do not control dedicated laboratory or studio space.

Stipend and resources
Society Fellowships normally run for up to 34 months, beginning on September 1 and ending on June 30th of the final year. Fellows receive a monthly stipend of $4,600 plus benefits, and $4,000 annually to support computing, travel and research needs.

Eligibility
Applicants for the 2016 – 2019 Society Fellowships must have completed a Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2014. Candidates who do not yet hold a Ph.D. but expect to by June 30, 2016, should supply a letter from their home institution indicated that the applicant is expected to receive the degree before November 1, 2016.

Application and process
Applications are accepted through Interfolio [apply.interfolio.com/30641] and must be received on or before October 15, 2015. Applicants are expected to consult with a relevant colleague at Dartmouth before submitting their application. A complete application packet consists of the following:

  • a personal statement (of no longer than 1,500 words) outlining their completed research (including dissertation), work in progress, professional goals and plans for publication, and any other information relevant to their candidacy,
  • a statement answering the question “What can Dartmouth do for me?” (250 word limit),
  • a statement: “I think I can contribute to Dartmouth in the following ways” (250 word limit),
  • a curriculum vitae,
  • three confidential letters of recommendation, and
  • relevant academic transcripts.

Incomplete dossiers will not be reviewed.

Fellowship applications are evaluated by the Society of Fellow’s Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations for appointments to the Provost.

 

2016 Conference- International Society for Media, Religion and Culture

The conference of the International Society for Media Religion and Culture will be held in Seoul, Korea in August 2016.  The deadline for conference submissions will be in December 2015.

 

 

 

Posted in Conferences, News.

RMIG Officers for 2015-2016

Attendees at the 2015 Religion and Media Interest Group voted for the officer positions for the next year. The officers will lead the program planning, research competition, teaching programming, PF&F programming, newsletter, website and all other RMIG efforts. The new officers are:

Chair: Dan Stout, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Vice Chair: Joel Campbell, Brigham Young University

Research: Debra Mason, University of Missouri

Newsletter Editor: Mariam Alkazemi, Gulf University for Science & Technology

PF&R: Greg Perreault, Appalachian State University

Teaching Cecile Holmes, University of South Carolina

Membership: Rick Moore, Boise State University

 

Posted in News.

From the Publisher of The Arizona Muslim Voice

By Wafa Unus

In public discourse, there is often a misunderstanding in the historicity of religion and a displacement of religiosity in areas more suitably analyzed through political contexts. The political history of a people is often mistaken for their religious history. While the two are by no means completely separable, the unintelligible mashing together of the two contexts, as is often done by the media, presents unique challenges.

There are numerous opportunities for those in the religious communities to change the conversation about religion, to correct misconceptions or dispel stereotypes through a growing interfaith culture in the United States. However, the news media the culprit situated at the forefront of the offenses to religious understanding is often the same entity that should, at least to some degree, be providing the populace with accurate, albeit basic, education on topics of discussion in public discourse.

The “media are the problem” stance is a difficult one to overcome in minority communities that feel routinely subjected to misrepresentations. A level of distrust is perhaps even more dangerously superseded by a level of disinterest. Communities begin to shy away from coverage, look at reporters with degrees of skepticism and a feel hesitant to speak freely when the spotlight is, often involuntarily, thrust upon them due to some event caused by someone with a similar sounding name. This discomfort is not invisible to the camera and the community essentially finds itself in another strange position. That hesitance to be portrayed as something they are not, is what causes them to more easily be seen as what they are not.

This, along with the lack of education of reporters on the basic tenets of world religion, and particularly the understanding the history of religion not just as milestones noted in religious scripture but in the political and geographic contexts that shape all histories, makes for extremely poor reporting on minority religious communities in the United States.

With a basic understanding of the challenges that face my own community, the Muslim community, I decided to purchase a small 20 year-old local Muslim newspaper that had long operated more as an aggregator of content than a producer of true local service journalism.

In an effort to better prepare young journalists for dealing with minority communities, particularly religious minorities, I have begun to use the newspaper as a sort of lab. Young journalists of all backgrounds can learn how to interact with a minority religious community and navigate the nuances of understanding the variety of cultures of which they are composed. Likewise, reporters’ interaction with the Muslim community allows them to feel a little less apprehension because of their sense of ownership over their local media. The facilitating of this relationship may slowly, and on a very small scale, make an impact on the preparedness for young reporters to report on minority and religious communities and to give minority and religious communities a greater confidence in their ability to interact with media and journalists.

It is my hope that through this, both journalist and reader will develop a more intelligent, ethical and understanding relationship with one another and subsequently contribute to the production of better, more accurate and more purposeful journalism that is knowledge-based and culturally competent.

Wafa Unus is the publisher of The Arizona Muslim Voice and a doctoral student at Arizona State University.

Posted in News.

2015 Summer Newsletter

Welcome to the Summer 2015 Newsletter! To read the articles below, simply click on the link and it will take you to the individual post.

Also, we’re increasing our social media presence. Have you “liked” us on Facebook? Click here to access our page. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Greg Perreault & Mariam Alkazemi
Newsletter editors (2014-2015)

Table of Contents

1. RMIG Panels and Membership Meeting

2. Wednesday Pre-Conference Workshops (AEJMC 2015)

3. Media and Religion in Any Classroom by Rick Moore

4. Opportunities: Conferences, Fellowships and Job Openings

5. Religious Literacy and Journalism

6. Spiritual Sights in San Francisco

 

Posted in Newsletters.

RMIG Panels and Membership Meeting

By: RMIG Head Chiung Chen

This year, 11 of 21 submissions were accepted to the Religion and Media Interest Group.  For the upcoming AEJMC conference in San Francisco, we have lined up six strong panels, including three joint and three refereed research panels, and one Scholar to Scholar paper. Our membership meeting is scheduled on August 7 (Friday) at 1:30-3:00 pm. I hope to see you all in San Francisco. Here is our program information.

Please click on each of the images below to see the details of each session.

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Posted in Conferences.

Wednesday Pre-Conference Workshops (AEJMC 2015)

8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit to Googleplex
$40 Fee (Participation limited to 29)
Want to get a look inside of Google? Join the Media Management & Economics Division for a site visit to Google’s global headquarters. Learn about the latest developments in YouTube, Google Search and Google Play, and how they are changing the media industry globally, nationally and locally. Lunch provided, courtesy of Google. Shuttle bus will transport to and from the hotel (fee covers shuttle costs to and from Mountain View, CA). This off-site visit is open to MMEC members only until May 1, then will be open to all AEJMC members for remaining spots. To sign-up for this exciting trip go to: https://aejmc2.wufoo.com/forms/visit-to-googleplex-mmec/. For questions, contact Louisa Ha at louisah@bgsu.edu. (MMEC)

8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(w1) Digital Bootcamp: The Advertising Division Pre-Conference Workshop
$50 Fee (Participation limited to 40)
The Advertising Teaching Workshop is taking advantage of the multitude of tech savvy agencies and Silicon Valley companies in the San Francisco area. They’ll be our guides as they bring us into the brave new techie world of digital content, media and analytics. These are where the jobs for our students are. These are the domains that our students should understand. The workshop will end with the sharing of ideas (for example, apps or games) that workshop participants are using in their classrooms. Come learn with us. For information, contact Sheri Broyles at Sheri.Broyles@unt.edu or 940-565-4736. (ADVD)

8 a.m. to Noon
(w2) Saving Community Journalism:  What Journalism Professors Need to Know About the Business of Local News in the Digital Age
$30 Fee (Participation limited to 40)
Many professors and journalism schools have either established news organizations or partnered with existing broadcast, print and digital outlets in their community to report on local issues or devise new ways to communicate with readers. Many of these start-up organizations are struggling to achieve scale and long-term sustainability, and many traditional outlets, such as newspapers, are struggling to make the transition to digital delivery and profits. This workshop is designed to give journalism instructors some basic economic knowledge and understanding of the business dynamics of local news organizations that they can incorporate into introductory and advanced courses. It also provides instructional digital tools and practical examples that will enable their students to go into the field and assist local for-profit and nonprofit news organizations in both creating and implementing new journalistic and business strategies. It is led by UNC’s Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics, Penny Muse Abernathy (author of Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability and of the instructional website, savingcommunityjournalism.com), and the Knight Chair in Digital Advertising and Marketing, JoAnn Sciarrino. Both have extensive professional experience, operating at the highest executive levels in international media companies, and have focused their research on developing new business models for community news organizations. For information, contact Penny Muse Abernathy at pennyma@email.unc.edu or 919-843-4910. (COMJ, Knight Foundation)

8 a.m. to Noon
Google and Data Journalism: A Match Made in Data Viz Heaven
(Pre-registration is required — Participation is limited to 30)
Join Google for a high-level overview for research stories, discovering new trends in search, finding useful data sets to support stories and understand how search works. Learn how to build custom maps with your data as well as using these tools for storytelling. The training session will feature a step-by-step guild on how to build a custom, interactive map with Maps Engine Lite/Pro and Fusion Tables. This session will also feature a deep dive on Google Earth for television and covers the best way to build a quick and easy Google Earth tour for air, movie rendering tips and Google Permissions guidelines. Participants highly encouraged to bring laptops to gain the most out of this experience.  To sign-up for the workshop go to: https://aejmc2.wufoo.com/forms/google-and-data-journalism/.  For additional information regarding this working contact Jaime Loke at jaimeloke@gmail.com (CSWN, MCSD)

8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(w3) The Media Entrepreneurship Mindset: Hacking the Ecosystem
$60 Fee (Participation limited to 100, includes breakfast and lunch)
Join us for a conversation and hackathon about building the media entrepreneurship mindset for students both inside and outside the classroom. In form and function, participants will experience the “startup culture” by working in teams to imagine new ways and places to build the entrepreneurial mindset. We’ll share models of what others are doing inside and outside the academy and then teams will develop and pitch their ideas. Participants will walk away with concrete ideas and materials for building the media entrepreneurship ecosystem at their institutions. For more information, contact Michelle Ferrier at ferrierm@ohio.edu or 740-593-9860. (PJIG, MMEC)

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
More Than A Good Story: Methods for Teaching Digital Storytelling — (Part One)
A good story grabs attention. A good multimedia story does more than that. It uses a cohesive mix of multiple media to bring audiences into the setting, journey with the story characters, and feel a range of emotions. Can students learn how to produce these compelling stories in a semester’s timeframe? This session will examine methods for effectively instructing hands-on courses on digital storytelling. How do we prepare students to be digital story-tellers? How do we blend foundational principles of good storytelling with instruction on using new technologies to capture and tell them? What is the process for moving students from idea to digital story. For additional information contact Dawn Francis, Cabrini College at dawn.francis@gmail.com or 610-902-8379. To sign-up for the workshop go to: https://aejmc2.wufoo.com/forms/2015-small-programs-interest-group-workshop/ (SPIG)

3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tips for Putting Your Courses – and Programs – Online — (Part Two)
This panel will explore the changing newsroom. Many schools are resorting to the cloud for software. Some universities are asking students to supply their own equipment or use loaners from a central source. What are the best practices in this arena? For additional information contact Wally Metts, Spring Arbor University at wally.metts@arbor.edu or 517-750-6491. To sign-up for the workshop go to: https://aejmc2.wufoo.com/forms/2015-small-programs-interest-group-workshop/ (SPIG)
Part Two will immediately follow part one in the same room.

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(w4) Computer-Aided Content Analysis
$55 Fee / $30 Graduate Students (Participation limited to 75)
In the world of Big Data, researchers have access to a plethora of data, which often can be difficult to manage. Even outside of explicitly “Big Data” contexts, communication researchers often can find themselves buried in piles of textual data. Recent developments in textual analysis, or computer-aided content analysis, can help researchers manage this textual data and provide valuable research insights. The purpose of this pre-conference is to introduce attendees to various ways that large amounts of textual data can be analyzed using new computational methods. For information, contact Myiah Hutchens at myiah.hutchens@gmail.com or 614-917-7895. (CTAM, PCIG)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

(w5) Beyond Storytelling: How to Turn Oral History into Scholarship and Public Knowledge
$10 Fee (Participation limited to 40)
In recent decades oral history has been increasingly recognized as vital to understanding the plurality yet connectedness of human experiences. Journalists, as witnesses, chroniclers, and sometimes agents of history, have been important subjects in numerous oral history collections. Oral history, however, is often misperceived as random collections of personal accounts of the past.  This preconference workshop will thus focus on turning oral history into publishable scholarship, transforming oral history into public knowledge through digital archiving, and using oral history to explore neglected or suppressed media and cultural phenomena.   The panelists will showcase their oral history projects and discuss a wide range of topics related to oral history research.  For information, contact Yong Volz at volzy@misssouri.edu or 573-882-2159. (HIST, NOND)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
“Hackathons, Coming to a University Near You!: How to Bring Journalists, Activists and Programmers Together to Increase Public Understanding”
This panel, designed as an interactive workshop, brings together the Institute for Justice and Journalism (located in Oakland, CA) and journalism professors to explain how to organize, and why journalism and mass communication schools should want to hold a hackathon on their campuses. Some hackathons have been criticized for not being ethnically or intellectually diverse. The Institute for Justice and Journalism’s highly successful Migrahacks are an exception, as they assist journalists, activists and computer programmers from a variety of diverse backgrounds to work together to shed light on the issue of migration around the world. The hackathons include training in the latest digital tools for journalism, and results in the creation of web-based and data driven content. The proposed teaching workshop will focus on the IJJ Migrahack model, and allow participants and the audience to look for ways to expand the model in an effort to create and organize other issue-oriented hackathons on college campuses around the country. The panel also will include discussion about the historical relationship between and activists and journalists. For additional information contact Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante, University of Arizona at 520-271-7402 or celeste@email.arizona.edu. (MACD, CTEC, INTC)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(w6) Social Media Measurement: Essentials for the Classroom and the Profession
$10 Fee (Participation limited to 50)
In this combined presentation from educators and professionals, attendees will learn the basics of social media measurement, including the creation of dashboards, the use of Google Analytics, and the application of big data to social media campaigns. Assignments will be shared that involve social media listening and the use of Facebook Insights. During the second segment of the pre-conference, attendees can attend roundtable demonstrations to learn how to use various tools for monitoring online interaction. Finally, a panel of leading professionals will reflect upon the teaching tips shared by the instructor panel, address what students need to know about social media measurement for entry-level jobs, and discuss the future of social media measurement. For information, contact Tiffany Gallicano at derville@uoregon.edu or 541-346-2035. (PRDV, MCSD)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Honoring the Career of Joe Saltzman: Journalist, Teacher, Mentor, and Pioneer
This panel will explore the career of Joe Saltzman, the director of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture and professor of journalism at the Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Fellow colleagues and friends will reflect on his influence as a scholar, teacher, and mentor. Joe will share his own thoughts on his rewarding profession and discuss the next steps in his storied career. For additional information contact Brad Yates, University of West Georgia at byates@westga.edu or 678-839-4938. (ESIG)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
More Than A Good Story: Methods for Teaching Digital Storytelling — (Part One)
A good story grabs attention. A good multimedia story does more than that. It uses a cohesive mix of multiple media to bring audiences into the setting, journey with the story characters, and feel a range of emotions. Can students learn how to produce these compelling stories in a semester’s timeframe? This session will examine methods for effectively instructing hands-on courses on digital storytelling. How do we prepare students to be digital story-tellers? How do we blend foundational principles of good storytelling with instruction on using new technologies to capture and tell them? What is the process for moving students from idea to digital story. For additional information contact Dawn Francis, Cabrini College at dawn.francis@gmail.com or 610-902-8379.
Tips for Putting Your Courses – and Programs – Online — (Part Two)
This panel will explore the changing newsroom. Many schools are resorting to the cloud for software. Some universities are asking students to supply their own equipment or use loaners from a central source. What are the best practices in this arena? For additional information contact Wally Metts, Spring Arbor University at wally.metts@arbor.edu or 517-750-6491. (SPIG)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(w7) Adjunct/Instructor Workshop: Nuts and Bolts
$25 Fee
This workshop will provide ideas and advice for your work in the classroom. Topics will include turning real-life experiences into exercises, running a classroom and writing a syllabus, dos and don’ts of classroom operations, time management and work-life balance, and grading and rubrics. Contact is Chris Roush, North Carolina at croush@email.unc.edu. (AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Teaching)

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Empowering Junior Faculty: Pathways to Success in the Academy
Looking for some advice and mentorship on being a leader and moving up in the academic world? This third annual workshop will help junior faculty move forward in their careers through mentoring, networking and preparing for tenure and/or promotion or other leadership roles in academia.  Speakers include senior scholars, including AEJMC President Elizabeth Toth, Maryland, and other administrators and women who have achieved significant leadership positions. Keynote speaker is Marie Hardin, dean of the College of Communications at Penn State University. Also included are roundtables and panels on leadership, tenure and promotion, time management and other topics featuring women who have succeeded in the academy. We are seeking a cohort of 25 tenure-track women for this pre-convention workshop on August 5. Those participating will be invited to take part in activities of both the Kopenhaver Center and the CSW during the following year and will become fellows of the program. Applications are due by June 1 to Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Florida International, at kopenhav@fiu.edu. (CoAF, Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, FIU)

5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
(w8) Internships and Careers “Bootcamp” Workshop
$5 Fee (Participation is limited to 20)
The ICIG Workshop will provide a variety of tips and “Best Practices” information for internship advisors currently developing or evaluating their internships programs. The session shall also feature a discussion of survey results charting the value of internships for students. There shall also be a session on how to go about creating a career and internships training program for students. For additional information contact Abhinav Aima, Pennsylvania State University at aka11@psu.edu. (ICIG)

5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
(w9) Welcome to Administration: Workshop for New Deans, Directors and Chairs
$45 Fee
(Participation limited to 30)
This workshop is designed for people new to administration. Speakers will talk about the expectations of your new job, how to find time for fundraising, and building a cohesive faculty.  The session will also provide time to network with other new administrators. Contact is Jan Slater, Illinois at slaterj@illinois.edu. (ASJMC)

5:30 to 10:00 p.m.
(w10)
Insights into Academic Administration: A Collaborative on the Qualities of Stellar Academic Leaders
$35 Fee
(Participation limited to 30)
As the fields within mass communication adapt to changes in society, government and technology, those of us charged with educating the next generations of content producers, curators, managers and consumers must determine the best methods to do so. In this era of media evolution, we see a growing and persistent need for leaders to fill the openings for deans and directions at schools nationwide. This session will provide attendees the opportunity to learn from one another, as well as sitting deans from Elon, Penn State, Northwestern, University of North Texas and LSU. Topics will include: (a) Transitioning into Leadership (or Going to the Dark side) – How relationships change when transitioning into leadership, and how to leverage faculty skills into leadership skills; (b) The Daily Life of Leadership- How your work changes in regards to autonomy, flexibility, internal and external obligations; (c) The Nuts and Bolts of Leadership- Things you need to know how to do such as fundraising, strategic planning, personnel issues; (d) Ways of Being-  Orientations that aid administrative work (Introspective, intuitive, openness to feedback, approachability, non-reactionary, encouraging); (e) Understanding Your Leadership Style – Discussions on who you are (your multiple and fluid identities and their intersections, family or marital status, background, professional experiences, handling intercultural conflicts) and how it affects your leadership style. This session is for faculty colleagues who are interested in exploring faculty or administrative leadership. Please sign up early. You can sign up when you register for the San Francisco conference. (Scripps Howard Foundation, Louisiana State University and Elon University)

Posted in Conferences.

Media and Religion in Any Classroom

By: Rick Clifton Moore (Boise State University), RMIG Teaching Chair.

 

Doing my best to impersonate one of those insufferable “foodies,” I was scanning restaurant lists from San Francisco the other day. Yes, AEJMC 2015 is just around the corner.

 

The difference between a cosmopolitan city such as San Francisco, and the smaller cities and towns where many of us live is quite stark. In considering this contrast as it applies to restaurants, I drew two conclusions, valid or not. One was that big city eating establishments can narrow their individual culinary offerings more than those in smaller communities can. For example, the Golden Gate city has a place like “Castagna” that focuses narrowly on cuisine (yes, that’s probably what they call it) from the beautiful Provence area of southern France. Smaller cities are lucky to have a general French restaurant. My second conclusion is related to this. Those unenviable “French” establishments in more remote burgs often have to hedge their bets. They may need to add something recognizable to the menu, or even to their advertising, to get customers in the door. Indeed, I’ve sometimes wondered if a person could make a good living travelling from town to town in middle America selling sign addenda that read, “…and American food.”

 

I think this is an apt metaphor for all of us in RMIG who teach at different kinds of institutions. Some of us have the luxury of working at universities with significant offerings in mass media, and the specificity of our classes allows us to have one or more option in “Religion and Media.” Newer members of the group who teach at schools without such narrow catalog offerings might not be aware that RMIG once collected syllabi from some of these schools. The list is still online and can be seen here. http://www.religionandmedia.org/syllabi/

Admittedly, some schools that offer narrow classes in media and religion are not analogous to large metropolises. They simply have made a commitment to the sub-discipline for one reason or another.

 

The point of this essay, meandering as it might be, is that those of us teaching at colleges without such specific, narrow courses still have plenty of opportunities to integrate religion into our curriculum. And, I think we can do it in ways that nobody would think inappropriate. In other words, the customer is not going to say, “Hey, don’t throw herbes de Provence in my mac and cheese!” In the end, I want to suggest that there might be some advantage in sharing information about “Religion and Media” in a class that is not so labeled. I’d like to argue that the recent controversies in France, aptly enough, and the U.S. related to artistic representations of Muhammad provide a good example of this. There are many curricular areas much broader than “Religion and Media” where discussion of this topic is wholly á propros, maybe even de rigueur.

 

One place where I hope all of us would realize that discussion of the above-mentioned controversy is appropriate is in media law and/or ethics. Certainly this is one of the most common classes in media programs around the country. And, discussion of the Muhammad cartoon imbroglio fits the parameters of it without question. For example, most texts used for a media law class delve into questions of “hate speech.” To what extent is causing great offense to a group by purposely and publicly acting in a way that we know greatly offends their religion align with any formal definition of this term? Or, looking at the recent events in Garland, Texas, one might have a class discussion related to government response to such speech. Most media law classes study the case of Schenck v. United States in which Oliver Wendell Holmes famously declared that the government has the right to regulate speech that poses a “clear and present danger.” Does the process of openly declaring one’s intent to publicly offend a religious group fit this description? Who is responsible for ensuring that free speech doesn’t evolve, or devolve, into something approaching a “danger”?

 

Certainly there are issues that can spread beyond the confines of the class just described, though. This is worth noting, as many of our students are more interested in questions of how to attract audiences than they are with questions about whether their communication is legal or ethical. Along these lines, many colleges have courses that deal with the aesthetics of media, and in these there are good connections with the topic being discussed here. At its root, the issue being discussed is the extent to which a communicator adjusts his or her message based on attitudes of the audience. That is a classic issue in aesthetics. Do true artists ignore the reactions of those who view their art?

Of course, most of our students don’t think of themselves as “artists.” With the exception of a few in our classes who have studied auteur theory and want to direct “cinema,” most whom we teach want to be journalists, or broadcasters, directors in mainstream Hollywood film. Even so, these students will someday have audiences, and should recognize that the issue of offense with audiences should concern media professionals of any stripe. In the context of the current topic, showing them Saturday Night Live’s riff on the “Draw Muhammad” controversy could stir some useful conversation. Presumably the show’s writers and producers spent ample time during the week determining how to generate laughs in the midst of a cultural phenomenon that resulted in the spilling of real blood during the previous six months.

Beyond law and aesthetics, many of us teach courses in media that are more sociological than professional. Certainly in these contexts, discussion of religion is completely reasonable. And, questions related to the recent cartoon controversy are no exception. How do particular messages, especially messages related to religion, come to be represented in the media? How is it that some aspects of religion seem to be rarely portrayed except when they are associated with violence? How do these kinds of messages affect societal values? To what extent do media reflect the power dynamics of the society in which they are imbedded?

 

Interestingly, one person who raised that last question is not a sociologist, but one of America’s most famous cartoonists, Garry Trudeau. Students might find his argument about the power of humor to be quite interesting (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/the-abuse-of-satire/390312/). Those who are familiar with the cartoonist’s work will be surprised to hear his proposal that satire is inappropriate when used against “the powerless.” Certainly that’s a common sociological concept. If students find it interesting, they might also want to read the retort of New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/opinion/sunday/ross-douthat-checking-charlie-hebdos-privilege.html. As he usually does, Douthat provides keen religious insights to the topic at hand, but continues interrogating the issue of “power.”

Let it not be said, then, that professors at remote outposts without a “Religion and Media” course do not have significant opportunities to help their students investigate the religious dimensions of mass communication. No matter what the general catalog descriptions of their classes, these instructors can certainly find ways of requiring students to think critically about religion, something that has always been an important part of human experience.

Of course, some students might not want to spend much time thinking about matters of faith and spirituality. Here, a professor could potentially find advantage in teaching a course with broader boundaries. For one thing, students inclined to avoid a class titled “Media and Religion” might very well be found sitting in one titled “Media and Audiences. And, to return to a metaphor with which I began this essay, I would suggest that students enrolled in a course with a broader label may actually have fewer preconceptions about what should and should not be discussed therein. Of course, if we’re dubious whether our pupils will be attracted to any of these offerings, we can do what many restaurants in middle-America do. However, our curriculum committees may be surprised when we request permission to add “…and American food” to the titles of all our catalog classes.

Posted in Professional Development.

Opportunities: Conferences, Fellowships and Job Openings

The Religion Newswriters Association annual conference is always fun to attend if you’re tracking religion trends in the media. This year’s RNA convention will be August 27-30 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in downtown Philly. The major theme of the conference will be prepping for Pope Francis’ first U.S. visit so most of the sessions on the first and third days of the conference will be taken up with that. There’s a host of Catholic speakers, including Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput. There will also be sessions on what Muslims are thinking, religion and violence and churches in the city. The RNA.org web site has all the details and academics are welcome to attend.

Buzzfeed is offering a four-month fellowship for emerging writers to focus on cultural issues, which includes religion.  October 1, 2015 is the deadline to apply for the fellowship, which will take place in New York City and come with a stipend of $12,000.  All those interested in gaining experience focusing on religion, outside of traditional media should consider applying.  For more information, please click here.

Eastern University, a university of the liberal arts and sciences located in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, invites applications for a Visiting Professor in Media Studies, Department of Communication Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. (ABD considered) in Communication Studies with a specialization in media studies, a commitment to excellence in teaching, mentoring students, and scholarship. A balance of experience in the media industry (especially digital media production/social media) and commitment to theory-based research is a plus. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.  To be considered, applicants must upload their application materials at http://jobs.eastern.edu/position_page?pid=58. Please provide a cover letter to include a brief statement of their faith, curriculum vitae, unofficial copies of graduate transcripts, and three professional letters of recommendation.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Conferences, Professional Development.

Religious Literacy and Journalism

By: Rev. Ian Punnett

“Only 10 percent of American teenagers can name all five major world religions and 15 percent cannot name any.” These were some of the findings from research into religious literacy by Stephen Prothero, Chairman, Department of Religion at Boston University, that inspired the title and the spirit of BEA 2015 panel, Joan of Arc was NOT Noahs Wife: The Need for Religious Literacy Among U.S. Reporters.

Because the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that roughly 5.8 billion adults and children around the world consider themselves religious, the question was raised: Should a basic understanding of world faith traditions be in every reporter’s toolbox? If worship is a shaping force that impacts almost any public, are journalists of the present or the future prepared to understand their role as sense-makers of events where faith is in play? For example, without knowledge-based reporting on Islam, could an ill-informed reporter inadvertently perpetuate suspicion of an already at-risk community in the U.S.? A diverse BEA panel discussed the issue of religious literacy and whether journalism schools should be more proactive in addressing what many perceive to be a hole in the modern curriculum that invites bad reporting.

In his experience participating in interfaith conversations, however, Rick Moore, Associate Professor, Department Chair, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, Boise State University, challenged the claim that a more religiously literate media would be productive. “In most of my studies, the American media—and to a certain extent the heart of the American population—likes a ‘secular spirituality’ where dogma is anathema. To those individuals, hearing what they need to know about various religions is to no avail because they think all religions should be the same—whether they are or not—because all (religions) should really teach is tolerance and peace.”If news consumers want to maintain a limited view of religion, is the news media under any obligation to educate its readers, viewers or listeners?

As a traveler in interfaith circles, Mariam F. Alkazemi, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, believes that the American media needs to be more than just the watchdog of the public, it should be its teacher. “As a woman wearing a veil, I get a lot of people who are surprised that I am educated and articulate. But the fact is, according the Gallop Poll, Muslim American women are the second most educated demographic in this country.

“The media has the power to polarize religious communities. I have met people who have never met someone who is from a different religious sect. If you’ve never met somebody from another sect, what you understand their religious beliefs and behaviors to be, comes from the media, generally.”

Jeffery A. Smith, Professor, Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee took a more historical view: “Many of the most prestigious colleges and universities in this country started off as, basically, religious institutions to educate clergy and so forth. So, it’s not that peculiar of a notion that we should have people paying attention to religion in higher education. In my current book project, one of the chapters deals with how religion had a lot to do with the formation of journalism programs in this country.”

If journalism schools should ever reconsider requiring a “world religions primer,”perhaps Smith’s new book would be a good place to start. Either way, a majority of the panel and many attendees vocalized an interest in studying the implications of religious illiteracy further.

 

Rev. Ian Punnett (@deaconpunnett) is a PhD student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication/ASU in Phoenix, a seminary-trained deacon in The Episcopal Church, a former nationally syndicated broadcaster and author of How to Pray When Youre Pissed at God.

Posted in Conferences.

Spiritual Sights in San Francisco

By Mariam Alkazemi

As many of you know, the annual convention for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will take place in San Francisco this summer.  Many media professionals and educators will visit the city, which is home to many world-renowned tourist attractions.  Other attractions may be less popular.

San Francisco is home to many sights that may be of interest to those in the Religion and Media Interest Group.  For example, an article put out by Religious Travel Group explains that it is home to Mission Dolores, Grace Cathedral, Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Hua Zang Si Temple among many others sites for worship. Mission Dolores is located at 3321 16th Street. Grace Cathedral is located at 1100 California Street. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is located at 736 Mission Street. Hua Zang Si Temple is located at 3126 22nd Street.

Similarly, The New York Times described the city’s Buddhist heritage.  The article recommends several tourist destinations, including the Chinese Historical Society of America (965 Clay Street) and the Zen Center (300 Page Street).

For those less interested in sight-seeing, our interest group has several sessions to attend.  We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco!

Posted in Conferences.

2015 Spring Newsletter

RELIGION MATTERS: Spring 2015

Welcome to the Spring 2015 Newsletter! To read the articles below, simply click on the link and it will take you to the individual post. Remember the deadline to submit to AEJMC is 11:59 P.M. (Central Daylight Time) on Wednesday, April 1, 2015.

Also, we’re increasing our social media presence. Have you “liked” us on Facebook? Click here to access our page. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Greg Perreault & Mariam Alkazemi
Newsletter editors (2014-2015)

Table of Contents

1. Preparing your AEJMC paper for blind review by Joy Jenkins, Missouri School of Journalism

2. Dispatches from the Faculty Job Search by Greg Perreault, Missouri School of Journalism and Mariam Alkazemi, University of Florida

3. Opportunities for Scholarship

4. Call for Papers RMIG

Posted in Newsletters.

Dispatches from the Job Front

greg-perreaultThe opportunities and challenges of the religion and media job search

By Greg Perreault
Ph.D. Candidate at the Missouri School of Journalism

“Finding the right job will be like falling in love, it’ll just work.” Those were the words of advice given to my by my research advisor on the job scene and as it turns out that’s exactly how it went. I did have concerns while I was on the market about how my research interest would be perceived. Prior to the job market, I’d never perceived any sort of avarice against my subfield although I did experience some while on the job market. In the space that follows, I want to share some of the challenges I found regarding being a media and religion scholar on the job market, with the understanding that every job is different as is every scholar. My experiences won’t be your experiences, but you may, hopefully sense some common threads that could prove fruitful.

Challenge of Significance– “Isn’t religion dying? Why is what you’re studying important then?” The question seems obvious enough when you really think about recent surveys by the Pew Research Center and others. In my experience, interviewees were all generous enough to never ask the question explicitly. In some cases though, the question was there. What I made sure to indicate in every interview is that religion is actually quite a vibrant field of study, once you take into the multitude of expressions–expressions that extend far beyond organized religion.

Challenge of Empiricism– I’ve always been quite impressed with the level of scholarship conducted in media and religion studies, but in some cases, another question hiding in the background was the question about whether I was interested in “beating the drum” of a particular religious tradition. In one case, I applied for a critical/cultural job and the search chair quickly emailed me back to ask if I’d seen the job ad. She noted that the position was critical and empirical and indicated that the type of research I did was not. At first, I was a bit confused in that all of my published research builds on classic critical scholarship including orientalism, hegemony, and critical race theory. Then I was, frankly, offended by the possibility that she was implying that the type of research I did was uncritical. But it was a useful learning experience. It is worth noting that this was the exception in my search, not the norm.

Challenge of Fit– In my case, a good portion of research and teaching deals with emerging media and digital technology. In the contemporary communication department and/or communication school, this has a clear fit typically with the course catalog of the department. Religion can be a bit tougher in that there is a less often a “reporting religion” or “religion in the media” class, as opposed to a “digital journalism” class. So I found it important to know enough about the school to know–do they have a religion department? Do they have classes where my research would fit? Are there ways to frame religion research in ways that would make sense for the classes that need to be filled e.g. as a type of “cross cultural” research or a type of “niche media.”

Overall, the greatest asset I gained on the job market (aside from the job) was the confidence to argue for the significance of religion and media research.

RFP_0703Where does religion and media fit in the job market?

By Mariam Alkazemi, Ph.D.
University of Florida

As a veiled woman, I feel that I should not shy away from research involving Islam and the media. While many scholars and activists encourage research dealing with Islam, there is an inherent problem with research involving the media and Islam: it covers a very wide scope of issues. Since the religion appears in politicized terms in the news media and can be examined in many contexts in scholarship, stating that one is studying Islam and the media is more vague and ambiguous than helpful. While there is a real need to understand the mediation of Islamic theology, media effects with regards to Muslim issues and media literacy of Muslims, the label of Islam and media can be interpreted as international communication, political communication or other forms of communication. In other words, this research interest can be difficult to define on the job market.

Some of these topics require knowledge outside of the field of communication. Scholars hoping to gain such knowledge may find themselves gaining skills with which journalists are not typically familiar. Knowledge of the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or Urdu languages among others, travel experiences and knowledge of other cultures are useful tools that are not accumulated overnight. While these skills may seem less important than a decade of professional experience, they can easily be overlooked in the job market.

It is my hope that the job market will improve and scholars will improve the current understanding of world events and how religion shapes them. My vision for mass communication scholarship is one that involves improving the education of Muslim and non-Muslim journalists such that people all over the world can learn about one another from the mass media in a safe and nonthreatening way. As I face challenges in defining my research interests to potential employers, I adhere to the support of my mentor who explains, “the only people who fail in our field are those who give up.”

Posted in Professional Development. Tagged , , , .

Preparing your AEJMC paper for blind review

joy-jenkins-500By Joy Jenkins
Ph.D. Candidate at the Missouri School of Journalism

This morning I looked at the desktop of my laptop computer and sighed. It is that time in the semester when for every item I check off my to-do list, I add two or three more. Although the course I am teaching has hit a healthy swing and I am making (slow) progress on my dissertation, I realize: the AEJMC deadline is less than a month away. The time has come to take a critical look at my list of papers-in-progress and decide which ones I will subject to the AEJ gauntlet.

If you are like me — and I assume many of you are; we are overloaded academics after all — you have uploaded at least one conference paper at the final hour. After spending those final hours crossing every “t,” dotting every “i,” and basking in the earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting revelations sprinkled throughout your findings, you are ready to click “submit.” That’s when you see that all-so-important line in the submission requirements: “Authors must remove personal information from documents before uploading papers to ensure blind review.”

Wait. But how do I do that?

Fortunately, wiping your identify from your PDF-ed conference paper is far simpler than the multivariate multiple linear regression you conducted for your submission. It requires only a few simple steps. And although I usually resist efforts to label people based on categorical differences, I will provide these instructions for both Mac and Windows users.

The easiest way to ensure you submit a clean document is to first remove identifying information from your Microsoft Word file.

If you use Windows:

1. Open your file in Microsoft Word.

Step 1

2. Click on the “File” tab in the upper left.

3. Click on “Properties.”


4. Click on “Advanced Properties.”


5. If any identifying information appears, delete it.

 

If you use a Mac:

1. Open your file in Microsoft Word.

2. In the menu bar, click on “Word” and then “Preferences.”

Screenshot 1
3. Click on “Security.”

Screenshot 2
4. Click to enable “Remove personal information from this file on save.”

Screenshot 3
5. Save your document.
Source: www.aejmc.org

 

If you want to ensure that your PDF is also clear of any identifying information:

1. Open the PDF.

2. Click on “File” and then “Properties.”

Screenshot 4
3. Is the “Author” field blank? Then you’re good to go!

Screenshot 5

If not, follow these steps:

1. Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Click on “Tools,” “Protection” and “Remove Hidden Information.”
3. Check to ensure that the check boxes are enabled only for the items that you want to remove from the document.
4. Click “Remove” to delete selected items from the file. Click “OK.”
5. Go to “File” and “Save.” Choose a file name and save your PDF.
Source: help.adobe.com

That’s it! If you need more specific tips for your version of Microsoft Word, AEJMC offers a handy guide here: http://www.aejmc.org/home/scholarship/submit-clean-paper/.

Good luck, and happy researching!

Posted in Conferences, Professional Development. Tagged .

Opportunities for Scholarship

Scholarships:

  • The Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF) is currently accepting applications for 2015. Scholarship awards range from $2000-$5000, and the minimum requirements to apply for a scholarship include: U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, enrollment at an accredited university in the U.S. by August 2015, status as an undergraduate (sophomore/junior/senior) or of graduate student (including Ph.D.), a minimum grade point average of 3.0, and the applicant must be majoring in an ISF supported major (as posted on the website), and be Muslim or an active member of the Muslim community. The deadline to apply is: April 14, 2015. Please use the link below to apply or to request further information: http://islamicscholarshipfund.org

Related conferences:

  • The deadline for admission to the Religious Communication Association (RCA) conference is March 25, 2015.  The conference meets at the same time and place as the National Communication Association (NCA), which will take place on Nov. 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  For more information, please see their call: http://www.relcomm.org/rca-conferences-and-calls.html
  • The deadline for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) conference is March 31, 2015.  The conference will take place on Oct. 23-25 in Newport Beach, California.  For more information, please see their call: http://www.sssrweb.org/news.cfm?newsid=226
  • The World Parliament of Religions is meeting in Salt Lake City Oct. 15-19, 2015, and has recently extended the call for panels and papers at this large gathering.  If members of the AEJMC Religion and Media Interest Group are interested in organizing an event, please contact Joel Campbell (Brigham Young University).  For more information, please see their call: http://www.parliamentofreligions.org
Posted in Conferences.

2014-2015 Winter Newsletter

RELIGION MATTERS: Winter 2014-2015

Welcome to the Winter 2014-2015 Newsletter! To read the articles below, simply click on the link and it will take you to the individual post. If you’re interested in reviewing for the Religion and Media Interest Group for the upcoming conference, please contact Joel Campbell at foiguy@gmail.com.

Also, we’re increasing our social media presence. Have you “liked” us on Facebook? Click here to access our page. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Greg Perreault & Mariam Alkazemi
Newsletter editors (2014-2015)

Table of Contents

1. Let them choose and make them think by Rick Moore, Boise State University

2. Call for Papers

3. Faculty Openings, Fellowship Announcements and Seminar Announcements

Posted in Newsletters.

Make Them Choose and Make them Think

By:  Rick Clifton Moore (Boise State University)

Having watched Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller in this summer’s World Cup soccer matches, I walked onto the pitch for my fall rec league thinking that my game would be greatly improved. But, alas, it really hadn’t. My dribbling was not visibly better. I hadn’t become a better tackler. I couldn’t even bite my opponents in the professional fashion of famed Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez.

What I learned from this letdown was that watching an accomplished person do something does not necessarily equal learning to do it at that capacity yourself.

As noted, my role as a footballer is limited to rec league. I don’t get paid to play. Yet, when I look at my own profession, I see symptoms of the thought pattern I just described. Many college professors, yours truly included, think that students can learn something by simply watching teachers do it.

Perhaps the worst manifestation of this is our teaching of “critical thinking.” Assuming that we are all masters in this realm, we exhibit our skills “on the field” in an activity called the lecture. And, in doing so, we expect our students to mimic our moves and become great critical thinkers through such mimicry.

Some might object to the way I’ve described this, and claim that they engage in “discussion,” not lecture. But, the principle still largely applies. The prof is in control of the thinking. Students have only a moment to cogitate and make their own decisions. Some never orally engage the topic at all, unless forced.

Given all of this, I felt greatly enlightened when Bill Roberson, of the University at Albany (SUNY), presented a workshop at my campus not long ago. He suggested that one of the best ways to help students improve their critical thinking skills is to require them to make a difficult decision, then to have them go back and analyze their own decision-making process.

One great way of accomplishing this is to break a class into small groups, four or five students in each. At that point, the instructor can pose them a challenging multiple-choice question, requiring them to select an answer. Indeed, I’ve found that questions with a counter-intuitive answers are often best.

To make this visual, the teacher can give the teams sets of five cards, each with a different color and letter, one color for A, another for B, etc. After posing the question, and allowing the students to discuss it in their group, time is called and a spokesperson (actually, “show-person”) from each group must raise the card that they thought was correct.

The important part, however, is what follows. If the question is challenging enough, the students see a variety of responses revealed by their competing teams. And, the instructor then asks students to return to discussion and talk about whether they might want to change their answer. And, returning the students to their groups, the prof asks them to discuss why they chose their answer. In doing so, the students must consider what they were assuming, what ideas they might have excluded, and how they came to select what might not be a slam dunk response (or, an open net shot, to stick to a single metaphor).

Allow me to give a more concrete example. Recently, I had a class in which we were discussing media coverage of Islam. I created a multiple choice question related to how American commercial television drama portrayed Muslims immediately after 9/11. I followed the steps above, and after two rounds of vote casting, we had a very fruitful discussion of how groups selected their answers. Then, I asked the students read portions of an article by Evelyn Alsultany from which I had determined the “correct” answer—the correct answer being that positive portrayal actually increased. (The study is available from Project Muse here: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v065/65.1.alsultany.html.)

In reading parts of Alsultany’s article, some students became interested in an ensuing issue, namely, how the author made sense of what most people would not expect. She claims that the positive images that existed actually justify discrimination. That claim allowed further discussion to develop.

Though there certainly is no foolproof mechanism for engaging students, and most classroom activities wear thin with repeated use, I have found Roberson’s tip to be useful in a number of settings. Most importantly, I’ve found that it really does get more students actively engaging with a difficult question, and then engaging in reflection as to the basis for, and strength of their own answer. In soccer terms, each player should get more “touches” using the method described above, than in the typical lecture or class discussion. More players are in the game; fewer are watching. I perceive that to be a good thing, assuming a referee is available, in case there are any biters in the class.

 The author is the Teaching Chair of AEJMC’s Religion and Media Interest Group.

Posted in News.

Faculty Openings, Fellowship Announcements and Seminar Announcements

The King’s College

The King’s College, New York City, is accepting applications for a full-time faculty position in journalism at the rank of Assistant Professor for fall 2015. This growing college seeks an excellent teacher and entrepreneurial individual with a strong Christian faith as well as the ability and desire to interact with both popular and scholarly audiences.

Teaching responsibilities include seven courses per year (a mix of lower and upper division courses) or equivalent combination of teaching and administrative duties connected to the John McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute at The King’s College. Candidates should be able to teach college writing, intro to journalism and mass communications courses as well as journalism electives. Experience teaching and working in any of the following is welcome: multimedia journalism, foreign journalism, broadcast journalism and new media; and law, history and ethics of media.

King’s is a non-denominational Christian college, so candidates should be able to understand journalism and media from the context of a Christian worldview. All King’s faculty are required to subscribe to the college’s statement of faith (http://www.tkc.edu/abouttkc/Statement_of_Faith.pdf). A Ph.D. (or D. Phil.) in communication or a related field is required.

Applications received by Feb. 1 are guaranteed review.

Applicants should email cover letter that briefly addresses teaching and research interests, c.v., and unofficial graduate transcripts to Dr. Mark Hijleh, Dean of Faculty, mhijleh@tkc.edu.

***
University of Houston

The Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston, invites applications for a full-time instructor, non-tenure track, to teach courses in the journalism sequence beginning in fall 2015. The instructor will teach courses in reporting and writing with an emphasis on multimedia storytelling and digital journalism. The instructor will prepare student journalists to publish stories in the student newspaper and work closely with the Houston Chronicle and the student internship program. Significant professional journalism experience is greatly valued. Previous teaching experience is highly desired. A successful candidate must have a master’s degree in a related field.

Approximately 360 of the 1,800 majors specialize in print or broadcast journalism, another 370 specialize in media production, and 15 graduate students are pursuing a concentration in mass communications.

The Valenti School prides itself for its role in working with a diverse student population. Our student majors are 23 percent African-American, 21 percent Latino, 9 percent Asian-American and 3 percent international. The University of Houston strives to develop a deep understanding of and respect for diversity among students and colleagues. Therefore, we welcome candidates who may contribute to the diversity in the Valenti School and the University of Houston.

The University of Houston is the flagship campus of a state-assisted system that enrolls 50,000 students in a vibrant city, which has a world-class Medical Center, a robust arts community, professional sports and destination commercial shopping centers. Houston is known as a world capital for petroleum exploration, the headquarters location for multi-national corporations, and an international hub for shipping, railroad and aerospace activity. The university and the city encourage an entrepreneurial approach to new technologies – especially biotechnology – and are receptive to creative communication solutions in an urban environment. The Chronicle of Higher Education named the University of Houston as one of the best places to work in 2011, and U.S. News & World Report listed UH as the No. 2 most racially/ethnically diverse university in the nation. UH has been designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a Tier One public research university.

Review of applications will begin 12/15/14. Send letter of application, CV, three letters of recommendation, and official transcripts to:
Beth Olson, Ph.D.
Director, Valenti School of Communication
101 Communication Building
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3002
bolson@uh.edu

The University of Houston is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Minorities, women, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

***

Calvin College

Faculty Opening: Film and Media
Full Time – tenure-track position

The Department of Communication Arts & Sciences at Calvin College announces a full-time, tenure-track opening in Film and Media, pending administrative approval.

We are interested more in the intellectual and creative strengths of the person and his or her commitment to the institution’s mission as a strong Christian liberal arts college than in a particular set of skills. We expect the person will have an interest in new media, and also in some combination of single-camera location, multi-cam studio, audio, screenwriting, gaming, digital media arts, post-production, and our general education media appreciation course. Flexible interims in January and May offer additional opportunities to teach more specifically in one’s area of interest.

The colleague will help provide collaborative, visionary leadership for the eighty students in our media programs, headquartered in the 50,000-square-foot DeVos Communication Center. Robust facilities, equipment, and resources support ambitious teamwork between faculty and students in documentary, narrative, and art/experimental projects — often of national or international scope.

This position begins in August 2015. The search will remain open until December 1, 2014 or until filled.

***
FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics), in collaboration with The Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, is now accepting applications for a fellowship that uses the conduct of journalists during the Holocaust and in Nazi Germany as a launching point for an intensive two-week summer program on contemporary journalism ethics. Fellowships include an all-expenses-paid trip from New York to Berlin, Krakow, and O?wi?cim (Auschwitz) where students work with leading faculty to explore both journalism history and the ethical issues facing working journalists today. All program costs, including international and European travel, lodging, and food, are covered.

The 2015 FASPE Journalism program will run from May 24 to June 4. To be eligible applicants must either (1) be enrolled in a graduate program or (2) be working journalists who completed their undergraduate degrees between June 2010 and June 2014.

Completed applications must be received by January 6, 2015. All FASPE programs are non-denominational and candidates of all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

To apply or to learn more about FASPE, please visit: www.FASPE.info.

If you have any questions, please contact Thorin R. Tritter, Managing Director of FASPE, at ttritter@FASPE.info.

***

Palestinian American Research Center

U.S. Faculty Development Seminar on Palestine
2015 Faculty Development Seminar
May 14-25, 2015 in Jerusalem and the West Bank

Applications due January 9, 2015
Awards announced March 3, 2015

The Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) announces its sixth Faculty Development Seminar on Palestine. This 12-day seminar is for U.S. faculty members with a demonstrated interest in, but little travel experience to, Palestine.

PARC will select 10 to 12 U.S. faculty members to participate in Jerusalem-based activities that will include roundtable discussions, tours of historic cities, and visits to local universities, research institutes, and cultural institutions in the West Bank.

Through these activities, participants will learn about the region, deepen their knowledge of their particular fields of interest as they relate to Palestine, and build relationships with Palestinian academic colleagues.

Applicants must:

• Be U.S. citizens.
• Be full-time faculty members at recognized U.S. colleges or universities. Applicants may come from any academic discipline, including the humanities, social sciences, economics, law, health, and sciences.
• Have a demonstrated interest in Palestine.
• Have little previous travel experience to Palestine.
• Be willing to integrate their experiences from the seminar into their own teaching and/or pursue a joint research project or publication with a Palestinian colleague.
• Be a member of PARC. Visit the PARC membership page on our website for more information.

PARC will make all arrangements for the program including tours, site visits and meetings with Palestinian academic colleagues. PARC will cover all expenses for in-country, group ground travel, accommodations, and group meals. International airfare and personal and free day expenses will be the responsibility of each faculty member. In cases of demonstrated need, PARC will consider partial funding for international travel.

PARC will provide a $1,000 travel stipend for airfare for three professors from minority serving institutions and/or professors who are minority scholars. Funding for these three participants is provided by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through an agreement with CAORC.

For complete information, visit PARC’s website at http://parc-us-pal.org.

(Please note that the 2015 FDS Program is contingent upon funding.)

Posted in News. Tagged .

Call for Papers RMIG 2015

Religion and Media Interest Group (AEJMC 2015)

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) invites submission of research papers on topics that incorporate themes related to religion and media. RMIG will consider papers using quantitative, qualitative or historical research methods and accepts any recognized citation style (although APA is preferred). Please note that essays, commentaries, or simple literature reviews will not be considered. Possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): studies of religious group members and uses of religious or secular media; exploration of media coverage of religious issues and groups; analysis of audiences for religious news; media strategies of religious organizations; religious advertising; religious and spiritual content in popular culture; etc. Papers focusing on historically underrepresented religions, denominations and/or groups as well as religious contexts outside the U.S. are strongly encouraged. For more about RMIG and its mission, please see http://www.religionandmedia.org/our-mission-and-goals/. Papers will be considered for presentation as traditional research panels and poster sessions.

The maximum length of research papers is 25-pages, excluding endnotes and tables. The Religion and Media Interest Group also sponsors a Top Paper competition for both student and faculty papers. (Note: student papers may not have a faculty co-author.) The top student and faculty papers will be awarded $100 each, with the second-place student and faculty papers receiving $50 each. Co-authors will split the monetary awards, but each will receive a plaque. The awards will not be given if the selected papers are not presented at the conference. In order to be considered for the Top Paper competition, please specify either a student submission or a faculty submission on the cover page of the paper. Student papers that are not clearly identified as student submissions will not be considered for the student Top Paper Competition. All paper submissions must follow the 2015 AEJMC Uniform Paper Call.

Please pay particular attention to the following section of that call:

Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Questions should be submitted to the RMIG Research Chair Joel Campbell at joeljaycampbell@gmail.com. Type “RMIG Research Paper” in the subject line when communicating via e-mail.

RMIG will be sponsoring four joint panels for the 2015 AEJMC Conference in San Francisco:

  • Research panel: “Media, Religion, and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate since Massachusetts.” Co-sponsor: GLBT Interest Group.
  • PF&R panel: “Religion Reporting and the Media Manipulation of ISIS: Do We Just Say No?” Co-sponsor: Visual Communication Division
  • Teaching panel: “Putting Religion into the Nut Graph: Ideas on Transforming Religion News into Vital News in the Small Journalism Program.” Co-sponsor: Small Program Interest Group.
  • PF&R panel: “Journalists in Fear: Maintaining Ethical Coverage in a Dangerous Media Climate.” Co-sponsors: Community Journalism Interest Group and Media Ethics Division

***

San Francisco, CA 2015 AEJMC Paper Competition Uniform Call

The programming groups within the Council of Divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invite submission of original, non-published, English language only research papers to be considered for presentation at the AEJMC Conference, August 6 to 9, 2015, in San Francisco, CA. Specific requirements for each competition — including limits on paper length — are spelled out in the listing of groups and research chairs that appear below. Papers are to be submitted in English only.

All research papers must be uploaded through an online server to the group appropriate to the paper’s topic via a link on the AEJMC website: www.aejmc.org. The following uniform call will apply to ALL AEJMC paper competitions. Additional information specific to an individual group’s call is available at the end of the uniform call information.

1. Submit the paper via the AEJMC website link (www.aejmc.org) to the AEJMC group appropriate to the paper’s topic. Format should be Word, WordPerfect, or a PDF. PDF format is strongly encouraged.

2. The paper must be uploaded to the server no later than 11:59 P.M. (Central Daylight Time) Wednesday, April 1, 2015.

3. Also upload a paper abstract of no more than 75 words.

4. Completely fill out the online submission form with author(s) name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. The title should be printed on the first page of the text and on running heads on each page of text, as well as on the title page. Do NOT include author’s name on running heads or title page.

5. Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. ALL AEJMC DIVISIONS, INTEREST GROUPS AND COMMISSION PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL ABIDE BY THIS RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTION. NOTE: Follow instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind reviewing.

6. Papers are accepted for peer review on the understanding that they are not already under review for other conferences and that they have been submitted to only ONE AEJMC group for evaluation. Papers accepted for the AEJMC Conference should not have been presented to other conferences or published in scholarly or trade journals prior to presentation at the conference.

7. Student papers compete on an equal footing in open paper competitions unless otherwise specified by the individual division or interest group. Individual group specifications are appended to this uniform call.

8. Papers submitted with both faculty and student authors will be considered faculty papers and are not eligible for student competitions.

9. At least one author of an accepted faculty paper must attend the conference to present the paper. If student authors cannot be present, they must make arrangements for the paper to be presented.

10. If a paper is accepted, and the faculty author does not present the paper at the conference, and if a student author does not make arrangements for his/her paper to be presented by another, then that paper’s acceptance status is revoked. It may not be included on a vita.

11. Authors will be advised whether their paper has been accepted By May 20 and may access a copy of reviewers’ comments from the online server. Contact the paper chair if you are not notified or have questions about paper acceptance.

Special note: Authors who have submitted papers and have not been notified by May 20, MUST contact the division or interest group paper chair for acceptance information. The AEJMC Central Office may not have this information available.

12. Authors of accepted papers retain copyright of their papers and are free to submit them for publication after presentation at the conference.

Important Paper Submissions Information
• Upload papers for the AEJMC 2015 San Francisco, CA Conference beginning January 15, 2015. Paper submitters should follow instructions on the front page of the submission site to create your account and complete the information required.

• Deadline for paper submissions is April 1, 2015, at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Any submissions after this time will not be accepted.

• Before submitting your paper, please make certain that all author-identifying information has been removed and that all instructions have been followed per the AEJMC uniform paper call.

• A COVER SHEET or a sheet with the 75-word required ABSTRACT that is included with a paper upload should be EXCLUDED from the page number limits set by all AEJMC Groups.

Papers uploaded with author’s identifying information displayed WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR REVIEW AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION. All AEJMC Divisions, Interest Groups and Commission will abide by the rules below WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

NOTE: Follow online instructions on how to submit a clean paper for blind review at aejmc.org/home/papers. Contact Felicia Greenlee Brown with comments, concerns and other Conference Paper Call inquiries at Felicia@aejmc.org.

Posted in Call for papers. Tagged .

2014 Fall Newsletter

RELIGION MATTERS: Fall 2014

Welcome to the Fall 2014 Newsletter! To read the articles below, simply click on the link and it will take you to the individual post. Please note that we’re most immediately interested in joint panel proposals for the 2015 AEJMC conventions (see below).

Also, we’re increasing our social media presence. Have you “liked” us on Facebook? Click here to access our page. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Greg Perreault & Mariam Alkazemi
Newsletter editors (2014-2015)

Table of Contents

1. Call for Joint Panel Proposals for the 2015 AEJMC Convention

2. RMIG Annual Report 2013-2014

3.“The iPhone and Religious Belief” by Jim Trammell, 2014 Top Faculty Paper Award Recipient

4. Call for Papers/Open Position Announcements

5. RMIG Officer Bios 2014-2015

Posted in Newsletters.

The iPhone and Religious Belief by Dr. Jim Trammell

James TrammellBy Dr. Jim Trammell, High Point University

*Recipient of the RMIG 2014 Top Faculty Paper Award

Thank God for the iPhone. I use it to call my mother. I use it to update my Facebook status. I use it to take a picture of my cup of coffee, and then upload the picture to my WordPress blog. I can even use it to compose this newsletter column while riding on the bus on my way to work, then email it the newsletter editor ten minutes before it is due.

And if need be, I learned I can use my iPhone to fight Satan!

The “Shut Up, Devil!” app puts “The power to silence Satan . . . in your pocket!” The app gives would-be Satan silencers “[digital] cars that present Scriptures with personalized application” [sic] to read the devil makes you anxious, angry, or feel sinful in any other way. It’s “app-wide search make[s] it easy to find the Scriptures you need, when you need them.” “Shut Up, Devil” also allows users to “stay on the offensive by setting reminders to speak Scripture aloud,” like the “Reminders” function bundled with the iPhone, but with more Satan-fighting power, apparently.

The “Shut Up, Devil!” app raises some interesting questions. Could I fight the devil without the app? Am I at a disadvantage in fighting the devil if I don’t have an iPhone? Is the devil more easily defeated on the Android platform or Apple’s iOS? If the iPhone is a powerful tool for fighting the devil, do I cheapen its spiritual significance if I put the “Shut Up, Devil!” app next to my Angry Birds app? Is it okay to open the Pizza Hut app and order a large cheese stuffed crust pizza through my phone while using the “Shut Up, Devil!” app, or would that be considered sacrilege? And if that is sacrilege, is there an app I can download that would allow me to receive penance directly to my phone?

Religion and media have been inseparable partners for centuries. As media evolved, so did our engagement with religious faith. Before mass media, we passed our religious faith and traditions through oral communication, relying on perspective of the speaker’s experiences and knowledge to shape religion to the next generation. The printing press moved Scripture from exclusive confines of the Church to the congregants, giving the public agency in their religious practice and fueling the Protestant Reformation. The televangelists of the late 20th century shaped the public perception of Christianity as a faith based on prosperity and entertainment.

The “Shut Up, Devil!” app may be the newest effort to merge religion and media, but it is certainly not innovative. If anything, the “Shut Up, Devil!” was inevitable. Religious apps are only a new phenomenon in as much as the digital tablet is a new medium. If there is anything new about the “Shut Up, Devil” app, it’s in how the app embodies the next chapter in the centuries-long story of religion and media.

I addressed this merger of religious belief and tablet media at the 2014 AEJMC convention in Montréal. My presentation argued that the twenty-first century’s “electronic church” is moving from television to tablets, and argued that the content of Christian apps centers, among other things, on convenience. Just as the iPhone makes it easy for me to call Mom, take photos, and finish this column in the next ten minutes, so do many of the popular Christian apps make it easy for me to locate Scripture, post prayer requests, and, in the case of the Jesus Calling app, read a devotion that says I am special just the way I am.

Tablet media succeed by demanding as little effort from the user as possible. Christian apps also make few demands of the user, suggesting a practical strategy in fighting the devil comes not from a lifetime of prayer and supplication, but from downloading an app. If there is any real power in the “Shut Up, Devil!” app, it’s in the mistaken belief that spiritual and religious exercises are made stronger when they require little effort. The power of the “Shut Up, Devil!” app comes not from its purported ability to hold Satan at bay, but from its ability to turn religious practices into a convenience.

It’s easy to believe that the iPhone really doesn’t do anything new for religious belief. Christians have been fighting Satan for 2000 years without the iPhone, and will continue to tell him to “Shut Up” long past when tablet media are made obsolete by new technologies. But tablet media threaten to redefine what it means to engage with religious faith. Just as the printing press and broadcasting technologies affected how Christians practiced their faith, so can tablet media present a dominant approach Christianity, one that privileges ease and convenience over effort and reverence.

Jim Y. Trammell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication
High Point University

Posted in News.

Call for RMIG Joint Panel Proposals for the 2015 AEJMC Convention

Aloha RMIG Colleagues:

It was really nice seeing many of you in Montreal, and the conference was a great success. Thank you very much for your participation.

It’s time to think about the upcoming AEJMC Conference in San Francisco, California on August 5-9, 2015. RMIG is now accepting joint panel proposals for the 2015 convention. Proposal topics can be in one of the three areas: teaching, research, and PF & R (professional freedom and responsibility, including ethics and diversity issues such as race, gender, social justice etc.). All topics and ideas are welcome. The submission deadline is September 15, 2014.

Panel proposals should contain the following information:
Panel Title
Panel Type: e.g. PF&R, teaching, or research panel
Panel Sponsorship: Indicate which AEJMC divisions or interest groups might also be interested in co-sponsoring the panel. (Please note that while RMIG sole-sponsored panel proposals may be considered, the majority of AEJMC panels tend to be co-sponsored across divisions and interest groups to attract a higher attendance and to allow more RMIG participation in the program.)
Description of Panel: Provide a paragraph description of the key issues or subject matter to be addressed.
Possible Panelists: Include individuals who would be potential participants for this panel and indicate that whether you have confirmed that participation with them. It’s not necessary to have all potential panelists listed.
Possible Moderator
Contact Person: Include your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number as the contact person for this panel proposal.

Please send proposals to BOTH Myna Germans (mgerman@desu.edu) and Chiung Hwang Chen (chenc@byuh.edu) by September 15 (so we can have a backup, and it’s also easier for us to coordinate). Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Mahalo.

Chiung Hwang Chen
BYU Hawaii
RMIG Head

Posted in Conferences.

RMIG 2013-2014 Annual Report

RMIG 2013-2014 Annual Report

Posted in Conferences.

Open Position Announcements/ Call for Papers

The Department of Communication at the University of Washington is seeking an Assistant Professor in the area of Communication and Difference. Difference, a perceived deviation from traditionally understood norms and patterns, is central to all of our lives. Whether we move in the margins or at the center of cultures, we live difference in a variety of overlapping, multifaceted, and distinctly experiential ways. Difference is increasingly the norm because of demographic trends, global flows, and technological developments, but scholars have more work to do to understand the myriad factors affecting and reflecting difference and the ways in which it continues to be tied to inequality across cultures. The Department of Communication includes several faculty who are involved in research, teaching, and service related to communication and difference, and we seek a colleague who will complement these faculty. Candidates may focus on race, gender, class, religion, disability, economic difference, sexuality, age, and culture, or other sources of difference; we are particularly interested in work that speaks to the intersectionality of some of these. We encourage applicants from all epistemological traditions, including social scientific, critical/cultural, and rhetoric. Candidates should have interests in at least two of our departmental areas of conceptual emphasis (for these please see our website: com.washington.edu). As such, we expect that applicants will differ from one another in the communicative contexts they tend to study. Experience mentoring underrepresented students is highly valued for this position.  For more information, please visit: http://www.com.washington.edu/2014/08/seeking-assistant-professor-communication-and-difference/.

The annual conference of the Religious Communication Association will be held in Chicago on Nov. 19-23. Each November, RCA holds its annual conference and day-long preconference in conjunction with the annual convention of the National Communication Association. Scholars are invited to submit competitive papers and panel proposals for consideration. Instructions and guidelines are specified in the annual RCA call for papers. The call for the 2014 RCA conference is now closed; check back in January for the 2015 call.  For more information, please go to http://www.relcomm.org/rca-conferences-and-calls.html .

Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly published an article dealing with religion in its September 2014 edition.  The article analyzes acceptance of religious humor in Spanish media. Specifically, a comparison is made between the opinion of journalists and the general public in the four main regions in Spain (Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, and Basque Country). The study used both qualitative (in-depth interviews with journalists and focus groups with the public) and quantitative (surveys given to journalists and the general public) techniques. Results show differences between journalists and the general public on whether religion deserves special treatment, and on the legitimacy of an opinion that shows a lack of respect toward religion.

 

Posted in Call for papers.