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Center for Ethics attracts media attention

The new Center for Journalism Ethics and its director, Prof. Stephen Ward, have been attracting the attention of journalists, columnists, and book authors. Here are a couple of recent examples:

In his weekly column Sept. 6, Clark Hoyt, public editor of the New York Times, sought advice from three ethicists concerning an alleged conflict of interest involving technology writer David Pogue. One of the ethicists named in the column was Prof. Ward.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/opinion/06pubed.html?_r=1

Also, on Sept. 6, in the Wisconsin State Journal, Prof. Ward was quoted in a report by Jason Stein for a story on a reporter who did not fully disclose to an interviewee who he was writing for. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_43751011-0980-527f-be38-63ee4a4530bf.html

Meanwhile, a new book, Losing the News, by Alex Jones of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, begins Chapter Five with a quote from a talk given by Prof. Ward on how ethics struggles in a media world that seems to be "going to hell in a hand basket."

Spring 2010 J-School Application for Undergraduate Admission Now Available

 The Spring 2010 Application for Undergraduate Admission to the School of Journalism & Mass Communication is now available. Please see the links below for information regarding admission the J-School.

 

 

 

New online course explores history

  A new online course for alumni explores the ways journalism and mass media have evolved throughout the history of the United States, especially the roles they played in the nation’s political and economic history. Participants will discover how the lessons learned from Colonial Times through the Vietnam War are still relevant today.

The course, modeled after a popular UW class taught by SJMC Professor James L. Baughman, has been customized for the Internet and will be facilitated by doctoral candidate Phil Glende.

Offered through the Wisconsin Alumni Association, the course runs Oct. 13 to Nov. 19, 2009. For complete information on registration, fees and topics, visit the WAA Lifelong Learning course page.

 

Downey chosen to lead School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Greg Downey is convinced the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication is poised for continued success even as the communications industry confronts unparalleled change and turmoil.

As he takes over the school's directorship from James L. Baughman, a journalism professor who led the school for the past six years, Downey is upbeat about the school's role even as newspapers founder and the advertising industry confronts economic and structural challenges.

"Although the industry is facing an underlying upheaval, it will find ways to survive and adapt as the many emerging opportunities in social networking come into focus," says Downey. "Both corporations and nonprofits depend on quality reporting and good communication."

In 2000, well before the media industry faced today's grave economic challenges and seismic technological changes, the school changed its curriculum to encompass more Web-based and new media skills. The curriculum also aimed to make students — not just those in the school, but throughout the university — better, more knowledgeable consumers of information.

"Students recognize that having expertise in communications can serve you well in political science, business, economics or plant biology," says Downey. "This field has always been interdisciplinary, and it continues to be drawn to this tradition."

A historian and geographer of communication technology and labor, Downey also holds a faculty appointment in the School of Library and Information Studies.

He earned a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University and wrote his thesis on telegraph messengers, which was the basis of a 2002 book titled "Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor, Technology and Geography."

His most recent book, "Closed Captioning: Subtitling, Stenography and the Digital Convergence of Text with Television," was published last year.

Downey, who was elected to the director's post by his faculty peers, says that despite changes in technology, the importance of journalism will endure and grow.

"We're getting students to appreciate that, no matter how big blogging gets, there will need to be some original, thoughtful, ethical journalism to provide the basis of content," he says.

The directorship is limited to two three-year terms, and Baughman had reached the end of that maximum term.

During his tenure, Baughman presided over the school's centennial events in 2005, oversaw the redesign of a professional master's degree program and hired Stephen J.A. Ward, the school's Burgess Professor of Journalism Ethics, who created the school's Center for Journalism Ethics.

Baughman is also upbeat about the school's future.

"It's been fascinating, and occasionally depressing, these past six years, to witness the struggles of the newspaper and other industries. Yet there are few long faces in my department," says Baughman.

"My colleagues and our students continue to possess a passion for learning and research. The future does not intimidate them," he adds. "At my last commencement in May, I was teased by one parent, whose daughter had majored in social work, about journalism being a dying field. 'Nonsense,' I said. 'My students are going to save journalism.'"

Downey, whom Baughman called "unusually smart about the many technological challenges and opportunities facing the media industries," says the school's role in a media-rich world is more important than ever.

"We need to continue to convince students of the need for journalism itself," Downey says. "There is a true social need for an informed citizenry and a society with a diversity of voices present. By the time students finish a degree here or just a couple of classes, that's the message we hope they take home."

SJMC and LSC Students and Faculty Win Nine Awards Across Five Divisions/Interest Groups at AEJ

Graduate students and faculty in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Joint Program in Mass Communications landed several awards — the most in recent memory — at a national conference for journalism educators this week.

The awards, presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Boston, underscore the program's national reputation for research and teaching, says Dhavan Shah, UW-Madison professor of journalism and mass communication.

"It's one of those years where the stars were all aligned. You had a great group of graduate students working closely with an excellent faculty," says Shah, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication's outgoing director of graduate studies. "The results are clear: It's a place that's hard to beat for research excellence. It's part of an impressive track record."

Among the program's award winners were Shah, Robert Drechsel, Jack McLeod and Sue Robinson, who received recognitions from the Communication Theory and Methodology Division, Law Division, and Mass Communication and Society Division; and Dominique Brossard, Dietram Scheufele and Albert Gunther from the Department of Life Sciences Communication who were recognized with an award from the Science Communication Interest Group.

Four of the program's graduate students — Melissa Gotlieb, Kjerstin Thorson, Amy Becker and Timothy Fung — were each authors on two award-winning papers. Two of these students are advised by faculty in journalism and mass communication and two by faculty in the Department of Life Sciences Communication. Both units jointly administer the mass communications Ph.D. program.

"The mass communications program has long been a leader in producing graduates that populate all the top communications programs in the U.S. and abroad when they become faculty," says Scheufele, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Life Sciences Communication.

Shah adds: "In terms of being able to conduct research and become an assistant professor, I don't think there's a better place to be in the country."

Here is a list of awards presented to UW-Madison faculty and students at the conference:

Student papers:

* Amy B. Becker, "New Voters, New Outlooks? Same-sex Marriage, Social Networks and Generational Politics." (Top Three Student Paper, Mass Communication and Society Division).
* Melissa Gotlieb and Kjerstin Thorson, "News Exposure and Political Participation: A Citizen versus Consumer Response to News Media Messages." (Guido Stempel Award for Graduate Student Research, Top Paper, Graduate Student Interest Group).
* Emily K. Vraga, Thorson, Timothy Fung and Hans K. Meyer, "Emotions vs. Cognitions? Testing Competing Models of Response to a Media Message in Predicting Participation." (Top Three Student Paper, Communication Theory and Methodology Division).
* Fung and Elliott Hillback, "Health Risk as a Threat to Freedom: Exploring the Role of Psychological Reactance in Reactions to West Nile Virus News Coverage." (Eason Prize, Top Student Paper, Science Communication Interest Group).

Top faculty paper awards (papers written with graduate students):

* Kajsa E. Dalrymple, Becker and life science communications professors Brossard, Scheufele and Gunther, "Getting Citizens Involved: How Controversial Science Policy Debates Stimulate Issue Participation During a Political Campaign." (Runner-up for Top Faculty Paper, Science Communication Interest Group).
* Drechsel, "The Declining First Amendment Rights of Government News Sources: How Garcetti v. Ceballos Threatens the Flow of Newsworthy Information" (Top Faculty Paper, Law Division).
* Gotlieb, Kyurim Kyoung, Itay Gabay and journalism professor Shah, "Political Consumerism and Youth Citizenship: The Development of Identity Politics Among Tweens and Teens." (Top Faculty Paper, Mass Communication and Society Division).
* Nam-jin Lee and journalism professors Shah and McLeod, "Processes of Communicative Socialization: A Communication Mediation Approach to Youth Civic Engagement." (Top-Three Faculty Paper, Communication Theory and Methodology Division).

Faculty award:

* Journalism professor Sue Robinson was honored as one of three "Promising Professors."

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