COMJIG Panelists Needed

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone is getting excited about our conference in Montreal in August. As you know, the Community Journalism Interest Group is sponsoring and/or co-sponsoring several interesting panels during the conference, including:

- First Nation Media in North America (Sat., Aug. 9, 12:45 p.m.)

- Hyperlocal Journalism on Both Sides of the Border: A Canada-U.S. Perspective (Friday, Aug. 8, 1:45 p.m.)

- Preparing Journalism Students for a Globalized World (Friday, Aug. 8, 5:15 p.m.)

- Defining emergent journalistic behaviors (Wed., Aug. 6, 3:15 p.m.) 

We are participating in two additional panels for which we still need panelists. Please email me by Feb. 17 if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for the panel. You can email me at garyantes@rowan.edu.

The panels are:

1. Panel: Ethnic Media in North America: Political Rights and Community Participation (Thurs., Aug. 7, 8:15 a.m.)

(Research Panel)

Co-sponsored by MAC and COMJIG

The roles of ethnic media in the U.S. and Canada in the intersection of two realities -- political and gender issues that matter most to ethnic minority groups in question. Because of the growth in ethnic minority populations and the migration of foreign-born populations with different cultural identities, ethnic media industry is growing in both the U.S. and Canada. In multi-ethnic societies, mainstream media outlets struggle to ensure inclusive coverage. Therefore, ethnic and community media outlets are supposed to fill in the gap in a media environment by carrying out the community-oriented coverage of social and political issues. Consequentially, ethnic media can contribute community-oriented perspectives to policymaking processes and policy discourses.

In this context, panelists comprised of media diversity scholars and Montreal-based ethnic media publisher will share their investigations on how effectively the U.S. and Canadian ethnic media have performed their political roles. Along with the political roles of ethnic media, this panel will explore to what extent ethnic media included the perspectives of women/minority women in the discussion/coverage of politically important issues and also examine publications focused on gender.

Prospective Panelists (listed in alphabetical order):

Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas

George Guzmas, the-news.ca

Ralph Izard, Louisiana State University and Media Diversity Forum

Federico Subervi, Kent State University

COMJIG panelist TBA

2. Preparing Students for Community Journalism  (Thurs. Aug. 7, 8:15 a.m.)

(Teaching Panel)

Sponsored by ICIG

Two panelists needed

Community Journalism seems to fit very well in the new hyper-local and community driven journalism industry, both online and in print/broadcast formats. How can instructors better shape their class instruction and guide students into internships that help develop these skills?

A panel discussion focusing on:

a.     What “Best Practices” classroom instruction and experience motivates students’ interest in Community Journalism?

b.     What types of internship opportunities fit best into a Community Journalism experience?

Prospective Panelists (listed in alphabetical order):

Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky

Sue Porter, vice president/programs for the Scripps Howard Foundation

Also looking for academics from co-sponsoring Interest Groups who have taught courses and administered internships focused on Community Journalism.

Thanks,

Dianne Garyantes

Vice Chair/ Program Head, COMJIG