COMJIG Activities in Montreal

I hope you’re all looking forward to our conference next week in Montreal.  The Community Journalism Interest Group has put together a great program for the conference. We’re looking forward to seeing you!

First, our business meeting will be held on Friday, Aug. 8, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. We need nominees for two positions:

- Research Chair

- Graduate Student Liaison

Please consider putting your name forward to be part of the Interest Group. We’ll vote on a new slate of officers, learn about Interest Group’s activities for the past year and its plans for the coming year. 

The official business meeting will be followed by a talk by Penny Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics, UNC-Chapel Hill, and author of the book, “Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability.” Here’s a link to the book’s website: savingcommunityjournalism.com.

The night’s not over yet! Professor Abernathy’s talk will be followed by a COMJIG social starting at 8:45 p.m. at Universel Déjeuners et Grillades, 2055 Peel, Montreal http://peel.resto-universel.com/en/. The place serves crepes and is just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

In addition, COMJIG is co-sponsoring a pre-conference workshop, “The Journalism Educator’s Role in the Future of Education,” on Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 2 pm to 7 pm. Please note there is a $40.00 U.S. charge for the workshop. The workshop will be moderated by Geanne Perlman Rosenberg, Baruch-CUNY, and will explore the following topics: 

- Thinking Outside the Box: The Journalism Educator’s Potential Role Beyond Majors

- News Literacy and Journalism Education for Non-Majors from Grade School on Up:

- Expanding Impact:  Challenges and Opportunities

The Community Journalism Interest Group also is sponsoring and/or co-sponsoring several interesting panels during the conference, including:

• COMJIG Celebrates Its 10th Year with AEJMC: What Will the Next 10 Years Look Like for Community Journalism? Refereed Research Session, Saturday, August 9, 9:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.    

• First Nation Media in North America, Sat., Aug. 9, 11 a.m. –  12:30 p.m.

• Defining Emergent Journalistic Behaviors, Wed., Aug. 6, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. 

• Ethnic Media in North America: Political Rights and Community Participation, Thurs., Aug. 7, 8:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

• Scholar-to-Scholar Refereed Paper Research Session, Thurs., Aug. 2, 1:30 pm - 3 pm

• Hyperlocal Journalism on Both Sides of the Border: A Canada-U.S. Perspective, Friday, Aug. 8, 1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. 

• Preparing Journalism Students for a Globalized World, Friday, Aug. 8, 5:15 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.

Some of our members also will be presenting on a panel sponsored by the Internships & Careers Interest Group, “Preparing Students for Community Journalism,” Thurs., Aug. 7, 8:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. 

We hope to see you at all of these events. In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments about the events or the group’s activities. I can be reached at garyantes@rowan.edu. Thanks and I look forward to meeting you in Montreal!