The research article, An Exploration of Sample Sizes for Content Analysis of the New York Times Web Site, Dr. Wang co-authored with Dr. Dan Riffe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explores the effectiveness and efficiency of sample sizes for content analysis of online newspaper sites. Using simple random sampling, the comparisons showed that a sample size of six days was effective and efficient to represent one year of content of the New York Times Online.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 1:43 pm. Add a comment
In an effort to improve communication among scientists and the public, journalism professor Mark Walters established the Center for Scientists and the Mass Media at USF St. Petersburg. Still in its infancy, the center has already held a workshop for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance on communicating science topics with a lay audience. Plans are to hold four workshops a year and be a resource in other ways for science communication.
“Traditionally, the method to improve the communication of science through mass media was to increase scientific literacy among journalists,” Walters said. “We think the way to go is to increase media literacy among scientists.”
Walters would like the center, through collaboration among faculty members in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies and with the Poynter Library, to provide assistance to scientists looking for effective ways to communicate their research and findings with journalists and the public. For example, with the help of visual communications professor Paul Wang, the center could provide informational graphics and video services for scientists in need of relevant ways to share their work. The center could help scientists transform scientific abstracts for lay audiences.
Another aspect of the center’s work will focus on examining the disconnect between public understanding of science and society’s major debates on topics such as global climate change and evolution. The center will seek partnerships with organizations to manage the public outreach or education components that are common to federal and other grants.
Walters’ expertise in science communication stems from his training as a veterinarian and experience as a journalist; he has combined the two and offered professional consulting on science communication and journalism for years. He has written books on the topic and looks at better communication as the key to greater public support for scientific research.
“I want the center to help change misperceptions of science,” Walters said. “And it has to begin with scientists becoming better communicators.”
The center will operate from an office in the Undergraduate Research Labs building.
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 4:18 pm. Add a comment
1) JMS offices will be closed Friday (tomorrow), April 9, as faculty are in a day-long meeting off-campus.
2) Ms. Nickens’ departure will make for a tough adjustment. I can’t tell you how much we value her years of service to the department and its faculty and students, and I can’t tell you what a loss, departmental and personal, this is for us. We hope that her decision to do other things results in great rewards for her and her family, and all of us in the department and university wish her the very best. We as a department are committed to working with our students to give you the best university experience we can, but we’ll face a few challenges in the next few months. We will have inevitable glitches, in part because that’s the case with all transitions, but also because Ms. Nickens handled so many different things so well. Also, the university, because of the current budget situation, is not replacing the position. I am working with the dean and university administration to come up with a solution that will meet most of our needs, but, in the end, all of us will have to make some adjustments. So, as the department chair I’m asking you on behalf of the faculty to work with us and help us. If you have issues that come up, for now, get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to deal with it or direct you to someone who can. All faculty members, I’m sure, are willing to help if they can. And, come by and talk with me, call, or email, if you need to. I appreciate your understanding, patience and help.
3) At 3 p.m. on Monday in FCT 108, I’m meeting with five Moroccan journalists who are interested in U.S. print journalism and other things. Join me if you can and contribute to the discussion, ask questions, or just observe. The department has welcomed hundreds of foreign journalists in the past decade. As many of you know, we had 17 African journalists for a week last October, and we’ll have another group of African journalists coming this October or November. Any of you interested in participating in that event, The Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, please let me know.
Bob Dardenne
Associate professor, Chair
Journalism and Media Studies
USF St. Petersburg
Galina Tishchenko, a former JMS graduate student, won the first place in the 2010 BEA International Division research paper competition (open category) for her paper co-authored with Dr. Xiaopeng Wang, assistant professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies.
Tishchenko graduated from the Department of Journalism and Media Studies with an M.A. degree in 2009. As part of her applied research project, the paper, A comparative analysis of the broadcast coverage of local news in the Russian Federation and the United States of America in the paradigm of attention span theory, compares the broadcast programing and editorial content of local TV news between two nations. Dr. Xiaopeng Wang and Dr. Tony Silvia served in her graduate committee.
The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is a national professional organization for broadcast educators, scholars and researchers. The 2010 BEA International Division research paper competition included many excellent papers. The competition was strong. Each paper went through a rigorous blind review by three reviewers. The top papers were accepted according to the blind review results.
In the open category, the other winners include Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama, and Xin Zhong, Renmin University of China, “Olympics Coverage: Projection of Professionalism and Olympic Goals” (Second Place); and Daekyung Kim, Idaho State University, and Junwoo Song, Idaho State University “The Civic Duty to Keep Informed Revisited in Korea: News Media Exposure and Civic Duty” (Third Place).
The BEA International Division winning papers will be presented at the BEA 2010 convention in April in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Posted 6 months, 1 week ago at 10:41 pm. Add a comment
Deni Elliott, the Eleanor Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics and Press Policy and a journalism professor at USF St. Petersburg, will present a talk and slide show, “Narrative Myths of Breast Cancer: A Case Study in Media Distortion,” Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. in the Residence Hall. This presentation includes the work of graduate student Amanda Decker and alumni Pam Hogle.
As news of swine flu cases swirl in the media this year, Mark Walters, associate professor of journalism at USF St. Petersburg, sees the global pandemic as another chance to help the public understand the source of emerging diseases – humans.
The journalist-turned-veterinarian-turned-professor focuses on communicating scientific information for the sake of public health through his writing and workshops tailored for scientists and journalists. And with viruses such as swine flu working their way into human bodies, his message regarding emerging diseases resonates more than ever. …Read more
The USFSP Department of Journalism & Media Studies hosted 17 journalists from 13 African countries for a one-week visit to the Tampa Bay area from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7.
The journalists were invited by the U.S. State Department through its Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists. As one of 11 U.S. university partners of the 2009 Murrow Program, the USFSP Department of Journalism & Media Studies hosted a series of sessions on practicing journalism in the 21st century and reporting Africa.
Posted 10 months, 4 weeks ago at 6:58 pm. Add a comment
The St. Petersburg Times Column by Dr. Deni Elliott.
Grocery store aisles are glowing pink as corporations jump on the bandwagon of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Products branded by pink ribbons or entirely dressed in pink for the month make it possible for consumers to caffeinate, sip soup, eat packaged foods, and then wipe their hands and blow their noses “for the cure.”
We all want to end breast cancer in our lifetime. But we ought not assume that pink packaging advances that goal. In 1969, 1 in 20 American women got breast cancer. Forty years later, the incidence has risen to 1 in 8. Consumption for the cure contributes to corporate profits and income to the charities, but it does little to address the puzzle of increased incidence. continue…
