JRP conference hosted for the first time at TMU
Journalism at the Creative School faculty and staff hosted researchers from around the world at the first ever conference for the global project ‘Journalistic Role Performance’ last month.
The conference was held by the JRP Canada team and hosted members from all over the world at the Rogers Communication Centre, May 24-26.
Associate Professor Nicole Blanchett, principal investigator of the Canadian JRP Project organized the JRP conference with instructor Cheryl Vallender.
“When we dreamt up the idea of holding an international conference on journalistic roles and performance our goals were to prioritize diversity and accessibility and bring together journalists and academics,” says Blanchett.
The goal of the JRP conference was to explore the factors shaping journalism and the critical challenges the industry is facing.
“We are thrilled that the conference turned out just as we had hoped,” says Blanchett.
Blanchett co-authored the paper, “Is it us or them? The challenge of getting journalists to participate in academic research” with Vallender and journalism student JRP conference accessibility coordinator Sama Nemat Allah.
“I've worked with the JRP Canada team since the beginning of my university career and it's provided me with indispensable access to the journalistic academic community,” says Nemat Allah.
Nemat Allah is also the visual editor of the paper and the digital conference magazine which “is an extension of our commitment to access.”
Other j-school faculty who participated in the conference include assistant professor Adrian Ma, who moderated the panel, Locating the Audience, which addressed the lack of systematic research in journalism by analyzing the roles of lifestyle journalists.
Instructor Shenaz Kermalli moderated a panel which critiqued news coverage of marginalized communities in San Francisco, India and the U.K.
“We discovered how deeply entrenched public perceptions and stereotypes are of marginalized communities and the power structures that perpetuate mistruths,” says Kermalli.
Student reporters chronicled the ideas of other speakers and panels and those articles will be published in a digital and print magazine. More information highlighting the work of the participant researches can be found on the JRP Canada website. (external link)
TMU faculty present at communication conferences
The JRP gathering was held ahead of the International Communication Association conference (external link) in Toronto. Other j-school faculty also organized meetings to include those scholars from around the world.
Associate professor Lisa Taylor organized a meeting of many of the academics involved in the massive Worlds of Journalism (external link) research project to get updates on data collection. For more than a decade, the researchers have been surveying journalists in 67 countries (external link) .
Taylor and associate professor Janice Neil also presented at the first-ever Podcast Studies (external link) conference, supported by the ICA, also held on TMU campus. They described preliminary findings on how podcast journalists are demonstrating compassion and duty of care for their interview subjects.
Professor April Lindgren hosted a Local Journalism Researches Networking Brunch on May 26 to bring 50 people from around the world to share research on local journalism.
Lindgren also presented a paper on local news poverty in Canadian communities at the ICA.
Blanchett presented at ICA as well on Societal Context of Professional Practice: Examining the Impact of Politics, Economics and Technology on Journalistic Role Performance Across 37 Countries.
