Students, faculty and alums from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism had a far-reaching presence at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s annual conference this summer, participating in dozens of panels and research presentations.
Their work spanned cutting-edge media technology, historical scholarship, global journalism, political communication and pedagogy.
Four members of the Merrill College community won awards: Ph.D. students Kemi Busari and Mohamed Salama, and faculty members Alison Burns and Rob Wells.
Busari earned the First Place Graduate Student Paper Award for “Beyond the Degree,” a study of hiring criteria in Nigerian newsrooms. His research also focused on journalists without formal journalism degrees.
Salama won Top Student Paper for “From Complicity to Contestation,” examining lynching narratives in the press.
Burns presented as the winner of an AEJMC Association Grant for her project, “Digital Storytelling as Service Learning in an Undergraduate Media Literacy Course: A Case Study of the Harriet Tubman Byway Project.”
Wells won Top Faculty Paper for his historical work, “From the New Deal to Nixon.”
Multiple members of the Merrill College community had more than one piece of research selected for presentation at the conference.
Dr. Shuning Lu, the college’s new assistant professor in media, democracy and technology, and Ph.D. student Shahariar Khan Nobel each co-authored three while Ph.D. students Razan Aljohani, Busari and Salama each had two selections.
Merrill faculty and staff members Burns, Lu, Wells, Jodi McFarland Friedman, Dr. Wei-Ping Li, Dr. Christoph Mergerson, Dr. Daniel Trielli, Derek Willis and Dr. Ronald Yaros appeared on panels at the conference as panelists, moderators or discussants. They explored such topics as AI, misinformation, and teaching and research methods.
Selected to present peer-reviewed research:
Razan Aljohani (Ph.D. student)
“Saudi Citizens’ Perceptions of Kingdom News Reported by International News Organizations”
“Lionel Messi and Saudi Tourism: Celebrity Endorsement in Nation Rebranding”
Kemi Busari (Ph.D. student)
“Beyond the Degree”
“The Paradox of Journalism Degree: Exploring the Motivations and Job Perceptions of Journalists Without Formal Journalism Education”
Joey Mengyuan Chen (Ph.D. student)
“Feminism with Chinese Characteristics: A Scoping Review of the New Generation of Feminist Activism in China”
Jodi McFarland Friedman (Ph.D. student and Maryland Democracy Initiative coordinator)
“Criminal Justice and Digital Shame: Shifting News Norms Around Police Mug Shots Reflect Journalism’s Ethical Reckoning”
Teona Goderdzishvili (Ph.D. student)
“Reporting Under Pressure: Media Bias, State Violence, and the Ethics of Journalism in Georgia”
Wei-Ping Li (Ph.D. alum), Naeemul Hassan (associate professor) and Sarah Oates (associate dean, professor)
“The Truth in the Mirror- Narratives of the 2024 US Presidential Election in Ethnic Media”
Shuning Lu (assistant professor)
“Whoever Hung the Bell Must Untie It: Exploring News Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Tech Companies’ Local Journalism Initiatives”
“Curating Politics on Social Media: How Different Types of Curatorial Users Gain Political Knowledge and Mitigate Affective Polarization Through Incidental Exposure”
“Gateway to Promoting AI for Social Good: Collective Scientific Efficacy Enhances Scientific Consensus Communication on Social Media”
Yara Mabrouk (Ph.D. student) and Linda Steiner (associate dean, professor)
“Egyptian Media Coverage of a High-Profile Case: Who was Blamed when an Uber Passenger Died”
Shahariar Khan Nobel (Ph.D. student)
“Framing Politics in the Digital Age: Analyzing Social Media Political Influencers in the 2024 US Election in X”
“‘It Feels Like We’re from Another Planet’: Exploring How Identity-Oriented Mis/Disinformation Alienates Ethnic Minorities in Bangladesh”
“Creator or Helper? How AI Disclosure and Source Credibility Affect Political Advertising”
Mohamed Salama (Ph.D. student)
“Who Tells, Who Acts? Palestinian Journalists and the Discursive Line Between Reporting and Activism”
“From Complicity to Contestation: Law Enforcement in Press Narratives of Lynching, 1835–1950 Using the Narrative Policing Analysis (NPA) Framework”
Daniel Trielli (assistant professor), Yara Mabrouk (Ph.D. student) and Diana Krovvidi (Ph.D. student)
“Visibility for Local News”
Gea Ujčić (Ph.D. student)
“November to Remember: Radio 101, Media Freedoms, Protest and Democracy in 1996 Croatia”
Several Merrill Ph.D. alums also presented at the conference, including:
Dinfin Mulupi '24 (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Sohana Nasrin '24 (University of Tampa)
Frankie (Ho Chun) Wong '24 (Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
Bobbie Foster '23 (University of Arkansas)
Shannon Scovel '23 (University of Tennessee)
Carolina Velloso '23 (University of Minnesota)
Nandikoor R. Prashanth Bhat '20 (University of Texas, Houston)
Karin Assmann '19 (University of Georgia)
Pallavi Guha '17 (Towson University)
Allissa Richardson '17 (University of Southern California)
Michael Koliska '15 (Georgetown University)
Elia Powers '14 (Towson University)
Indira Somani '08 (Howard University; New Day Films)
For more information, contact:
Josh Land, Communications Manager
joshland@umd.edu