School of Communications faculty attend 2024 AEJMC Conference

Several members of the School of Communications traveled to Philadelphia last week to participate in the 107th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference.

Elon scholars participated in panel sessions, presented authored or co-authored papers, and served as discussants providing constructive feedback throughout the conference, which ran Aug. 8-11. Given the conference’s location and the upcoming presidential election, the event had a fitting theme: “Representation and Voice – The Future of Democracy.”

School faculty contributed to a wide range of topics, including mentorship, internships, artificial intelligence, no-code platforms and propaganda on social media. A listing of faculty activities at AEJMC is below.

Presentations and panels

• Professor Vanessa Bravo participated in an International Communication Division panel about freedom of the press around the world and shared a presentation titled “Declining Press Freedoms and Increasing Precarity among Journalists in Costa Rica.” She also moderated a Public Relations Division and Commission on the Status of Minorities PFR panel session on “Mentoring Across Differences: Best Practices in Mentoring a Diverse Pool of Future Professionals and Academics,” and served as a discussant during the Minorities and Communication Division’s top paper refereed research paper session.
• Assistant Professor Shannon Zenner served as a discussant for a session titled “Banned by the Bird: A Cross-National Content Analysis of Propaganda on Twitter,” and moderated the Visual Communication Division’s top paper refereed research paper session and luncheon conversation. Zenner was also recognized in a conference program advertisement noting her participation as a judge in the organization’s recent conference logo competition.
• Assistant Professor Brian Walsh, Associate Professor Byung Lee and Zenner served as panelists for a Communication Technology and Visual Communication Divisions session titled “Leveraging AI for Enhanced Data Analysis and Visualization.” The session examined how to navigate the AI landscape while maintaining ethical rigor and public trust.
• Assistant Professor Israel Balderas presented insights on his recent Winter Term course, titled “The Presidential Campaign Starts Here: The First Primaries,” as part of the Great Ideas for Teaching Presentations Representation and Voice: The Future of Democracy in the JMC Classroom section. Co-taught by Political Science and Policy Studies Lecturer Jill Auditori, the course embedded students on the presidential campaign trail in South Carolina and New Hampshire. For the Law and Policy Division, Balderas also served on a panel, titled “Fire in a Political Theater: The First Amendment Legacy of Donald J. Trump,” that looked at the former president’s ongoing conflicts with First Amendment precedent, asking if he has irreversibly shattered some of the well-established standards and legal tests for categories of protected and unprotected speech. “I argued that news organizations and adjacent groups like the National Association of Black and Hispanic Journalists should continue to confront Trump on the campaign trail when opportunities to interview him present themselves – like 2 weeks ago at the NABJ conference,” the professor said. Lastly, Balderas also shared an extended abstract, titled “Exploring the Underappreciated Positive Impact of Kennedy v. Bremerton on the Public Employee Speech Doctrine,” during the Law and Policy Division’s refereed research paper session.

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  Assistant Professor Chris (Cheng) Chen served as a panelist for a Visual Communication Division and Council of Affiliates session on “Decoding the Future: No-Code Platforms in Media and Communication Education.” The panel introduced educators to the power and potential of no-code platforms along with how no-code platforms can amplify storytelling and audience engagement.

• Senior Lecturer Hal Vincent moderated a refereed research paper session titled “Internships & Careers Top Research Manuscripts” and a PFR panel session on “Creating Funding Programs to Assist Students Afford Internships and Applied Learning Experiences.”
• Professor Qian Xu was a discussant for an AI and Technology refereed research paper session titled “Could Self-expansion Ease AI Identity Threat? A Replication Study of the TEBOTS Model.” Xu also presented her collaborative research with Assistant Professor Jenny (Ke) Jiang titled “UX Design vs. UI Design: Understanding Employers’ Expectations Through Semantic Analysis of Job Descriptions.”
• Finally, a full paper co-authored by Jiang and Xiyuan Jiang of Shanghai Institute of International Studies was presented during the International Communication Division’s refereed research paper session. It was titled “Unveiling Geopolitical Dynamics: Semantic and Coherency Network Analysis of Social Media Posts from Major News Agencies in the United States and China.”