Grady College faculty and graduate students showcase their achievements at 2024 AEJMC Conference

Faculty and graduate students from Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication will present research, serve as panelists and network with other educators at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference. The 2024 conference takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 8 – 10, 2024. 

Several faculty and graduate students will be honored for outstanding work including Brittany Shivers,Ph.D. student, and Bartosz Wojdynski, associate professor, who co-authored “Scrolling for the Truth (or Not): Perceptions of Misinformation on TikTok and Potential Interventions,” which received Top Faculty Paper- First Place, Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division.

Jiyoung Yeon, Ph.D. student, received a Mass Communication and Society (MCS) Research Award and $5,000 funding for the project “Spiral of Mocking memes: The Role of Internet Memes in Affecting Self-silencing on the Dark Side of Society,” in the student category.

Jeong-Yeob Han, associate professor, received 2^nd place in Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk Division papers. 

Yen-I Lee (PhD ’19) received the Mass Communication and Society Division Research Award in the faculty category for the project, “Narratives with Emotional Flow and Empathy Emotional Appeal on Embodied Empathetic Process and Emerging Persuasion in Prosocial Mental Health Communication.”

Ivanka Pjesivac, associate professor; Sohyun Park, Ph.D. student;  and Lexie Little, Ph.D. student, received Top Faculty Paper – First place in the Visual Communication division.

A day-by-day summary of sessions with faculty and graduate students participating can be found below. 

Thursday, August 8, 2024

8:30 – 10 a.m., Ruoyu Sun, Nicholas Eng, Juan Meng and Karen Robayo Sanchez are presenting, “Cultivating a sustainable, engaged, and committed communication workforce: The power of empathetic leadership communication.”

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Karin Assmann is a panelist for the Broadcast and Mobile Journalism and Cultural and Critical Studies Divisions Research Panel Session on “Air, Online, and Over the Top: Impacts of Technology on Labor in U.S. Local TV Newsrooms.” Assmann serves as the incoming vice head of the Community Journalism Interest Group. 

8:30 – 10 a.m., Michael Cacciatore, Juan Meng and Anne Perera are presenting for “Navigating Uncertainty: Generative AI Adoption and Perceived Job Insecurity in Communication Profession.”

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Nicholas Eng is presenting “Navigating a social media influencer crisis: Crisis response strategies and the mediating effects of identification, authenticity, emotions, and reputation,” and “Cultivating a sustainable, engaged, and committed communication workforce: The power of empathetic leadership communication.”

10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Michael Cacciatore’s poster, “Religious Values and Confidence in Science: Perceived Tensions and Common Ground” will be presented.

10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Michael Cacciatore, Jiyoung Yeon, and Sohyun Park’s poster, “Communicating Renewable Energy Using Satire and Its Influence on Perceived Message Credibility and Information Reliance” will be presented. 

12:30 – 2 p.m., Bittany Shivers, Bartosz Wojdynski, Sohyun Park, Jiyoung Yeon and Jongmin Lee are presenters for “Politically Microtargeted Ads on Social Media: Visual Attention, Attitudes, and Effects on Affective Polarization,” an Advertising Techniques and Consumer Response Advertising division paper. 

2:30 – 4 p.m., Kyser Lough is presenting “Authorship and Newsroom Image Crediting Practices on Instagram” a Visual Communication division, poster session.

4:30 – 6:30 p.m., Ja Kyung Seo is presenting “Conversations with A Pro-Environmental Chatbot with an Experiential Mind: Engaging and Persuading through Eeriness and Amazement.”

6 – 9 p.m., Grady College Networking reception for AEJMC attendees and Philadelphia area alumni at McGillin’s Ale House

Friday, August 9, 2024

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Grace Barnett and Karin Assmann are presenting, “ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL: Access to Media Resources as a Means of Control in Georgia Prisons,” in the Cultural and Critical Studies Division poster presentation.

10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Itai Himelboim is a panelist for Research Panel Session: Social Media Influencer Relations: Research Opportunities in an Emergent Field.

12:30 – 2 p.m., Glen Nowak and Jeong-Yeob Han are panelists for the 2024 Public Relations Division Graduate Student Committee Luncheon, sponsored by Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication AdPR department.

12:30 – 2:30 p.m., Nicholas Eng is presenting, “Corporate support for climate action: How legitimation strategy and message type influence public support for CSR/CSA climate action.”

12:30 – 2:30 p.m., Jeong-Yeob Han is a panelist for PR Division Graduate Student Luncheon on Grant Applications Panel, “Grant Application in Public Relations: Opportunities and Suggestions for Early Career Scholars.”

2:30 – 4 p.m., Jon Peters is a moderator for “New York Times v. Sullivan in 2024: Its Impact of 60 Years on Free Speech in the US and Abroad.”

4:30 – 6 p.m., Janice Hume is a panelist for “Lest we forget: History and inclusivity are fundamental” panel. Panelists will contest university administrative, faculty and public notions that courses in media history and multiculturalism are no longer necessary. History and inclusivity are under siege not only in academia, but political and social spheres.

4:30 – 6 p.m. – Karin Assmann is the moderator and Jon Peters is a panelist for the Law and Policy Division and Community Journalism Interest Group PFR Panel Session on “Prison Journalism: For, By and about the Incarcerated. Who Gets to Tell Their Stories?”

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Brittany Shivers and Bartosz Wojdynski are a presenters for “Scrolling for the Truth (or Not): Perceptions of Misinformation on TikTok and Potential Interventions,” a Tradition and Technology in Electronic Journalism Broadcast and Mobile Journalism division paper.

Saturday, August 10, 2024

8:30 – 10 a.m., Kyser Lough is a presenter for “Insights from the Field: Perspectives of Sources in Solutions Journalism Stories Produced by Student Journalists” a Newspaper and Online News division, poster session.

8:30 – 10 a.m., Jay Hamilton is presenting his paper, “Critical Political Economy of Communication as Inquiry into Historical Formations,” as part of “Back to the Future: Charting a Path Forward for Critical Political Economy in Media History,” in the AEJMC Theory Colloquium, sponsored by the History Division.

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Sahar Saadat is presenting in the High Density Refereed Research Paper Session.

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Karin Assmann is presenting, “Discussant Media Framing and Social Issues,” in the Newspaper and Online News Division and Commission on the Status of Women.

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Denetra Walker is presenting, “Lived Experiences of Black Journalists I saw a Modern-Day Lynching”: Black Journalists’ Expression of Racism #ReportingWhileBlack.”

10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Nicholas Eng is presenting, “When and for whom mediated contact shifts stereotypes: Emotion and narrative involvement audience segments as predictors of stigma reduction.”

2:30 p.m., Jon Peters is a panelist for “Looking back at our field’s books to look forward.”

2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m., Ruoyu Sun is presenting, “A Simulation Exercise on Tackling AI-related Crisis,” in the Top Teaching Papers and GIFTS High Density Session.

2:30 – 4 p.m., Yan Jin is presenting Top Teaching Papers and GIFTS High Density Session with her work, “A Simulation Exercise on Tackling AI-related Crisis,” a PR Division GIFTS Paper.

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Ivanka Pjesivac, Sohyun Park and Lexie Little are presenting “Video Catalyzing Misinformation Online: Modality and Source Effects on Credibility, Health Attitudes and Behaviors” as part of the Visual Communication Division’s Top Paper session.

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Karin Assmann is moderating and a discussant for the “Cultural and Critical Studies Division Top Paper Refereed Research Paper and PF&R Winner Session.”

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Ja Kyung Seo is presenting “AI Chatbot Use for Mental Health: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Stress Reduction Through Perceived Message Contingency and Social Support.”

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Jeong-Yeob Han, Hye Jin Yoon, Ja Kyung Seo and Jiyoung Yeonis are presenting, “AI Chatbot Use for Mental Health: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Stress Reduction Through Perceived Message Contingency and Social Support,” in the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division, Top Paper Refereed Research Paper Session.

Sunday, August 11, 2024

9:30 – 11:30 a.m., Martha Darkwa Seffah and Karin Assmann are presenting, “Decolonizing Political Reporting in Ghana: A Comparative Analysis of Journalistic Norms and Practices Among English and Indigenous Language Political Broadcasters,” in the Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division Refereed Research Paper Session Media, Politics, and Narratives.

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Yan Jin is a panelist for “I Am Not Able to Assist with That: AI Assistance in Risk and Crisis Communications.”

Author: Lauren A. Pike, lauren.pike@uga.edu