Annual conference discusses media changes, Twitter
Dozens of journalism academics and professionals from USC and all over the country reported to the ETV station’s Newsplex Thursday to discuss sustainability in journalism, media regeneration and Twitter.
The University of North Carolina, Arizona State University, the University of Alabama, Virginia Tech and the University of Utah were just some of the schools represented at the 10th-annual two-day Convergence and Society Conference.
“Over the course of two days, we’re going to have over 40 presenters on journalism,” said Augie Grant, one of USC’s journalism professors and organizer of the conference.
Throughout the day, speakers gave various presentations on journalism’s growing diversity.
David Harris from the University of Utah argued that professional media outlets should work with citizen journalists in his “If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them,” lecture.
People want to contribute, and working with them could lower the newsroom staff and guarantee credibility through user profile, he said.
Rob Curley from the Las Vegas Sun newspaper proposed ways to generate stories and target those stories to audiences more efficiently.
Brendan Watson, a doctoral candidate from the University of North Carolina, presented research comparing ideologies between Twitter users and professional journalists in his “Is Twitter an Alternative Public Sphere?” presentation. Even though it is economically independent, Watson said, Twitter tends to be divisive with opinions.
“Journalists uphold to wealthy interests. Twitter users are driven by individual ideology,” he said. “Journalism is important because it is ideologically independent.”
These in-depth discussions have proved to be worthwhile for the journalism school’s faculty and graduate students.
“This is an opportunity to incorporate what we talk about into the curriculum and our research,” Grant said.
The conference will also be meeting today at the Courtyard Hotel, across from the Carolina Coliseum, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. Covered topics will include state-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organizations, user-generated terrorism and newsroom social networks.
Students are welcome any time, except the lunch break from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m.