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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 423 578 CS 509 922 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (81st, Baltimore, Maryland, August 5-8, 1998) . Miscellaneous. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1998-08-00 NOTE 458p.; For other sections of these Proceedings, see CS 509 905-921. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) Reports Research (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC19 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Ability Grouping; *Advertising; Biotechnology; Case Studies; Comparative Analysis; Computer Literacy; Computer Mediated Communication; *Disabilities; *Ethics; Higher Education; Internship Programs; Organizational Communication; Service Learning; *Television; Textbooks; Writing Research IDENTIFIERS Heart Transplants; *Media Coverage; Religious Movements ABSTRACT The Miscellaneous section of the Proceedings contains the following 15 papers: "Computer Literacy in the Newsroom: A Model for Learning" (Bruce Garrison); "Newspaper Source Use on the Environmental Beat: A Comparative Case Study" (Stephen Lacy and David C. Coulson); "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996" (Bruce V. Lewenstein, Tracy Allaman, and Shobita Parthasarathy); "Essential and Constructed: Community and Identity in an Online Television Fandom" (Cinda L. Gillilan); "National Print Media Coverage of the Men and Religion Forward Movement, 1911-1917" (Dane S. Claussen); "Miracle in South Africa: A Historical Review of U.S. Magazines' Coverage of the First Heart Transplant" (Raymond N. Ankney); "Physiographic Aggregation and Segmentation: Inclusion of Visually-Detected Physically Impaired Role Models in Advertisements" (Dennis Ganahl and Jeff Kallem); "Effectiveness of Negative Political Advertising" (Won Ho Chang, Sung Wook Shim, and Jaejin Park); "Predicting Successful Internships" (Fred Beard and Linda Morton); "Evaluating Outcomes: Service Learning in the Communication Discipline" (Julia B. Corbett and April R. Kendall); "Textbooks and Teaching: A Lesson from Students" (Donna Besser, Gerald Stone, and Luan Nan); "Assessing Writing by Analyzing Writing: Ability Grouping and Student Performance" (Kristie Bunton, Stacey Frank Kanihan, and Mark Neuzil); "Ethical Pluralism: Defining Its Dimensions" (Kathryn B. Campbell); "Downsizing, Rightsizing, and Other Euphemisms: The Questionable Ethics of Some Corporate Communications" (James L. Aucoin and Jill R. Haynes); and "Learning to be a Journalist: A Preliminary $.tudy of Cyborgs, College Newsworkers and RSI Work Culture" (Catherine L. Marston). (PA) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (81st, Baltimore, MD, August 5-8, 1998).MISCELLANEOUS. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS Office ol Educational Research and Improvement BEEN GRANTED BY iTdED CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) his document has been reproduced as received from the person or organizatoon originating ot 0 Manor changes have been made to gmprove reproduction quality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) . Points of view or opinions stated in thisdoco, ment do nof necessanly represent officoal 1 OERI posotoon or polocy BEST COPY AVNLABLE COMPUTER LITERACY IN THE NEWSROOM: A MODEL FOR LEARNING Bruce Garrison School of Communication, University of Miami P.O. Box 248127, Coral Gables, FL 33124-2030 305-284-2846 (voice) and 305-284-3648 (fax) [email protected] A paper presented to the Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Council of Affiliates at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual meeting, Baltimore, August 1998. Portions of this paper will appear in Bruce Garrison, Computer-Assisted Reporting, second edition, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J., in press, 1998. 2 COMPUTER LITERACY IN THE NEWSROOM: A MODEL FOR LEARNING ABSTRACT Computing has become a critical part of journalism and investigative reporting. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues involved in increasing computer literacy in newsrooms and to suggest a model for attaining different levels of computer skills needed for newsgathering in 1998. This paper proposes a five-stage model for introduction of computer literacy in the newsroom. Stages include basic operational mastery, online access capabilities, intermediate personal computer skills, database creation and analysis skills, and developmental computer skills. 3 COMPUTER LITERACY IN THE NEWSROOM: A MODEL FOR LEARNING Some journalists, like many working adults, enjoy the newsgathering benefits of computing. Some of their colleagues, though, simply dislike using computers, but use them in a minimal manner because their work requires it. Still others, despite nearly two decades of desktop computing in the United States, do not use them and may even be afraid of PCs. Some experts have labeled the fear of computers and other forms of modern mass communication a "technophobia" (Donoho, 1994). While this may seem amusing to computer-literate individuals in newsrooms, technophobia can be a time-consuming and expensive problem. It can even affect the quality of newsgathering, especially for sophisticated investigative stories and projects. There is no doubt that just about every newsroom has one or more technophobes. Recent research has determined that as much as 85 percent of American adults may have some form of technophobia (Hayes, 1997). These individuals still try to get their assigned work completed with minimal interaction with a computer, an online research service, E-mail, a fax machine, voice mail, or any other electronic devices or services. While the numbers of technophobes in newsrooms may not be as high, the levels of computer skills of many journalists remain at writing and editing with a word processor or creating artwork with a graphics program. Increasingly, it appears that investigative journalists are faced with the prospects of doing their work using computers. The issue of their computer literacy is becoming an important one in both print and broadcast newsrooms. Society and its work tools have changed in this decade. Advances in computing, combined The author would like to thank Dean Edward Pfister of the School of Communication at the University of Miami for providing the resources necessary for this paper. He would also like to thank Dr. Michel Dupagne, also of the University of Miami, for his insightful suggestions for improving the manuscript. 4 with the worldwide networking of the Internet, have made the work environment very different for those who work in the news media. Journalists must change their habits as new tools are developed. "You can't walk into the newsroom of even the smallest operation and not find some sort of personal computer. How well it is used depends very much on the skills of the user. Even a small operation can use it to keep track of voting records of a municipal council," says John Mollwitz (1994), an editor and computer specialist for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "My experience is that computer skills, as well as computer acceptance, are much greater in small operations, both print and broadcast. The bigger the operation, the more likely there will be someone in-house to install a modem and software, do online research, set up databases, sort out information and a myriad of other tasks. There is little incentive to learn anything about computers until a light bulb explodes and some says, 'I'm 40, and I don't even know what a byte is. Somehow I'm going to have to learn this stuff.' Meanwhile, the 40-year-old on a small weekly already knows." Eric Schoch, a science and technology writer for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News, believes computer literacy is not a major matter, but it will gradually become more important for journalists. "I think everyone in a newsroom should get basic introductory training in the use and capabilities of the basic CAR tools, including spreadsheets, databases and Internet searching. Everyone should have a general understanding of what these tools can do and that includes editors, who in my experience are often the last to sign up for this sort of training when it's offered," Schoch (1997) stated. "However, the only way to fully understand how to use software effectively is to do your own work with it run city budgets through a spreadsheet yourself, for example. That's when more advanced training is useful, when you've got real work to do. Effective, widespread use of CAR in a newsroom requires someone who is both an expert resource for reporters and an advocate or "champion" for it. It also requires a newsroom 5 atmosphere that encourages the use of CAR, which is why it's important that editors understand these tools and their potential." The digital revolution in newsrooms is well underway. A growing amount of investigative journalism has become dependent on computers to access public and private sector databases and documents (Garrison, 1996). Numerous computer-based investigative reporting projects, many quantitative in nature, have been recognized for their policy-changing impact on their communities (Garrison, 1996). For journalists who have not yet discovered