Joe Campbell's latest polling op-ed was posted last Friday at the Conversation's online site. The op-ed examined the enduring popularity of election polls despite their uneven performance record, asking: What explain polling's abiding appeal? The commentary drew on Joe's 2020 book, Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections, an expanded soft-cover edition of which is to be published next year by University of California Press.
C-SPAN3 also aired Joe's "last lecture" three times late last week. A C-SPAN crew taped the class, "The American 1990s," at the end of Spring semester, when Joe told his students about retirement plans.
Aram Sinnreich was quoted in this Forbes article about the dangers of social media disinformation regarding the war between Israel and Hamas. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2023/10/09/misinformation-spreading-online-as-war-erupts-in-the-middle-east/
SOC alum, former AU staffer and long-time and active SOC journalism adjunct, Matt Glassman, has been promoted to News Director of WRC, down the street from SOC. Matt's role in our curriculum and in our student experience is huge. He is a major part of our success.
Incoming SOC Research Professor Kathy Kleiman’s book Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer has been selected by the IEEE History Committee for this year's book award. According to IEEE: "The IEEE William and Joyce Middleton Electrical Engineering History Award is awarded to the author of a book in the history of an IEEE-related technology that both exemplifies exceptional scholarship and reaches beyond academic communities toward a broad public audience." Congratulations, Kathy!
Nieman Reports previewed this week a chapter from Margot Susca’s forthcoming book “Hedged.” Nieman introduced the excerpt by explaining: "In “Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy,” which is expected to be published by the University of Illinois Press in January, Margot Susca aims to tell the untold history of how the ultrawealthy have shaped local newspapers throughout the U.S. Through in-depth interviews and a trove of documents, Susca examines everything from ownership and power, to layoffs and cash-outs, to closings and debt. It’s the greed of corporate owners, “Hedged” argues, that has let newspapers’ responsibility to the public fall to the wayside."
Margot also presented new research called The Private Investment Era: Contextualizing 20 Years of Private Equity Investment and Hedge Fund Ownership in U.S. Newspapers, which is a methodological approach to studying media ownership, this week at the Union for Democratic Communication conference at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. The conference is hosted by the Media, Inequality, and Change Center, a collaboration between Annenberg and Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information.
Laura Waters Hinson’s newest feature documentary, Project Home: 3D Printing the Future, was released on September 26thby 1091 Pictures. The film is now available for streaming on Apple TV, Prime Video and more.
Laura was interviewed about Project Home on Toronto’s most listened to morning show, Moore in the Morning with John Moore. Her interview can be found here on iHeartRadio.
Project Home was positively reviewed by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists in a review by Lois Alter Mark which is here. Alter Mark praises the film, saying it is “emotional and empowering and will give you hope for the future,” and that the film will be “celebrated for showing the impact of using the power of art to do good.” The film’s release was also covered by Film Factual and ComingSoon.net.
Claudia Myers’ and Laura Waters Hinson’s short documentary, The Test, is an official selection at the Austin Film Festival, one of the top US film festivals, which runs October 26-November 2nd. During the festival, Claudia and Laura will take part in AFF's Screenwriters Conference, the largest writer's conference in the world.
Finally, Claudia and Laura also released the official trailer for The Test this week, which can be seen here.
Chung-Wei Huang has designed a found footage experimental video to complement a dance performance titled 'When Will Be Enough,' which raises questions about consumerism and promotes awareness of sustainability. The show's premiere is scheduled for this Friday at Conwell Hall, Temple University, with a subsequent appearance planned at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in August 2024.
Students in Terry Bryant’s Backpack Video Journalism held their class this week at NBC's D.C. studios near the Capitol. The students toured the facilities and got to meet NBC anchor Hallie Jackson and correspondent Tom Costello. They also saw Kristen Welker and Andrea Mitchell. Two of the students in the class, Karlee Zolman and Dan Sirota, are also interning at NBC this semester.
