Director’s note

March 27 was One Day for Iowa, the university’s 24-hour online giving day. This year, students, faculty and staff in SJMC led by Jake Mayer put together a 4-hour livestream to showcase several of the wonderful opportunities for students in SJMC. The livestream featured students and faculty discussing their experiences in the school and showcased the power of philanthropy to support scholarships, interns, fieldtrips, professional visitors, and more. Because of our generous donors and supporters, SJMC offers students hands-on experiential-learning opportunities in journalism, strategic communication, and multimedia storytelling. The livestream itself is an example of a student-led production that saw students in front of and behind the camera, in the control room, and on social media. Thanks to Jake, the staff in the Production Unit, and all the students and faculty who participated. We raised $11,000 in gifts from 54 donors. THANK YOU!

2025 One Day for Iowa Livestream

Our One Day for Iowa event kicked off an exciting post-spring break season. We have several upcoming events featured below.

If you have a story to share, please send it to sjmc@uiowa.edu.

Melissa Tully, Director

SJMC is sponsoring or co-sponsoring several upcoming events:

Munachim Amah, Javie Ssozi, and David Dowling invite those interested in critical/cultural media studies to attend the State of Critical and Cultural Studies Media Symposium on April 7. During the virtual symposium leading scholars will discuss how and if the political economic, Birmingham, and other media studies traditions can help us understand the current sociopolitical environment, and opportunities for creating and valuing new knowledge in a globalized world. Check out the full schedule to learn more about the event speakers. This virtual event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Investigate Midwest’s storytelling event, Beyond Stereotypes: The Modern Man. The event is Wednesday, April 9, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Poindexter Coffee in Iowa City.

The SJMC Student Work Showcase and Scholarship event is Thursday, April 10, from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Adler Rotunda. We will recognize scholarship and award winners and present a gallery of student work.

Screening of Hoop Dreams and discussion with director Steve James at FilmScene on April 13. The event is part of the Vino Vérité series.

Adler Agency students have been working with the Bible & Archaeology franchise at Iowa in collaboration with the UI Office of Innovation. They are hosting “Digging into Easter with Dr. Cargill.” The event will address biblical and archaeological topics surrounding well-known Easter traditions. The event is April 16 at the James Theater in Iowa City. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students.

Faculty News

Filmspotting hosts Josh Larsen and Adam Kempenaar with writer/director Rian Johnson

Adam Kempenaar celebrated twenty years of his podcast Filmspotting, with the first ever Filmspotting Fest in Chicago.

Sang Jung Kim, Alex Scott and Bingbing Zhang co-edited a special issue of Visual Communication Quarterly. Their introduction to the special issue provides a space to reconsider the state of visual evidence, to reflect on the nature of visual truth, and to reimagine what forms of intersubjective belief can build trust in media images. The special issue is an outcome of the 2024 Visual Media Symposium.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham’s paper “From the mixed-up masculinity files of #MeToo” has been accepted for presentation at the 2025 AEJMC conference as part of a refereed panel, “Where Is #MeToo Now? Critiquing Post-Reckoning Hollywood Media Portrayals.”

David Dowling, Brian Ekdale, Melissa Tully published chapters in The Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies. 

David Dowling’s chapter, From studios and advocates to brand practitioners: tracing the influence of political and commercial interests on digital narrative journalism, explores the intersection of digital storytelling, advertising, and journalism in the 2010s, focusing on how technological innovations and business interests have influenced the way content is produced and consumed online.

Manfred Asuman (2021 doctoral visiting scholar) and Brian Ekdale’s chapter, Where is and isn’t Digital Journalism Studies: a meta-analysis of an emerging field addresses the geographical bias in digital journalism studies, where the Global South is often underrepresented, despite having valuable research to contribute.

Patrick Johnson (PhD SJMC 2024) and Melissa Tully’s chapter News literacy and digital journalism, explores the importance of news literacy in the digital age and efforts to improve the way news is produced.

Jamil Marques co-authored Structural challenges for the global circulation of knowledge and scientific sovereignty in a multipolar world published in Online Media and Global Communication.

Bingbing Zhang published When everyone is laughing at anti-Asian meme: the effects of disparagement meme and social (dis)approval on acceptance of prejudice and support for Asian minority in Review of Communication.

Graduate Student News

PhD candidate Jenny Xu accepted a tenured-track position at Purdue University Northwest as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Creative Arts.

Sabena Abdul Raheem and Meenakshi Gigi Durham won a 2025 Easton collaborative research grant for the project, “Analyzing Facebook posts about sexual health mobile applications.”

Abubakar Ibrahim and Brian Ekdale published Political Campaign Responses to Information Disorder: A Case Study of the 2023 Nigerian Presidential Elections in the International Journal of Press/Politics. The article looks at political campaign responses to mis- and dis-information during the 2023 Nigerian presidential campaign. Abubakar and Brian also received an Easton collaborative award to support their project, “Nairafluencing Disinformation: How Paid Influencers Operate Political Disinformation Networks in Nigeria.”

Undergraduate News

SJMC students visit Minneapolis for the 2025 NICAR conference

SJMC students traveled to Minneapolis for the 2025 NICAR conference. The group learned new skills in investigative reporting and data journalism and networked with professionals.

Students visited Berkeley, California for Project Play Summit

Students in Jen Sterling’s capstone class traveled to Berkeley, California to attend the Project Play Summit to learn about developing youth sports. The class has been working with Project Play throughout the semester.