ISOJ Keynote: Jay Rosen to speak on giving advice to journalists and media companies


Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University, will be a keynote speaker for the 15th International Symposium on Online Journalism held on Apr. 3, 2014. (Knight Center/Flickr)
Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University, will be a keynote speaker for the 15th International Symposium on Online Journalism held on Apr. 3, 2014. (Knight Center/Flickr)

You could say Jay Rosen is a pro at trying to give useful advice. A journalism professor at New York University who publishes the influential blog PressThink, Rosen has advised students, journalists and executives on journalism issues for 25 years. Last November, Rosen signed up as an advisor to Pierre Omidyar’s new venture with Glenn Greenwald, First Look Media.

So what’s the right way for an academic in journalism to advise the professional makers of it?

Rosen will ask that question as one of the keynote speakers at the 15th International Symposium on Online Journalism. The conference will take place on April 4-5 at the University of Texas at Austin. Other speakers will be announced in the following weeks. Click here to register.

New tools to improve journalistic work or show the way to better, sustainable business models are emerging every day, and researchers in academia know it. Knowledge exchange between journalists and academics can help those innovations flow into newsrooms. Giving good advice is one exchange point where academic knowledge meets the industry and craft of journalism.

In his keynote address, titled “Giving Good Advice,” Rosen will report back on his experience since 1989 in the tricky act of giving advice— to journalists, news companies, media executives and to journalism, the activity itself. Rosen will also speak to new challenges: how academics can contribute to emergent forms in online journalism, while they help traditional media adapt its strengths to the digital world. “Giving Good Advice” will conclude with Rosen’s tips to would-be advisers.

Rosen has been a professor at New York University since 1986 and is author of the book “What are Journalists For?” He is also a member of the digital advisory board of Digital First Media, the second largest newspaper company in the U.S., and a consultant to Post Media in Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @jayrosen_nyu.

ISOJFor the last 15 years, ISOJ has brought together the top journalists, media executives, researchers and academics in the field to discuss the latest trends, issues and innovations in online journalism. Last year, ISOJ attracted more than 350 participants from over 30 countries and focused on discussing the disruption of the news industry’s business models, social media and mobile strategies, multimedia storytelling, data visualization, and changes in web design architecture.

ISOJ will take place at the University of Texas’ Blanton Museum of Art, located at 200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in Austin, Texas. General registration this year will cost $100. Students and faculty will receive a special rate of $40.

ISOJ is an annual conference organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, as part of the program of the Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication at the School of Journalism of the University of Texas at Austin.

This year’s ISOJ is supported by the Knight Foundation and The Dallas Morning News.