ISOJ Peer Reviewed Research Panels: Capturing journalism’s evolution and challenging the status quo

Since 2011, the International Symposium of Online Journalism has produced a peer-reviewed journal, #ISOJ. This year, we’ll showcase research from the 2021 #ISOJ journal during two panel discussions taking place on April 27 and April 30. ISOJ is one of the only journalism conferences in the nation that presents a research journal as part of the conference itself, and not as a separate entity.

Amy Schmitz Weiss of San Diego State University, is the ISOJ Research Chair as well as co-editor of the #ISOJ journal. She will be leading the two panel discussions on some of the new and innovative ways journalism is being examined in the United States and around the world. She will introduce the six papers and their authors.

The first research panel, ‘Capturing journalism’s evolution: From algorithms to misinformation’, will take place on Tuesday, April 27, at 4 p.m. U.S. Central Time (-5:00 UTC). This panel will consist of three papers by:

1. Silvia DalBen and Amanda Chevtchouk Jurno, Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) More than code: The complex network that involves journalism production in five Brazilian robot initiatives. DalBen and Chevtchouk Jurno have spoken with the creators and coders of Brazilian bots and gained greater insights into the changes they have made in journalism.
2. Amber Hinsley, Texas State University. Cued up: How audience demographics influence reliance on news cues, confirmation bias and confidence in identifying misinformation. Hinsley focuses on recognizing the impact of an individual’s political leaning, education, and age, among others, and the spread of misinformation.
3. Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University, and Marcus Funk, Sam Houston State University. What’s on your page, on your pa-a-a-ge: Zombie content and paywall policies in American community newspapers, 2015-2020. Speakman and Funk look back to see how paywall policy has and hasn’t changed over the years.

The second research panel, ‘Challenging the status quo: New pathways to understanding news audiences today’, will take place on Friday, April 30, at 4 p.m. U.S. Central Time (-5:00 UTC). This panel will consist of three papers by:

• Mark Poepsel, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Thematic analysis of journalism engagement in practice. Poepsel investigates how journalists engage audiences, and highlights how audience engagement can go beyond what has been done in the past.
• Jessica Retis, University of Arizona, and Lourdes M. Cueva Chacón, San Diego State University. Mapping digital-native U.S. Latinx news: Beyond geographical boundaries, language barriers, and hyper-fragmentation of audiences. Retis and Cueva Chacón explain how digital-native Latinx organizations are growing and how their geographic location can provide a lot of insight to Latinx news today.
• Ryan Wallace, University of Texas at Austin. The language of online news: How science and health reporting in English impacts Latinx Audiences. Wallace challenges science news to think about their audience differently, and recognize the limitations non-english speakers have in receiving science news.

Schmitz Weiss will conclude the final panel discussion with the presentation of the Top Paper award for the 2021 #ISOJ journal. She will also announce the theme for the 2022 journal, and the call for research papers for the upcoming year. 

We hope you’ll tune into the two research panels at this year’s ISOJ, on April 27 and 30. Registration is free and open to all: https://isoj2021.splashthat.com/w