Colleagues, Here’s
what the AEJMC website says about this council: “The AEJMC President’s Advisory Council allows the
association’s president to weigh in on important issues that are central to the
association’s mission. A three-member subcommittee of the Standing Committee of
Professional Freedom and Responsibility helps inform and advise the president of
important issues. Members of the Council include AEJMC President, Carol Pardun, University of
South Carolina, and:
As a two-term
member of PF&R, I guess I missed the process of selecting this subcommittee.
I’ll have to check my notes from the Boston meeting.
“If the Council feels that an issue merits comment, the
group may discuss it, using the mission statement as a guide, and the president
will decide whether a statement is merited. Requests for participation of the
president on behalf of the membership may also come from any AEJMC constituents,
including but not limited to individual members, officers, interest groups,
divisions, standing committees, taskforces or the various members of the Council
of Affiliates. Those requests should be made by email or letter, addressed to
the sitting president.
A record of the president’s public statements and
appearances – whether in interviews, by press release, in written form or press
conference – will be archived by the AEJMC central office and may be found in
the general news release section at aejmc.org/topics/newsroom.
The President’s Advisory Council is an AEJMC Strategic
Planning Initiative, and was endorsed
by the AEJMC membership at the Boston Business Meeting, August 7,
2009”
Here is one possible way we can respond—through a resolution:
“Any AEJMC member can propose a resolution, and
each year the Resolutions Committee of the Professional Freedom and
Responsibility Committee shepherds resolutions submitted by AEJMC members or
divisions and interest groups to the floor of the business meeting.”
Perhaps MAC &
CSM can author a joint resolution. Perhaps we can solicit support from other
divisions. Whatever we do or however we chose to respond is fine with me. Let’s
not let this go without comment.
Once again, here
are the four topics of PAC “comments”:
06/07/10 – AEJMC: Obama’s Promised “Change” Lacks
Transparency
01/26/10 – AEJMC Supports Net Neutrality
11/03/09 –
Prosecutors Investigate Students; AEJMC Urges Subpoena
Quash
10/07/09 – AEJMC Supports Free Flow of Information
Act
Lastly, in one of
my previous posts, I mistakenly typed “Baltimore” instead of
“Boston” as the site of last year’s convention—I was there and should have
proofread more carefully.
Dwight
Dwight
E. Brooks, Ph.D.
Professor
and Director
School
of Journalism
PO
Box 64
College
of Mass Communication
Middle
Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro,
TN 37132
615
494-8925
Fax:
615 898-5682
[log in to unmask]
From: FOR THE MINORITIES
AND COMMUNICATION DIV. OF AEJMC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Anita Fleming-Rife
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 9:18
AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: Re: AEJMC: Obama's
Promised "Change" Lacks Transparency
BE WHO YOU ARE BECAUSE THOSE WHO MIND DON'T MATTER AND
THOSE WHO MATTER DON'T MIND.
--- On Tue, 6/8/10, Anita Fleming-Rife
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Anita
Fleming-Rife <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: AEJMC:
Obama's Promised "Change" Lacks Transparency To: [log in to unmask],
"Jannette L.Dates" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tuesday, June 8,
2010, 10:14 AM
Thanks for the background on the
president's advisory council. I am in agreement
with you Dwight, why some issues over others.
Add to your list of issues--one that I
believe is clearly more relevant to AEJMC--the
forced retirement of Helen Thomas. We can
also add to that list Arizona's senate bill
1070, which the governor has just signed into
law. It prohibits teaching ethnic studies
courses in schools that receive state funds.
I also agree with you Jan that maybe we
should "re-evaluate
the system for having the president and her/his
advisors make statements attributable to the
entire organization."
BE WHO YOU ARE BECAUSE THOSE
WHO MIND DON'T MATTER AND THOSE WHO MATTER DON'T
MIND.
--- On Tue,
6/8/10, Dates, Jannette L.
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
From: Dates,
Jannette L.
<[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: AEJMC:
Obama's Promised "Change" Lacks
Transparency To:
[log in to unmask] Date: Tuesday, June 8,
2010, 8:20 AM
Dear
Dwight:
Thank you. I feel as you
do. You have very eloquently and
succinctly written and spoken about this
issue—and I am in complete support of your
response. Why choose some “issues” over
others, you ask? Clearly, the issues you
listed are as important to journalism and
journalism educators as the one raised by
AEJMC’s leadership regarding President Obama’s
press conferences. We may need to
re-evaluate the system for having the president
and her/his advisors make statements
attributable to the entire organization. I
am embarrassed to have my name associated with
this. These statements about President Obama do
not reflect my views at
all.
Jannette L.
Dates
Dean
John H. Johnson School of
Communications
Howard
University
525 Bryant St.,
N.W.
Washington,
D.C. 20059
202-806-7694 or
6113
From: FOR THE MINORITIES AND
COMMUNICATION DIV. OF AEJMC
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Dwight E. Brooks Sent: Tuesday,
June 08, 2010 7:53 AM To:
[log in to unmask] Subject: Re:
AEJMC: Obama's Promised "Change" Lacks
Transparency
Anita
& Colleagues, This is the result of the
President's Advisory Council that was formed
last year. This is something Carole Pardun
wanted to do and spoke on during the business
meeting last August in Baltimore. While the
statement does not necessarily offend me, I find
the choice of topic for the release dubious at
best. I can think of lots of equally or more
demanding issues on which AEJMC could
have taken a position: I may be mistaken but
this is the first stance for the committee. If
it is the first, it has failed miserably in my
opinion. If not, I'd like to see any previous
statementsBut why not: 1. Fox news as
abandoning the practice of journalism in favor
of right-wing advocacy? 2. A statement on the
hypocrisy of the tea parties? 3. The Arizona
immigration law 4. The ongoing lying and
hypocrisy of the Republican members of Congress
(and some Democrats too)? 5. Heck, there is a
proposed bill in Michigan that would bar
journalists from covering certain politics
events without taking some sort of test or
obtaining a "license"--a true slap at First
Amendment rights of journalists. (I've just
brought this to the attention of the PF&R
Committee)? 6. Did I mention the Arizona
immigration law? 7. Sarah Palin--when has she
held a press conference? 8. That Rand Paul
guy in Kentucky and his position on civil
rights? 9. BP (and its response) and the oil
spill in the gulf? Or was this penned two months
ago?
My last question is, what do
we say/do in response to this? Can
committees within AEJMC respond to its own
leadership or issue its own position statements?
I don't know who is on this so-called
presidential advisory committee, but there
statement does not represent my concern or
perspective and I am approaching outrage when I
think about all of the more central issues that
were ignored over this false outrage over
Presicent Obama's lack of
pressers. Dwight
Dwight E. Brooks, Ph.D. Professor and Director School of Journalism College of Mass Communication Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN 37132 Tel: 615 494-8925 e-mail: [log in to unmask] | | | | | |