Dear George and MAC colleagues, Given the politico-racial situation, for sure the DC conference will have many sessions with lively discussions and hopefully outstanding research on the topic. I won’t be submitting any panel proposal, but count on me if I can be of assistance in helping with the success of the 2018 conference. The one task to which I will be dedicating many hours is helping in the recovery of (1) the School of Communication of the University of Puerto Rico, and (2) Radio Vieques and other public radio stations in Puerto Rico. As I can only hope you are well aware of, hurricane María cut a destructive path across my home country. Visualize that storm as a slow moving tornado 25-35 miles wide with winds above 155 mph during more than four hours, followed by two days of torrential rains like the ones that flooded southeast Texas during hurricane Harvey. The School of Communication, from which I graduated with my MA many years ago, was once again damaged. The status of its communication library is unknown at this time, but hurricane Irma three weeks ago caused water leakage in the building and those facilities; for sure the damage was even worse last week. I’ll try to find out more details as soon as cell phone and other communication infrastructures allow and then let you all know how best to help if you wish to do so. As per Radio Vieques, that is the only public radio station on the offshore Island by that name. Vieques itself was hit hard by hurricane Irma, and even more so by María. As a member of the Board of Directors of the Latino Public Radio Consortium (LPRC), of which Radio Vieques is a member, there is a funding effort on behalf of that station and the other public stations on the Island. If you could make a contribution, then please see the information and go to the links listed below, which were sent to me by Silvia Rivera, the Treasurer of the LPRC. Thanks in advance for your consideration and whatever assistance you can provide. Cordially, Federico A GoFund me page has been launched to raise funds for our stations in Puerto Rico. Current did a great write-up on the challenges these stations are facing that you can read here: https://current.org/2017/09/back-to-back-hurricanes-sideline-puerto-rico-pubcasters/ <https://current.org/2017/09/back-to-back-hurricanes-sideline-puerto-rico-pubcasters/> In addition to supporting our community of stations, this is one of the best ways we can make our value known to the system. Please consider sharing this link with your networks widely: https://www.gofundme.com/getpuertoricobackonair <https://www.gofundme.com/getpuertoricobackonair> I’ve also attached some images you can use. In addition, if you are on twitter, here’s a sample tweet you can use: RT Help #pubmedia #PuertoRico radio stations get back on-air. Support any $$: http://bit.ly/2wNbueu <http://bit.ly/2wNbueu> #fuerzapuertorico #latism Your support is appreciated. > On Sep 24, 2017, at 6:00 PM, George Daniels <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > MAC members, > > I'm sure many of you have been paying special attention to the breaking news this weekend from the Sports world involving race and politics.. With the NFL player demonstrations today in response to President Trump's tweets, the decision of the Golden State Warriors to not go to the White House, the "dis-invitation" by President Trump after Steph Curry's comments, the tweet by LeBron James. There are DOZENS Of panel proposals that we ought to be generating as a Minorities and Communication division. > > How do we introduce the discussion in the classroom? For those us who are preparing sports journalists, what do we suggest to our students when covering these types of stories? Just as interesting to me-- how do we develop research agendas around some of these issues? > > I've already devoted half a class to unpacking Jemele Hill's comments about President Trump and the organizational/corporate response -- a media management and a public relations issue. > > I would like to at least have 2-3 STRONG proposals that we might offer to the Sports Communication Interest Group, the Political Communication Division, the Public Relations Division, Radio-TV Journalism division on some of these recent stories. > > Let me hear from you! > > Even if these aren't your area of interest-- please send along your ideas for the DC Conference. We want to initiate some great panels and programming on Minorities and Communication, in addition to responding to requests from other units to co-sponsor programming. > > And let's think of unconventional/unusual ways to do programs. Since we meet in DC every five years, we ought to take advantage of that venue for doing things that are different. > > Here's the message that Mia included in her message last week-- > > Message from AEJMC MACD Vice Head George Daniels > How Should Minorities and Communication Be Represented at our next AEJMC Conference > > > August 6-9, 2018 may be 11 long months away. But, when it comes to planning a first-rate academic conference like we’re accustomed to having at AEJMC, it’s not nearly as long as you think. > > Washington, DC is probably the most frequent location for our annual conference. We were just there in 2013, less than five years ago. But, it is the media capitol of the world. Best of all, it is where lots of issues and topics related to diversifying our field and media profession get decided. The FCC, which originally, played a huge role in influencing the presence of racial minorities in broadcasting and the ASNE, which set the diversity goals for the nation’s newspapers are both based in Washington area. > > As a proud Howard University alumnus, I am partial to Washington because it’s where I got my start in media as a student in what is now the Cathy Hughes School of Communications. I covered stories on Capitol Hill and interviewed for internships at Washington, DC media outlets. I sat in on editorial meetings at The Washington Post and visited The White House press room multiple times. > > This place is full of ideas for AEJMC programming that will advance not only our work as journalism and mass communication professors, but also our research agendas as media scholars. > > As the new vice head and program chair for the Minorities and Communication Division, I want us to look back at some of our most successful panels and programs the last few years—including our 2013 conference in Washington and ask—WHAT DO WE NEED TO REVISIT, UPDATE or BUILD ON in 2018? That will be one platform for building some top-notch programming. > > But, we still need your ideas. Please e-mail me directly at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> your suggestions for panel or programming topics, Possible Panelists and Co-sponsoring AEJMC Divisions. We need to have some solid programs in place by the end of September so that we can communicate these to other units as the convention program grid gets filled in this fall. > > Let me hear from EACH OF YOU by September 25, 2017. I promise to follow up on each > e-mail. > > Thanks to all who submitted program ideas while we were at this year’s conference in Chicago. > I have already started developing some of those and will be contacting many of you for help. > -- > George L. Daniels, Ph.D. > Associate Professor > Department of Journalism and Creative Media > The University of Alabama > Box 870172 > Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0172