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Mission |
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The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda was established by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in summer of 2006. ICMPA aims to create on campus a central place for media and public policy teaching and research. ICMPA takes as its focus the study of global media and public policy; its projects investigate media’s roles and responsibilities in public consideration of political issues. ICMPA research and other projects extend the College of Journalism’s teaching and research mission. ICMPA is also affiliated with the School of Public Policy.
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Major Projects
ICMPA is engaged in major grant-seeking to underwrite its projects. Current in-house projects include:
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Salzburg Academy for Media & Global Change
ICMPA, together with the Salzburg Global Seminar established established the “Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change in summer 2007. The annual three-week summer session brings together a global faculty and 60 undergraduates and graduates to live and study in residence in Salzburg, Austria. Two courses are offered for credit. The intent of the program is to encourage cross-cultural thinking about the roles media play in global affairs and policy, to help students and faculty appreciate distinctive international media and policy models, to consider and initiate norms regarding media’s role in promoting global awareness and understanding, and to develope curricular tools and cross-regional case studies for media, public policy and other related courses that are otherwise unavailable or would be prohibitively expensive to generate for a single institution.
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Covering the World
A major focus of ICMPA are studies of media coverage of international Affairs. A current and on-going ICMPA project, conducted by Susan Moeller and Jad Melki, is how news media from around the world have covered politics, war and terrorism, especially since 9/11. This multi-year, multi-part project explores the priorities, assumptions, political debates, deadline pressures and bottom-line considerations of media. The studies so far have focused on the media coverage of Pakistan and the coverage of the Hezbollah-Israel war of summer 2006.
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Media Education and News Literacy
ICMPA has a research project focusing on media education and citizenship. Two specific projects are currently underway: "News Literacy" is a study of accredited journalism and mass communications programs at colleges and universities across the country to determine whether and how they teach news literacy. "Beyond Cynicism" explores what media literacy courses actually teach students and whether students become more knowledgeable consumers of media messages and more engaged citizens. The studies mix experimental and experiential research to develop a framework around media education that promotes an understanding of why free and diverse media are essential to civil society.
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Other Projects:
Trauma Journalism Education
Web 2.0 and the Future of Journalism
News Media Transparency
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The ICMPA Forum
ICMPA hosts brown-bag talks by visiting speakers: journalists, academics, media experts, trauma professionals. The forum discussions are open to all.
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Funders
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The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda has partnered and received grants from several prestigious organizations, including:
The Salzburg Global Seminar
The Knight Foundation
The Carnegie Foundation of New York
Foreign Policy Magazine
United Nations' Alliance of Civilizations (AoC)
The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
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Staff
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Susan D. Moeller
Director
Susan Moeller, Ph.D., is an associate professor of media and international affairs at the University of Maryland and the director of ICMPA. Moeller was recently named a 2008 Carnegie Scholar - one of 20 Americans honored by the Carnegie Corporation of NY. She is author of several books, including Packaging Terrorism: Co-opting the News for Politics and Profit, and Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death. She conducts numerous media studies, including the recent Media Coverage of WMDs. Moeller has a Ph.D. and MA from Harvard, and a B.A. from Yale. |
Susan Moeller
Director
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Jad Melki
Research Director
Jad Melki, Ph.D., the research director of ICMPA and a faculty member at the Salzburg Academy, is an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. Before that, Melki was a visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins University and Towson University, teaching courses on research methods, media and society, media literacy, and media, war and terrorism. Melki has been a broadcast and online journalist for over 10 years working with US and Arabic media. He was part of the webby award and Press Club award winning Hot Zone team (Yahoo! News), covering the Hezbollah-Israel war of summer 2006.
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Jad Melki
Research Director
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Paul Mihailidis
Director of Media Education Initiatives
Paul Mihailidis, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Hofstra University and Director of the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change. He has published articles on media literacy, global media education, journalism education, and new media influences on international education. His most recent work on News Literacy and global media has been featured on CSPAN and published in multiple languages by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Mihailidis currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).
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Paul Mihailidis
Director of Media Education
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Megan Fromm
Content and Curriculum Developer
Megan Fromm, ABD, is a research fellow at ICMPA and an adjunct professor at Towson University. She has worked as a reporter and copy editor at newspapers in Colorado and California. Megan was the youngest person ever to be awarded the Society of Professional Journalists' Sunshine Award and the Colorado Press Association's Friend of the First Award. Megan is currently a doctoral student at the College of Journalism at UMD. Her dissertation will focus on student press rights, scholastic journalism and citizenship.
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Megan Fromm
Curriculum Developer
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Employment
Full-Time Positions:
There are no open positons at this time.
Part-Time Positions:
There are no open positons at this time.
Volunteer at ICMPA:
» Multimedia Producer (for UMD students only): ICMPA is accepting volunteers to help in web design, multimedia production and other administrative tasks. The person should be self-motivated and creative. Technical skills needed: DreamWeaver, Flash & Photoshop. Basic experience in operating video and photo equipment and editing software are a great asset.
Independent Study
» For credit (for UMD students only): If you are interested in working on ICMPA projects for course credit, email ICMPA.
ICMPA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and has a strong institutional commitment to diversity. Women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply.
Contact Us
Mail
ICMPA
1117 Journalism Building
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742
U.S.A.
Phone
301-405-2419
301-314-9166 (fax)
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