Editor Positions

In a biography of George W. Bush, Ronald Kessler writes that one of Bush’s leadership strengths was “surrounding himself with smart, capable people.”

While I am no fan of the former president and question much of the advice given by those smart people, I too feel that good leaders put their ego second and aren’t afraid to be surrounded by people who are more intelligent and accomplished than themselves.

Such is the case with this editorial board. You are an outstanding group of editorial board members, almost all of whom have better credentials than I. I am honored to be working with you.

Such is especially the case with the new section editors for Journalism Innovation, who were chosen after consultation with some other members of the editorial board. Any one of these editors could head up not only his or her section, but the entire journal, and it’s been a humbling experience turning down section editor candidates with more teaching, scholarship and industry experience.

Please join me in congratulating the new section editors:

Research: Dr. David Domingo
David teaches at the Universitat Rovira I Virgili and is the co-editor (with JI editorial board member Chris Paterson) of last year’s excellent ethnographic research collection Making Online News. He has authored/co-authored numerous articles and book chapters in English, Spanish and Catalan and has been a webmaster and has written for numerous magazines as a staff writer and freelance journalist. He has taught at four universities, including the University of Iowa last year.

Education: Dr. Tim Brown
Tim brings a wealth of experience in broadcast to the position, having worked as a reporter, editor and anchor for several radio and TV stations in South Carolina and Georgia for over a decade. He’s won numerous awards not only for his broadcast work, but also for his scholarly work while at the University of South Carolina and his present institution, the University of Central Florida. In addition to his media-related research, Tim has authored several teaching-related articles and presentations and authored a chapter in two Communication Technology Update textbook editions.

Industry: Steve Fox (editor) and Dr. Carol Dykers (assistant editor)
The editor of this section needed to be someone with an extensive background in the online news industry, and Steve Fox, with his 10 years at Washingtonpost.com, was a perfect candidate. While at the Post, he held several positions, including Senior Producer, National/Political Editor and Senior News Editor (deciding the content of a homepage that received nearly 10 million hits per day). Steve, who worked for several newspapers and the UPI before his time at the WaPo, is now a teacher and the Multimedia Journalism Coordinator at the University of Amherst.
Carol has 20 years of journalism experience, including more than a dozen years as an editor at four different newspapers in the South. For nearly 15 years she has been at Salem College, where she has taught many courses, including visual communication, online journalism, documentary studies and multimedia/web content creation. She’ll soon be launching a blog focusing on technological innovation in journalism.

Technology: Dr. Michael Sheerin
An award-winning teacher and photographer, Michael brings a wide variety of technological skills to the position. He has worked for 20 years in multimedia in such roles as art director, creative director, visual effects producer and new media consultant, working with clients such as ABC Sports, MTV, ESPN and Disney. He teaches at Florida International University, where he served a three-year stint as Assistant Dean of Technology. He has also authored chapters for Augie Grant’s Communication Technology Update.

Scholarship Wiki: Dr. John Cokley
Like many of his editorial counterparts, John spent 20 years in journalism before making the switch to academia. He worked as a reporter and editor for several publications in Australia, including the Australian Associated Press and in multimedia and online content for News Corp. John, who has won numerous research awards and grants, teaches at the University of Queensland. He has authored/co-authored more than 30 refereed publications in the last decade.