A Few Notes from BEA

Lots of great things going on here at BEA in Las Vegas, especially regarding sports scholarship. On Thursday, a day-long sports syposium featured some outstanding research by sports scholars from across the country. Many thanks to Andy Billings of Clemson who organized and directed the symposium. Today, our JSM panel takes place. In all, I believe there were more than a dozen or so sports-related panels and presentations. Much credit goes to Mike Bruce, the chair of the BEA Sports Division.

Most of all, it's just the chance to meet and talk with other sports scholars in an informal setting. I had breakfast this morning with Marie Hardin of Penn State and Scott Reinardy of Kansas (both of whom have been instrumental in bringing a sports interest group to AEJMC) and it was an enlightening meeting. Scott is a firm believer in 'micro-journalism' as the future of both journalism and journalism education; that is, students must be trained to become media specialists and become experts in one field. He believes students must sell themselves as media entrepreneurs (which includes individual blogs and web pages), rather than trying find jobs in the established mass media. I can't say I disagree, particularly after he told me about some success stories of students who used the newer media to position themselves in a shrinking job market.

More to come when I get back to Oxford, which thankfully will be this weekend. I have never been a big fan of Las Vegas, which has become kind of a Disneyworld with gambling.