What I learned from a weekend with 2,000 journalism professors and scholars

By Rob Golub

I’m writing this from the San Francisco Airport after a great weekend at a major national conference for journalism and communication educators.

The vibe? Cheerful, but with eyes wide open to the challenges ahead. It felt a bit like a gathering of a couple thousand chipper Brits during the Blitz in 1940 — keeping a stiff upper lip as the bombs fell.

It was a truly international crowd. One scholar from Asia brought a friend to translate questions and answers about her work. We chatted through her friend, and it was absolutely worth the effort. I also met a scholar from Eastern Europe studying ex-pat Russian journalists who send their work back into Putin’s Russia. Brave work, given that the Russians can reach anyone, anywhere.

I was grateful to serve on an engagement panel organized by Jacob Nelson (University of Utah), alongside Patrick Ferruci (University of Colorado Boulder) and Nisha Sridharan (Temple University). We talked about how “engaged journalism” means different things to different people.

For me, engagement is about emotion — that human spark I keep talking about here. For others, it’s about connecting people, empowering them, showing them what journalists do, or something else entirely. However you define it, the key truth is the same: Journalism is not for journalists. It’s for the people.

The conversations were energizing. Practitioners and academics don’t connect enough, and I met many who agree. There’s brilliance in those rooms, I learned a lot, and I came away encouraged.

Here’s my hot take, baked fresh at the conference, on what journalism professors and doctoral students are thinking about right now:

1. They know this is a tough time for journalism.

It’s been hard for decades, with shrinking newsrooms. Now there’s even more pressure — on both press freedom and economics — in America and around the world.

2. They’re laser-focused on trust.

It seemed like every other research paper touched on getting people to believe what’s real. I spoke with one academic whose topic was, “Reasons to Disbelieve: Cognitive Foundations of Conspiracy Mentality and Media Cynicism.” Others are exploring trust and AI, the power of games to connect people to journalism, and more.

3. They’re open to new ideas.

Emotional engagement of an overall audience is still a fresh way to think about engagement. I continue to believe it’s a key path to success — and it needs to be a movement, not just Rob’s site with some subscribers. This conference reminded me why I’m in this fight, and why I’m excited for upcoming speaking engagements at college newspapers.

I’m grateful you’re here, reading this. If something in this post resonated with you, drop me a note at robgolub@yahoo.com — or share this post with someone who cares about the future of journalism. It’ll help keep me going.

Onward!

-Rob

Aug. 10, 2025