SU's Cox Wins First Place in AMJEC Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century Contest
By SU Public Relations
SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Jennifer Cox, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø professor of communication, recently won first place in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AMJEC’s) “Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century” competition.
She received her award at the annual AEJMC conference in San Francisco.
Cox’s entry, “Fighting Fake News Memes with Fake News Memes,” centered on a project in her Critical Issues in New Media class in fall 2024, coinciding with the U.S. Presidential election. Students hoped to educate the campus community on how to spot fake and inaccurate memes.
For the project, they created politically-based memes, some factually and others with incorrect information. Using these memes, they played a game with students, faculty and staff in common areas on campus, challenging them to identify the factual meme and giving them tools to spot the differences.
The students partnered with SU’s Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) to design the materials and provide prizes for successful participants.
“Working with students to promote media literacy across our campus was a tremendously rewarding experience,” said Cox. “I’m so grateful to PACE for its support and to AEJMC for recognizing our efforts and urging other professors to bring this activity to their campuses.”
Along with educating their fellow students, the initiative allowed the future journalists to better understand how audiences receive and interpret information, which will help them better counter dis- and mis-information with factual reporting.
The AEJMC is a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students, and media professionals. Its mission is to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, to cultivate the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice and a better-informed public.
Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at www.salisbury.edu.