Chris
Roberts, Ph.D.
Home Work
(803) 466-7044 (803) 777-4979
chrisrob@chrisrob.com
Personal Web site: www.chrisrob.com/about
EDUCATION
Ph.D, The University
of South Carolina 2007
• Dissertation: “Measuring
the Relationship Between Journalistic Transparency and
Credibility”
• Kappa Tau Alpha top
graduate scholar, 2007
• Second place
research presentation, language and communications division, USC Graduate
School Honors Day, 2006.
• First place research
presentation, language and communications division, USC Graduate School Honors
Day, 2005.
• Recipient of Buchheit Family Fellowship for graduate students, September
2005
Master of Arts in journalism, The University of Alabama 1990
• Thesis: “A Descriptive Study of the Perceived Moral Dimensions of Journalism/Mass Communication Education.”
• Editorial assistant, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 1988-89.
• College of Communication’s Graduate Research Assistant of the Year, 1989.
Bachelor of Arts in journalism, The University of Alabama 1987
•
Graduated cum laude; economics minor. Winner of Boone and
Chevron scholarships.
•
Transferred to
Professional
training includes:
•
Advanced boot camp for statistics and mapping, National Institute for
Computer-Assisted Reporting, The
•
Advanced structured query language and Active Server Pages, Knight Ridder newspapers, St. Paul, Minn., September 1999.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Assistant
Professor, The University of South Carolina January 2007-Present
• Promoted from
instructor upon dissertation defense.
Adjunct
instructor, The University of South Carolina 2001-January
2007
• Mass communication
research for undergraduates, Spring 2002 and Fall 2005.
• Computer-assisted
reporting, Spring-Fall 2001.
• Once-a-semester
presentations on computer-assisted reporting to senior journalism majors.
Adjunct
instructor,
• Three semesters of sophomore reporting and
writing.
Adjunct
instructor/graduate assistant, The
• Three semesters of introduction to media
writing, Fall 1987-Summer 1998.
• Advanced editing, Spring
1992.
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
“A
Review of the Book … You Won’t See Reviewed in JMCQ.” Ethical News: The Newsletter of the AEJMC Media Ethics Division,
11(1), 5 (Fall 2007).
“Personal Computers.” In August E. Grant and Jennifer H.
Meadows, Editors, Communication
Technology Update (10th ed.) Focal
Press, 2006, 157-172.
Provided
data analysis for “Hartsville Today: The first year of a small-town
citizen-journalism site; A guide especially for small daily and non-daily
newspapers, written by USC instructor Doug Fish and Hartsville Messenger
Publisher Graham Osteen as part of a J-Lab initiative, July 2006.
“Tearing down the walls
(Cases and commentaries.)” Journal
of Mass Media Ethics, 19(3&4), 303-306. (Fall 2004).
“Personal Computers.” In August E. Grant and Jennifer H.
Meadows, Editors, Communication
Technology Update (9th ed.) Focal
Press, 2004, 155-167.
“Just a better mousetrap? Or
real ethical issues.” Journal of Mass
Media Ethics, 13(2), 126-127. (Spring 1998).
Review
of the book Prodigal Press in Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 4(1),
136-140 (Winter 1989).
Two articles currently
under review.
ACADEMIC CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Measuring the
Relationship Between Journalistic Transparency and Credibility” Presented to Newspaper
Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass
Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C. Co-winner of the division’s “top
faculty research paper” award.
“An Explication of 11
Dimensions of Journalistic Message Transparency.” Presented
to Media Ethics Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism
and Mass Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C.
“‘The Development of Character’ During the
Destruction of a University: The Story of Thomas Pearce Bailey Jr.” Presented to the Southern History of Education Society annual
meeting, March 2007, Columbia, S.C.
“Dimensions of
journalistic messenger transparency.” Presented to the Media
Ethics Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and
Mass Communication, August 2006, San Francisco.
“An appeal to newspaper authority in television
political ads: A case study.” Presented to the Media Ethics
Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass
Communication, August 2005, San Antonio.
“Gatekeeping Theory:
An evolution.” Presented to the Communication Theory and
Methodology Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism
and Mass Communication convention, August 2005, San Antonio.
“Biting the hand that
feeds: Blogs and second-level agenda setting,” with co-researcher Bryan Murley. Presented at the national
Media Convergence Conference, October 2005 in Provo, Utah. Awarded best graduate paper at conference.
“Convergence using open-source
software.”
Panel presentation at the national Media Convergence
Conference, October 2005 in Provo, Utah.
“Moving
the Bottom Line: The relationship between profits and losses, and their
prominence in earnings press releases,” Chris Roberts and Lindsey Morrow. Presented
in March 2006 at the AEJMC Southeastern Colloquium,
“Journalism ethics codes
and appellate courts.” Presented in March 2006 at the AEJMC
Southeastern Colloquium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“Journalism’s quest for
professionalism, 1900-1930.” Presented April 15, 1989, at
the AEJMC Southeastern Colloquium, Chapel Hill, N.C.
ACADEMIC CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP
Moderator, “Frontiers of Theory and Research,”
Convergence and Society: Media Ownership, Control & Consolidation
conference, October 2007, Columbia, S.C.
Moderator, “Celebrating
the Law and Ethics of the First Amendment In and Out of the Classroom,” Media
Ethics/Law and Policy divisions, annual meeting of the Association for Journalism
and Mass Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C.
Moderator, “Ethics, New Media, and Education
ethics codes and appellate courts,” Convergence and Society: Ethics, Religion,
and New Media conference, October 2006, Columbia, S.C.
PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Professional
presentations include:
• Three writing/editing workshops for USC for
Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and Columbia-area
nonprofits, Fall 2007.
• “MySpace and Facebook
Basics,” Richland County Public Library, Columbia, S.C., September 2007.
• Plagiarism speech to 200 high school
students, Carolina Journalism Institute, June 2007
• Writing and plagiarism conference sessions
for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association (March 2007) and South
Carolina Scholastic Press Association (Spring 2007 and
Fall 2006)
• “Social Networking
and Public Relations,” South Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society
of America, Columbia, S.C., October 2006.
• Editing workshop for
The Daily Gamecock, the USC student newspaper, September 2006.
• “Journalism
ethics,” South Carolina Press Association,
Columbia, S.C., May 2006.
• “Media mistakes”
panel, USC chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, January 2006.
• Business reporting, Society of Professional
Journalists national convention, Tampa, Fla., September 2003
• Business reporting, National Institute of
Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Charlotte, N.C., March 2003.
• Business reporting, Investigative Reporters
and Editors regional convention, Savannah, Ga., October 2002.
• Education reporting, National Institute of
Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Philadelphia, Penn., March
2002.
• “Computer-assisted
reporting for small- and medium-sized newsrooms,” National Institute of
Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Lexington, Ky., September
2000.
• General-assignment reporting, National
Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Boston, Mass.,
March 1999.
TEACHING AT
Fall 2007
• Journalism 201,
Survey of Mass Communications, 303 students. Teach twice-weekly lectures in the
second-largest single section of a course at USC.
• Journalism 335,
reporting, 16 students.
Summer 2007: Journalism 335, reporting, 10
students.
Spring 2007: Journalism 546,
advanced editing. More than 20 students publish The Carolina Reporter as part of a senior semester capstone
experience that also includes courses in reporting and visual communications.
More than 20 contact hours per week to teach, assist students in publishing,
and in grading their work.
Fall 2006
• Journalism 547,
computer assisted reporting. Taught to 10 senior-semester
students.
• Journalism 335,
reporting. Lead instructor for weekly lectures in class of
more than 25 students, and responsible for grading work of a dozen students.
• Journalism 304, mass
communication research. The 36 students’ projects included a survey of
Summer 2006
• Journalism 335,
reporting.
• Journalism 304, mass
communication research. Class project was a pair of focus groups to help The State newspaper decide to change its
“Weekend” entertainment section to tabloid from broadsheet.
Spring 2006: Journalism
304, mass communication research. Class project focused on student reaction to
Facebook.com as it reached critical mass at the University of South Carolina.
Data from the project was cited in a State
newspaper story and by USC’s journalism school director in an AEJMC
presentation.
ACADEMIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
• Professional Freedom and Responsibility
officer, Media Ethics Division of the Association for Journalism and Mass
Communication, since August 2007
• Commencement committee, University of South
Carolina. Announcer and reader of graduates’ names, USC undergraduate
commencements, since December 2006
• New Student Convocation announcer, USC, 2006
and 2007.
• Member, USC Journalism School doctoral
admittance committee, 2008-.
• Member, USC Journalism School curriculum
committee, 2006-08.
• Member,
• Emcee, South Carolina Press Association
awards ceremonies, February 2007, Columbia, S.C.
• Judge for Georgia Press Association newspaper
contest,
• Judge for Texas Press Association newspaper
contest, April 27, 2006.
• Guest lecturer, Dakar Academy, Dakar,
Senegal, May 23 and Nov.21, 2007.
• Speaker at workshops for staffers of The Daily Gamecock, USC’s student-run
newspaper, 2006, 2007.
• Chairman of media committee for “The Ripple
Effect” fund-raising campaign for Riverland Hills
Baptist Church, Columbia, SC, 2006-2007. Prepared 12-minute
DVD, calendar and other printed materials. Media chairman of seven
church capital campaigns since 1990 that have raised more than $20 million.
JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE
Editor
and reporter, The State, Columbia, S.C. June 1998-December
2005
• Assistant business
editor since February 2002. Assigned and edited stories for the six-writer
staff, selected wire stories, developed graphics, coordinated page design, and
performed other duties focused on Sunday and other advance sections.
• Investigations
editor, 2000-2002. Edited and reported long-range projects.
• Database editor,
1998-present. Introduced full-time database reporting to
newspaper. Wrote and edited data-driven stories, acquired data, and
built the newsroom’s intranet site. Proficient in Microsoft Office, HTML, PHP,
SQL, SPSS, ArcView, Adobe Premiere and other
applications.
Editor/reporter/columnist,
The Birmingham (Ala.) News 1989-1998
• Weekend city editor,
with supervision of reporters and photographers, 1991-1998.
• Technology columnist
syndicated weekly through the Newhouse News Service, 1995-1998. Creator and editor of the paper’s weekly “My.Tech”
computer section.
• Reporter with an
emphasis on computer-assisted reporting. Covered business, government, politics.
• Tuscaloosa
correspondent and intern, 1987.
Book
design 1989-1995
• Designer of 10 books
that sold more than 100,000 copies during the 1990s. Books include the first
two editions of Doing Ethics in
Journalism, Century of Champions: The Centennial History of
Correspondent,
The
• From age 15 to 22 covered college,
professional and prep sports for this 35,000-circulation daily newspaper.
Sports
Editor, The
• From age 14 to 19 wrote, designed and edited
the sports section of a 3,000-circulation weekly.
Announcer,
WHMA AM-FM, Anniston, Ala. 1980-1983
• Disc jockey, fill-in news reporter, sports
color commentary for a 100,000-watt FM/25,000 AM station.
Other experience
• Since joining USC,
freelance database and editing assignments for The State; columnist for Home
Furnishings Business magazine.
• Correspondent, Newsweek On-Campus magazine. Coverage of
University of Alabama campus for Newsweek’s college magazine, published eight
times a year with a circulation of more than 3.5 million. 1987-1988, when
magazine folded.
• Copy Editor, The Crimson White, The University of
Alabama’s 15,000-circulation student newspaper. Edited stories, wrote headlines
and a weekly column, 1985-1987. Chief copy editor, 1986-1987.
JOURNALISM AWARDS
Society of American
Business Editor and Writers
• Co-author of a best spot news story for
mid-sized newspapers, 2004.
• Sunday editor of The State’s business section that won “Best
in Business” awards for its circulation categories in 2002, 2003, and 2005.
South Carolina Press
Association
• Editor of “South
Carolina’s Deadly Roads,” an eight-day series that won first place in both
public service and best series categories, 2001.
• Edited, wrote and/or
handled computer-assisted reporting work for stories that won first, second and
third place in “enterprise reporting” category, 2000.
• Shared first-place
award for spot-news reporting, 2005.
Alabama Associated
Press
• “Freedom of
Information” award for project on criminal sentencing patterns, Birmingham News, 1996.
• Winner of 10 awards for writing and best
weekly sports page, including three first-place, Jacksonville News, 1980-85.
Southern Journalism
Awards
• Honorable mention (as lead reporter and
researcher) for “$673 a Second,” which used computer-assisted reporting
techniques to reveal the federal government’s spending habits in Alabama, 1995.
MEMBERSHIPS / ORGANIZATIONS
•
Editorial advisory board, Journal of Mass
Media Ethics, January 1991-November 2007
•
Reviewer for Newspaper Research Journal,
Fall 2007
•
Member, Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication
•
Member, Society of American Business Editor and Writers
•
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors
•
Member, Kappa Tau Alpha journalism society, The
University of South Carolina
•
President
of Alabama Scholastic Press Association, 1982-83
THESIS/DISSERTATION COMMITTEES
•
Doctoral dissertation for Van Madray, 2007-.
•
Master’s thesis for Heidi Campbell, 2007-.
•
Undergraduate honor’s college thesis for Robyn Torkewitz,
2006-2007.