2005 APSA Political Communication Division Business Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Called to order by Shanto Iyengar, chair.

Chair's Report:

• Discussion of establishing a memorial award in honor of David Swanson, who passed away last fall.

• Election of three members to editorial board of Political Communication:   Robert Entman, Russ Neuman and Gadi Wolfsfeld.

• Discussion of joint reception with the Division of Public Opinion and Political Psychology.   Political Psychology is in charge of logistics for the 2005 reception.   Political Communication will be in charge of logistics for the 2006 reception.

• APSA Organized Section meeting--Shanto, Scott Althaus and Dianne Bystrom attended.   Membership statistics were handed out at the meeting.   Political Communication has 430 members, making it "medium" in size relative to other APSA sections.   Issues with ICA and joint membership were also discussed. The central issue is whether members need to identify in one or the other or both). Outreach and advertising recommended to increase membership.

Report of the 2005 Program Chair, Scott Althaus:

• 202 papers were submitted for the 2005 convention, compared to 174 papers for 2004.  

• Acceptance rates for 2005:   37% of paper proposals, 45% with posters for Political Communication section.   Average acceptance rate at APSA is 53% for papers and 57% with posters.

• More papers were placed on each panel this year compared to 2004, with five papers on a panel being the norm.  

• Competitiveness boosts panel allotment along with attendance at panels.

• Political Communication sponsored 20 paper panels and a roundtable session through aggressive co-sponsorship with other sections.

• We need to e-mail APSA on need for LCD projectors for 2006 panels.

• Fourth year of pre-conference, 150+ people attended or presented on nine panels.

Report of 2006 Program Chair, Christina Holtz-Bacha:

•  Reported that the 2006 Conference has been moved from San Francisco to Philadelphia, and that the conference theme will be related to power.

Treasurer's Report, Dianne Bystrom:

•  Copies of 2004-2005 organized section expense report were distributed.

•  Starting balance was $8,821.43.   

•  Revenue for the period was $2,385.06 (from APSA section dues).

•  Expenditures for the period were $4,427.49 ($4,019.95 for business meetings and reception, $407.54 for awards.)

•  Ending balance on June 30, 2005, was $6,779.

Journal Editor's Report, David Paletz:

•  Discussed meeting location, upcoming issues, reviewing books and films.

•  Reported that Tim Cook is ill and in the hospital in Los Angeles.   Get well cards were circulated at meeting.

Awards:

• Typically four awards are presented annually, but only two awards were presented in 2005.

• Steve Brooks reported that a Graduate Student Paper Award was not presented in 2005 due to the limited number of papers eligible. There are two issues. First, it is difficult to identify papers (panel chairs nominate and tell awards committee, program chair reports at the beginning of proposal process, authors are checked against APSA membership).   Second, the number of graduate students presenting papers at APSA is small (maybe 5-10 in political communication each year).   Should graduate student papers co-authored with faculty be considered?

• The Paul Lazarsfeld Best Paper Award was not presented as the chair of the selection committee was not informed he was chair.

• The Doris Graber Award for the best book published on political communication in the past 10 years was presented to Timothy E. Cook for his 1998 book, "Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution." Montague Kern, chair of the selection committee, said 15 books were considered for the 2005 award and evaluated by three criteria--significant impact, theoretical innovation and methodological innovation. She said Cook's book "greatly enriches the field."

• The Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Award was presented to Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch for their sustained attention to questions; scholarship worth emulation; and collaborative scholarship that has produced three books, including "Crisis of Public Communication," and 23 articles.   Selection committee members were Russ Neuman, chair, Lance Bennett and Ann Crigler.

Slate of Officers:

• It was moved and seconded to approve the following slate of officers:   Pippa Norris, chair; Gadi Wolfsfeld, vice chair; Kim Fridkin, 2007 program chair; and Dianne Bystrom, secretary-treasurer (for a second term).   At-large members and chairs of committees also were approved.

Meeting adjourned 12:01 p.m.