BECA Faculty, Students, and Alums Featured in Broadcast Education Association Conference

The Broadcast Education Association holds a yearly conference that features the academic work of students and faculty. Three BECA students and three faculty will be a part of this year's conference.

Student Scriptwriting Competition

BECA students Chelsea Barron and Kaitlynn Lutes won first place in the Mini-episodic/Webisode category for "The Bake Sale." The script is for the pilot of a web series called Quest Club. The script was written as part of BECA 570 during the Fall 2021 semester.

Diversity & Inclusion Creative Award

BECA MA alum Philippe Morel and Professor Pulley were awarded the Diversity & Inclusion Creative Award for their video "The Asian Law Alliance: Trang & Hanh's Story." The award recognizes creative works that diversifies media content by telling stories that often don’t find a place in the media universe.

Synopsis

The Asian Law Alliance is a non-profit law clinic that serves thousands of low/no-income people in the Silicon Valley each year and provides free legal services in the areas of immigration, citizenship, civil rights, labor, and domestic violence.

This short video tells the story of Trang and Hanh, a couple who found love but faced nearly insurmountable obstacles as they tried to navigate the US immigration system on their own. Their story of love and resilience highlights the important legal aid work that the Asian Law Alliance does to support marginalized communities in and around the Silicon Valley every day.

Research-in-Progress Paper

A content analysis by BECA graduate student Morgan Butler and BECA faculty Dr. Larson will be featured in the Multicultural Studies Division. The research proposal was written as part of BECA 700 during the Fall 2020 semester and the research is nearing completion.

Abstract

Legitimizing or Disparaging? An analysis of visual frames in broadcast news coverage of Black Lives Matter protests

By Morgan Butler and Ashley Larson

Demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd culminated into the largest social justice movement in U.S. history. While the majority of protests were peaceful, violent imagery was prevalent across both local and national broadcast news, especially in the early stages of coverage. The proposed research builds upon previous studies of news coverage of social justice movements to understand how broadcast journalists are framing the Black Lives Matter movement. While there is thorough research on how journalists frame protests, most studies focus on textual framing or the visual framing of photographs. No previous research has provided a comprehensive analysis of the visual framing of broadcast news coverage of protests. The proposed study will culminate in the analysis of over 10,000 images from 12 days of coverage across 6 broadcast stations. Guided by previous research on the protest paradigm, the study focuses on which subject’s actions are the most salient in coverage, investigating who the broadcast journalist’s camera is watching. As news media have historically relied on visuals to allow audiences to see for themselves, it is crucial to understand how this movement is being visually framed. Disparaging or delegitimizing coverage of protests has significant negative effects on participation, support, and success of social justice movements.

Media Literacy Panel

Dr. Clemens will be participating on a panel titled, "Media Literacy: Past the theory and putting it into classroom practice."

Abstract

A Multi-Faceted Approach to Media Literacy

By Christopher Clemens

My approach to media literacy is to provide analytic/critical skills for students to apply to their everyday lives. We address all types of media literacy (visual literacy, information literacy, news literacy, digital literacy, and data literacy) in a lively discussion. Students are able to express their knowledge and understanding of the course content through videos, memes, podcasts, and other creative and relevant media. This allows them to synthesize the course material and learn about digital literacy at the same time. Each class starts with the question, “What is going on in media this week?”. This lets students bring the topics on their minds to class for discussion and analysis using the techniques taught in class.

In addition to BECA’s Media Literacy course, BECA premiered our 15-unit minor in Media Literacy. Only nine units are prescribed and two electives can be chosen from our other theory classes or a course from outside our department. The three required classes all cover different general education requirements, which makes it easy to fit the minor into their education plans. Those who take outside courses toward their electives tend to choose courses from SFSU’s College of Ethnic Studies.

Teaching Dramatic Television Writing Panel

Professor Drennan will be participating on a panel titled, "Teaching Writing Televisual Drama: Approaches to Multi-modal Writing."

Abstract

Limits, Unlimited: Constraint and freedom in the "limited series" format

By Marie Drennan

With the rise of web series and limited series on digital platforms such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, media storytellers have escaped many familiar constraints (genre boundaries, standard episode lengths, the burdensome expectation of running for multiple seasons) and learned to embrace new ones (smaller/fragmented audiences, tighter budgets, the "snack-sizing" of digital media). What do these technological and cultural shifts mean for scriptwriters? How can they be leveraged to open new creative vistas for students and aspiring creators? And what do they portend in terms of career paths for media students?

The BEA conference runs from April 19 to April 20 (virtual) and April 23 to April 26 (in-person).