At a time when many critics question the utility of televised debates in the political process, we emphasize the critical role news media play during the primaries as they channel meaningful conversations among homogeneous partisans who are most likely to determine the ideological path of their party.

It was an honor to receive the Outstanding Research Award for the 2023 from the Valenti School of Communication at the University of Houston. The award means even more to me as it comes from my colleagues, whom I admire and keep in high esteem.

Fun times at AEJMC 2023. Check out the post for highlights and a photo gallery.

During my recent travel to Washington D.C. for the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference I had the immense pleasure to be a studio guest at the Albanian Edition of Voice of America. We discussed my ongoing research on journalists’ access to information, media freedoms and quality of reporting in the region .

I presented our study about news sourcing in broadcasting media in Albania presented at the Central and Eastern European Communication and Media (CEECOM2023) conference. It’s a collaboration with Alban Tartari from the University of Tirana.

Our study provides insights on how journalists in the Western Balkans conceptualize and practice audience engagement during electoral campaigns. It's a labour of love with my amazing local co-authors Erlis Cela & Gjylie Rexha.

Together with my co-author, Alban Tartari, we presented the preliminary findings of our research project that examines the influence of press and communication offices on broadcast news in Albania to a group of journalists and journalism students at the Faculty of History and Philology, at the University of Tirana.

The study is supported by the Research Expertise from the Academic Diaspora (READ) fellowship program.

I had the honor to give the keynote speech at the International Conference on Communication and Media studies in Tirana, Albania, organized by Bedër University College, University of Tirana and University of Pristina.

This has been a good year, as we conclude it with the publication of the third paper from our project on data journalism with Jason Martin and Gerry Lanosga.