Paula Poindexter, who earned her Ph.D. degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and B.S. degree from The University of Texas at Austin, has been a manager and executive at The Los Angeles Times and a reporter and producer for KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Houston.  In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate journalism courses at The University of Texas at Austin, she is president-elect of AEJMC, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication which has a worldwide membership of journalism educators, journalism graduate students, journalists, and media professionals.

In her new book, Millennials, News, and Social Media: Is News Engagement a Thing of the Past? (Peter Lang), Poindexter helps us understand the generation that came of age as the importance of news waned and social media emerged.  Using data from her National Survey of News Engagement, Poindexter offers insight into which factors will determine whether we will be a society of news consumers who believe being informed is important or a nation in which news illiteracy is the norm.

Poindexter is also the lead editor of Women, Men, and News: Divided and Disconnected in the News Media Landscape (Taylor and Francis) and first author of Research in Mass Communication: A Practical Guide (Bedford/St. Martin's).  Additionally, Poindexter is the author or co-author of more than 50 scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers, and over 60 professional articles, book reviews, and presentations.  During the five years that Poindexter directed the graduate program in the UT-Austin School of Journalism, the Ph.D. program became one of the most prestigious in the nation.  Her leadership of the graduate program led to her being nominated Outstanding Graduate Advisor at the University.   

Poindexter has also been a part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.  For this initiative, Poindexter created the new course, Journalism, Society, and the Citizen Journalist, which explores the purpose, principles, and process of journalism as well as the Millennial audience’s news and social media engagement and use of mobile devices.  The two grants from the Carnegie Corp. of New York to the UT-Austin School of Journalism have made it possible for her to bring in Distinguished Carnegie Lecturers and host three summits addressing Millennials and news.  

Poindexter has also being honored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).  After her election as vice president in 2011, she is now president-elect and will take over as president in 2013.  Poindexter was also awarded the Inaugural Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education, and she received a First Place Award in the "Excellence in Teaching Paper Competition," sponsored by AEJMC’s Teaching Standards Committee.   

Links to News and Blog Posts about Millennials, News, and Social Media:  Is News Engagement a Thing of the Past? by Paula M. Poindexter (ISBN:  978-1-4331-1497-7):

Romenesko’s Blog about Media:  “STUDY: YOUNG PEOPLE CONSIDER NEWS TO BE GARBAGE AND LIES”

HuffPost Live: “No News for Millennials”

Huffington Post: “Millennials And News Study: Youth View The News As 'Garbage,' Don't Like Being Talked Down To By It”

Journalism in the Americas Blog:  “News needs to engage millenials or risks losing them: professor speaks of new book in live panel”

PR Daily:  “Study: Millennials think today’s news is ‘garbage, lies … propaganda’”

UT-Austin College of Communication:  “National Research Addresses Millennial Generation's Lack of News Engagement: Solutions include better news coverage and adding news literacy to the curriculum”

YouTube Video: "Millennials and News: What Kids Say About the News"

YouTube Video:  "Millennials and News – FULL 11 MIN: How young people consume news"   

The aggregator of news stories about Millennials, of interest to Millennials, and news Millennials should know can be found on Facebook/Millennials and News

Wisconsin Public Radio Interview at http://wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=jca: Click interview #120926C (September 26, 2012).