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UW professor pens new journalism encyclopedia

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by Mary Duke

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A University of Wisconsin professor edited a journalism encyclopedia published Monday, collecting the works of several other UW professors and alumni.

UW journalism professor Stephen Vaughn was appointed the editor of the 636-page Encyclopedia of American Journalism published by Routledge Publishing. The book includes 405 articles ranging from 500 to 5,000 words.

Bruce Evensen of DePaul University and James Landers of Colorado State University — both UW alumni — assisted Vaughn in the editing process.

"The encyclopedia gives a good deal more attention to developments in American journalism since the end of World War II in 1945 than other reference works," Vaughn wrote in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. "There is also a good deal on the role of women and minorities in journalism — these are areas that have not been covered well in the past."

UW journalism professor Jack Mitchell, who had five articles in the encyclopedia, said this is not the only encyclopedia of communication a UW professor has written in the past few years.

"There have been several encyclopedias put out last year. One was on radio, one on television and this one on journalism," Mitchell said. "In each case [the publishers] pick a leading professor to put it together — in this case it was Steve Vaughn."

Mitchell said all articles he wrote dealt with public broadcasting — his area of expertise.

According to UW journalism professor Greg Downey, the main reason Routledge Publishers contacted UW professors to put together this encyclopedia was the possibility for financial gain and need in the market. The books are now being sold for more than $400, he said.

"[Routledge Publishers] probably realized that it was about time to come out with a new encyclopedia of journalism," Downey said.

Downey said UW professors who wrote the encyclopedia made "nothing close to $400" for their contributions, but making money was not the objective.

"I think we make somewhere around $50 for the time we spent writing our articles," Downey said. "Regardless, I think it is good to contribute to something like this — you are writing something pretty short that will have a big impact."

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