Dr. Geri Alumit Zeldes

My research has evolved from studying the intersection of Religion and the Media in the Philippines to using quantitative and qualitative content analysis to study fairness and balance, race, gender, religion and health issues in TV News and Newspapers in the U.S.

My dissertation, "Church-Press Interactions in the Philippines: The Case of the 1986, 1992 and 1998 Presidential Elections" found a quantitative and qualitative shift in coverage of the Roman Catholic Church post the 1986 election. I attributed changes to ideological differences that regarded the Church as less of a political power broker, the explosion of media outlets that created intense competition, and the change in reporters, who were much younger and less idealistic than the reporters in 1986. Members of the International Communication Association awarded the Dissertation top honors in Development Communication in 2000.

I've shifted my focus geographically to study the U.S. media. The question that pervades my inquiries is "How have journalists covered certain events such as presidential or gubernatorial elections, and the July 2006 War in Lebanon, and what influences contributed to the coverages, such as ideological, organizational, or individual reporter gender or race?" My research shows when compared to their male counterparts, female and minority reporters are more likely to source people like themselves, women and minorities. Female and minority reporters are also more likely to use a wider variety of source types - officials, academicians, ordinary people, etc. than their male counterparts. The difference in part may be due to socialization factors related to gender and job differences.

In September 2009, my colleague and I debuted at MSU our documentary, "Arabs, Jews, & the News." A couple months later, WKAR-TV, the local PBS affiliate, aired the work. The National Educational Telecommunication Association (NETA) decided to uplink for national distribution. Beginning March 2010, Arabs, Jews, & the News will be available to air in more than 90 PBS stations nationwide.

I've held the following positions at local TV and public radio stations: reporter, videographer, producer, and fill-in weathercaster.

Since 1990, my writing has appeared in The Flint Journal, The Milwaukee Journal (now Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), and other regional publications. While in Milwaukee, I videotaped and edited a 20-minute documenary for Milwaukee Access TV, titled, "Conquering the Self: The Jain Religion." From 1994 to 2001, I held full and part-time positions at several TV News stations: WJRT-TV 12 in Flint, WSBT-TV 22 in South Bend, WEYI-TV 25 in Flint and WLNS-TV 6 in Lansing, spending the longest period of time at WLNS. In 2003, "The Challenges that face Burmese Refugees," my radio feature for WMUK, the NPR affiliate in Kalamazoo, received a best radio feature award from the Asian American Journalists Association. I occassionally contribute to stories to WKAR, Lansing's NPR affiliate.

TV and newspaper coverage of interfaith, intercultural and religious families.

Health communication and minority populations.

In addition to my professional work, I've also judged reporter entries for the Asian American Journalists Association and Emmy entries for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.