Bergland to receive research award from College Media Association

Dr. Robert Bergland, associate professor of mass media at Northwest Missouri State University, will receive the College Media Association’s Ken Nordin Award for College Media Research this fall for his study of the ways nationally recognized college yearbooks use social media to enhance their product.

The award recognizes the best article published in College Media Review (http://cmreview.org) during an academic year, and Bergland will be recognized Oct. 23 during a virtual ceremony.

College Media Review published Bergland’s research article, titled “Social Media Use and Yearbooks” in February. The study focused on 22 nationally recognized yearbooks and found many using social media sparingly.

Bergland said his goal for the study was to help other yearbook advisors because he could not find other research detailing how yearbooks use social media.

“Hundreds of college yearbook editors and advisors really have no idea of what people are doing because there’s no benchmark to let them know if they are doing a good or bad job with social media or how they compare with other schools,” Bergland said. “This study puts out what the best books are doing. Hopefully, it will motivate most schools to step up their game in terms of how they use social media.”

Bergland said the research underscores the importance for college students who want a career in media to gain experience with using social media so they are better prepared when they begin work in a professional setting.

“It’s a wake-up call for those advisors and editors to really take advantage of social media,” Bergland said.

Bergland joined the Northwest faculty in 2019 and has been connected to the journalism field since 1983. He is a freelance reporter for national magazines such as Men’s Health, Muscle and Fitness, and Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine. His academic interests include convergent journalism, media advising, media ethics, the First Amendment, investigative reporting and sports journalism.

College Media Review, the flagship publication of the College Media Association, is the leading academic journal for advising collegiate media in print, broadcast and electronic forms. It is a comprehensive journal for popular and refereed articles serving collegiate advisers of print, electronic and broadcast media.