This story is part of a series that profiles new faculty members to the College of Letters & Science.
Lindsay Palmer trained in contemporary, classical and Broadway singing as a high school student, and chose to attend Middle Tennessee State University for its recording industry major and its location (just outside of Nashville).
But she developed an unexpected interest in television and radio broadcasting, switched majors and now finds herself in her first semester as an assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Before arriving in Madison, Palmer worked as a television news producer, got a master's degree in English literature at the University of California, Riverside and received her Ph.D. in film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She studies digital journalism and has taken a particular focus on the global media ethics of conflict reporting.
We asked Palmer about her research, her current journalism likes and dislikes, and trading California sunshine for Wisconsin winters.
Q: Can you explain your research on conflict reporting?
A: I write about conflict correspondents in the digital age, investigating both the people and their practices. I also argue that the labor of war reporting is growing increasingly difficult because of political, industrial, and technological imperatives that have intensified in the age of the "war on terror." My work stresses the fact that we need a transnational media ethics of conflict reporting, not only striving to improve the practice of representing transnational conflict, but also taking the safety and general well-being of the war reporter into account. I ask how the deep structures of the news industry often place the conflict reporter at abusive levels of risk, leading to a rushed and biased reportage that engenders a more precarious world.
Q: What trend in journalism are you most excited about at the moment?
A: This might be too difficult for me to answer right now. I'm very critical of corporate journalism, and so I'm actually not very excited at all about some of the mainstream trends (such as exploiting the labor of citizen journalists, reporting from the perspective of the politically and economically powerful, and emphasizing flashy "new" technology over intelligent and properly balanced reporting). What excites me is when I see powerful, investigative journalism happening — people like Jeremy Scahill and news outlets like Al Jazeera America tend to catch my eye.
Q: What courses do you teach?
A: I'm starting out by teaching Intermediate Reporting (J335) and a special topics course on the global news network (Al Jazeera to AfricaNews).
Q: Why are you most excited to join the faculty at UW-Madison?
A: I'm excited about so many things! UW-Madison has long been renowned for its amazing faculty, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication boasts some of the best in the field. There's such a great variety of topics being studied: Some people specialize in journalism, specifically, while others work on topics such as media effects, media history, political communication, and global studies (just to name a few!).
Q: How do you feel about moving from California to Wisconsin? And how do you think you'll feel in January?
A: California is a beautiful place, but I lived there for nine years! I was so excited to move somewhere new, and Madison is a uniquely gorgeous town. Luckily, I love snow!