ABOUT


The Political Communication Interest Group (PCIG) of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) was officially established on Friday, August 6, 2010 during a business meeting of AEJMC members interested in the study of political communication.

The group's mission is to promote scholarship and teaching concerned with the interplay of communication and politics, and to provide resources and networking opportunities for political communication faculty, graduate students, and professionals. PCIG members study the political implications of all forms of media and technology, as well as political rhetoric, and they conduct research using a wide range of methods within U.S., international, and comparative contexts.

Each year, for the AEJMC annual conference, scholars are invited to submit research papers to the interest group related to mediated political communication, broadly defined. Thanks to the high quality of paper submissions, PCIG programs a diverse and stimulating set of research paper panels and scholar-to-scholar sessions on such topics as political news and journalism, political media effects, political campaigns and advertising, social movements and protest, and political economy of the media. PCIG also leads conference sessions related to research practice, teaching, and professional freedom and responsibility, often in partnership with other divisions and interest groups within AEJMC.  

Each year, PCIG awards $100 to the winner of the McCombs-Shaw Award for the Top Student Paper and also recognizes the top three faculty papers. In addition, PCIG annually awards the Lynda Lee Kaid Award for the Best Published Article in Political Communication, which carries a $100 prize.

Click here to see the PCIG Bylaws.