Paula Poindexter

Paula M. Poindexter, Professor of Journalism and Media at The University of Texas at Austin, has published six books, including her most recent book, Gen Z, Social Media, and News: Implications for the Future of News Engagement, Journalism, the U.S., and Democracy. Poindexter’s books and journal articles as well as her book chapters, essays, encyclopedia entries, and guides to U.S. presidential and mid-term elections are informed by her experience as a manager and executive at the Los Angeles Times and as a reporter and producer of a daily news and feature program at KPRC-TV, the NBC-affiliate in Houston.

A Ph.D. from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Poindexter is the recipient of several prestigious honors and national awards that have recognized her leadership, service, and research. Elected in 2014 as president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the largest association of journalism and communication educators, media professionals, and graduate students, Poindexter developed and implemented a variety of innovative programs and events that continue to be important activities for the membership.  She founded News Engagement Day which is held the first Tuesday in October and she serves as chair of the News Engagement Day Committee which oversees NED activities at the annual conference and on News Engagement Day.  In addition to a short-form video competition to encourage college student engagement with news, Poindexter established an annual $3,000 Research Grant for AEJMC members that funds innovative news audience & news engagement studies. 

During her term as AEJMC president, Poindexter also proposed and developed Scholarsourcing, a joint book-publishing venture with the international book publisher Peter Lang. And while chair of AEJMC’s Standing Committee on Research and a member of AEJMC’s Board of Directors, Poindexter proposed and developed the Tankard Book Award after the death of her colleague Dr. James Tankard, former editor of Journalism Monographs and co-author of Communication Theories: Origins, Methods, and Uses in the Mass Media.  While serving on the Standing Committee on Research, Poindexter also spearheaded the “Recommended Ethical Research Guidelines for AEJMC Members.” 

Poindexter has created seven courses for the School of Journalism and Media, including J349L, News Literacy in the Digital Age; J351F, Journalism, Society, and the Citizen Journalist, and J341F, Understanding African Americans and the Media.  And Poindexter has chaired 10 Ph.D. dissertations and served on a variety of dissertation committees. 

Poindexter is the chair of the Maxwell McCombs Graduate Student Research Publishing Award which was created in 2006 by her colleague Dr. Maxwell McCombs who along with Donald Shaw developed agenda setting, one of the most important theories in journalism and communication. Upon Dr. McCombs’ retirement, Poindexter chaired a fundraising committee to raise $25,000 to establish a permanent endowment in the Moody College of Communication that would generate interest to fund cash awards for School of Journalism Ph.D. and master’s students who published articles in academic journals. Since its creation in 2006, 81 Journalism and Media graduate students have been honored with this prestigious graduate student publishing award. And because of their exceptional research productivity, some graduate students received the award more than one year.

Poindexter was the 2009 Inaugural Recipient of the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education and in 2016, she was honored with AEJMC’s Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award. In 2018, AEJMC’s MAC (Minorities and Communication) Division named its new faculty and student grant, the Dr. Paula M. Poindexter Research Grant.  After Poindexter proposed the “Félix F. Gutiérrez and Clint C. Wilson II MAC Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation” to recognize the trailblazing Journalism and Communication scholars the award was named after, MAC Division leadership unanimously voted to establish the award in 2022.  Poindexter also chaired the fundraising committee that raised $28,285 to establish a permanent endowment that would fund the engraved award and the $500 cash prize that recipients receive. 

Poindexter’s new research projects are focused on the civic duty to keep informed in the digital age, news engagement socialization, and news audiences today.  The following is a list of what she considers her most significant publications:

Paula M. Poindexter, Gen Z, Social Media, and News: Implications for the Future of News Engagement, Journalism, the U.S., and Democracy, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, 2025 (208 Pages) ISBN: 9781636676340; Designed Cover with Peter Lang. 

Paula M. Poindexter, “Audience Studies, “The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Tim P. Vos and Folker Hanusch (General Editors), Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh and Annika Sehl (Associate Editors). © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0015

Paula M. Poindexter, Millennials, News, and Social Media: Is News Engagement a Thing of the Past? NY:  Peter Lang Publishing, Second Edition, 2018 (216 pages) (ISBN: 978-1-4331-5003-6).

Paula M. Poindexter, News for a Mobile-First Consumer, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2016. (272 pages) (ISBN: 978-1-4331-2840-0).

Paula M. Poindexter, Millennials, News, and Social Media: Is News Engagement a Thing of the Past? NY:  Peter Lang Publishing, 2012.  (214 pages) (ISBN: 978-1-4331-1497-7).

Paula M. Poindexter, “African-American Images in the News: Understanding the Past to Improve Future Portrayals” in Susan Dente Ross and Paul Lester, Images that Injure, 3^rd edition. Praeger/PSI, 2011, 107-120.  (Note: Although Images That Injure is in its third edition, this is the first edition I have been invited to contribute a chapter.)

Paula Poindexter, Sharon Meraz, and Amy Schmitz Weiss, Editors, Women, Men, and News:  Divided and Disconnected in the News Media Landscape. New York and London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2008 (356 pages) (ISBN: 0-8058-6102-5).

Paula M. Poindexter, Don Heider, and Maxwell McCombs, “Watchdog or Good Neighbor? The Public’s Expectations of Local News.” The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 11(1):77-88 (Winter 2006). (Refereed)

Don Heider, Maxwell McCombs, and Paula M. Poindexter, “What the Public Expects of Local News: Views on Public and Traditional Journalism. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 82: 952-967 (Winter 2005). (Refereed)

Paula M. Poindexter, Laura Smith, and Don Heider, “Race and Ethnicity in Local Television News: Framing, Story Assignments, and Source Selections,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 47:524-536 (December 2003). (Refereed)

Paula M. Poindexter and Maxwell E. McCombs, “Revisiting the Civic Duty to Keep Informed in the New Media Environment.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 78: 113-126 (Spring 2001). (Refereed)

Paula M. Poindexter and Maxwell E. McCombs, Research in Mass Communication: A Practical Guide, New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000 (451 pages) (ISBN:  0-312-19162-6).