Pictured is School of Journalism and Media Director Amy Jo Coffey (left) accepting the 2024 Robert Picard Book and Monographs Award on behalf of both authors, as Ann Hollifield was not present at the annual AEJMC conference. Holding Hollifield’s copy of the award above is Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship division vice chair Dr. Min Xiao (right).
School of Journalism and Media Director Amy Jo Coffey received the prestigious 2024 Robert Picard Book and Monographs Award for a book she co-authored on media analytics.
The Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship Division presented the Picard Award to Coffey on behalf of both authors last month during the annual AEJMC conference.
The award recognizes authors of a book or monograph published during the previous year that makes a significant contribution to the field of media management, economics, and entrepreneurship. This is the second award for the book this year, with the first being the 2024 Broadcast Education Association Textbook Award, bestowed in April.
“It’s such an honor,” Coffey said. “AEJMC and BEA are the two most nationally prominent academic organizations for the work I do in media management and economics, including audience measurement and analytics, and to have my contributions recognized at this level means more than I can say. I also believe the national and international spotlight on a book about media analytics shows just how central this aspect of media management has become, and how critically important the role of the analyst is within the media industry today.”
Coffey co-wrote Media Analytics: Understanding Media, Audiences, and Consumers in the 21st Century with University of Georgia Professor Emeritus Ann Hollifield, published last year by Routledge (Taylor & Francis).
Collectively, Coffey and Hollifield have taught media analytics for more than thirty years and developed courses and curricula. They saw a need for a media analytics book to serveundergraduate and graduate students but that could also be a desktop reference for analytics professionals.
Coffey said while students tend to gravitate towards areas such as news, sports, entertainment, and social media, analytics is an exciting area and she enjoys opening students’ eyes to the “behind the scenes” area of the media profession. Their book is case-based and provides real media data sets so students can “learn by doing.”
Journalists and newsrooms can also benefit from a working knowledge of analytics, said Coffey. In today’s data-driven attention economy, she said knowledge of, and insights generated through, media analytics can give individuals and companies a competitive edge.
“I hope that students and professionals alike come away feeling that media analytics is an accessible skill set, that they feel empowered by our book and that they realize how critical this area is to everyday strategic decision making,” Coffey said. “Analytics is something that all students entering the media profession should have a working knowledge of and not fear, because our industry is increasingly data-driven, even if you are going into creative areas like film or video production.”