Robert A. Papper2017-08-30T13:47:44-04:00

Research Associate

Robert A. Papper (Photo) 800Bob Papper is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Journalism in the Department of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations at Hofstra University in New York.  He retired from full time work at Hofstra in 2013.  He’s also Telecommunications Professor Emeritus at Ball State University, from which he retired in 2007.

For 21 years, Papper has overseen the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) annual survey on the state of local radio and television news, and he continues to conduct the RTDNA/Hofstra University Survey — even in semi-retirement.  He has also conducted Future of News studies for the RTDNF and the Ford Foundation; he originated the Middletown Media Studies (which morphed into the Video Consumer Mapping Study — now funded by The Nielsen Company), and is the founder and co-editor of Electronic News, the official journal of the Electronic News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Papper’s Broadcast News & Writing Stylebook is now in its 5th edition (Pearson); he’s authored five book chapters, ten major reports and has published more than a hundred articles and made more than a hundred presentations at major regional, national and international conferences. As a professional journalist, Papper has won more than a hundred state, regional and national awards, including four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and a DuPont-Columbia for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.”

He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University in New York, and he’s worked at television stations in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, San Francisco and Columbus, OH.  Papper is a past president of the Maine Association of Broadcasters and a long-time member of the national education committee of the Radio Television Digital News Association.  In 2006, Papper was honored as the Ball State University Researcher of the Year, and in 2007, the Associated Press Broadcasters inducted him into the Indiana Hall of Fame for Distinguished Service in Broadcast Journalism.  In 2011, Papper received the Hofstra Teacher of the Year Award for the School of Communication.  In 2012, he received the Ed Bliss Award from the Electronic News Division of the AEJMC.  The annual award recognizes “Outstanding teaching, scholarship and service.”