BEA2026

Research Symposium: Communicating in an AI Driven World: The Impact of AI on Creators and Consumers of News and Entertainment -- Session 1: AI, Education, and Human Meaning-Making

Artificial intelligence is changing the way the world interacts with machines and people, as well as how media organizations operate. As society grapples with the use of AI, those in the field of mass communication must consider the how the opportunities AI offers come with ethical ramifications. Professional organizations (RTDNA, PRSA, AAF, NAB) have adopted professional codes and guidelines for using AI in industry.

The 2026 BEA Research Symposium will examine AI research in mass communication. As AI is implemented, it is important to remember the human connection those working in the media industry bring to communicating information. Media professionals transmit information that is influenced by their broader understanding, shared background, and empathy. How can the media industry ethically adopt a technology that is disrupting how people seek, consume, and produce information?

Moderator: Seungahn Nah, University of Florida

Almost Human, Not Quite: Exploring Human Responses to Physical AI
Michael Lee, Ball State University & Hyungseok Jang, Ball State University

‘T.O.M.I.! Pull up drone footage’: Children’s responses to AI-integrated storytelling in tackling climate literacy in an African cartoon
Twange Kasoma, Appalachian State University

Discourse on an AI Society in Media Education: Netnographic Analyses of Media Educator Conversations on AI “Best Practices”
Adam C. Earnheardt, Youngstown State University & Mary Beth Earnheardt, Youngstown State University

Moderator: Seungahn Nah, University of Florida

Synthetic Realities in Political Deepfake News: Exploring AI-Generated Disinformation Consumption
Miao Guo, University of Connecticut; Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut & Brett Andrew Williams, University of Connecticut

Trusting the Machine: The Authenticity Model for Trust Building in Journalism During the Rise of Artificial Intelligence
Sarah Fisher, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Talking About AI: Family Communication Patterns and AI Attitude Agreement
Huma Rasheed, University of Pennsylvania; Robert Lance Holbert, University of Pennsylvania & Brandon Harrison & University of Pennsylvania

Moderator: Seungahn Nah, University of Florida

Reshaping News Production Time: Temporal Experiences and Professional Practices of Journalists in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Jing Fang, Communication University of China

The Role of AI and Automation in Transforming Journalistic Labor, Economic Structures, and Inequality in the News Media Environment
Azade Asadi Damavandi, Bowling Green State University

Simulated Homelands: AI-Generated Video as Exilic Resistance in Eritrean Diaspora Media
Yonatan Tewelde, Penn State Harrisburg

Showcasing your most innovative teaching ideas. As part of our quest for the most innovative teaching ideas, we present “BEA Ignite” – where you can share your best classroom project/exercise/ideas. Following the traditional “ignite” format, presenters get 5 minutes and 20 slides to share their passionate teaching idea. The seven best “ignite” ideas were selected to make their presentations “live” during this BEA2026 session.

Andrew David, Moderator/Host
Michael Bruce, Producer

Lauren Bavis, Syracuse University - How PR and Journalism Students Collaborate on “Both Sides of the Podium”

Kara Gould, Samford University - Using Informal Debate within Panel Discussions to Encourage Student Engagement in the Classroom

Christine Guest, Ithaca College - Co-Lab with Yamdu: Unlocking TV/Film Team Teaching

Angelica Kalika, University of Colorado Boulder - Beat the Machine

Teresa Puente, California State University - Long Beach - Creating a Social Video Awareness Campaign

Danna Ramos, University of the Incarnate Word - Pop Culture Broadcast

Lakshmi N Tirumala, Drake University - Voice Before Camera - Teaching Media Students to Speak Story First

As AI transforms media industries and education, institutions are moving beyond speculation into concrete action. This panel highlights official courses, minors, policies, and institutional initiatives already shaping AI literacy. With a focus on media literacy, panelists will share how colleges and organizations are formally addressing generative AI to prepare students for critical engagement with emerging technologies.
Moderator: Teresa (Terry) Filipowicz, Pima Community College
Panelists: Tom Hallaq, Kansas State University
Milton A Santiago, Syracuse University
Chris Strobel, Northern Kentucky University

This panel will consider the appeal, utility and marketability of non-linear narratives.  This is Phase 2 of a 3 year look at such narratives. Previously we defined and explored different framings to help engagement with this approach.
Next year the panel will look more specifically at how to help students write for and film a nonlinear short.

Moderator: Raymond Anderson, University of Guam

Panelists:
Raymond Anderson, University of Guam; Look Again: The Utility of Non-linear Storytelling
Non-linear storytelling exists because of several key advantages for the creators and the industry they serve. But it also provides benefits to the audience and the broader culture, with cross cultural allure. We will explore non-linearity’s roots, presence and challenges. Consideration for its place in the classroom is also discussed.

Jonathan Mason, Rowan University; “You’re Doing What?”: The Challenges of Marketing & Distributing Non-Linear Narratives
This segment looks at the push and pull between artistic freedom and commercial reality: the thrill of fractured, time-bending storytelling on one side, and the headaches it causes for distributors, programmers, and streamers who have to frame it for audiences trained on straight-line narratives. We’ll dig into how these projects are pitched and sold, how marketing tries to give audiences a way in without flattening what makes them unique, and why some non-linear films manage to catch fire while others never quite find their crowd.

Khaled AlqahsKuwait University;The Appeal of Non-Linear Narratives in Arab Cinema and Television
This presentation explores the appeal of non-linear storytelling in Arab cinema and television, focusing on how these narratives engage audiences beyond conventional linear structures. By disrupting chronological order through flashbacks, parallel plots, and circular openings, Arab filmmakers and television writers create works that reflect the complexity of lived experience while heightening curiosity and emotional impact. Such approaches not only challenge audiences to piece together meaning but also offer distinctive cultural resonances tied to themes of memory, identity, and social change. The session highlights how non-linear structures enrich Arab visual storytelling and expand its creative possibilities.

Alessandra Bautze, Georgia State University; Non-Linear Narratives as Anti-Hollywood: A Tool for Screenwriters
What is the appeal of non-linear narratives for screenwriters? How do screenwriters employ non-linear narratives to explore character motivations, interiority, and relationships? By framing non-linear narratives as “anti-Hollywood” (as delineated by Michael Z. Newman in his indie cinema viewing strategies), this presentation will examine these and other questions, arguing that non-linear narratives occupy a specific place outside of traditional Hollywood filmmaking, often in the realm of “Indiewood” (as delineated by Geoff King).

William Hanff, University of the District of Columbia; Fabula & Syuzhet in Transmedia Narratives and Non-Linear Storytelling
This presentation problematizes the structure of both linear and non-linear visual storytelling by applying the Russian Formalist ideas of narratology to contemporary media productions. Comparing and contrasting how different levels of ‘Suspension of Disbelief’ are challenged in different genres, formats, and ‘story presentations’—research from Vladimir Propp, Walter Benjamin, and Henry Jenkins can be deployed to explore and systematize non-linear narratives. From early beginnings of flashbacks and flash-forwards in early films, to non-linear gameplay, postmodern cinema, and V.R/A.R. applications the concepts of fabula (story content) versus syuzhet (story arrangement) remain central. Technological determinism of digital storytelling tools, and the relation to narrative form will also be explored.