Tim P. Vos

Tim Vos

School of Journalism Director

Department
  • Journalism
tpvos@msu.edu
517-353-6430
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Bio

Tim P. Vos is Professor and Director of the Michigan State University School of Journalism. Vos is an International Communication Association (ICA) Fellow and a past president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the field’s leading research, teaching, and service organization. He is the former vice-chair of the AEJMC Standing Committee on Research and the former head of AEJMC’s History Division.

Vos earned his Doctorate in Mass Communication from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University (2005). He previously served on the Communication faculty at Seton Hall University and was an associate professor and chair of Journalism Studies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A native Iowan, Vos was a first-generation college student. He worked as a broadcast journalist for 12 years, during which time he wrote for local and national publications and interviewed most of the major party candidates for U.S. president.

Research and Teaching

Vos's research examines the roles of journalism, media sociology and gatekeeping, media history, and media policy. His work also explores how change has happened in print, broadcast, and digital news, public relations, and advertising.

Vos is co-author, co-editor, or editor of four books and the International Communication Association's (ICA) International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. He is the book series editor of Journalism in Perspective from the University of Missouri Press. Vos has won the Best American Journalism Article award, the Laurence R. Campbell Faculty Research Award, the James E. Murphy Top Faculty Paper Award, the Leslie J. Moeller Award, the Kappa Tau Alpha research award; and several top-three faculty paper awards from AEJMC and ICA. He was selected as an ICA Fellow in 2023 for distinguished scholarly contributions to the field of communication.

Vos is the primary investigator for the Discourses on Journalism project and lead U.S. investigator for the 100-plus-country Worlds of Journalism Study.

Thematic Research Areas

Political Communication and Civic Engagement
Policy and Governance

Related Work

Photo of Tim P. Vos
Q&A with J School Director and AEJMC President Tim P. Vos
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Designated ICA Fellows: Monique Turner and Tim Vos
Turner and Vos Named International Communication Association Fellows
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Photo of Danielle Brown speaking at the LIFTxSHINE event. Text reads: Lessons for Journalism from Ground Zero of the 2020 Racial Reckoning
LIFTing Voices and Shaping the Future of Journalism
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Recent Publications

Vos, T.P. & Hanusch (2024). Conceptualizing embeddedness as a key dimension for analyzing journalistic cultures. Communication Theory 34(1) 39-48.

Raemy, P., Hellmueller & Vos, T.P. (2024). Understanding journalistic culture as context and result of negotiation. International Journal of Communication. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2023.2174893.

Antolini, M., Da Silva, M.P. & Vos, T.P. (2024). Metajournalistic discourse in US coverage of Brazil: Journalistic roles and values related to threats to democracy. Journalism Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2024.2421350.

Vos, T.P. & Li, Y. (2024). An early history of newspaper agents. America Journalism. DOI: 10.1080/0882117.2024.24210707.

Vos, T.P. & Li, Y. (2024). The ad agency and ad content in the 1840s. Journalism History 50(3) 203-226.

Vos, T.P. & Thomas, R.J. (2024). "They're making it more democratic:" The normative construction of participatory journalism. Digital Journalism 12(6) 869-893.

Marques, F.P.J. & Vos, T.P. (2024). Advancing comparative studies in Political Communication research: What factors explain the transformation of media systems? International Communication Gazette 86(7) 521-540.

Vos, T.P., Thomas, R.J. & Tandoc, E.C., Jr. (2023). Constructing the legitimacy of journalists' marketing role. Journalism Studies 24(6) 763-782.

Vos, T.P. (2023). A course correction for Journalism Studies. Journalism Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2190822.

Marques, F.P.J., Miola, E., Vos, T.P., Fontes, G.S. & Santos, D. (2023). 'Fake news' and journalistic authority in newspaper editorials. Journalism Studies 24(8) 1087-1110.

Vos, T.P. (2023). Theories, concepts, and historiography: An Overview. In M.M. Garza, M. Fuhlhage & T. Lucht (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism (pp. 401-410). New York; London: Routledge.

Geertsema-Sligh, M. & Vos, T.P. (2022). Running up against a brick wall: U.S. metajournalistic discourse of gender equality in newsrooms. Journalism Studies 23(14) 1758-1778.

Vos, T.P. (2022). The social roles of journalism. In  S. Allan (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism (pp. 73-81). New York, London: Routledge.

Russell, F.M. & T.P. Vos (2022). Journalism's interactions with Silicon Valley platforms. In P. Ferrucci & S. Eldridge II (Eds.), The Institutions Changing Journalism (pp. 166-180). New York; London: Routledge.

T.P. Vos (2022). Overview: Anglo-Saxon countries. In S. Fengler, T. Eberwein & M. Karmasin (Eds.), The Global Handbook of Media Accountability (pp. 61-62). New York: London: Routledge.

Books

Vos, T.P. & Hanusch, F. (Eds.). (2019) Dimitrakopoulou, D. Sehl, A. & Geertsema-Sligh, M. (Assoc. Eds.). International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Vos, T.P. (Ed.) (2018). Journalism. Vol. 19 of Handbooks of Communication Science Series, Peter J. Schulz and Paul Cobley (Series Eds.). Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.

Liebler, C. and Vos, T.P. (Eds.) (2018). Media scholarship in a transitional age: Research in honor of Pamela J. Shoemaker. New York: Peter Lang.

Vos, T.P. & Heinderyckx, F., (Eds.). (2015). Gatekeeping in Transition. New York: Routledge Press.

Shoemaker, P.J. & Vos, T.P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory. New York: Routledge Press. (Portuguese translation [2011]. Teoria do gatekeeping: Selecao e construcao da noticia. Porto Alegre, Brazil: Artmed Editora SA.)

Contact Information

404 Wilson Road, Room 305
Communication Arts Building