Old Dominion University

Faculty Member, Communication and Theatre Arts

Associate Professor, Communication

Arts & Letters

About

Burton St. John III holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University (2005) and an M.A. in Communications (1993) and B.A. in English (1988), both from Wichita State University. He also completed journalism and public affairs studies at the Department of Defense’s Information School in Indianapolis in 1979.

He recently co-edited the book (with Kirsten Johnson) News With a View: Essays on the Eclipse of Objectivity in Modern Journalism (McFarland Press, 2012). He also published the sole author book Press Professionalization and Propaganda: The Rise of Journalistic Double-Mindedness (Cambria, 2010) and is co-editor (with Jack Rosenberry) of the book Public Journalism 2.0: The Promise and Reality of a Citizen-Engaged Press, released by Routledge in 2010. His academic work has appeared in the Journal of Communication Management, Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice, Journalism History, Public Relations Review, The Communication Review, Communication and Medicine, American Journalism and the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. He is a 2006 Page Legacy Scholar, receiving funding through the Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State University to study newsroom policies and ethics regarding the use of VNRs

St. John’s background features 15 years of public relations experience for the U.S. Postal Service. During that time, he served as a regional communications manager for an eight-state area where he oversaw strategy and tactics for media relations, special events, speechwriting, employee communications, congressional relations and crisis communications. He provided crisis communications counsel for the Postal Service in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax mailings and the re-opening of the contaminated Trenton, New Jersey mail facility.

Additionally, St. John has been published in numerous newspapers across the country and his work has appeared in such trade publications as PR Week, Editor and Publisher, PRSA’s The Strategist and Tactics, PR Reporter and Public Relations Quarterly. He is a recent co-chair of research for the AEJMC's Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group.

His ongoing research interest area focuses on the strains between the journalism and public relations industries about propaganda and how that tension affects the quality of journalism's connections with communities. More specifically, he explores how this tension surfaces in journalism and public relations ethics, the conventions of journalism and the public journalism movement.

Contact Information