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My Background (updated in June 2006)

SHELTON A. GUNARATNE

3215 Village Green Drive 
Moorhead, Minnesota 56560
U.S.A.

Home Tel.:   (218) 233-0453
Office Tel.: (218) 477-4035

Personal Data:

Marital status: Married with a son, b. 1980, and a daughter, b.1984
Birthplace: Weligama, Sri Lanka
Citizenship: U.S. citizen
Countries resided: Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, Australia, Britain, China.

Education:

Post-graduate: Ph.D. in mass communication (1972) from the University of
Minnesota with emphasis on theory and methodology and international
communication. Minor fields: anthropology and speech communication. 

M.A. in journalism (1968) from the University of Oregon with emphasis on
advertising and public relations. 

Undergraduate: B.A. in economics (1962) from the University of Ceylon,
Peradeniya, with emphasis on money and banking. Studied government,
Sinhalese and Western history for the first-year General Arts Qualifying
examination (1959). 

Secondary: Higher School Certificate (1958). Subjects: Ceylon History,
European History, Government and Sinhalese. 

Senior School Certificate (1956). Subjects: English Language, Sinhalese
Language, Arithmetic, Sinhalese Literature, History, Geography and Civics.

Employment:

Industrial experience:

For six years (1962 - 1967) I was a journalist with the Associated
Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., one of the largest newspaper groups in Asia.
Started as a researcher for Reuter's economics service. Trained as a cadet
in Dinamina, Sri Lanka's largest daily. Transferred to English-language
Ceylon Daily News where I worked as acting assistant news editor. Won a
World Press Institute Fellowship in 1966 for a year-long work-study
program in the United States. Spent the first quarter of 1967 as an
intern with the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. Wrote numerous stories as a
foreign correspondent. Since leaving industry, I have continued as a
free-lancer. I have written numerous articles to Australian newspapers on
politics and public affairs.  The American Society of Newspaper Editors
placed me on a six-week minisabbatical at The (Longview, Wash.) Daily News
in summer 1989 to work as a reporter and editorial writer; and on a
three-month minisabbatical with the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
in summer 1991 to work as a feature writer and journalism coach.

Teaching experience:

December 1985 onwards: Professor, earlier associate professor, of mass
communications (tenured) at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Teaching
areas: reporting, copy editing, public affairs reporting, desktop
publishing and international communication. During calendar year 1994, I
spent a sabbatical at Tianjin University, China, and Macquarie University,
Australia. During summer 1997, I served as the external examiner for the
communication program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. I am also serving 
Universiti Putra Malaysia as the external assessor for promotions in the Faculty
of Human Ecology.
May 1976 - February 1986 (on leave from November 1985) and second semester
1986: Grade 1 lecturer in journalism and communication at Central
Queensland University (Rockhampton, Qld.) where I developed the print
stream of the journalism major and started the laboratory newspaper Four
Winds. I spent the 1983 calendar year as an exchange instructor at
Fullerton College (California) where I was adviser to Torch magazine in
addition to teaching courses in journalism and public relations. 

1974 - mid-1976: I was a journalism and communication lecturer at the
Science University of Malaysia (Penang). 

Fall 1973: I was assistant professor of journalism at University of
Florida (Gainesville). 

Fall 1972 - Summer 1973: I was assistant professor of mass communication
at Central Missouri State University (Warrensburg). 

Research experience: In 1971, I was a research fellow at the Bureau of
Institutional Research at University of Minnesota. I directed a study of
overseas students' attitudes and experience in addition to other
educational research. 

1969 - 1970: I was a research assistant in mass communication at the
University of Minnesota. I directed a study, inter alia, on the accuracy
of news perception. 

In late 1971, I conducted a survey of four rural communities in Sri Lanka
under a University of Minnesota Macmillan Fellowship. In 1985, I directed
a telephone survey of media use in Rockhampton, Qld., funded by a research
grant. I have used content analysis to write several research papers.

Other activities:

I was an adviser to the International Encyclopedia of Communications and a
contributing editor to Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, the quarterly journal of the
Polish Press Research Centre. I was books editor of Australian Journalism
Review and a book reviewer and article referee for Journal of Communication. 
I was also the review editor for The Journal of International Communication
I am currently an editorial advisory panel member of  Asia-Pacific Media Educator
the International Communication Gazette, Journal of Communication and Religion, 
Journal of International Communication, and Jurnal Komunikasi. My biography 
appears in Who's Who in the Midwest (24th ed., 1994-1995, p. 297), Who's Who in 
the World (6th ed., 1982-83, p.456) and in International Book of Honor 
(first world edition, 1985, p.253). I served on the advisory board for 
three books published by the National Education Association Professional Library: 
R. Baird Schuman's Classroom Encounters: Problems, Case Studies, Solutions (1989),
Maurice J. Elias and Steven E. Tobias' Problem Solving/Decision Making for 
Social and Academic Success: A School-Based Approach (1990), and Edwina Battle 
Vold, ed., Multicultural Education in Early Childhood Classrooms (1992). 

In summer 1990, I served for six weeks as an external consultant for the
World Association for Christian Communication in London. My duties
included being an adviser for four manuscripts intended for publication in
the Sage book series Communication and Human Values. In summer 1992, I
served the WACC again for six weeks as an external consultant. 

I have been a guest lecturer at universities: e.g., California State
University at Fullerton, Charles Sturt University, North Dakota State
University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Colombo,
University of North Dakota, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
University of Queensland. I have been an occasional external examiner of
graduate theses: e.g., a thesis on broadcasting submitted to Australian
National University. I have served in a graduate examiner committee at
North Dakota State University. At Moorhead, I coordinated the international 
videoconference sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor (April 26,
1986). 

University of Minnesota's Student Project for Amity among Nations (SPAN)
selected me as its 1992-93 adviser to a group of students who will conduct
individual eight-week projects in Sri Lanka . 

From 1987 to 1991, I was the adviser to the Moorhead State University
chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. I was also the
adviser to Interpress, the magazine of MSUM foreign students. I served as
treasurer of Moorhead Central Lions' Club (1989-92) and as its president
(1992-93).  

In 2005, I was re-elected to the executive council of the MSUM Faculty Association
and as a member of the MSUM Academic Policy Advisory Council for a two-year term.
I was a member of the MSUM Graduate Council, the Task Force on
Assessment, the Telecommunications Committee, and the Parking Committee. During my first
four-year stint as an elected executive council member of the MSUM
Faculty Association, I served three years as editor of the MSUMFA
Newsletter, which won a Harold Cantor Memorial merit award in 1990 and
third place award for internal publications judged by North Dakota
Professional Communicators in 1992. I was the Inter Faculty Organization's
representative on the Communications Council of the Minnesota Education
Association for two years. In 1990 and 1991, I served as a judge in the
MEA-sponsored School Bell awards for Minnesota journalists. I have also
judged convention papers submitted to AEJMC and ICA.

I am a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
(AEJMC), International Association for Media and Communication Research
(IAMCR), International Communication Association, Kappa Tau Alpha, Society 
of Professional Journalists, World Association for Christian Communication 
and several other professional bodies. 

I completed the Summer School at the Institute of World Affairs
(Salisbury, Connecticut) in 1970. I have attended numerous international
conferences and seminars and presented papers in my field. 

Hobbies: Travel, jogging, hiking, camping and computing.

Major publications:


Books and monographs: 

The Dao of the Press: A Humanocentric Theory (2005), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. ISBN 1-5727-3616-X or 1-5727-3617-8

Handbook of the Media in Asia (2001). New Delhi: SAGE Publications. [Editor of the book and co-author of chapters on Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia and North Korea].

Global Communication and Dependency: Links between the NIEO and NWICO Demands and the withdrawals from UNESCO (co-authored with Andrew Conteh). Moorhead, Minn.: Moorhead State University Press. 1988.

Modernization and Knowledge: A Study of Four Ceylonese Villages (Amic Communication Monograph Series 2). Singapore: Amic. 1976.

The Taming of the Press in Sri Lanka (Journalism Monograph No. 39). Lexington, Ky.: AEJ, 1975.
 

Yearbook Articles::

Convergence: Informatization, world system and developing countries. (2001). In W. B. Gudykunst, ed., Communication Yearbook 25 (pp. 153-199). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (for International Communication Association).

Old wine in a new bottle: Public journalism, developmental journalism, and social responsibility. (1998). In M. E. Roloff, ed., Communication Yearbook 21. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE (for International Communication Association). 


Encyclopedia Articles:
:

Status of media in Pakistan and Bangladesh..(2003). In D.H. Johnson, ed., Encyclopedia of International Media and Communication (pp. ...-...). San Diego: Academic Press.

Press freedom and development in Asia. (2003). In D.H. Johnson, ed., Encyclopedia of International Media and Communication (pp. ...-...). San Diego: Academic Press.
 

Book Chapters:

New thinking on journalism and news puts emphasis on democratic values (1996).  In Z. Bajka and J. Mikulowski-Pomorski, eds. Valeriana: Essays on Human Communication (pp. 182-197). Krakow, Poland: Osrodek Badan Prasoznawczych.1996.

Media subservience and developmental journalism (1990).  In L. John Martin and Ray Eldon Hiebert, eds. Current Issues in International Communication (pp. 352-354). New York: Longman. 1990.

Sri Lanka (1982).  In J. A. Lent, ed. Newspapers in Asia: Contemporary Trends and Problems (pp. 506 - 535). Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia.

Sri Lanka (1978). In J. A. Lent, ed. Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific: A Continental Survey of Radio and Television (pp. 260 - 272). Philadelphia: Temple University Press
.


Journal articles:

A Yijing view of world-system and democracy (2006). Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 33 (2), 191 - 211.

Asian philosophies and authoritarian press practice: A remarkable contradiction (2005). Javnost--The Public, 12 (2), 23-38.

Public diplomacy, global communication, and world order: An analysis based on theory of living systems (2005). Current Sociology, 53 (5), 749-772.

Thank you Newton, welcome Prigogine: 'Unthinking' old paradigms and embracing new directions--Part 2 The pragmatics (2004). Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 29 (1), 113-132.

Thank you Newton, welcome Prigogine: 'Unthinking' old paradigms and embracing new directions--Part 1 Theoretical distinctions (2003). Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 28 (4), 435-455.

Proto-Indo-European expansion, rise of English, and the international language order: A humanocentric analysis (2003). International Journal of the Sociology of Language, No.164, 1-32.

An evolving triadic world: A theoretical framework for global communication
research (2002). Journal of World-Systems Research, 8 (3), 329-365.

Freedom of the press: A world system perspective(2002). Gazette, 64(4), 343-369.

Paper, printing and the printing press: A horizontally integrative
macrohistory analysis.(2001). Gazette. 63 (6), 459-479.
Prospects and limitations of world system theory for media analysis: 
The case of the Middle East and North Africa.(2001).Gazette, 63 (2&3), 121-148
The media in Asia: An overview (1999). Gazette, 61 (3&4), 197-223.
[Guest editor of the volume]
Small is beautiful: Informatization potential of three Indian Ocean Rim 
countries. (1997). [collaborators: Mohd. Safar Hasim & Roukaya Kasenally]. 
Media Asia, 24/4: 188-205.
Sri Lanka and the Third Communication Revolution.(1997). Media Asia, 24/2:
83-89.
Integration of Internet resources into curriculum and instruction (1996). 
[collaborator: Byung Lee]. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator 
51/2:25-35.
Social responsibility theory revisited: A comparative study of public
journalism and developmental journalism. (1996) [collaborator: M. Safar Hasim],
Javnost--The Public, 3/3(1996): 97-107.
Old wine in a new bottle: Public journalism movement in the United 
States and the erstwhile NWICO debate. (1996). AsiaPacific MediaEducator, 
1/1: 64-75.
Books on global communication become a philosophical tussle between the
right and the left.(1995) Media Development, 42/2: 44-47. [Buku tentang
komunikasi sejagat menjadi pertarungan falsafah antara pihak yang berfaham
kanan dan kiri.(1995). Bahasa Melayu Trans. M. Safar Hasim], Jurnal Komunikasi,
11: 125-136.]
Review of Treading Different Paths: Informatization in Asian Nations, 
edited by Georgette Wang.(1995). Media Development, 42/4: 58-60.
U.S. and U.K. Re-entry into UNESCO (October 1995?): A Reportorial
Description and a Theoretical Analysis.(1994) Journal Komunikasi
10:99-122.

Review of Framing South Asian Transformation: An Examination of Regional
Views on South Asian Cooperation by Naren Chitty.(1994). Asian Journal of
Communication 4(2):143-148.

Unesco must recover its universality.(1993) Media Development 40(2):41-43. 

Roundtable: News organizations are slow to fess up to their own
mistakes. (1993) Media Asia 20(3):151;180.

Impact of news values on reporting death, sickness and suffering.(1992) Media
Development 39(4):11-13. 

Asian approaches to communication theory.(1991). Media Development 38(1):53-55. 

UNESCO a nowy lad informacyjny.(1990). Zeszyty Prasoznawcze 31(2-4):99-112. 

Facts and fallacies on the withdrawals from Unesco.(1987). Australian
Journalism Review 8(1&2):65-82, 144. 

Uwagi na temat nowego swiatowego ladu informacji.(1985). Zeszyty Prasoznawcze
26(1):67-70. 

Freedom of information: a guide for journalists.(1983). Australian Journalism
Review 5(1):59-63. 

Reporting the Third World in the 1970s: a longitudinal content analysis
of two Australian dailies.(1982). Gazette 29(1):15-29. 

Journalism teaching: public affairs reporting, precision journalism and
specialisms.(1979). Australian Journalism Review 2(1):4-10. 

Media subservience and developmental journalism.(1979). Combroad No.43:22-27. 

The background to the non-aligned newspool.(1978). Gazette 24(1):20-35. 

Priorytety srodkow masowego kommunicowania jako czynnika rozwpju
spolecznego.(1978) Zesyty Prasoznawcze 19(4):83-90. 

A critical look at the `new paradigm' of communication and development.(1976).
Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 4(2):9-20. 

Wiadomosci zagraniczne w prasie Malezji.(1976). Zesyty Prasoznawcze
17(2):123-128. 

Some research problems in rural Sri Lanka.(1975). Media Asia 2(3):169-171. 

Foreign news in two Asian dailies.(1972). [with Han C. Liu] Gazette
18(1):37-41. 

Press in Pakistan under President Ayub Khan.(1970). Gazette 16(1):39-53. 

Government-press conflict in Ceylon: freedom versus responsibility.(1970).
Journalism Quarterly 47:530-543;552.

Book Reviews:

List of my book reviews

Newspaper articles:

Since 1980, my feature articles on politics, population, public affairs,
etc.-- most of which demonstrate the use of precision journalism
techniques -- have appeared in the following Australian newspapers: New
South Wales: The Australian, Newcastle Herald. Northern Territory:
Centralian Advocate, The Northern Territory News. Queensland: The
Bundaberg News-Mail, The Cairns Post, Central Queensland Express, Central
Queensland News, The Courier-Mail, The Gladstone Observer, Maryborough
Chronicle, The Morning Bulletin, The North Queensland Register, The

North-West Star, Sunshine Coast Daily, The Toowoomba Chronicle. South
Australia: The Advertiser, The Murray Pioneer, The Murray Valley Standard.
Tasmania: The Advocate, The Mercury. Western Australia: Weekend News.
Since 1986, my opinion columns and travel articles have appeared in
several American newspapers including St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch, The
(Fargo) Forum , Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, and The (Longview, Wash.) Daily
News.

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