The last week and the end is not near!

Lots of doings to report as we wrap the last week of the term. Finals and commencement are next week. But among the great things happening?

Amanda Peterka, the J-School Outstanding Senior, earned another major accolade when she was named one of top 100 journalism students in the U.S. by uwire.com. Congrats to Amanda!!

Cheryl Pell, J-School faculty member and executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, was honored by her members with the John V. Field Award for her service to Michigan scholastic journalism. It was a stealth and heartily endorsed move by MIPA and a complete surprise to Cheryl. The award was presented at the MIPA spring conference on Tuesday, April 28. No one deserves this more than Cheryl She is the number #1 supporter of scholastic journalism In Michigan and across the country.

Also on Tuesday, J-School faculty Dan Davis and Fred Fico met with ARMY ROTC cadets as part of our ongoing Military and the Media project.

And the members of Bill McWhirter's Business News Seminar took on a spring project focused on the effects of Michigan's suffering economy on Michigan State as a major research and land grant university. The 12-member group conducted more than 50 in-depth interviews on campus and across the country, including MSU administration leaders and a 90-minute intensive sit-down interview with President Lou Anna K. Simon. Their results, which look at MSU's history and reactions to the crisis on other U.S. campuses, found MSU's approach to the pressures more measured and far less publicly dramatic despite Michigan's economy than at many other U.S. schools. The teams have been working non-stop on fact checking and edits all week. The 13-section report will be published and distributed later in May. The Business News Seminar, initiated only last year, is among the new courses in the J-School.

Longtime faculty member, John Molloy, is being honored by his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati. He has been selected of one of four inductees in the inaugural Journalism Hall of Fame there. It is a special honor for this veteran educator, newsman, prolific author and scholar. We are so proud of you, John!

Finally, we are working hard getting ready for the all important May 11 News summit: In Search of a New Journalism. Anyone with web access will be able to view the live webcast on SpartanTV from 1:30-4 p.m., EDT. We have an exciting roster of panelists. A live audience is invited to attend, as well, in Studio E in the Com Arts Building. Just RSVP to let us know you are coming, since seating is limited. Send an email to jrn@msu.edu.

J-School Alum M.L. Elrick wins Pulitzer

The J-School is proud to announce our eighth Pulitzer Prizewinner among alumni. M.L. Elrick, a 1990 graduate, won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting along with his reporting partner Jim Schaefer at the Detroit Free Press.

The duo uncovered a text message scandal and perjured testimony by the then Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick and his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty that cost taxpayers more than $9 million dollars. Their reporting lead to the resignations of Kilpatrick and Beatty and the arrests, convictions and jailing of the two.

The Pulitzer winners were announced Monday afternoon.

Elrick has been a great supporter of the J-School. Last fall, he and Schaefer gave this year's Neal Shine Ethics Lecture. Sunday evening, the duo received the first ever Watchdog Journalism Award presented by the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.

The School of Journalism at MSU has at least seven other Pulitzer Prize winners, including faculty member Eric Freedman, and alumni Richard Cooper '69, 'Andrew Guy '96, Howard James '58, Ariel Melchior Jr. '62, and Jim Mitzelfeld '84. Beth McCoy '03 is a recent double 2006 Pulitzer winner, part of a team of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans that won two Pulitzers for breaking news and public service.

Sunday Journalism and the J-School SHINE!!!!

Big doings on Sunday as we honor our amazing students with our annual Awards Program.

Lori Anne Dickerson has been working tirelessly to make sure we recognize all the terrific successes and awards our J-majors have won this year.

We are expecting a record turnout of students and their families. The Awards Program begins at 3 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Kellogg Center.

Immediately after the Awards Program is the 24th Annual Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Two distinguished journalists, both with long careers at the Detroit Free Press will be honored. This year's honorees are Jack Kresnak and Joe Grimm. Joe is now a visiting editor in residence with us here at the J-School.



The Hall of Fame is also honoring investigative reporting with its first ever 1st Amendment Watchdog Awards. The recipients are J-School alum, M.L. Elrick, and Ohio State alum (we've adopted him, so it's okay) Jim Schaefer, both are from the Free Press, as well. They are the team that uncovered the perjured testimony that forced the Mayor of Detroit and his Chief of Staff to resign. They are nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. That award will be announced on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed and the champagne on ice!

Introducing a Revolutionary Idea in Journalism...

An intriguing new idea is making the rounds of some J-School educators and laid-off journalists. It's a pretty simply idea and based on the Cable TV model, simply put newspapers should start charging for their online content and viewers, aggregators, TV and radio news need to pay up.

As my friend and former colleague Holly Shreve Gilbert at Oakland U noted: "The idea I've had rattling around has been that online news services will look something like cable TV. A tiered offering...For $100 bucks a year you get access to 10 national news sites, 10 state, 10 local...for $50 you get ....5 of each...or something along that scale. I haven't ever worked out the details but it seems like there might be something there. .."

Her husband, Garry, now JRN director at OU, a good friend, former exec editor at The Oakland Press and visiting prof at MSU, chimed in with: "Over-the-air TV is free but people are willing to pay for more channels and the high quality digital signal delivered via cable. Internet Service Providers, which charge people for access to the Web, are in a position to raise their rates and share a portion of that revenue with the content providers that get the most views."

These are some of the ideas that will get folks thinking and doing. Every publisher in the nation should consider launching this effort on Bastille Day, July 14, 2009. Just say I am part of a new cabal I'm calling the Journalism Liberation Front!!!

This idea originated with John Coots, a smart, smart guy who is a former newspaper editor and current publisher. He said in an email: "I had supper last night with some newspaper guys up in New Hampshire... the big hoo-rah reaction at the table came when one of the guys suggested that all the newspapers in the country simultaneously convert to paid web access only on Bastille Day. You know, $40 or $50 a year, or the papers? website just won?t open past the front page! It's sort of a general strike of the Mother Ship of All News Providers. The first to panic and subscribe would be local television and radio station affiliates whose staffs wouldn't have a clue how to find out anything without reading the paper first. I kinda like it!"

I like it, too. In fact, I tweeted it. Join in the fun. It's called support your local journalism source!!

And on the Green and White front...Excitement is rampant on campus. The Spartans are Dancing with the Stars in Detroit. The Spartans beat UConn last night and now face North Carolina is the big game Monday night.at Ford Field. Already the pundits are claiming a victory for the Tar Heels. With Izzo running the battle plan, the Spartans should never be underrated. Go Green!