J-Blog @ Michigan State University

Online journalism courses from MSU’s J-School!

2009-06-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

Get a head start on classes or take Michigan State University journalism classes from anywhere on the planet!

Summer term 2009, we are offering
JRN 108 Introduction to Mass Media for Metro Detroit area entering freshmen beginning July 6. This three credit class will be offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:10-11 a.m. at Seaholm High School in Birmingham.

For Fall 2009, we are offering online two graduate level courses and one undergraduate course. Thecourses are:

JRN 808 Sec. 731, News Management 3.0 taught by Ken Winter, retired editor of The Petoskey News Review.
JRN 808, Sec. 730 Art in the News: The Chicago Tribune Collection taught by former Detroit Free Press editor Joe Grimm.
Undergraduates can register for this course under JRN 408, Sec. 730 Illustrated Newspaper History.

We are also offering online and off campus courses (at the Macomb University Center) for middle and high school teachers seeking their journalism endorsement from the state or pursing an M.A. in Journalism with an education focus. For more information on that, visit the MIPA website.

Current students should enroll as normal. Non-MSU students should register using the 3-step procedure below.

3 Easy Steps to Enroll

in JRN 108 or Any JRN Online and Off-Campus Class for Fall 2009

Step 1: Click here to enroll in the class using the Lifelong Ed Form if you were not enrolled in an MSU last semester.
Step 2: Activate your MSU NetID (so you can receive and pay your tuition bill) You need your PID and PAN. You will get these after you register through Lifelong Ed.
Step 3: Then go to StuInfo to see and pay your bill. No bills will be mailed to you. You must go to this site to secure it.

Questions? Just send me an email at jbb@msu.edu

Hot (and busy) time, summer in the J-School at Michigan State

2009-06-18T10:30:00.003-05:00

Summer never seems to slow things down at the J-School or at Michigan State University. We’ve got journalism camps, graduate and undergraduate classes running full steam ahead.

Check out our summer kids camps—we are offering a Cartoon Camp in July. For other happenings at the J-School, see our website at jrn.msu.edu.

One great opportunity for incoming freshmen from the Detroit area is to get their first taste of college by taking JRN 108 Intro to Mass Media at Birmingham’s Seaholm High school at Birmingham Seaholm High School, 2436 West Lincoln Rd. (7/6/ - 8/20/2009).

For the first time ever, we are offering JRN 108 Introduction to Mass Media (3 credits) Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:10-11 a.m. Once the class gets rolling, students will be meeting one day a week online and two days at Seaholm. Instructor Holly Gilbert is a fun, dynamic instructor, and it will be a great introduction to the J-School as your first college class.

Though not eligible for financial aid, these students will be avoiding an anticipated tuition hike for this fall. Hey, if you are an interested freshman, just register as Lifelong Education students. The tuition cost for this three credit courses would be $1,317.75. Make sure you register as a Lifelong Education student NOT a freshman for this course! When you come to campus for AOP (orientation) you will need to go to the Registrar’s Office on the first floor of the Administration Building in the center of campus and be admitted as a Life Long Undergraduate for the summer. In the fall the CAS Advising office will follow-up and move the course into your undergraduate record. For more information, check out this link http://www.reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/EnrReg/LifelongEducation.asp.

Also follow students on their Study Abroad trips. JRN 482/882 Reporting on the British Isles is half-way done, but students are doing amazing work. J-School faculty member (and managing editor of the Virtual Newsroom this fall) Nancy Hanus had a terrific time with students. Check out the class blog . The students are doing amazing reporting on stories now posted on the class blog and getting a solid multiplatform news delivery experience while learning teamwork, too! Nancy’s just back from her half of the term. She really is the innvation leader on this. Faculty member (and soon to be ordained Episcopal priest) Sue Carter is leading the second half of the class. Sue rocks, too!

Howard Bossen leaves next week for JRN 483/883 Photo Communication in Europe.

Cheryl Pell, her staff and the folks at the Mcihgian Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) are gearing up for a full range of summer offerings from JRN graduate level classes for middle and high school teachers and a week long camp for high school students in early August. All the info can be found on MIPA's website.

Our students’ award winning ways continue. Kelly House won first place in the Hearst Foundation National Writing Competition held in San Francisco earlier this month.

Focal Point students and adviser Bob Gould won an Emmy from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. Thanks to Bob and also Troy Hale who provided footage of the win. They had a great time. Check out their reaction.

Dr. Manuel Chavez’ book “Empowering Citizenship through Journalism, Information and Entertainment in Iberoamerica” was just released he was co-editor along with Manuel Alejandro Guerrero.

Eric Freedman just signed a book contract with Congressional Quarterly Press for “President and African Americans: A documentary History.” This is his second book co-authored with Steve Jones from Central Michigan University. The two collaborated on their very successful “African American in Congress: A Documentary History.”

The Knight Center hosted its 10th Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute last week with an impressive round-up of folks including J-Labs’ Jan Schaeffer, alums Shawn Smith (formerly of MLive and now with his own company), Jeremy Herliczek, retired faculty member Bonnie Bucqueroux and current staff member and senior producer Amol Pavangadkar, among others. This year’s GLEJTI featured a lot of hands-on multiplatform training that participants liked so much they even skipped scheduled breaks! Thanks to Dave Poulson, Barb Miller, Chris Kennedy and Jim Detjen for putting it together.

Knight Center Associate Director Dave Poulson’s Great Lakes Echo blog is a great model for next generation news coverage. Check out his work and that of his students. Their five part series on the Great Lakes water levels is well reported and full of amazing info and theories. As a Lake Huron shoreline cottage owner, I shared it with all my neighbors!

I spent an amazing day on Tuesday at MLive.com meeting with editor-in-chief Bill Emkow, a J-School alum. With Michigan as ground zero fro a number of journalism media experiments, MLive is the epicenter of the Newhouse (Booth) effort for a ton of fresh ideas and innovation. MLive’s Detroit blogs launch on Monday. Greeted half dozen J-School alum there including recent grads Jonathan Oosting and Aaron Foley who are leading the Detroit project. Check it out Monday look for the Detroit tab on the MLive home page.

Last week, I spent half a day at the Monroe Evening News doing some Computer Assisted Reporting training with editors and staff. Deb Saul set my visit up. Publisher Lonnie Pepler-Moyer “bought” me at the Michigan Press Association silent auction. I’ve got a Freedom of Information workshop to be scheduled at the St. Ignace News with Wes and Mar Maurer later this summer. J-School faculty member Darcy Greene and Cheryl Pell did a design workshop up north with the newspaper’s staff in early June. We are all auctioned off at MPA.

Darcy had to rush back to Lansing to catch a flight to see her first grandchild—Jimmy T born in Texas three weeks early! Baby, Mom, Dad and grandfolks are doing just fine. It will be an extra special Father’s Day Sunday for Darcy’s son, first time pop Michael.

Still working away on Tandem in Detroit (my Knight Challenge grant innovation incubator project) with The Detroit News’ Jonathan Morgan and Michael Happy.

Whew! Long post. As I said the J-School never seems to slow down—even in the hot days of the summer. We are hard at work on the Centennial celebration and planning for News Summit II on September 11—the start of the State News Alumni Association’s centennial weekend celebrations. Stay tuned. Updates are less frequent in the summer. That’s because we are SO busy!

J-School alums, current sudents--share your info and updates with me! Just comment. For fast uptakes, follow my tweets at JBBJschool.

Oh, what a week it was!

2009-05-18T16:56:00.000-05:00

Summer term has officially begun, and I’ve recovered from the many wonderful events of commencement on May 8 and our ReThink News Summit on May 11.

Desmond Tutu gave a moving speech, I am told, at convocation. I had to miss that as I attended a lunch for graduate commence speaker and former CBS news anchor Dan Rather with five of our terrific students and faculty member Geri Zeldes. Rather was very courtly and gracious. I think he must have posed for hundreds of photos with students, administrators, staff and faculty.

Most impressive was his decision at the graduate commencement to greet every student who crossed the podium. We were not supposed to be shaking hands, but as soon as he noticed MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon’s doing so, he followed suit. No other speaker in my memory has ever done that with the graduates. Good for Dan!

I had the privilege of driving him to the Westin Hotel that evening. When my hybrid motor pool Ford Fusion wouldn’t start, his helpful suggestions finally got us on the road.

I was introduced to Bishop Tutu by J-School faculty member Sue Carter (a soon to be ordained Episcopalian minister) as I was entering Breslin. He greeted me warmly, then asked, “Who is that?” Evidently, the legendary Johnny Spirit with his green and white body paint had walked by outside. Sue explained to him about our CAS alum!

Undergraduate commencement rocked with the J-School students outshining the other four units with their spirited cheering. Their enthusiasm and leadership was catching. They started two waves that raced across the bleachers and even involved half the platform party including Dean Brad Greenberg and Trustee Faylene Owen. The slo-mo wave was my personal favorite. Go Green!

Saturday night we had the CAS Alumni dinner. It was another great event honoring the College.

Then Monday was ReThink News our summit focusing on reinventing journalism. To learn more about that check the amazing web site designed by faculty member Darcy Greene and the extremely talented J-major Aaron Olson. Also listen to the entire afternoon session under the Online Media tab.

After that exciting week so big it took eight days we had time to catch up and gear up for the Summer term.

Commencement on Friday and News Summit on Monday!!!

2009-05-07T18:52:00.006-05:00

Looking forward to commencement tomorrow. Dan Rather, Desmond Tutu, and it's not suppose to rain.

Also looking forward to the News Summit "ReThink News: In Search of a New Journalism" on Monday, May 11. Check it out at http://msujrn.org. The public session begins at 1:30 p.m., EDT in Studio E in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building. Admission is free, but if you want to guarantee a seat, please email Linda Hartwig at hartwigl@msu.edu. She has full audience info. The event will also be live web cast. The link will be on the web site or you can access it at http://spartantv.cas.msu.edu.

Congratulations to Lou D'Aria and his environmental film students for their latest documentary, Night Shift. Watch it soon on a public broadcast station in your area.

Also congratulations to Focal Point students, their adviser, the J-School's Bob Gould and Troy Hale (another J-School hire!) and his students (both JRN and TISM) for their Emmy nominations.

The last week and the end is not near!

2009-04-30T18:30:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-21T08:10:00.003-05:00

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!!!!

2009-04-17T15:49:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-04-05T11:57:00.004-05:00

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!

The Detroit Experiment launches

2009-03-29T19:49:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow it begins. The first of a series of news media experiments in an effort to stave off the demise of the American newspaper. The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News will published three and two days a week, respectively. Smaller editions will be sold the other days of the week in the traditional yellow and red news boxes. Subscribers will get full access to an e-edition that will have the look (but not the feel) of the newspaper. Others will get their hard copies delivered by U.S. Mail.

Michigan media companies are the petri dishes of several new models. The various Booth newspapers around the state will launch other experiments this summer.

Meanwhile, the technology is racing against the clock to beat the wholesale demise of newspapers in the U.S. New products that would deliver slender, lightweight devices that will get automatic digital delivery of news sites are on the cusp. The Detroit Media Partnership is committed to one, Plastic Logic, while magazines are putting their money on other products.

Good journalism, watchdog journalism, the kind that?s vital to the health of the nation (not Britney updates), will survive the turmoil. Ink, newsprint and delivery trucks maybe a thing of the past.

Here?s to journalism in the very best tradition, like the Free Press? series on former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff. M.L. Elrick (a J-School alum) and Jim Schaefer, and a host of editors and supporting staff, did a tremendous job in the highest tradition of journalism. Long may it last.

Elrick and Schaefer will be honored with the first ever 1st Amendment Watchdog Award given by the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. Now more than ever it?s important to recognize and salute great journalism. The duo have captured every major journalistic award this past year. The big one is left?the Pulitzer. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, J-School faculty unanimously approved a new innovative curriculum?the first overhaul in years. Our students will graduate with the skills needed to be entrepreneurial reporters, flexible and adaptable to the ongoing changes in the industry. From here it goes to College and University committees. We hope for the official rool out at the School?s centennial celebration, April 15-17, 2010. Mark the calendar. This is going to be the event of the next century!

Despite the Mich newspapers shake-up, the end really isn't near!

2009-03-23T12:26:00.003-05:00

Ann Arbor News closing with a successor news operation to reopen as a web only site. Flint Journal, Saginaw News, Bay City Times combining operations for a three day a week print product, the others days online. Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Muskegon Chronicle, Grand Rapids Press more budget cutting. On March 31, the last daily edition of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News roll off the presses as those papers go to home delivery only on Sunday, Thursday and Friday (a pattern Flint, Saginaw and Bay City are adopting) with a streamlined edition in box sales or mailed to your home the rest of the week.

These are gutsy moves by frightened news executives frantically trying to weather the economic tsunami of the web’s impact on news delivery. Add to that the perfect storm of the economic depression (we here in Michigan know a depression when we see it), and you have the cumulative effect of the news of the past few month. The Rocky Mountain News gone. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer morphing to the web.

Is journalism dead? Should the J-School shut the doors or is this a paradigm shift? It’s a paradigm, baby, of colossal proportions. Think monks in monasteries and Gutenberg’s moveable type. Same impact. Different world—things happen much faster now.

News organizations should focus on their own news markets and cover the news that the web and major news sites cannot—the school board, the city council, the parks and rec folks, the cops and courts. These were always the heart and soul of the family-owned newspaper. As they disappeared, so did much of this kind of coverage. But it is coming back. The J-School is involved in a Tandem project in partnership with The Detroit’s News’ multiplatform editor Jonathan Morgan. The funding comes from a Knight Foundation Challenge grant and was the idea of a group of students.

The problem is the technology is a whisker behind the economic implosion and impact of the web. Products like a Kindle-like-iPhone or a Harry Potter on the train to Hogwarts with all those folks reading the constantly changing newspaper is just around the corner. Literally. Products like Plastic Logic are in the beta stages of thin, light products that are the ideal format for news delivery. Do you really think the cell phone screen is large enough? When the youngsters, turn 45 and presbyopia (that’s when the listings in the telephone book become unreadable and you now need glasses to read anything is called), cells phone screens are just too small. They can provide tweets and text alerts, but missing is a design that lets you know what information is the most important among the morass of info assaulting you at warp speed.

The times have changed. The news and information delivery models will be different. And news organizations like newspapers, TV and radio are scrambling to catch up (and frankly, somehow must have missed that press release when Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web, or Craigslist started running free classified and…the list goes on and on.

The J-School has aggressively repositioned itself with our proposed new curriculum that will include courses on entrepreneurship, more all round tech training to learn storytelling and interview methods not just for words but visually, and the virtual newsroom which will be launched in the Fall 2009 term.

The key is still and will always be the journalism.

The only thing to fear is if the journalism disappears because of it.

Will that happen? Absolutely not. All those news aggregator sites like Google, Yahoo, AOL and Drudge gather their news content from some of the same news media outlets that are in peril. They also need to recognize this problem and start hiring the hundreds of journalists to keep their coverage alive and vibrant.

This is shake up, break up and then we will make it up. The founding fathers didn’t protect a free press in the 1st Amendment to be nice guys. They did it because they got it that someone had to watchdog government and the press was the one entity to do that—fearlessly. Ask the former mayor of Detroit about that. Without the aggressive, persistence intrepid work of Free Press reporters M.L. Elrick (one of our alums) and Jim Schaefer (an Ohio State guy who does darn good work, too!), that story would never have been told. The abuse of powers and misconduct that cost Detroit taxpayers more than $9M never revealed and likely ongoing.

So hang on. This makes the worst roller coaster in the world look like a kiddie ride. This is scary, challenging, thrilling, fun and most of us will live through it and even benefit.

Faculty like break, too!

2009-03-05T18:33:00.003-05:00

Faculty just want to have fun (and work, too!) on spring break!! We promise to avoid the beaches students like to hang-out!

Driving my mother to her place in Ft. Myers (after coordinating judging for the annual MIPA conference on Saturday)...Cheryl Pell

WORKING!! yea... we have a bunch of shows to put out for the Big Ten Network!...Troy Hale

I'm going to Florida to visit my sister. I'll only be gone four days, and two of those are traveling, so, I do not think I'll be spending too much time on the beach!...Darcy Greene

Headed down to New Orleans for a few days for my first visit since before Katrina to one of my favorite cities in the world. Looking forward to warm weather, good food and drink, and a firsthand at what a "heck of a job" really looks like...Michael Stamm

I will be having a BLAST! Will give three little talks and the keynote at the Southern Interscholastic Press Association conference in South Carolina. Will then head over to Depauw University in Indiana to spend the week under the Kilgore Program for visiting professionals...Joe Grimm

I am taking four students to the Michigan Association of Broadcasters conference next Wednesday to receive their honorable mention award for best newscast...Bob Gould

I'm working on completing requirements for my Master Hand Knitting Certificate. People don't realize how cut-throat and competitive things get in the world of advanced needlework. "Devise a way to block stockinette swatches so that the edges don't curl using only water and heat. You may not use another stitch as a selvedge edge." That's a feat that pretty much defies the laws of physics. Also have three novels by relatively new Indian/Sri Lankan authors to read and submit for review to "Rain Taxi," a lit mag out of Minneapolis...Jean Raber

My plans are to catch up on a backlog of papers that need to be graded and attend the Health Care for Journalists conference in Washington D.C. mid-week...Dave Poulson

I'm hanging around town and working. Pretty exciting?Huh!...Howard Bossen

I'm going to be a judge here:
http://www.ifra.com/website/website.nsf/html/CONT_COMP_ASIA?OpenDocument&AMA...Karl Gude

I'll be delivering a keynote address at the annual conference of the Association of Socio-Economic Researchers of Agriculture in Mexico The title of my presentation is "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and the Agricultural Relationship between the United States and Mexico." The conference is from March 12-14 in Sinaloa, on the Mexico's Pacific coast, well known for its resorts in Mazatlan and its large agricultural sector...Manuel Chavez

I'm heading to Lakeland to spend time with my kids and the guy who is the incredibly talented voice of the Detroit Tigers and likely fielding hundreds of emails from students...L. A. Dickerson

I hope to get back into the studio and finish recording my (second) CD; its working title is "The Hat Album." There shouldn't be much rewriting to do on the story I just finished for "American Theatre" but I've left some time open, just in case, and it will set a good example for my students...Marty Kohn

Heading to a barrier island in Georgia to join my husband, our two dogs and one cat (who thinks he's a dog), and to eat lots of Georgia shrimp...Jane Briggs-Bunting

Safe travels all. See you back in a week.

J-School planning for JRN 3.0 upgade to courses

2009-02-27T15:45:00.004-05:00

A lot has been happening in this busy term at the J-School.

To start, our students have been winning in the Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards. Joseph Terry won a ninth place, $500 scholarship in the sports writing competition. Eighty-seven students from 52 universities and colleges competed.

Knight Center Associate Director Dave Poulson launched a new blog, CoverThePlanet.org. Dave is one of the big online innovator in the J-School. He started the Great Lakes wifi among other efforts. Karl Gude's student Susanna Tellschow for "How to Make a Paper Airplane" in Karl Gude's JRN 203 Info Graphics class Spring 2008. Her work is one of three College submission selected for the 2009 Design Re:view Exhibit opening April 23 at the Russell industrial Center in Detroit.

Gude just returned from conducting a workshop in San Jose for various groups on info graphics. He had rave reviews from participants. They about carried him off!

Cheryl Pell has been busy her usual 24/7 organizing today?s Michigan Interscholastic Press Association series of workshops attended by 70 plus students and advisers. The MIPA spring contest judging will be next weekend here on campus.

A Task Force of faculty, led by Darcy Greene, is putting the finishing touches on our reinvented undergraduate journalism curriculum with lots of focus on new media skills while retaining our core of teaching Journalism with a capital J. This will be the main topic of discussion at today's faculty meeting along with the MSU and Michigan budget issues.

Our proposed Master's degree in journalism education is nearing final (we hope!) approval stage. This will offer high school and middle school teachers an opportunity through online, off campus and intent week long summer courses to earn their graduate degree. We hope to officially launch this summer.

MLive editor/producer and adjunct J-School faculty member (and alum) Shawn Smith was the speaker at a faculty BYTE session today. I vow to get going on Twitter, tweets, networking sites and others. This is such a great time to be in journalism. There might be gloom and doom on the streets as newspapers hold (goodbye Rocky Mountain News) but the opportunities for entrepreneurial journalism and committing it in the very best ways are what our future is about. Shawn is one of those leading the way.

Journalism is in danger south of the border

2009-01-30T14:03:00.001-05:00

MEXICO CITY---Hola! As MSU’s campus is shrouded in ice and snow, I undertook the arduous task of
heading off to Phoenix and Mexico City on a development trip and to a meeting.

The development piece was successful, and I had a wonderful meeting with former
Starbucks VP Wanda Herndon, a funny, witty, talented and terrific lady who splits her
time between Phoenix and Seattle. She has a great story to tell, and she’ll be on campus
next year to do so.

The trip to Mexico City was for the winter meeting of the Association of School of
Journalism and Mass Communication. It’s a workshop format with the main focus this
year being the possibilities of exchanges and opportunities for U.S. students with
schools in Mexico, Chile and Peru. One of the more tantalizing opportunities is a
modestly priced three week intense Spanish Language. For $2,299 students can spend
three weeks taking language and immersion classes. The cost includes the classes,
housing with a Mexican family (students share a double room) and three meals a day.

I have long believed the U.S. needs to be more fluent in languages other than our own.
For a journalist, fluency in a language like Spanish would be invaluable. My pathetic
attempts at Spanish after a year of intermittent study embarrass me. My French is better
though rusty from lack of use. I still default to it.

I also am chairing a panel on reaccreditation. As a recent veteran of the process, the
idea is to help deans and directors in other schools with some practical tricks.

But, the most moving part of the conference was the speech at the opening reception by
longtime J-School supporter, Alejandro Junco, publisher and CEO of the largest chain of
newspapers, Grupo Reforma. Alejandro funded our Mary Gardner Scholars program to
honor his former teacher and mentor, the late Dr. Mary Adelaide Gardner.

Junco is largely credited with creating U.S. style journalism in Mexico which led to
significant reforms and the emerging democracy that is Mexico today. But Mexico is also
a place of great danger for journalists and anyone who dares challenge the rising
insurgency of drug cartels, or narco-terrorists, as he calls them. His is a call to arms.
I’ve linked his speech for you. Read it, please. The threat to us on our southern border is
real—should Mexico implode we will have a greater terrorist problem on our border that
anywhere else in the world.

With courage and at great personal risk, he is working to identify the systemic and
endemic problems, and he is asking for help through funded research projects that could
include a broad spectrum of graduate and senior undergraduate students with a mass
distribution project (this is where journalism becomes critical). Stay tuned for more on
this.

But most importantly read his speech. His belief is if that some key micro problems can
be solved, then small steps like this will transform Mexico and the process can be
replicated in other nascent democracies around the world.

I’ll be back on campus next week. Adios until then.

You're back and it's started!

2009-01-12T19:13:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to what we here at MSU euphemistically call the spring term. How it can be spring in January when it’s frigid, snowy and always gray is beyond me. But, hey, we are ever the optimists!

Hope you all had a terrific break and are ready to hit the books. It’s an exciting term ahead beginning with next week’s presidential inauguration. The State News is send a team to cover that live.

Want a chance to win a $1,000 prize and a $3,000 scholarship? In these tough economic times, that could be really, really helpful. The catch—you just need to write a 2,500 (or less) word essay and enter it in the Howell Essay Contest.

This year’s question is: Editorial cartoons have been a part of daily newspapers’ election coverage for decades, and these caricatures of candidates produce biased messages that can be construed as propaganda.* How did this and/or other forms of comedy assist in or combat the circulation of propaganda during the 2008 presidential election season? Analyze and cite examples from print and broadcast media (i.e. daily newspapers, Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, late-night talk shows, etc.).

The contest is funded by the Walter S. and Syrena M. Howell Award and Scholarship Fund.

*The goal of the Howell Essay Fund is to encourage student analysis of propaganda defined as “the use of unproven and/or unverifiable assumptions in a report or statement of allegations reflecting the view and interests of its advocates.”
Please note: If a student is receiving financial aid, the award of a scholarship or prize money could impact him/her.

Entering is easy! Just pick up an application in the bins on the third floor by the elevator near the J-School Offices. Only Com Arts & Sciences majors are eligible to enter. Deadline: 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 23, 2009

Stay tuned juniors for the soon to be announced Mary Adelaide Gardner Scholarship application deadline. The scholarship will pay a full year’s tuition for the lucky soon to be senior. More to come on this later.

J-School faculty and students were big winners again this year at the Great Lakes Environmental Film Festival in Bay City, Michigan on a snowy Saturday, Jan. 10. Congratulations to Lou D'Aria and Amol Pavangadkar and their students from the J-School’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism in the School of Journalism for their big wins (second year on a row!) for college videos and PSAs at the 2009 Great Lakes

Andrew Price and Kevin Wilt won $1,000 and first place in the college feature category for "Meltdown," their film about the impact of climate change on the Arctic. The film's production was overseen by Lou D'Aria, a Knight Center instructor in the School of Journalism, and it was broadcast on WKAR-TV last summer.

Anisa Abid, who graduated with a master's degree in environmental journalism from MSU in December, won second prize in the college feature category for her documentary about biodiversity in Madagascar. Anisa has been hired to work at National Geographic Television.

Adam Rademacher and six other MSU students won first and second place in the college PSA Short category for the videos they created as part of Amol Pavangadkar's classes at MSU. Both these spots were a part of the Bioeconomy project, which was launched late last semester (http://ej.msu.edu/bio_economy/index.html). Other members of the team included Matt Kus, Brent Kreystan, Robert Peek, Tim Veldman, Josh Frank and Steven Scherba.

Today we said good bye to our current dean Dr. Chuck Salmon who is heading off to a research position in Israel with his family. Good luck, Chuck. We also welcome interim dean Dr. Brad Greenberg who will take over the helm until a permanent dean is selected. The search for Chuck’s replacement is ongoing.

Some thoughts on the change in news delivery in Detroit

2008-12-19T15:28:00.005-05:00

The major change in news delivery in the Detroit market with the announcement by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News on the shift to online represents a sea change.

Across the nation the delivery model is certainly in flux. Ad revenues have dropped, circulation has declined. Some newspapers are losing money, others are not in the red but not as profitable as in the past worrying and irritating investors, and that has led to forced sales, and this downward spiral

As the home state of Dr. Kevorkian, we do know a lot about assisted suicide, and news companies across the country have been doing a very good job of killing themselves off. With buyouts, layoffs and positions remaining unfilled, the content has shrunk, the stories being covered (with the exception of the terrific job the Freep has done on the Detroit mayor and the $9M settlement) barely skim the surface of the news in the area. The editors and reporters with the experience and institutional memory of stories and background are now gone or soon to be leaving.

The delivery model is changing. The digital natives and immigrants are getting their news from a variety of sources and not through home pages of newspapers or news stations. They are going through aggregators.

I don’t have any answers. I do think the technology has not caught up with the need for change in the industry. In some of the Harry Potter flicks, the folks in the train are reading newspapers that constantly change. I foresee something like that in the future. MIT has already developed e-ink and Esquire used it on its October 2008 cover. Amazon’s Kindle is a first generation prototype of what may be coming down the road in a flatter, slightly larger, more “newspapery” looking device. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I also think more and more info will migrate to cell phones.

Well known “news brands” will continue to disappear (think Knight and more newspapers), but a new group of locally produced sites will take over some of the functions of our mile wide and inch deep legacy. Breaking significant news events, national tragedies or disasters, etc. may help solidify these new ventures as go-to place for news much like CNN earned credibility during Gulf I.

I am worried about the journalism as this evolves and how long the evolution/revolution takes. If you neuter and defang the watchdog, what happens to the nation? Just some ruminations on a snowy afternoon.

J-School Scholarship Winners Announced

2008-12-15T18:08:00.001-05:00

More than $39,000 in the first wave of scholarship money was awarded to J-School majors for the upcoming 2009 calendar year. We anticipate another $40,000 in scholarship awards will be announced in spring term 2009.

Awards ranged from $4,000 to $500. Additional scholarship money will be distributed later in the Spring 2009 terms for use in the summer and fall terms.

Award winners are:

Albert A. Applegate Scholarship
Amanda Peterka and Jennifer Orlando

Len Barnes AAA of Michigan Scholarship
Gordon Shelter

Joe Fall/Detroit News Scholarship
Michael Caples

Bob Gross Scholarship
Erica Larson

Kyle C. Kerbawy Scholarship
Miron Varhouhakis

W. Cameron Meyers Scholarship
Kelly House

Larry P. Miller Scholarship
Jordan Barnes

Mary Elizabeth Mangner Neil Scholarship
Abby Lubbers

Robert Popa Scholarship
Matt Cimitile
Joey Nowak

Gordon Sabine Scholarship
Ursula Zerilli

Stan Soffin Scholarship
Jessica Lipowski

Susan Goldberg Scholarship
Jessica Lipowski

Victor G. Spaniolo Scholarship
Kristen Daum

Ken Winter Scholarship
Matthew Mikus

Congratulations to all our scholarship winners and thank you to our alumni and donors who fund these scholarships.

Other scholarships will be awarded in the spring 2009 term including the full tuition Mary Adelaide Gardner Scholarship for students who will be seniors in the Fall 2009-Spring 2010. Watch for announcements to apply for this scholarship.

Also journalism majors and any other major within the College of Communication Arts and Sciences are encouraged to enter the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest for a $1,000 prize and a $3,000 scholarship. Only one will be awarded for a 2,500 word essay. This year’s topic for the 2,500 word essay is about bias and its impact in editorial cartoons.

“Editorial cartoons have been a part of daily newspapers’ election coverage for decades, and these caricatures of candidates produce biased messages that can be construed as propaganda. How did this and/or other forms of comedy assist in or combat the circulation of propaganda during the 2008 presidential season? Analyze and cite examples from print and broadcast media (i.e. daily newspapers, Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, late night talk shows, etc.).” The deadline for entry is 5 p.m. EST, Friday, January 23 in 305 Com Arts.

Take some time over the holiday break to research and write this essay. We only had five entries last year for $4,000!!! In these lean economic times, we should be swamped with entries.

Scholarship winners notified, Neal Shine Lecture Online

2008-12-08T09:07:00.003-05:00

Stay tuned for upcoming events next year including the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest on media bias. The winning essay writer will receive a $1,000 award and a $3,000 scholarship. In addition, next fall’s seniors must apply in the spring for a fully paid year of tuition from the Mary Adelaide Gardner Trust Fund. Check your email, the website and the bulletin boards for more information.

If you missed the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture on November 20, you can view the entire lecture on SpartanTV . Under the monitor on the screen click "On Demand", then scroll down to "Special Lectures." Click on the and select the "Neal Shine Lecture."

M.L. Elrick, Jim Schaefer and Brian Kaufman of the Detroit Free Press did a superb job detailing their now year long effort covering the Detroit Mayoral scandal. The most poignant moment came at the beginning of the lecture when all three stood up to announce they were each wearing one of the late, great Neal Shine’s blazers. Elrick, wearing a remarkable green suit coat (and we LOVE green around here), teased Neal’s wife Phyllis about the color. Since the lecture, the former Detroit mayor's chief of staff has now also plead guilty and faces jail time and restitution just like the former Mayor. Good solid watchdog journalism at its best.

Keeping that kind of journalism is so important and increasingly rare what with buyouts, layoffs, staff recutions, consolidations, sales and mergers of media companies. It's a real shake-up of the news industry. This is also a time for tremednous opportunity for students in the J-School and recent graduates. You will be leaders changing the industry.

If you applied for a scholarship, stay tuned. Professor Dickerson has notified the winners.The Outreach Committee was hard at work going through applications this afternoon. Decision will be announced soon—in time to help pay for some of next term’s tuition costs. Remember you must turn in a written thank you note to the donor before any scholarship money is released.

Good luck on exams and good luck to all of us on the faculty who will be grading them.

The end is really near!

2008-12-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

It’s here. The final week of the term with commencement Friday and Saturday and finals the following week.

Where did the term go?? I wrapped up my Computer Assisted Reporting class tonight. We packed a lot of spreadsheet, database and mapping into this advanced level reporting course. I hope the students had as much fun as I did.

The Neal Shine Ethics Lecture on November 20 was amazing. M.L. Elrick, Jim Schaefer and Brian Kaufman of the Detroit Free Press did an outstanding job detailing their now year long effort covering the Detroit Mayoral scandal. The most poignant moment came at the beginning of the lecture when all three stood up to announce they were each wearing one of the late, great Neal Shine’s blazers. Elrick, wearing a remarkable green suit coat (and we LOVE green around here), teased Neal’s wife Phyllis about the color.

It was a terrific evening. The dinner after the lecture allowed students Kristen Daum and Craig Trudell to get to know the three journalists.

If you applied for a scholarship, stay tuned. The Outreach Committee was hard at work going through applications this afternoon. Decision will be announced soon—in time to help pay for some of next term’s tuition costs.

Good luck on exams, next week and good luck to all of us on the faculty who will be grading them.

Stay tuned for upcoming events next year including the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest on media bias. The winning essay writer will receive a $1,000 award and a $3,000 scholarship. In addition, next fall’s seniors must apply in the spring for a fully paid year of tuition from the Mary Adelaide Gardner Trust Fund. Check your email, the website and the bulletin boards for more information.

Neal Shine Lecture Thursday features the Detroit Free Press team that broke the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal

2008-11-19T15:40:00.003-05:00

Wow. I have been delinquent. Too much has been going on, and I let my blog slide.

Sorry!

Thursday we are hosting what is the biggest event of the term—the 8th annual Neal Shine Ethics Lecture. The Detroit Free Press team of M.L. Elrick (a J-School alum), Jim Schaefer (an Ohio State alum—we still like him despite that!) and visual journalist Brian Kaufman are the featured speakers for the lecture: Watchdog Journalism Detroit Style: The Kwame Kilpatrick Mayoral Scandal. Be there at 4 p.m., in 145 CAS. If you miss it, you will be able to see it later on www.mogulus.com/SpartanTV. The late Neal Shine would have been so proud of his staff and their excellent, ethical reporting work. And there is likely more to come! Miss you, dear friend. You were the greatest editor ever and the soul and conscience of the Free Press. Your legacy lives on with this lecture.

Last weekend, we held our Knight Center for Environmental Journalism fundraiser, Green on the Screen featuring more than a dozen environmentally oriented documentaries including two produced by students in our classes and two more children’s films produced by alums. It was a great, green weekend.

Major Jeremy Whiting was recently honored as a Future Journalism Teacher by the Journalism Education Association at its meeting in St. Louis last weekend.

Alum Derek Wallbank and current J-School adjunct faculty member Christ Andrews, both formerly of the Lansing State Journal shared top honors in The Excellence in Statehouse Reporting award, known in the group as a "Cappie," was for their "State Employees: Under Siege?" report, which ran earlier this year. The duo won in the category of single report for newspapers under 75,000 circulation. The report, which came a few weeks after the LSJ published a database of most state employees' salaries, was designed as an in-depth look at the state employee compensation system - particularly how state workers compared to professionals in other states and to the private sector.

Our curriculum revision team led by Darcy Greene is putting the final touches on reinventing journalism education. The grand roll out will be at the J-School faculty meeting next month. Then we start the approval process.

Our proposed M.A. in Journalism Education is nearing the final approval process thanks to the excellent work of Cheryl Pell and Lucinda Davenport and our colleagues in the College of Education, especially Associate Dean Cass Book and Secondary Ed chair Suzanne Wilson. Both are true facilitators of great ideas.

We finished next year’s schedule, are actively engaged in a search for a new tenure line faculty member in digital journalism and have started our search for a new dean for the College.

Then there was the election. Our students were all over it broadcasting for four hours live from four remote locations on SpartanTV. If you missed it you can check it out at www.mogulus.com/spartanTV. Great job by our students (including some from the Telecom Department), the CAS IT folks and faculty members Bob Gould and Troy Hale. Meanwhile, other J-School students and others were blogging live to The Detroit News and still others were covering polls and coverage for other news organizations.

Whew! It’s been busy. I will do better on keeping you updated.

Catch SpartanTV coverage, speakers and the future

2008-10-29T19:42:00.002-05:00

Whoa—what a busy few weeks it’s been.

We have so many exciting events coming up in November and important matters to deal with this month, as well. Check out all the highlights at jrn.msu.edu and look under News and Events.

The two biggies are the Green on the Screen Environmental Film Festival, November 13-15 and the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture with the Detroit Free Press team that uncovered the Detroit Mayoral scandal. Reporters M.L. Elrick and Jim Schaeffer and videographer Brian Kaufman will be discussing their work at 4 p.m., Thursday, November 20 in 145 CAS.

Next year’s schedule of classes is pretty much decided. Students won’t get to register until April, and there is still some wrangling to do over lab space, but we have tried very hard to provide students with the courses they need to graduate on time.

We are also doing a search for a new tenure system faculty member in Digital Journalism. This new position will continue our reinvention of journalism education.

Task Force members on the faculty have resumed work on reinventing the undergraduate curriculum and we hope to unveil our ideas to colleagues he near future.

We will have J-School students in a lot of different venues on Election Day. Our highly skilled journalists are much in demand by media outlets inside and outside Michigan.

Be sure to check out the live web election coverage on www.mogulus.com/spartantv. And also be sure to vote.

And way to go Spartans. They creamed our in-state arch rivals last Saturday. Those poor Wolverines from “southern” Michigan University are having a tough year. They will recover. I just hope our Spartans continue their winning ways.

J-students swarm campus to cover Obama

2008-10-02T13:04:00.002-05:00

Busy day on campus with the visit and speech by Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

J-School students are on high alert and are swarming Adam’s Field on campus to cover the event for various classes and doing some live video streaming on http://www.mogulus.com/spartantv. Our Focal Point staff is in the thick of things. The State News is twittering on its website at www.statenews.com. We also have students blogging for the Lansing State Journal.

Read, see and view all the coverage. This is what makes the J-School such a great place to learn how to "commit" journalism.

Michigan is a swing state that both candidates need to grab.

It’s great to have Obama on campus, and, I hope, GOP nominee John McCain makes MSU a stop, as well.

Then there’s the vice presidential debate tonight! This is democracy as it should be happening.

Join us at the State Capitol in Lansing for a rally on press rights Wednesday

2008-09-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Show your support for the Constitution, the First Amendment and press rights by attending a rally on the steps of the State Capitol from 4-6 p.m., Wednesday, September 17. The event, co-sponsored by the J-School, the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, and the Detroit and mid-Michigan chapters of the Society for Professional Journalists will be a terrific way to support free speech and free press.

This is a really important effort to drum up support for student press rights. Freedom of press is a huge issue for high school students and some college students around the state. Speaking at tomorrow’s event are Mary Beth Tinker from the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Tinker v. Des Moines; and Utica native Katy Dean, the plaintiff in the Dean v. Utica Community Schools case.

This could be a terrific extra credit assignment for students!

Hope to see you at the Capitol tomorrow afternoon. To get there from campus, just go west on Michigan Avenue and you will run into the Capitol Building. Six parking ramps surround the area, so come early or take the CATA bus.

For more information, visit the MIPA website.

Check out decades of doodles

2008-09-05T14:52:00.002-05:00

With two weeks under our belts, we had a College wide meeting today to welcome new faculty and staff, honor and salute the achievements of departing Dean Chuck Salmon and find out the process for searching for and selecting a new dean.

MSU Provost Kim Wilcox was positive and upbeat. This will be an exciting and significant year of change for the College, and the J-School is sure to feel the impact.

Our three new faculty (Joe Grimm, Nancy Hanus and Michael Stamm) are adjusting well to MSU, our students and their classes. They are welcome additions to a very strong staff.

Be sure to check out info graphics guru and all time great MSU faculty member Karl Gude’s decades of doodles. Karl doodled through staff meetings at UPI, AP, Newsweek among other places—and still doodles through meetings here. Enjoy!

Also check out Joe Grimm’s latest Poynter column on changes in the news industry and how to cope with lay-offs and buyouts. Joe writes a regular column for Poynter and has a phenomenal network that will help students find the best jobs.

The Spartans play at home this weekend. Go Green!

Fall's launched and test dates scheduled

2008-08-28T13:22:00.004-05:00

We’re off! The Fall 2008 term started with a last minute rush of activity. Departing faculty’s offices were painted, offices equipped with fresh supplies and then the swarm of arriving students (that began last Wednesday on move-in day) began arriving for their classes. Frantic follow-up calls led to the late arrival of desk copies of new textbooks ordered last June. But, we made it.

Freshmen, the darlings, have no problems for now with their 8 a.m. classes. They are used to high school hours where classes usually start BEFORE 8 a.m.

Former students kept in touch on Facebook and Linked In. One, Maggie Lillis, now a reporter at a newspaper in Las Vegas, made a guest appearance via YouTube in Bill McWhirter’s first class of the term. Check out her four-minute video. McWhirter who is legendary around the Com Arts hallways for his willingness to try just about anything to keep his students engaged and energized, had a successful launch.

Meanwhile, two four-person teams of State News reporters and photographers are covering the two political conventions, blogging, sending back stories, photos and video. What a terrific opportunity for these eight students!

Our temporary academic adviser Lauren Gaines has been working very hard to help the dozens of students seeking academic advice over the past few weeks.

The proficiency test dates for admission into JRN 200 are set. Sharpen your number #2 pencils and bring along your Student ID and a calculator (there are a few math questions). The test is given in 145 Com Arts.

Test dates are:

Monday October 20, 2008

Test#1
Sign up 9:30am-10:00am
Start at 10:00am-10:45am

Test#2
Sign up at 10:30am – 11:00am
Start at 11:00am-11:45am

Thursday October 23, 2008

Test #1
Sign up 2:30pm – 3:00pm
Start at 3:00pm – 3:45pm

Test #2
Sign up 3:30-4:00pm
Start at 4:00pm – 4:45pm

Also, application deadline for Admission to the Journalism major is November 1 for the fall term. The application is available online under the Undergraduate tab on the J-School web site.

Have a terrific start for the Fall term, and remember the countdown has begin for the J-Schools Centennial celebration in April 2010.

An intern covers war! New faculty! New special courses! Read all about it below!

2008-08-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Rush hour has started! We are now less than two weeks from the start of the fall term. Students are checking in, faculty are stopping by. The staff and I are busier than ever.

John Hudson, the Fall 2007 State News multimedia reporter, is now covering the conflict between Georgia and Russia as an NPR intern. Check out the store he file in Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/08/12/georgia/.

John was also the winner of the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest as a freshman in Fall 2006. NPR is now working with the State Department to get John safely out of the country and back to the U.S. He will have some amazing stories to tell on his return to campus this fall.

Then there’s Joey Nowak, another State News staffer currently interning with the Columbus Post Dispatch this summer. Joey was this year’s recipient of one of the PGA of America Journalism Scholarships. In that role, the East Grand Rapids native was a special guest of the PGA at the Oakland Hills Country Club last week. Joey is one of an elite group of 6 journalism students nationwide to win this prestigious scholarship. For more information contact J-School intern coordinator, Lori Anne Dickerson (dicker22@msu.edu) or visit http://www.pgamediaguide.com/scholarships_detail.cfm?sch_id=1

We have three new faces joining us in the fall

Dr. Michael Stamm is joining the J-School faculty on shared appointment with the History Department. Stamm, who earned his doctorate degree in history from the University of Chicago, will be teaching the History of Journalism course (JRN 325) in the fall term. Among his research areas of interest are the early days of radio and its evolution.

Nancy Hanus, former director of New Media for The Detroit News, is our two year visiting online multiplatform producer/editor-in-residence. Hanus, an Ohio native, earned her B.A. from Ohio State. She’s worked in a number of positions at the News including director of photography, features editor and Metrolife editor. She was also editor-in-chief of ican.com. Between stints as features editor and director of photography, she was editor-in-chief of www.ican.com. She planned, designed and maintained the website for an about people with disabilities. She will be teaching two sections of JRN 200 this fall, help us expand the multiplatform content in our reporting courses and develop a new course in the future of journalism and news in the 21^st Century.

Joe Grimm, formerly recruiting and development editor for the Detroit Free Press, is our one year visitor for recruiting and placement and online reporting. Grimm, a Michigan native, earned his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan, but has proven his Spartan loyalties by footing tuition bills for his two sons at MSU. A nationally known recruiter, Joe is well known and well-networked at large and small media companies. He will be teaching two sections of JRN 300, recruiting students to the J-School from high schools around the country and helping place our students in jobs. He will also run workshops for students on resume building, interviewing and other career related efforts. Grimm has been nationally recognized for his leadership in improving diversity in the new industry. He’s also authored books on recruiting and job placement.

We are also offering three unique courses this fall. Right now enrollments are low for these courses, so please consider them.

The three courses are:

JRN 308, Sec 701- Polling the 2008 Presidential Race (1 credit). Class will meet for the first night at the AP Bureau in Lansing, MI. This five week, short course meets from September 3-October 25, 6:30-9 p.m. on Wednesday nights. Kathy Barks Hoffman, AP Lansing bureau chief and longtime politics reporter is the instructor. Get an inside look as press coverage of this historic race for the presidency.

JRN 408, Sec 740-Topic: Tandem Community Journalism (3 credits). (A hybrid class blends online instruction with regular scheduled classroom time or required for scheduled in person contact, including exams, labs, etc.) Students in this course will be beta testing a unique experiment in citizen and community grass roots journalism in Detroit. Non-MSU students must complete a Lifelong Education application at: http://www.reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/EnrReg/LifelongEducation.asp. The Class will meet instructor Jonathan Morgan, multiplatform editor at The Detroit News in his office in downtown Detroit. Journalism students from University of Michigan Dearborn, Oakland University, University of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State University are especially encouraged to enroll.

JRN 471, Sec 001 Investigative Team Reporting (3 credits). Semester Long Analysis Project on One Environmental Project. Prerequisite: JRN 300 or JRN 306. Honors option. Email Dave Poulson, associate director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism for more info. His email is poulson@msu.edu.

Teacher workshops begin, alum earns R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2008-07-19T17:09:00.002-05:00

Big doings the next three weeks. The graduate teacher workshops begin on Monday. High school and middle school journalism teachers from around the state and region will be converging on campus in two waves, one this week and another next, for short courses on skills to keep high school media alive and well. For more information, on these publication workshops for teachers, check out www.mipa.jrn.msu.edu.

J-School faculty member Cheryl Pell and the wonderful members of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association work in tandem to deliver these highly regarded short courses—and you can earn graduate credits!!

By next summer, we hope to begin offering an M.A. in journalism education. The proposal is in the university governance pipeline after its approval by J-School and Com Arts faculty this spring. We will also be offering two online courses in the upcoming academic year and an offsite class in Traverse City.

After two weeks with the grown-ups, it’s high school students turn to “Jump Into Journalism” at the week-long workshop on campus. Ms. Pell, our diminutive dynamo is the ringmasters for these three high octane weeks. There’s still room for a few more to join the fun. Again, for more info, check out www.mipa.jrn.msu.edu.

In more MIPA news, it successfully paired three high school journalism teachers with newspapers in a joint program with the Michigan Press Association. Check on Brian Wilson’s take on his experience at the Flint Journal below.

And for more good J-School news, here is one alum who is really earning some R-E-S-P-E-C-T:, Kelley Carter, formerly at the Detroit Free Press and now on staff at the Chicago Tribune is an Emmy nominee for her online Aretha Franklin package published in the Freep last year. For more info see: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/ENT05/80715074

How Brian Wilson spent part of his summer vacation

By Brian Wilson of MIPA

When I first started with The Flint Journal, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. For sure, I wanted writing experience. I just didn't realize the extent of the writing and reporting I'd be doing.

Over the course of the last four weeks I've written maybe 25 stories. They have included everything from obituaries to in-depth pieces on topics like euthanasia in animal shelters and Michigan's Right to Farm Act. My work has appeared buried in the back of the news section, and it's run on the front page. In fact, in what is perhaps my internship's crowning achievement, one issue in which I actually had TWO front page stories.

It's funny; in different ways, the experience has been both exactly what I expected and nothing I anticipated. Going into the internship, my hope was that I'd be able to gain some "street cred" with my students. You know...I could say "Well, when I was working for the Flint Journal, this is what I did..." And I really think that I will be able to do that. I can share what I've learned about interviewing, and writing on deadline, and how page layout works on a daily basis.

But at the same time, it's been very different from what I expected. I really didn't think I'd be as busy as I was. And I didn't know that I would actually come to be seen as valuable in the newsroom. The three editors with whom I've worked all have told me how much they appreciate the work I've done. Maybe they're just being nice, but I really do feel like I've been an important part of the Flint Journal this summer. I am now trying to figure out how I might be able to keep working as a journalist and also teach at the same time. It's just what I need, really. More stuff to do.

But I love it. I mean, I really, really love this job. When I look at a newspaper display box on a street corner anywhere in Genesee County and see my name on the front page, I get goose bumps. When I get a phone call from someone who had read my story and wants to offer another angle, they probably don't realize that I'm smiling on the other end of the phone. When I get kicked out of the county animal shelter because I'm a reporter doing a story, I feel like Woodward. Or Bernstein. Or maybe just Geraldo, but it's still cool.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of my four weeks here is that I've figured out that I really could do this for a living. I'm pretty good at it, I think, and I'm almost modest enough to not want to share that fact (but not quite). Till now, I've never had any actual newsroom experience, and there was always a nagging doubt that I didn't really possess the very skills I was teaching my students. In the weeks leading up to the internship, in fact, that was my biggest worry. I knew I could talk the talk, but could I write the write?

I've also drawn some conclusions that my students might not like. For instance, I learned that writing a story in a matter of a couple of hours really is possible. I mean, there were days when I would start and finish as many as three full stories. When I think about how most of my journalism students work on the same story for perhaps two weeks, I wonder what we can do to accelerate that process. Granted, I was living and breathing my reporting all day every day, and they have many other responsibilities throughout their days, so it isn't exactly the same. Still, I really want to think about ways to push my students on their stories more than I have, without adding too much stress to their already-busy lives.

I've also realized in my time here that every story is different. I don't mean just the finished product; I mean the methods by which that story is developed. Sometimes I would do every interview over the phone and write the story without ever leaving my desk (that was also cool; my own desk). Other times I'd have to research deeply into topics with which I was unfamiliar. I'd go through archives of past stories on similar topics. I'd talk to other reporters about what they had written in the past. I'd use that old (OK, not that old) standby, Google, to surf a particular subject. Many times, I'd drive to a particular story location without much to go on, and my travels almost always worked out. This happened, for example, when I was writing about a guy who was reciting the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the Lapeer County Courthouse on the Fourth of July. I had driven to Lapeer and was sitting in my car, just about to head back to the office, when I spotted two girls sitting on the courthouse steps. I felt like I already had enough information to do the story, but something told me to turn off the car and talk to the girls. It really just struck my interest, the juxtaposition of these two modern-day teenage girls in jeans and flip-flops texting their friends as they sat on the steps of the oldest working courthouse in the state. It turned out, in fact, that they were history majors who had just come back from a trip to Greece. They gave me a series of great quotes about history and I painted them into the story's lead. I always knew that there was a very strong visual element in the act of reading. But maybe I didn't fully understand until this job that visuals are as important to the writer as they are to the reader.

And through it all, I came to the conclusion that I love to learn. That's one way in which my teaching job and my journalism experience are very much the same. In both jobs, I absolutely love the fact that by the time I leave the parking lot at night, I know something that I didn't know when the day began.

Grandparents U and more J-School students win awards

2008-06-26T18:21:00.000-05:00

Had great fun today as the unexpected sub for a Grandparents University Session on online news. Eighteen grandparents and grandkids from Ohio and Michigan got hands on experience interviewing each other using J-School Flip Video cameras and then posting the interviews up on YouTube.

We ran out of time due to slow uploads, but everyone left with a big smile and a cd-rom with their video interviews. Great fun, great afternoon. Special thanks from me goes to the fabulous Karl Gude on the J-School faculty and Juan Ramirez, one of the College’s terrific IT staff members.

In other J-School news, EJ magazine and The State News brought home more honors and wards from the Detroit Press Club Foundation’s 2008 Michigan Excellence in Journalism Competition. The winners are (drum roll, please!):

Student Newspaper Feature Writing
2. Colleen Maxwell, The State News, “A Safe Place”
3. Laura Misjak, The State News, “Still Missing’

Student Magazine Feature Writing
1. Marc Erbisch, EJ Magazine (Michigan State University), “The
Original American Marvel”
Judge’s comments: An examination of the National Park Service’s balancing
act of keeping the public parks public while protecting them for future
generations, this story focuses on Denali National Park in Alaska. Descriptive
writing and solid reporting make this one a winner.
2. James Crugnale, EJ Magazine, “Taking it to the Streets”
3. Molly Tranberg, EJ Magazine, “Mountaintop Lobotomy”

Student Magazine Reporting
1. Katie Coleman, EJ Magazine, “Armed Conflict”
Judge’s comments: There are 227 FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Sites) in
Michigan, and each one is a potential environmental hazard, because of
unexploded bombs, leaking underground tanks and other military leave-
behinds – and this story smartly examines the issue. Good, solid reporting –
this one could be a winner in the professional category.
2. Sarah Crespi, EJ Magazine, “Can local go the distance?”
3. Lissy Goralnik, EJ Magazine, “Bag-Free Nation”

Student Web site reporting
1. Andrew Balaskovitz, John Allison and Ian Walker, Great Lakes Wiki
(Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism),
“Pine River Superfund Site”
Judge’s comments: The Great Lakes Wiki is an experimental citizen
journalism project and here we see the stories of the people of St. Louis,
Mich., who water and soil are polluted – in spite of a Superfund attention
decades ago. An interesting, futuristic approach to journalism that tells a
story that otherwise might have gone untold.

Student Magazine Editorial/Commentary
1. Jessica A. Knoblauch, EJ Magazine, “Climate change is big, little
steps help”
Judge’s comments: The media have been instrumental in spreading the
news about global warming and other environmental issues, but more
education is needed if the citizenry is to make sacrifices and embrace the
changes needed, and this column argues that persuasively.

For the full list of winners check out: http://michiganexcellence.com/.

J-School's D'Aria wins an Emmy

2008-06-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

The MSU J-School scored a Michigan Emmy Award for lighting for adjunct faculty member Louis A. D'Aria, executive producer of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism's television program "Environment."

D’Aria received his 2008 Emmy award from the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on Saturday, June 7 for "Dying to be Heard."

"Dying to be Heard" tells the story of Michigan State University professor Dr. George J. Wallace, who discovered a link between DDT and dying birds on the MSU campus. His work was highlighted in Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring," which helped launch the modern environmental movement.

The 30-minute film, produced by students and faculty in the J-School’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism was aired on WKAR-TV in June 2007 and was picked up by all six Public Broadcasting Service stations in Michigan.

The documentary was nominated for a Michigan Emmy in two categories -- for original music composed by MSU doctoral student Kevin Wilt and for lighting by Lou D'Aria. The documentary also won first place in the category of college-level, long-length video at the Great Lakes Environmental Film Festival in Bay City, Michigan in January and first place in the television in-depth reporting category of region 4 of the Society of Professional Journalists in March. It was also named one of the top three student-made television documentaries in the nation by the Society of Professional Journalists in May.

Lou and his students new documentary, “Meltdown,” will be broadcast on WKAR on June 17.

Congratulations to Lou and his students for a terrific job.

Hot time, summer on and off campus!

2008-05-28T17:54:00.004-05:00

J-School faculty member Karl Gude is off in Spain with students on his pioneer Study Abroad class on design. Faculty member Cheryl Pell will be joining him in mid-June. Follow Karl’s exploits and those of his students on his blog. I’ve included one of the photos he has sent so far of MSU students working with their Spanish peers and a video from the group's recent trip to the Guggenheim Museum.

The Detroit News and the J-School is beginning work on executing the Tandem project, one of three developed by students as part of an Innovation Incubator project that received a Knight Challenge grant last year. Programming being developed will hopefully seed grassroots efforts by media across the country in this unique experiment in community journalism

The State News and student projects or publications from the J-School’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism national finalists announced Monday in the annual Society of Professional Journalists student journalism contest. Translation--that means they were second or third in the nation.

The State News was ranked as on of the Best All-Around Daily Student Newspapers in the nation. Many of our majors works as editors, reporters, photographers and designers on the daily newspaper.

Knight Center winners were:

Online In-Depth Reporting for “Pine River Superfund Site” published on the Great Lakes Wiki. Andy Balaskovitz, John Allison and Ian Walker.

TV In-Depth Reporting for “Dying to be Heard” which was broadcast on WKAR and other public broadcasting stations. Ben Phillips, Karly Pence and Kevin Wilt. (This was the first project of the environmental documentary film class.)

Best Student Magazine to the staff of EJ Magazine.

Each of these award winners placed first in the same categories at the regional level to be considered in the national contest.

Congratulations to one and all!

In other J-School news, Louis D’Aria and his video documentary students have completed their second film in the Knight Center's on going "environment" series. This program, based on a story written by J-School alum Alicia Clarke and published in EJ, documents her experiences as a student researcher on one of four icebreakers in the Arctic.

Her story was expanded to include MSU faculty and student research on global warming.

The documentary is the output of the JRN 408 / 808 class and involves students from the J-School and from TISM, theater, zoology, music, and fisheries and wildlife.

The program is set to air at 9 p.m., Tuesday, June 17 on WKAR and again at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. June 19. The hope is the program will be rebroadcast by other PBS stations in the state and the nation. Great work, Lou and students!

Hot time, summer at the J-School

2008-05-14T17:36:00.002-05:00

Summer term may have started, but a dozen J-School faculty members spent three intense days learning video shooting and editing for the web.

We came in with vastly varying skill levels, but, by Wednesday afternoon, every one of us had crafted a video we uploaded to YouTube.

Robb Montgomery from VisualEditors.com did the training. We brought him in from Chicago. Despite a bad head cold, he showed us the basics and put us to work. J-School faculty members Bob Gould and Karl Gude, who had taken advanced training the previous week, pitched in to help faculty as we were put through our paces. The editing, on iMovie (though likely simple for many of our students!) was challenging for some of us. But Karl and Bob showed us some terrific tips and shortcuts. Also helping were Lucinda Davenport, Dave Poulson and me—we had taken beginning training the previous week.

At the end of the training, we viewed our maiden efforts of web storytelling. Faculty participants were given Journalism Survivor t-shirts and Flip video cameras to practice with for the summer. By fall, everyone of us should come back as sharp shooters.

What’s ahead in the fall?? Expect the first Flip Flicks contest at the J-School. Stay tuned. And check out my video.

In more J-School multimedia news, Nick Dentamaro won 10^th place in the Multimedia Competition in the 2007-8 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Congrats, Nick!!

J-School earns reaccreditation on graduation day

2008-05-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

Finger tapping, with almost minute to minute checks of my watch, the reaccreditation process last Friday in Arlington, Virginia dragged on.

Initially, the J-School was 20 on the list (second to last) in the process--which is why I was sitting in a hotel meeting room in Arlington rather than on stage at the Breslin Center for commencement on May 2.

This was the first commencement I have missed in my five years as Director of the J-School, but making sure the J-School jumped through this final hoop for its reaccreditation had to be the priority.

The meeting began at 9 a.m. and was supposed to end at 4 p.m., but by the lunch break only nine schools had been discussed and reviewed by accrediting council members. The J-School is among an elite group of programs across the nation accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). The J-School was among the original group of programs accredited back in 1949. We have had an unbroken string of reaccreditation every seven years since then.

It is a time consuming process that took us almost two years. It began with a year-long faculty self study of the J-School and everything about it. A report, with a frank dissection and appraisal of our strengths and weaknesses loaded with supporting data, was submitted to ACEJMC in early September. The self-study process was exhausting but really allowed us to probe, poke and dissect the curriculum and everything about us.

A four person team came in October for a two-day inspection. We passed on all nine standards ranging from curriculum through assessment. But that was just the first of a three-step process.

In March in Chicago, the accrediting committee of ACEJMC (not the Council!) spent two days reviewing programs. We were near the top of the list then since we had an early visit in October and passed that process with just a couple of questions from committee members.

The home stretch was the May meeting. But, to have it occur, literally, during our commencement ceremony on May 2 was a bummer. I so wanted to be on campus shaking the hands of our grads. Instead, I was text messaging Professor Geri Zeldes giving her updates on the meeting.

Finally, at 4:58 p.m., long after our graduates were announced by Dr. Zeldes to the dean, long after terrific senior Alexandra Bahou gave her speech to the assembled graduates and their families, we were unanimously approved for reaccreditation.

Whew—I am glad that’s over!

What’s next?—Reinventing journalism education. Stay tuned. We’ve been hard at work on this all spring term. Just wait until next year.

This week, six faculty were or are in Chicago for video training on storytelling for the web. Next week, a dozen faculty will be taking three-days of on campus training from the same folks—Robb Montgomery of Visual Editors.com. We digital immigrants are doing everything we can to provide the best 21st Century journalism education to the J-School.

Happy summer to those of you heading home or off to internships and various jobs. For our summer students, welcome back. And to the new crop of students (freshmen and transfer) who will be arriving on campus for orientations, it’s going to be a terrific 2008-9 academic year.

What a great day it was

2008-05-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

My favorite day of the school year was on Sunday (Aril 27). It’s the day of our J-School Awards Program. Students, parents and faculty gather in the Kellogg Center Auditorium to honor student successes.

Among the awardees this year were:

Julie Goldsmith, Outstanding Doctoral Student

Three Outstanding Master’s Students: Sarah Crespi, Jessica Knoblauch and Jonathan Oosting

Outstanding Senior, a gal who has scored terrific internships and now a job already, Alexandra Bahou.

Check out the Awards Program itself at jrn.msu.edu and see what great successes students are having winning awards, scholarships and landing prestigious internships.

We also said good-bye to our Visiting Editor-in-residence, Sue Burzynski Bullard. She’s done a tremendous job for us this past year teaching media management, editing and news reporting II. Sue is heading off to Cornhusker territory as an associate professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska. She made the transition from the newsroom to the classroom and made it seem effortless.

Also leaving us (thought she missed the awards program since she was down in Florida at her niece’s graduation) is Sandra (Sam) Combs. Sam has been the coordinator of the Reporting I and II courses since her arrival on campus in Fall 2003. She’s done a terrific job, and we will miss her. She is heading to a tenure track appointment at Arkansas State University in the fall.

We also had a terrific time after the ceremony at the 23d Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony.

Sunday was truly a day for journalism to shine!

I head off early tomorrow morning to the ACEJMC meeting in Arlington, Virginia for the final step on the J-School’s reaccreditation. I will be missing commencement—the first time in the five years I’ve been here. L But, faculty like Geri Zeldes, Lori Anne Dickerson, Bob Gould, Sue Burzynski Bullard and Folu Ogundimu will be there cheering our students on!

Visiting editor to be honored by SPJ

2008-04-13T19:51:00.002-05:00

Terrific week coming up!

Visiting editor-in-residence Sue Burzynski Bullard will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award Tuesday evening at the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter banquet.
Sue, a veteran editor at The Detroit News, left the newspaper this past summer to join the J-School faculty. She has done a phenomenal job in the classroom teaching ethics, editing, advanced reporting and media management classes.

She will be leaving us at the end of the term to take an associate professor of journalism job at the University of Nebraska. Lucky Huskers! Sue is a J-School alum, and we will miss her talent and skill. She is most deserving of the SPJ award.

Also leaving MSU's J-School is Sandra (Sam) Combs, another Spartan alumna. She will be joining the journalism faculty of Arkansas State next fall. Sam's been the basic reporting courses coordinator since she arrived on campus five years ago. Ironically, Sam is past president of the SPJ chapter giving Sue the award!

Good luck to both of them! We will miss them

Last week’s whirlwind visit by Ithaca College Dean Dianne Lynch was a real eye opener for both faculty and students. Her thorough grasp of the fast paced changes triggered by the Web and its impact on the traditional news media platforms was striking, insightful and right on target. See a brief clip on Dianne's take on the future of journalism.

Media guru on campus Thursday

2008-04-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

Dianne Lynch, dean of the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and one of the savviest people I know in forecasting the digital revolution and its impact on traditional media companies is coming to campus this Thursday and Friday. She will be meeting with students in several classes and with faculty. If you are interested in meeting with her, just let me know.

That’s the good news.

Now some puzzling news. Maybe you could explain this to me. This term we held the 2d annual Howell essay contest that awarded a $3,000 scholarship and a $1,000 award for a 2,500 word essay on media bias and the ongoing presidential race. We had seven applicants. For the Mary Adelaide Gardner Scholarship that pays full tuition (in state or out of state) for a student’s senior year in the J-School, we had just three applicants. For our regular scholarship awards announced at the annual Awards Program (this year scheduled for 3 p.m., Sunday, April 27) we had half as many applicants as in the past.

What gives?? I keep hearing and reading about the high cost of tuition and how students are buried under loans. This is good money and few are competing to get it.

I don’t get it. I paid my way through school. I had loans. I tried my hardest to land any scholarship that would have helped cover my tuition costs. We send global emails to qualified students. We post flyers up on bulletin boards in the hallways, and we ask faculty to announce these opportunities to students in their classes.

Please let me know your thoughts on this!

Check out A (as in Awesome) speakers and looming deadlines

2008-03-31T18:18:00.001-05:00

As we roll into April and the final weeks of the spring term, we have some A-list speakers coming to campus and some important deadlines.

Students who will complete 56 credits by the end of this term, must complete an application to apply for Admission to the J-School. If you haven’t done it by now, you need to get it done by April 1!!! This is the J-School, and we believe in deadlines.

This Thursday, Washington Post columnist Marcela Sanchez will be giving the annual Mary Gardner Lecture at 3 p.m. in 145 CAS. Her lecture is titled New Political Realities in Latin America and the Challenges for Press Coverage. Her experience covering Latin and South America for the Post makes her an expert on the region. With Venezuela and its oil reserves, the politics of the region are more important than ever. Don’t miss her!

Also Friday, April 4 is the deadline for undergraduate students who will be seniors in the 2008-9 academic year to apply for the Mary Adelaide Gardner Scholarship. Winning this full tuition scholarship would make life a lot easier next year! Qualifications are as follows:
Must be a journalism major who has completed 90 credits by the end of the current semester.

Must have maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher

Must be planning a career in print journalism (reporting or photography)

The Application Package Must Contain:

Resume: Attach a resume listing media-related employment{,} including work for college newspapers, internships, other school activities and other work experience.

Essay: In a 500-word essay discuss your career thus far as well as your goals and ambitions for your future career in print journalism.

Sample Clips: Newspaper or magazine articles that demonstrate your work as a journalist. The clips (3 to 5) must be dated with the publication listed. Photocopies are acceptable.

Next week, Dr. Dianne Lynch, the dean at the Roy Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and the first executive director of the Online News Association will be on campus on April 10 & 11 to talk about the digital revolution in news and what skills you need to learn to snare top paying jobs in this evolving era.

Updates on all the latest--read all about it!

2008-03-17T19:11:00.002-05:00

Reaccreditation--the Home stretch

The J-School is in the home stretch of its reaccreditation. Saturday, the National Committee of the Accrediting Council of Journalism and Mass Communications, unanimously voted to recommend reaccreditation of the J-School to the Council itself in May. (Two members of the committee, both MSU alumni, recused themselves from the vote as required by the groups procedures.) The reaccreditation process involved an intense self study by the J-School faculty, a site visit in October and the meeting this weekend in Chicago.

Speakers

Busy week. Monday, we welcomed U-C Berkley professor Jane Stevens to talk about Science Journalism in a Web-centric World. Wednesday, AP senior managing editor Mike Silverman will be on campus to meet students in classes and give the annual Siebert Lecture on the future of news coverage on how the AP is addressing the tsunami of changes.

Awards

Scripps Howard Foundation
Junior Amanda Peterka was one of nine students nationwide selected by the Scripps Howard Foundation for a 13-day journalism study trip to Japan and South Korea in its annual Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

The competition, established in 1984 in cooperation with the Indiana University School of Journalism, honors the memory of the journalist who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920.

Amanda is also studying Asian studies. She is managing editor of SpartanEdge.com, an alternative online publication. She also is a contributing writer to the university's environmental, international studies and independent online publications.

Society of Professional Journalists Region 4

MSU J-School students and the independent newspapers that serves the camps, The State News, were also big winners in The Society of Professional Journalists' Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards.

The honorees were awarded certificates on March 15 during the Region 4 Spring Conference held in Pittsburgh. First place regional winners will advance to the national round of judging, which takes place next month. National winners will be announced in mid May.

J-School winners were:

Breaking News Reporting
•Third Place: Lindsay Machak, Michigan State University, “Owosso blaze kills 1; 4 hurt”

In-Depth Reporting
• Second Place: Kristen M. Daum, Michigan State University, “Beyond the divide”

Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper (published at least four times per week)
• First Place: Staff, Michigan State University, “The State News”

Magazine Non-Fiction Article
• First Place: Jessica A. Knoblauch, Michigan State University, “Have it your (the sustainable) way”
Best Student Magazine
• First Place: Staff, Michigan State University, “EJ Magazine”

Television In-Depth Reporting
• First Place: Ben Phillips, Kathy Pence & Kevin Wilt, Michigan State University, “Dying to be heard”

Online Feature Reporting • First Place: Claire Cummings, Michigan State University, “Bowling in Detroit”

Online In-Depth Reporting • First Place: Andy Belaskovitz, John Allison & Ian Walker, Michigan State University, “Pine River Superfund site”

Congrats to one and all. What a great place this is to learn the business!

Senior wins $4K award and Break Time!!

2008-02-29T08:25:00.000-05:00

Senior Rachel Wilkerson, also known as the blogger, Spartanette, on the independent MSU website spartanedge.com is this year’s winner of the Walter and Serena Howell Essay contest. The topic of this year’s essay was Examine the racial, gender, religious or other kinds of bias in media coverage of the 2008 presidential race. The essay must be backed up with thoughtful examples, research, analysis and attribution.

The Howells were the parents of the late Grant Howell, the longtime editor of The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, Mi. The goal of the Howell Essay Award Fund is to encourage student analysis of propaganda defined as “the use of unproven and/or unverifiable assumptions in a report or statement of allegations reflecting the view and interests of its advocates.”

Wilkerson’s essay was published on the Op-Ed page of The Detroit News today. For her efforts, she won a $3,000 scholarship and a $1,000 cash award.
Congratulations, Rachel!

Wishing students and those traveling over spring break a safe, restful and relaxing week away.

And from yesterday’s blog, a snow storm, icy roads and chilly temperatures didn't dim the enthusiasm one iota for Wednesday's “Steroids, Makeup and Polar Bears: Journalism and the Environment” event and the 200 plus Detroit Public High School students and teachers that showed up at the Detroit Zoo ready to learn.

Among the topics covered were reporting about cosmetics and health, steroids and sports, global warming and wildlife, teen depression and environmental justice in Detroit. Check out the photos of the event posted by Cheryl Pell, J-School faculty member and executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA), one of the co-sponsors of the event.

We even got kudos on the McCormick Tribune Foundation blog this morning.

WXYZ TV anchor Carolyn Clifford (an MSU alum) gave a rip roaring, inspiration speech to start things off. She was joined by WDIV TV weather forecaster Andrew Humphrey who also wowed the students.

Special thanks goes to Jim Detjen, director of the J-School’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Barb Miller, Knight Center administrative assistant extraordinaire and Pell for this third annual event. Great job!!

Zoo Day earns kudos for MIPA and Knight Center

2008-02-28T18:22:00.002-05:00

A snow storm, icy roads and chilly temperatures didn't dim the enthusiasm one iota for Wednesday's “Steroids, Makeup and Polar Bears: Journalism and the Environment” event and the 200 plus Detroit Public High School students and teachers that showed up at the Detroit Zoo ready to learn.

Among the topics covered were reporting about cosmetics and health, steroids and sports, global warming and wildlife, teen depression and environmental justice in Detroit. Check out the photos of the event posted by Cheryl Pell, J-School faculty member and executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA), one of the co-sponsors of the event.

We even got kudos on the McCormick Tribune Foundation blog this morning.

WXYZ TV anchor Carolyn Clifford (an MSU alum) gave a rip roaring, inspiration speech to start things off. She was joined by WDIV TV weather forecaster Andrew Humphrey who also wowed the students.

Special thanks goes to Jim Detjen, director of the J-School’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Barb Miller, Knight Center administrative assistant extraordinaire and Pell for this third annual event. The polar bears agree--great job!!

The J-School heads to the Zoo and other news

2008-02-26T16:26:00.000-05:00

The School of Journalism, the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association are holding a day-long conference called “Steroids, Makeup and Polar Bears: Journalism and the Environment” more than 200 high school journalists from Detroit on Wednesday (Feb. 27) at the Detroit Zoo.

Among the topics that will be covered are reporting about cosmetics and health, steroids and sports, global warming and wildlife, teen depression and environmental justice in Detroit.

Students attending the conference will learn about how to report about health and environmental subjects by professors at the Michigan State University School of Journalism and journalists from the Detroit Free Press, Metro Times, WDIV Channel 4 TV, WXYZ-TV Channel 7 and other news media.

Midterm are keeping faculty and students busy this week. Spring break begins on Saturday.

James Carville, the so-called mouth of the south and mastermind of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election to the presidency, provided witty commentary and candor at the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication meeting in New Orleans last weekend. He discussed politics and journalism in his trademark rapid fire style. Among his more pithy quotes was his statement that there will always be a need for journalists and an “absolute need for quality information.” And that “Journalism is one of the most important things you can do. He described the Barack Obama/ Hillary Clinton delegate duel as a “classic match-up between inspiration and preparation.”

This is a conference that attracts journalism deans and directors from around the country. I was particularly interested in seeing New Orleans first hand post-Katrina. I saw little beyond the French Quarter. The hotel was on the edge, and the conference sessions kept us hotel-bound. However, flying in and out, I could see some tarp covered roofs and gaping holes where houses used to be on the ground. The cab driver, an immigrant from Bosnia, said he was working two jobs. That was one difference in what had been the Big Easy from previous pre-Katrina trips. There is more of a gritty resolve now that is bringing this city back. And a lot of jobs formerly held by New Orleans natives are now being staffed by immigrants like my cabbie.

Interns and Alums score hits this snowy week

2008-02-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

SO much is happening, it’s hard to keep up.

Got some great news from Kristen Daum, a senior currently starting her internship for Washington Center for Politics & Journalism. She’s one of an exclusive group of just 11 interns. She is also one of the even fewer endowed interns. Kristen from henceforth will be knows as the "The Helen Thomas Endowed Intern." Helen Thomas was the legendary UPI White House correspondent for decades. Thomas, now 87, is a Michigan native and currently continues working as a Hearst columnist. Her assignment this term is to work in the Newsday Washington bureau. She scored her first byline this week with a story on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s take on the President Bush’s latest budget. Read all about it at http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usbudg0208,0,4862590.story.

Recent alumna Latoya Dennis just got her first National Public Radio story on air. Check it out at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18599126.

These are just two quick hits on some of the terrific jobs students and alums are doing.

This past Friday (Feb 1) and this Friday (Feb 8), we are hosting about two dozen prospective high school seniors who are among the highest achievers in the country. The J-School attracts the largest number of these exceptional students in the College. We sure hope some of them decide to become Spartans. I know, they won’t be disappointed.

Stay warm, and avoid snow drifts!

Check out what's ahead in Spring 2008

2008-01-09T19:31:00.000-05:00

January started with a blizzard then a thaw that ended with tornado warnings. Remember all you hopeful freshmen, MSU almost NEVER closes for weather, so plan on pulling on those boots and coats and making it to classes. MSU calls these next 15 weeks SPRING term which is delusional in my opinion!

J-School students will be hitting The Detroit News blog next week for the Michigan primaries. Though the Democratic primary is a wipeout since no delegates from the state will be seated, the Republican race may be interesting as John McCain and Mitt Romney battle it out, and what about Mike? The bloggers will hit the four polling spots on campus under the direction of J-School faculty member (and Detroit News blogger herself) Bonnie Bucqueroux. Bonnie is running her pooch Schmoopsie for President in 2008, and there are times Schmoops looks like a doggone good candidate to me.

With the Iowa caucuses over, the New Hampshire primary results were certainly no surprise on the GOP side, but Hillary's narrow win despite the pre-voting polls is making this year's race to the White House worth watching. DId her teary-eyed reflections the day before give her the edge? Would the media have covered it any differently had it been one of the guys with tears in his eyes? All issues to discuss over the next weeks and months.

We’ve got a great line-up of speakers already for the upcoming term already. Our Siebert Lecturer this year is Michael Silverman, vice president of the Associated Press. He will be coming to campus on Wednesday, March 19. His lecture will be at 4 p.m. at a room to be determined shortly.
In addition the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism has two high profile speakers coming. Jane Stevens, a faculty member at University of California at Berkeley and a multimedia report will be lecturing at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 18. Former National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting Executive Director and CAR wizard Brant Huston will be speaking at 4 p.m., March 27. Huston now holds the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois. These amazing speakers have tremendous knowledge and experience in the field, are great folks to network with and may be worth some extra credit in some of the J-School courses!

Be sure to enter the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest. Deadline is 5 p.m., Thursday, January 1 in the J-School Office. This essay contest, examining “racial, gender, religious or other kinds of bias in the media coverage of the 2008 presidential race” is a great topic for discussion. A $1,000 prize and $3,000 scholarship will be awarded. Only Communication Arts and Sciences undergraduate students are eligible to enter. Hey, in this economy, $4,000 in prize and scholarship money is worth the effort, so get busy.

2007 wraps up!

2007-12-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

Finals wrap this week, then the campus gets pretty quiet when our nearly 45,000 students head off on the semester break. As we wind down the Fall 2007 semester, I look back on the previous year and go “whew!” What a year it was!

Our year-long effort for reaccreditation kept us hopping through October when a four-member visiting team from the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communication was on campus for a two and a half day visit. The team found the J-School in compliance on all nine standards and recommended reaccreditation. That was not an unexpected result but a huge relief nonetheless.

We are pushing ahead on a major overhaul of the curriculum to address the ongoing changes in news and information delivery. Associate Director Darcy Greene is chairing a Task Force on New Curriculum. We came up with some terrific ideas during our retreats. Now the time is ripe! This requires lots of input from professionals and lots of training in different skills for faculty. We're listening and working hard to keep our students on the cutting edge.

We’ve also had some terrific speakers this semester. The highlight had to be former New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer editor Gene Roberts’s November 14 lecture. Roberts was the seventh Neal Shine Ethics Lecturer. A copy of his speech is on the Poynter website at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=71&aid=133835. We also welcomed 3-D graphic artist Bryan Christie and documentary photographer Rania Matar among others.

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism also brought in a cadre of distinguished speakers in the past year. The Knight Center folks, especially Jim Detjen and Dave Poulson, have been hard at work raising funds for the match challenge endowment from the Knight Foundation. We need to raise $100,000 in endowment money each year to have Knight match it.

More than 150 students in the Intro to Mass Media course and a handful of others partnered with The Detroit News in covering the GOP CNN/You Tube debate. The partnership was so successful (and our students, mainly freshmen taking the class from Bonnie Bucqueroux and her teaching assistant, doctoral student Robin Blom) that the News wants to continue it through the presidential election season.

We welcomed two new visiting faculty members this fall, former Detroit News Managing Editor Sue Burzynski Bullard and former WZZM-TV chief photographer Bob Gould. Sue is teaching Media Management and Advance Reporting and News Writing. Bob is teaching the advanced broadcast classes and executive producing our award winning Focal Point.

Recent graduates are landing great jobs. Sarah Swistak just did a live stand-up from Butte, Montana for MSNBC on the funeral of Evel Knievel. Here is the link to her live shot: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=&vid=5de3ff78-c608-404a-bbf9-e725c22db8e9 .

Alumna Jamie Gumbrecht is reporting from Baghdad.

Happy Holidays to you and yours! As we wind down the Fall 2007 semester, I look back on the previous year and go “whew!” What a year it was! And the plans we have for 2008…

To give you just one short preview, former Newsweek graphics editor and now J-School faculty member Karl Gude will be leading a Study Abroad in Graphic Design in Spain this summer. Check out his website at http://picasaweb.google.com/karlgude/SpainStudyAbroadExploratoryTrip.

Have a safe restful holiday break. See you next year!

J-School blogs the CNN/YouTube debate

2007-11-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

MSU Journalism students packed two classrooms to listen to the Wednesday CNN/YouTube debate by the Republican Presidential hopefuls.

There were the bloggers, the clicker crew, the truth squad and others. All this was the brainchild of J-School faculty member Bonnie Bucqueroux ably assisted by her TA Robin Blom. Bonnie is smiling in the photo at CNN’s mention of her favorite canine candidate, Schmoopsie. The participating students, most from the Intro to Mass Media class, all cheered when Schmoopsie’s picture was in the CNN opening.

No matter what else this experience may teach them, I guarantee this group of 140 plus students will be better informed of at least the GOP candidates than most other college students and, sad to say their elders, as well. I hope it inspires them to explore the positions of the Democratic hopefuls, as well.

Great job Bonnie, Robin and the crews! And thank you to the editors of The Detroit News for being savvy enough to want student bloggers for the debate. Who knows more about YouTube than this generation?

Post-T-Day happenings at the J-School the last week of November

2007-11-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

With a mere two weeks left in the term until finals, two major events are scheduled in the J-School the last week of November.

Documentary photojournalist Rania Matar will arrive on campus Monday afternoon. She is slated to talk to students in classes and make a presentation of her work at 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 27 in Studio D, CAS Building. She has spent much of her career covering the Middle East and especially the impact of the violence on women in the region. For more on Matar, visit her website at www.raniamater.com.

On Wednesday, November 28, approximately 80 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores currently taking the JRN 108 Introduction to Mass Media course, will participate in a live blog on The Detroit News web site (www.detnews.com) during the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Primary Debate, from 8-10 p.m. The J-School site for the debate will be www.msujrn.com/liveblog.

This link takes you to three of our students talking about the upcoming debate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jia-kiO0wXo

A dozen students will be the bloggers, posting information, commentary and analysis. Multimedia content will be provided by other student teams as the debate unfolds. The goal is to keep a continuous flow of text, images and video clips posting to the blog page that The Detroit News has built specifically to house the student output during the debate. The News’ own political bloggers will also post to the web site. It will be dueling bloggers with the students providing a unique college perspective.

Students will be using electronic “clickers” to instantly capture their reactions to the debate. The “Clicker Response Team” of 60 or more students will watch the debate and be interrupted periodically to answer questions on their impressions.

“The team assigned to generating those questions will take the results of this instant focus-group response and use IM (Instant Messaging) to send the results to our live bloggers, so they can use the results in their postings,” says MSU Instructor Bonnie Bucqueroux who developed the event on the MSU side with assistance from MSU doctoral student Robin Blom.

Another student team will track the amount of airtime each of the eight Republican candidates receives. Another team will monitor how often the candidates mention specific issues or the names of their rivals. The “truth squad” group will try to check facts in real time, and the video crew will solicit student comments and then post them on YouTube for immediate inclusion in the live blogs.

This is a prelude to the 2008 Presidential election. More and more of political activity is moving online as politicians and their handlers have discovered, it’s a great way to capture a new generation of voters in one of the hottest arenas out there—YouTube. Watch it and see!

Upcoming highlights for the end of November

2007-11-23T13:40:00.000-05:00

With a mere two weeks left in the term until finals, two major events are scheduled in the J-School the last week of November.

Documentary photojournalist Rania Matar will arrive on campus Monday afternoon. She is slated to talk to students in classes and make a presentation of her work at 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 27 in Studio D, CAS Building. She has spent much of her career covering the Middle East and especially the impact of the violence on women in the region. For more on Matar, visit her website at www.raniamater.com.

On Wednesday, November 28, approximately 80 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores currently taking the JRN 108 Introduction to Mass Media course, will participate in a live blog on The Detroit News web site (www.detnews.com) during the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Primary Debate, from 8-10 p.m.

A dozen students will be the bloggers, posting information, commentary and analysis. Multimedia content will be provided by other student teams as the debate unfolds. The goal is to keep a continuous flow of text, images and video clips posting to the blog page that The Detroit News has built specifically to house the student output during the debate. The News’ own political bloggers will also post to the web site. It will be dueling bloggers with the students providing a unique college perspective.

Students will be using electronic “clickers” to instantly capture their reactions to the debate. The “Clicker Response Team” of 60 or more students will watch the debate and be interrupted periodically to answer questions on their impressions.

“The team assigned to generating those questions will take the results of this instant focus-group response and use IM (Instant Messaging) to send the results to our live bloggers, so they can use the results in their postings,” says MSU Instructor Bonnie Bucqueroux who developed the event on the MSU side with assistance from MSU doctoral student Robin Blom.

Another student team will track the amount of airtime each of the eight candidates receives. Another team will monitor how often the candidates mention specific issues or the names of their rivals. The “truth squad” group will try to check facts in real time, and the video crew will solicit student comments and then post them on YouTube for immediate inclusion in the live blogs.

This is a prelude to the 2008 Presidential election. More and more of political activity is moving online as politicians and their handlers have discovered, it’s a great way to capture a new generation of voters in one of the hottest arenas out there—YouTube. Watch it and see!

Roberts talks tough about corporate owners

2007-11-16T12:19:00.000-05:00

Gene Roberts did a fantastic job taking a impassioned look and changes in the industry and the unholy devotion to profit margin and staff cutting to artificially keep those profits up in his speech, “The Ethical Dilemma of the Money Changers in the Temple and the News.”

It was tough talk from a man often described as a reporter’s editor. And you can see why he was loved by his staff at the Philadelphia Inquirer, leading the paper to 17 Pulitzer Prizes in his 18 years at the helm.

Roberts also signed copies of his Pulitzer Prize winning book, “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation,” co-authored with Atlanta Journal Constitution Managing Editor Hank Klibanoff.

While on campus, Roberts reconnected with former Philadelphia staff writer Jim Detjen, now the director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism on campus, and a part of the J-School. In the photo taken after the lecture by Darcy Greene, J-School faculty member, Roberts is talking with Detjen and me.

More than 120 students, faculty and members of the public came to here Roberts’ lecture on Wednesday, November 14 for the 7th annual Neal Shine Ethics lecture. Neal’s wife Phyllis was there as well as two of his six children, Judy and Dan and two grandsons. Phyllis also signed copies of the recently released memoir by her late husband. "Life with Mae" is already into its second printing since its release in October.

The next big event on the calendar is the visit of documentary photographer Rania Matar, a photographer who has spent most of her career shooting the painful images of the hardships in the war torn Middle East. Matar will be speaking to journalism classes and will give a public presentation at 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 27 in Studio D in the Com Arts and Sciences Building. Her visit is being sponsored, in part, by the School of Journalism. To get an advanced look at her impressive work, visit http://www.raniamatar.com/.

Neal Shine book's is a terrific read, and legendary Gene Roberts to give this year's Shine Ethics Lecture

2007-11-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

Read any good books lately? I’ve got one for you.

The book is “Life with Mae” by the late Neal Shine, retired publisher of the Detroit Free Press and longtime friend of the J-School and me. I adored him.

The book is about Neal and his brothers growing up in Detroit with his irrepressible mother, an Irish immigrant, named Mae, or to those of us who knew her, Ma Shine. The book is pure Shine, funny, clever and warm. For those who knew Neal, I recommend it. For those who never had the chance, buy it as a gift for yourself.

Then on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, when Michigan’s winds are howling, put on a pair of sweats, curl up in a chair with a cup of hot cocoa and treat yourself to the wit and wisdom of Neal Shine.

This is also a perfect segue into next week’s Neal Shine Ethics Lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning author and editor Gene Roberts. He is a legendary newsman, one of the most storied and influential of the 20th Century. And he’s coming to campus to speak. Roberts’s talk on “The Ethical Dilemma of the Money Changers in the Temple and the News,” is set for 4 p.m., Wed., Nov. 14, Big Ten C in the Kellogg Center. Ask your journalism teacher if you can cover it for extra credit.

Roberts is best known for his leadership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, where, during his era as executive editor from 1973-1991, the paper won 17 Pulitzer Prizes.

In April 2007, Roberts, a professor of journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, won another Pulitzer, this time for his history book, “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation,” co-authored with Atlanta Journal Constitution Managing Editor Hank Klibanoff.

Prior to his 18 years at the helm of the Inquirer, he covered the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War for the New York Times. He joined the Times staff after working as a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press where he worked with the late Neal Shine.

Roberts left newspapers in 1991 to teach at the University of Maryland but returned to the New York Times as managing editor from 1994-1997. He returned to the University in 1998 and teaches journalism courses on writing the complex story, the press and the civil rights movement, and newsroom management.

The lecture is free with a reception (and food) for the audience. Hope to see you there!

That was the week that was!

2007-10-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

The whirlwind of the previous week is over, successfully, I might add, but the whirl continued as we played catch-up this week.

The good news is the visiting accreditation site team found the School in Compliance on all nine standards of the accrediting body, ACEJMC. This is another step in the process. Two more steps will occur in Spring with the accrediting committee’s meeting in March and the Council’s meeting in early May. The May meeting is the final step in our quest for reaccreditation. The faculty and staffed worked very hard on our Self-Study Report.

The Online News Association in Toronto was a terrific meeting. The three presentations by students in the Innovative Incubator Project were awesome. MSU students participated in two of the three presentations, Tandem and Locker Talk. They were terrific. We are already getting nibbles to partner in developing these ideas further working with media companies.

We also had an amazing presentation by artist Bryan Christie of his work and how he does it on Thursday. Arranged by Karl Gude, Christie spoke to a packed auditorium of students, faculty and members of the public.

Company's coming! Help your J-School

2007-10-10T13:06:00.000-05:00

We’ve been cleaning and working and organizing for the past two weeks getting ready for company. (And we spent an entire year doing a Self-Study Report about the J-School before this!)

A team of four, representing the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC), will be visiting the J-School next week.

The team members, Dr. Ann Brill, dean at the University of Kansas, Dr. Jannette Dates, dean at Howard University, Marcia Prior-Miller, a faculty member at Iowa State and Steve Geimann, a producer at Bloomberg News in Washington D.C. and president of the Society of Professional Journalists, will be in the Com Arts Building all day on Monday and Tuesday, October 15-16. They will be meeting with faculty, students and university administrators to judge the quality of the J-School. They will also be stopping by classes to observe. So, if you see a stranger in the hallway, be sure you greet them and help them out, if they ask.

We have scheduled two meetings of the entire team with students. The meetings are scheduled for 2-2:45 p.m., Monday in 191 CAS (Deeb) and 9-10 a.m., Tuesday in 306 CAS. Please stop by either day, if you can. This is very important to the J-School and to you. We have been continuously accredited since the process began in the late 1940s.

In other news, the second proficiency tests will be given Friday afternoon, October 19 in 147 CAS. Registration for the test will begin at 2:30 p.m. for the first exam and 4 p.m. for the second. Please bring your student ID, a calculator and a pencil with you for the test. This is the final test for the Fall term. You need to pass this test to enroll in JRN 200.

Three students, Jordan Barnes, Katie Rausch and Jonathan Oosting, along with faculty member Darcy Greene and me are heading to Toronto Wednesday for the Online News Association conference. Our students are part of a seven-university grant from the Knight Foundation to develop innovative community news projects. Our students are part of two teams who will be presenting their projects Thursday afternoon to major media executives. Wish them luck!

Generation W (for Web) has hit campus

2007-10-01T19:07:00.000-05:00

Here is something to ponder: the entering class of freshmen at MSU this fall were born in 1989, the year the world wide web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee.

They have grown-up surrounded by technology--and it's just a tool to them. They don't worry about breaking it, and if they do, it's replaceable. They are not into authority at all.

Many have created their own identities in virtual worlds like Second Life where no one knows if they are 12 or 45 or younger or older.

They process information differently. They absolutely know they can figure out anything using Google or another search engine. They don’t need to memorize facts or figures or dates, since it’s easier to “google” it.

They are impatient, energetic, live on their cells and text their friends constantly. Frankly, most of them don't get what worries traditional tree hugging, camera toting journalists about the seismic changes in the industry. They figure they’ll figure it out…and they likely will.

They are news consumers but have no brand loyalty. Though they generally don’t read newspapers or watch TV news, they do get information from a variety of sources, and a lot of it. They will spend hours working on something they feel passionate about.

Our traditional approach to education has to adapt with them. We need to become nimble, adaptable and flexible, and in light of Michigan’s budget situation, entrepreneurial, as well.

Got any ideas?? Let me know.

Sign up for new Reporting for Online News class starting October 12

2007-09-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

Great start to the Fall 2007 term.

New courses like the soon to be required JRN 400 (Reporting for Online News) made its debut under JRN 492. Students are learning to shoot and edit video and audio to enhance their story telling skills.

Students interested in taking this course can sign up for the second session (JRN 492, Sec. 303) NOW!! The class will meet on Fridays from 9:10-3 p.m., Oct. 12-Nov. 9.

Three students are gearing up as part of two teams creating new ideas for online communities as part of the Knight Brothers Challenge grant awarded to the J-School and six other universities and colleges across the country. Our students made brief presentations on Friday to the members of the Journalism Professional Advisory Council at its fall meeting. Prior to the start of the meeting, a small group of JPAC volunteers will be reviewing course portfolios for JRN 200, 300, 305, 403 and 406 to ensure these classes measure up to J-School standards. In other words, students are learning the skills they need to succeed in media careers.

I was in Reston, Virginia most of last week attending a seminar on Leadership in Disruptive Times run by the American Press Institute. API awarded me the James Ottaway Fellowship so I could attend. These certainly are challenging times for the industry and higher ed. It was a very engaging and informative seminar. I am glad I attended.Thanks API and Mary Glick!

On campus, we watch with concern and interest as the state legislature and the governor work to find a budget compromise to address the projected $2 billion deficit. The governor has withheld the fourth quarter payments to the 15 public universities in the state. This has happened twice previously several decades ago. If MSU gets its allocation, we will all be relieved. If the state decides to withhold it, trouble looms. Tuition already jumped 9.6 percent.

Proficiency test dates set, awards and upcoming lectures

2007-09-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

With one week under our belt, the term has started out extremely well. Not only are classes going smoothly, but the Spartans won on Saturday and the Wolverines lost!

Freshman and sophomores—mark your calendars and starts studying grammar and AP Style. Two dates are set for the Grammar Proficiency Test. JRN 108 students and others who plan to enroll in JRN 200 need to pass this test. The test will be given twice on both dates in 145 CAS. Bring your student ID and a calculator with you.

The dates are:
Friday, October 5
Test 1: Registration from 2:30-3 p.m., Test from 3-4 p.m.
Test 2: Registration from 4-4:30 p.m., Test from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Friday October 19
Test 1: Registration from 2:30-3 p.m., Test from 3-4 p.m.
Test 2: Registration from 4-4:30 p.m., Test from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Testing dates will also be scheduled early in the Spring 2008 term, but it is best to take an earlier test in the event you need to retake it!!

Four J-School students (Jordan Barnes, Jonathan Oosting, Steve Patterson and Katie Rausch) with their faculty mentor Darcy Greene will be making a presentation of their incubator projects at the annual Online News Association conference in Toronto, October 17-20.

Two environmental journalism students (Spring 2007 graduate Carol Navarro and Mairin MacDonald) are finalists in the SEJ (Society of Environmental Journalists) national news writing contest. The winners will be announced at the SEJ conference this week. Good luck Carol and Mairin.

In addition, the Great Lakes Wiki site (www.greatlakeswiki.org) launched and maintained by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s Dave Poulson and his students received won of ten Knight-Batten Awards honoring it “for collecting information as broad and deep as the Great Lakes it covers.” The contest spotlights the creative use of new information ideas and technologies that involve citizens in public issues. The Great Lakes Wiki is among four projects in the new honorable mention category.

Upcoming special events:
Special guest lecturer: Bryan Christie, the 3D artist. His work will be on display in the new 190 CAS gallery.
Tentative dates between Oct. 22-25

Neal Shine Ethics Lecturer: Gene Roberts, former executive editor Philadelphia Inquirer, led his staff to 17 Pulitzers in his 18 years at the paper. From there he moved to U-Maryland and then left there briefly to become managing editor of the NY Times. His book, The Race Beat, co-authored with Hank Klibanoff, was published in September by Random House.
Time and date: 4 p.m., Wednesday, November 14, Big Ten C.

Special guest lecturer: Rania Matar, documentary photographer, has worked extensively in Lebanon with a concentration on the women of Lebanon. Her photographs will be on exhibit in the new 190 gallery area.
Tentative date: November 28 or 29.

Proficiency test dates and special lectures set

2007-09-05T15:31:00.000-05:00

With one week under our belt, the term has started out extremely well. Not only are classes going smoothly, but the Spartans won on Saturday and the Wolverines lost!

Freshman and sophomores—mark your calendars and starts studying grammar and AP Style. Two dates are set for the Grammar Proficiency Test. JRN 108 students and others who plan to enroll in JRN 200 need to pass this test. The test will be given twice on both dates in 145 CAS. Bring your student ID and a calculator with you.

The dates are:
Friday, October 5
Test 1: Registration from 2:30-3 p.m., Test from 3-4 p.m.
Test 2: Registration from 4-4:30 p.m., Test from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Friday October 19
Test 1: Registration from 2:30-3 p.m., Test from 3-4 p.m.
Test 2: Registration from 4-4:30 p.m., Test from 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Testing dates will also be scheduled early in the Spring 2008 term, but it is best to take an earlier test in the event you need to retake it!!

Four J-School students (Jordan Barnes, Jonathan Oosting, Steve Patterson and Katie Rausch) with their faculty mentor Darcy Greene will be making a presentation of their incubator projects at the annual Online News Association conference in Toronto, October 17-20.

Upcoming special events:

Special guest lecturer: Bryan Christie, the 3D artist. His work will be on display in the new 190 CAS gallery.
Tentative dates between Oct. 22-25

Neal Shine Ethics Lecturer: Gene Roberts, former executive editor Philadelphia Inquirer, led his staff to 17 Pulitzers in his 18 years at the paper. From there he moved to U-Maryland and then left there briefly to become managing editor of the NY Times. His book, The Race Beat, co-authored with Hank Klibanoff, was published in September by Random House.
Time and date: 4 p.m., Wednesday, November 14, Big Ten C.

Special guest lecturer: Rania Matar, documentary photographer, has worked extensively in Lebanon with a concentration on the women of Lebanon. Her photographs will be on exhibit in the new 190 gallery area.
Tentative date: November 28 or 29.

You're back, and you've arrived! Here's info you should know

2007-08-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the start of a great year at the J-School. We have a lot happening already.

First, I want to introduce our two new visiting professionals: Sue Burzynksi Bullard and Robert Gould.

Burzynski Bullard is a J-School alumna and, until the beginning of August, the managing editor of The Detroit News. Sue comes to us with absolutely up to date experience in the newsroom, the direction newspaper are going and the future. She is teaching the Media Management course and JRN 300 in the Fall.

Also new to the roster is Robert Gould, an MSU Telecomm alumnus and former photo/video chief at WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids. Bob will be teaching out Broadcast News advanced courses and be executive producer to Focal Point, the award winning TV news magazine produced by students both inside and outside the broadcast classes. He will also be team teaching the new Reporting for Online News class

Also new this year is our Reporting for Online News course (JRN 492--one credit). Open to seniors, this class will ensure J-School students are cross-trained in the tools needed to produce stories for the web—shooting video, creating text, photo galleries and interactive elements. It’s still about the journalism, but these tools are as important as typewriters once were. This new offering will be team taught by Gould with the J-School's veteran web guru, Bonnie Bucqueroux.

The J-School spent the past year gearing up for our accreditation review October 14-17 by a four-person team sent by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The J-School at MSU has been continuously accredited since the process began back in 1949. Students will be involved in the interviews with team members, as well.

Keep checking this web site for updated information on contest and scholarship opportunities, guest lecturers and other news.

Welcome, Spartans! Go Green! Go White!

Innovation Incubator launches in Ithaca

2007-06-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic launch of the Innovation Incubator project at Ithaca College in the rolling hills of upstate New York, June 7-10.

The Knight News Challenge project is to create ‘incubators’ at seven academic institutions to foster creative thinking about solutions to digital news problems. The schools are: Michigan State, University of Kansas, Kansas State, Western Kentucky University, Ithaca College, University of Nevada-Las Vegas and St. Michael’s College.

Six of the seven faculty mentors (one could not attend due to illness) arrived a day early for meetings and sessions to explain the project and the process. Students from around the country (36) in all from the seven schools came in through the afternoon and early evening on Thursday June 6.

The training started along immediately over dinner with students mingling and getting to know each other. Students and faculty had completed Myer-Briggs testing before their arrival to help in creating the mixed teams and learning about each of the participants. The ever smiling and energetic Mary Tomaselli, staff development manager in human resources at Ithaca College, led the group through a number of exercises intended to demonstrate the differences in the various personality types. We are loaded with ENTPs, and that should make the group dynamics very interesting as the project progresses.

Friday morning the full group headed off to the Hoffman Challenge Ropes Course run by Cornell University for a series of team building experiences. Students and a few of the more intrepid of the faculty, walked across cables, were launched skyward on ropes and harnesses and had to plot and figure their way literally through a web of ropes. It was a great team building experience for all—despite an overabundance of Gypsy Moth Caterpillars on the trees in the woods. (Yuck.)

Friday afternoon, the group settled into the real work with a lecture on the project by Ithaca College dean Dianne Lynch, and after dinner in their teams, began working on some practice exercises. Jane Briggs-Bunting, the J-School Director at Michigan State, put the individual teams through a Zig Zag exercise to demonstrate how different personality types reach a decision.

On Saturday, the students began the day working in the virtual world of Second Life in computer labs in the Park School. Several students had never ventured into this other life experience previously. They began learning how to navigate their avatars and teleport to different parts of the virtual world before returning to the Park School Island. Students were then given their first assignment—developing a travel related information product—and they had all of four hours to do it. The six faculty members, meanwhile, created an Innovation Incubator syllabus/calendar sto all the students could keep on track with the project.

Angela Powers, Kansas State director of the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, lectured on the interpersonal tensions that would likely arise among team members over the next six weeks as they worked on their proposals.

Teams made their product presentations to two Ithaca College alumni who had completed the pilot project last year and developed proposals for AOL. The winning idea was a cell-phone, two-way translator for folks traveling to a foreign country with no knowledge of the language. The individual can ask a question, the cell phone repeats it in the appropriate language (like German) and either the caller can repeat it or in a speaker phone can communicate the question. The response is them translated back by the cell phone to the individual. The team of Jordan Barnes (MSU), Kyle Bosman (Ithaca), Christina Caraco (Ithaca), Andrea Gosselin (St. Michaels) and Micah McAllister (Western Ky) had the winning idea and were awarded a $100 certificate to be used for development of their incubator project.

The students were engaged, curious and motivated by the end, not only to settle down and work using virtual formats for discussions and to exchange ideas among their teams and with their faculty, and to do it from distances as far a way as Ecuador, Las Vegas and elsewhere. They also managed to have a great party (according to information from unnamed sources!) Saturday night before leaving campus for travel home very early Sunday morning. The exhausted faculty crawled back to our rooms!

Stay tuned for more updates.

The beat goes on in the summer

2007-06-04T19:14:00.000-05:00

Hi all. Though many of our students have left campus for the summer for internships, jobs, study abroad, etc., the J-School is busier than ever as we pull together the data and information faculty have been assembling all year as we work on our reaccreditation with ACEJMC. The accrediting report deadline is September 1 and the accrediting team will be visiting the J-School on campus October 14-17.

We have three Study Abroad programs ongoing this summer, two in the U.K. and one in Australia. Faculty leading the courses report the three groups are fantastic, diligent and eager to learn.

In other news, the J-School along with six other colleges and universities received a $230,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to foster creative thinking by students towards solutions to digital news problems.

It’s good for MSU to be part of this innovative endeavor and helps position us as a leader in digital news education. The goal of this project is to create leaders in new media.

Associate Professor Darcy Greene, (also J-School associate director, visual design expert and web guru), will work with five journalism students who have been selected to help generate ideas and develop digital news solutions. The five students are: Jonathan Oosting, Katie Rausch, Steve Patterson, Megan Hart and Jordan Barnes.

The opening session begins with three full days of training on partner Ithaca College’s campus beginning June 7. The five students will work with students from the other campuses in different teams to develop innovative ideas for media. The seven teams will meet again to present their product ideas in August. These ideas will be synthesized and refined down to three. The teams will then combine down to three and final presentations will be made at the October Online News Association meeting in Toronto in October.

In other news, the J-School co-hosted a day-long seminar for newspaper executives from across the state and the region on Newspaper Next. The School partnered with the American Press Institute and the Michigan Press Association on the event that attracted news executives from as far away as St. Louis. Dave Poulson and his JRN 200 summer class also attended as did Cheryl Pell, Perry Parks, Sheila Schimpf and me.

In May, 19 faculty members went back to school themselves in two days of training in online skills in photo galleries, video and audio. Faculty were trained by a team of experts: Bonnie Bucqueroux, Darcy Greene and Serena Carpenter. We also brought in Brendan Watson, online editor of the St. Petersburg Times to help.

A two-day training session for professional media in video shooting and editing will be held later this month.

Congrats, good luck, good bye as academic year 2006-7 draws to a close

2007-05-03T17:43:00.000-05:00

As finals week wraps up, students pack up and head for home or jobs and internships across the country.

Graduation is Friday May 4, and we will be sending off some very bright, talented and ambitious young folks into the world with bachelors, masters and even a couple of doctorates.

Special accolades go to our soon to be minted doctors: Brad Love and Serena Carpenter. I will miss them both. Brad and I started at MSU together in Fall 2004. Serena has worked closely with me developing our digital reporting class.

Brad is heading off to the University of Texas at Austen, and Serena goes to Arizona State. Those schools and their students are going to be so lucky to have them as teachers and the faculty to have them as colleagues.

Good luck and safe travels to all. Happy Summer!

JBB

Sad news and good news as awards program showcases the J-School at its best

2007-04-22T17:16:00.000-05:00

The unsettling events of last week at Virginia Tech could happen on any college campus. Many faculty have read disturbing papers that raise concerns. We follow the process, calling counseling centers and urging students to make an appointment. But beyond that, unless we sense a clear and present danger the student is likely to harm himself/herself or others, that’s all we can do. Then we hope and pray.

On a much happier note, the J-School has had terrific success in various competitions and students have received numerous awards.

Our annual Awards Program on Saturday, April 14 was another stellar year for students. The awards, the scholarships, the internships were amazing. And while that program was beginning, the SPJ regional conference was wrapping up, but not before our students garnered even more accolades.

Congratulations to one and all, and a big thank you to Lori Anne Dickerson for her hard work in making the event, once again, a terrific day of celebration. Kudos also to Darcy Greene for her program design.

MSU winners of the SPJ Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards:

General News Reporting • First Place: Claire Cummings, Michigan State University, “A second son lost”• Second Place: Claire Cummings, Michigan State University, “Protecting cash cows”
Feature Writing • First Place: Melissa Domsic, Michigan State University, “Portraits of Perseverance” • Second Place: Kristen M. Daum, Michigan State University, “Tailor made”
Editorial Cartooning • Second Place: Ryan W. Kimball, Michigan State University, “Cartoons to end 2006”
Magazine Non-Fiction Article • First Place: Yu-Ting Lin, Michigan State University, “Environmental Evangelicals” • Third Place: Carol Navarro and Mairin MacDonald, Michigan State University, “Who Owns the Water?”
Best Student Magazine • Third Place: Staff, Michigan State University, “EJ Magazine”

The Sixth Annual Neal Shine Ethics Lecture was a sad but memorable event with Neal’s recent passing. We paid tribute to him then listened enthralled as Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Baghdad Bureau Chief and Neal’s hand picked lecturer, described what life was like covering the ongoing civil war.

We will be interviewing the second of our two finalists for our Southeast Asia Muslin Studies position this week. At our faculty meeting on Friday we will make a decision on the candidates.

Some faculty will be going to school themselves May 9 & 10 as we train for web skills including shooting and editing video, using Sound Slides and other skills. I will be right there in training, learning from colleagues like Darcy Greene, Bonnie Bucqueroux and Serena Carpenter. Should be fun.

Neal Shine's legacy in journalism

2007-04-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

Journalism lost the most amazing reporter, editor and teacher today with the passing of retired Detroit Free Press publisher Neal Shine.

Shine was teacher, boss, editor, counselor, lunch mate, friend. I had him for a class in public affairs reporting two very early mornings a week eons ago back at the University of Detroit (before it was Mercy). He hired me at the Free Press the fall of my junior year as a copy boy, a job title I immediately objected to, and he just laughed and teased.

A consummate journalist, he knew everybody in Detroit and elsewhere, had a network of sources who would tip him off on any and every important story before it broke. He taught us to be fair, accurate, thorough and intrepid. He also taught us that we were human beings first and reporters second. It made our coverage, my coverage richer, fuller, more honest.

When I decided to go to law school, he finagled a scholarship for me so I could stay at the Free Press.

When I eventually left the Free for what was to be a two to three year hiatus, to teach at Oakland, it was difficult to tell him. But two years later, I persuaded him to begin teaching part time, and he created an ethics class that is still modeled today, though no one likely can do it better than Shine. Taking ethics from him was like walking in quicksand as he changed small facts in his evolving scenarios. Most were “ripped from the pages of a newspaper.” He made us think. He made his students think. He made us better reporters and editors and humans because of it.

When he retired for the first time from the Free Press, I lured him to a full time faculty position at Oakland University. He came tenured and ranked, Professor Cornelius Shine. He loved teaching, loved his students. And the feeling was reciprocated. A scant few months later, the Free Press lured him back as publisher. He told me that telling me he was leaving was one of the hardest things he ever did. I knew it was his dream job—from copy boy to publisher. I made him promise to come back, got him a leave of absence, and he eventually returned.

I remember my annoyance when MSU’s School of Journalism received a generous gift from the Free Press to establish an ethics lecture in his name. “Why MSU,” I asked Shine. “You are teaching here at Oakland!” He didn’t know, but he was humbled by the honor.

When the sole (at the time) journalism lab at OU was in sad need of replacement, Neal and I launched the Tin Cup Campaign. He strong armed fellow editors to raise the money to replace the computers. “I get the circulation figures,” he told them. “I know you’re making money, and we need some.” And they gave.

When I came to MSU it was only after exhaustive discussions with Neal. He encouraged me to do so. Now, I liked that Neal Shine Ethics Lecture here at MSU. I made sure we recruited speakers that he felt were relevant. People like Ellen Goodman who he’d hired at the Freep, then he helped her land a job at The Boston Globe. Her speaker fee was far higher than the budget. “Just call her.” Neal said. “Tell her it’s for me.” I spoke to her agent. She never cuts her price I was informed. I used Neal’s name and a half hour later he called back asking how much we could afford to pay.

The next year we had Dan Okrent. Another Shine alum, Dan had just finished a year as the New York Times ombudsman. He came because it for Neal.

This year Nancy Youssef, the Baghdad Bureau chief for Knight Ridder, now McClatchy Newspapers, was his preferred choice. We will be welcoming her for the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture at 4 p.m., Monday, April 16 in the Kellogg Center. It will be a bittersweet day for me as we celebrate his memory and listen to Nancy’s talk.

That’s the impact he had on people. Across Michigan, across the nation, journalism has lost the man who was the soul of a great newspaper, a truly honest, decent and kindly man. Those of us who knew him are far richer because he touched our lives.

Back online with lots to report

2007-03-27T19:17:00.000-05:00

Lots of good news to report as the awards and scholarships keep rolling in.
Journalism senior Melissa Sanchez won a $20,000 scholarship to live, study and work in Central America for a year through the Inter-American Press Association. Her proposal was to compare access to information about health, employment and education in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Managua, Nicaragua. She will be working with the J-School’s Manuel Chavez to frame her research-study project in Central America, and will head to Central America in the fall.

EJ magazine and its staff have raked in a number of honors from the Detroit Press Club Foundation and SPJ’s regional chapters.

Chet Rhodes from washingtonpost.com spoke to faculty and students last Friday. He was amazing. He gave real hands on advice and approaches.

A week earlier, Jennifer Carroll, a MSU alum and a VP of online content at Gannett made a similar splash giving the over view of the ongoing changes in the media industry.

I had to miss her presentation since I was attending a terrific Poynter Seminar lead by Chip Scanlan on Reporting and Writing for Multiplatform Newsrooms. But I brought back lots of new ideas and experiences that I have already put to the test in our Digital Public Affairs Reporting course.

On the sad news front, our fantastic broadcast faculty member, Dr. Kim Piper-Aiken will be leaving us to teach at Wayne State University in Detroit. Kim has done a fantastic job as a master teacher and the executive producer of the award winning Focal Point TV News Magazine. We will miss her. I am hard at work trying to find someone who can come on board and assume some of her responsibilities. Kim has promised to help in the transition. I wish her the very best.

To give you a heads up on what’s coming up:

Wednesday, March 28, 12:15 p.m. Tripper’s – SPJ meeting
Presenter: Perry Parks, J-School instructor and author of Making Important News Interesting
Tripper’s is in Frandor Shopping Center. Cost is $10 for members and $12 for nonmembers and includes lunch. For additional info contact Christie Bleck at christieb7@msn.com.

Wednesday, March 28, 4 p.m., Room 145 CAS – Mary Gardner Lecture
Vanessa Arrington, former Havana bureau chief for the Associated Press. Arrington has covered news through Latin America in her career with the AP. She will be speaking on the challenges of reporting in this area. Her lecture is entitled: "Neither paradise nor purgatory: Castro's communist Cuba and the art of balanced reporting"

Thursday, March 29, 3:30 p.m. in room 145 CAS-- – Knight Center lecture
Marc Kaufman, science and health writer for The Washington Post
Title: “Reporting on science, health, nature and war in George W. Bush's Washington”

Saturday, April 14, 4-6 p.m., Auditorium, Kellogg Center—Journalism Awards ProgramSaturday, April 14, 6-10 p.m., Big Ten A, Kellogg Center—Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame banquet

Monday, April 16 – 2007 Neal Shine Ethics LectureNancy Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers’ Baghdad bureau chiefm 4 p.m., Kellogg Center

Heading back to class

2007-03-10T22:52:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great spring break. I did, but I also kept busy doing homework. I know. I'm the one who usually gives it, but I had some these past few weeks before heading off to a Poynter Seminar on Reporting and Writing for Multplatform Newsrooms.

For those who don't know, Poynter is a continuing education place for journalists. It's terrific, and I am really privileged to be going.

I intend to bring back as much as I can to you as the J-School continues its push into online reporting.

Frigid February doesn't slow us down

2007-02-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

Despite the subzero temperatures, the J-School is steaming along at full strength.

We’ve had four interesting speakers in the past two weeks—Daniel Grossman and Jeff Alexander were guests of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and Bill Emkow and Shawn Smith, producers at MLive, were guests of the J-School talking to the digital reporting class. This Friday, February 23, at 10 a.m., Jonathan Morgan from detnews.com will be speaking. Stop by to hear him.

Dave Poulson, J-School faculty member and associate director of the Knight Center, along with Cliff Lampe from TISM, launched the Great Lakes Wiki and triggered a storm of controversy by some journalists and environmental groups. One critic even chastised the J-School for allowing the wiki to exist. You can check out the wiki at www. greatlakeswiki.org . For an explanation of what the project, funded by a grant from the J-Lab, is, check out http://greatlakeswiki.org/index.php/Rethinking_Great_Lakes_journalism

We are in the midst of an information revolution. Where better to experiment than at a university? We need to try different things as the media industry is changing. Citizen journalism may frighten some, but news organizations are no longer the gatekeepers.

Our faculty is struggling with ways to provide the new skills on reporting for multiple platforms to our students. It will require all of us to learn these new skills. I learned a little bit on Final Cut Pro last week. It was fun, and I was confused for awhile, but then I started catching on. We should never stop learning!

It’s a heck of a lot easier than when I taught myself html hard coding with a couple of books and a lot of aspirin! When I tried Front Page, it was amazing. Dreamweaver is just that, a dream to operate. But I had to make time to learn it and stick with it when I hit roadblocks. I still run into issues, on occasion, but there are great books out there that help, and our faculty have a lot of expertise in different areas.

Three new stars in the J-School line-up

2007-01-30T19:32:00.000-05:00

Senior Melissa Sanchez won a third place Hearst Journalism Award in the In-Depth Writing Competition. She won for the terrific story she did while working last summer at the Miami Herald.

Two J-School faculty members are among five distinguished journalists to be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in April. Cheryl Pell and Sue Carter join a stellar induction class for 2007.

Cheryl Pell, Executive Director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, has transformed that organization into a nationally and internationally respected scholastic education program. Literally thousands of high school and middle/junior high school students attend conferences and workshops sponsored by MIPA. Hundreds of teachers through the state have earned certification in courses overseen by Pell. She has also led the ongoing fight to restore student press rights to high school students in the state. (That's Cheryl above.)

With a series of documentaries, including her work as co-leader and producer on the successful Polar Trek 2001 where she organized, led and documented 12 women’s ski trek to the North Pole, L. Susan Carter has had a distinguished career in both radio and television news. She launched her career in 1973 and WVIC in Lansing, before moving to ever larger markets eventually working for WXYZ, WWJ and WDIV in Detroit.

Congratulations to Melissa, Cheryl and Sue!!

Proficiency test dates scheduled!!

2007-01-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

We’ve scheduled the spring 2007 term proficiency test is for students hoping to enroll in JRN 200 in the upcoming summer, fall and spring terms.

Test dates are Monday, January 29. Check-in is at 4:45 p.m. by 145 CAS for the 5 p.m. test and 5:45 p.m. for the 6 p.m. test.

The second test date is Friday, February 9 at 2:45 p.m. by 145 CAS for the 3 p.m. test and 3:45 p.m. for the 4 p.m. test.

Make sure to bring your student ID with you. We will provide pencils for the test.

Results will be emailed to you approximately five days after the test date.

In other J-School upcoming events, we have an A-list roster of speakers coming to campus this term. Mark your calendars.

The roster includes:
· * Bill Emkow and Shawn Smith, MLive, Friday, Feb 2, 10-12.
· Jeff Alexander, guest of the Knight Center, Wednesday, February 14, details TBA, speaking on his book on the Muskegon River and how to be a successful journalist.
· * Chet Rhodes, Deputy Multimedia Editor, washingtonpost.com, Friday, Feb. 23, 10 -12 room TBA, lunch following for interested faculty
· * Jennifer Carroll, Vice President new Media Content, Gannett, Friday, March 16,10-12 room TBA, lunch after with interested faculty.
· Neal Shine Ethics Lecture: Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers’ Baghdad bureau chief, in mid-April.

* Indicates speaker of special interest as we begin the digitization of the curriculum.

In other J-School news, Info graphics whiz Karl Gude’s blog (www.visualeditors.com/gude) was voted the best blog as a recent Society of News Design conference in Orlando. Gude joined the faculty this past fall after 30 years as a graphics editor most recently for Newsweek.

Doctoral student Serena Carpenter will be attending a Convergence Seminar for College Educators at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida in February. Competition is fierce to be accepted. Congratulations, Serena! She is a hot item on the job market with her intest in online journalism and digital delivery.

Graduating doctoral student Brad Love was recently hired by the Univeristy of Texas at Austin. You go, cowboy! Congrats!

Welcome back! Check out the new courses and speakers in the spring term

2007-01-10T20:04:00.000-05:00

Welcome to 2007. We have an exciting term upcoming with several new classes and lots of lectures and special guests.

Our graphics guru, Karl Gude, is teaching a general information graphics class and a news graphics class. His students are already hard at work creating models of the human body.

Master’s students are taking the first ever digital public affairs reporting class running the entire 15 week term. Students who took the immersion class last May continue to tell us how valuable the course was. All journalism students need to learn how to report the news online with different elements including words, video, audio, photos, graphics, info boxes, interactive elements and blogs. Alternative news delivery to iPods, cell phones, etc. is part of this brave new world.

Students in and out of the class, faculty and media professionals will be invited to special Friday talks by professionals including Jennifer Carroll, vice president new media content at Gannett (March 16), and Washington Post Deputy Multimedia Editor Chet Rhodes (February 23).

Other upcoming speakers include Jeff Alexander of the Muskegon Chronicle on February 14 and Nancy A. Youssef, Iraq Bureau Chief, McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) Newspapers
as the Neal Shine Ethics Lecturer in April.

And the $$$ comes rolling in and other stuff

2006-12-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

John Hudson, Journalism freshman, is the inaugural winner of the Walter S. and Syrena M. Howell Essay Contest. His essay on flaws in the media’s coverage of the 2006 Michigan gubernatorial race was voted best by three J-School faculty members: Kim Piper-Aiken, Dave Poulson and Geri Zeldes. He wins a $1,000 prize and a $3,000 scholarship. The essay contest is funded by a bequest from the estate of the late Grant Howell, longtime editor of The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, Michigan. Howell devoted his career to fairness and objectivity in new coverage by his staff. He became increasingly concerned about bias and spin slipping into media coverage in recent years. The essay contest, named after his parents, was his effort to keep attention focused on this growing problem. The contest was open to all students in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Senior Marin MacDonald just won the prestigious Harold E. Fellow Memorial Scholarship from the Broadcast Education Association and the National Association of Broadcasters. Mairin is a Focal Point veteran joining in her freshman year. This year she is the Focal Point film critic and will receive her award at the NAB convention in Las Vegas in the spring.
The J-School announced the first of the scholarship winners for the 2007-8 academic year. Awards totaled more than $30,000. More winners will be announced in the near future.

The 10th issue of EJ Magazine just hit the cyber news stands at www.ejmagazine.com. The print version arrives early next week. This issue's special section is "Green Lifestyles," which has seven articles, each focusing on a different aspect of how we live -- our cars, homes, kids, pets, food, fun, and vacation. Editor Katie Coleman, a J-School master’s student in the environmental option is EJ’s editor. The Magazine is published by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism,

Despite the first major snow and ice of the season, the J-School’s Michigan Interscholastic Press Association hosted an InDesign workshop for high school students on Friday. Nearly 100 braved the slushy roads to attend. Cheryl Pell, MIPA Executive Director, did a great job, as always.

Busy time in November

2006-11-13T19:44:00.000-05:00

What a fantastic two weeks in the J-School.

Our two visiting journalists from Mexico, Martha Trejo and Rene Sanchez, spent two days in Detroit visiting editors at The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, Automotive News and Bloomberg News. They got a first hand look at covering business from these varying perspectives. Our host the News was Mark Truby, at the Freep Joe Grimm, at Automotive News, Ed Lapham and at Bloomberg Jeff Bennett.

Last week, they went to Chicago to visit the Tribune and its editors, the Chicago Board of Trade and had an architectural tour of the Chicago financial district. This was all arranged by Journalism Professional Advisory Council (JPAC) member Meg O’Brien, Associate Business editor at the Tribune.

In the midst of this, Darcy Greene and Karl Gude put together an amazing new brochure to promote the J-School and recruit students. It is fantastic and a real credit to these two faculty members. Karl pulled an all nighter to get the brochure ready for the printer. And he isn’t a student!

Last Friday, the JPAC met, and except for the 40 minute building evacuation when smoke was detected in the basement, we had a terrific exchange. JPAC members enthusiastically supported the direction into online.

Then, for me it was off to Nashville to join faculty member Cheryl Pell at the Journalism Education Association meeting. Cheryl is well known by virtually the who’s who of JEA. She is clearly respected, liked and admired. Fifth year student and future teacher Sara Beth O’Connor was honored for her potential and I received a Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort—what a place!

Remember--deadline for the $4,000 Howell Essay Contest is this Friday, November 17.

State News sets the "pace" and makes the J-School proud

2006-10-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

The State News won a 2006 Pacemaker! That’s the college equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize for excellence. The State News was one of just 20 papers nationwide to win this prestigious award from the Associated Collegiate Press.

Congratulations to current editor Nick Mrozowksi and former editor Amy Bartner. Adviser Perry Parks also deserves credit along with the staff.

And in the individual categories, the staff racked up an impressive record of wins:

Story of the Year Awards:

News story — 2nd place, Josh Jarman

Editorial — Honorable mention, Vanessa Notman and Rebecca McNulty

Online package — 1st place, Jeana-Dee Alllen

Cartooning Awards:Editorial cartoon — 3rd place, Mike Ramsey

Photo Excellence Awards: News picture — 2nd place, Mike Itchue
Feature picture — 1st place, Travis Haughton
Sports picture — Honorable mention, Mike Itchue
Picture story — 2nd place, Dave Weatherwax

Though The State News is an independent corporation and is separate and distinct from the J-School, many on the staff are majors. We are very proud of them.

Crunch time in the J-School

2006-10-26T19:09:00.000-05:00

What a crazy week it has been…again!

Next year’s full schedule (Summer and Fall 2007 and Spring 2008) are due in the College office on Friday, October 27. Thanks to the hard work of MaryAnne Bulemore, a temporary fill-in in the J-School office, we will make that deadline.

We have several new courses set including one on war reporting, three on information graphics (including a new interactive graphics class). Check them out in the spring when the Schedule of Classes is posted.

A large contingent from The State News headed off to St. Louis today for the CMA/ACP conference. The newspaper is a finalist for the Pacemaker Award and we have staff members as finalists in virtually every competition. Go Green!

The staff may also get a chance to see the Tigers play the Cards, if it ever stops raining in St Louis!!

On the good news front, alum Karen Brown Dunlap, president of The Poynter Institute, was one of just eight distinguished journalist to receive the University of Missouri’s Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.

And last but not least, our visiting journalists from El Norte and Reforma newspapers have arrived on campus. We had a welcome lunch for Martha Trejo and René Sanchez today with the faculty. Both are business editors at their newspapers. Their visit is part of a continuing exchange with the Grupo Reforma chain of newspapers in Mexico and their publisher and CEO, Alejandro Junco. Senor Junco was a student of the late Dr. Mary Gardner, a legendary J-School faculty member.

This was the week that was

2006-10-18T16:57:00.000-05:00

Wow! Did we have a busy week at the J-School, and it’s only Wednesday.

We got started with the big, big Tiger win Saturday night capturing the American League pennant. The final call, by faculty member Lori Anne Dickerson’s husband, Dan, the voice of the Detroit Tigers, is now the call heard round the world. In case you missed it, just click on the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Iaj7Wzi_8&mode=related&search=

Monday high school students from all over the state took over the Lansing Center for our Michigan Interscholastic Press Association fall conference. J-School faculty member and MIPA Executive Director Cheryl Pell had an all star line-up of presenters in sessions ranging from design, information graphics, column writing, ethics, censorship. Then we got gassed…literally. Work crews outside the building sliced through a gas main. The final sessions in early afternoon were cut short when the police ordered an emergency evacuation of the building. But hey, this was a building full of budding journalists. They did what any self respecting journalists do—they covered the story.

Tuesday night students from ALANA hosted a Meet the Media night for students to listen to the pros (many alums from the J-School) about the best way to land internships and jobs and what students can expect in the changing media landscape. The message came through loud and clear: get as many experiences as you can, be flexible and ready for changes throughout your career and master hands on skills that include text, video, audio, visuals. Hard core tree huggers need to adapt. Broadcast: ditto.

Intern recruiters are coming weekly to campus. Last week was the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, next week is the Columbus Post-Dispatch. Interested, see L.A., though next week she’s going to be a little distracted as the Tigers go for the World Series win. Go Tigers!

Lots going on

2006-10-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

Most weeks it is pretty crazy around the J-School. This week was no exception. It was likely worse because of my travels last week. Then there's been the weather. I really don't expect snow squalls in mid-October, but oh those Tigers are making the sunshine any way.

The faculty are meeting on Friday for the second day-long retreat on reinventing journalism education. Stay tuned. Some profound changes should be happening as a result.

On the good news front, senior Sara Beth O’Connor has won a Future Teacher Scholarship for $1,000 from the Journalism Education Association. She will be presented with the check at JEA’s annual meeting in November. Faculty member Cheryl Pell nominated her for the scholarship. I will receive a national Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award from the JEA at the same conference.

Our Editor-in Residence Bill McWhirter (Mac to his students) will be attending for the first ever Business Journalism Professor Seminar to be held January 7-12 at Arizona State University in Tempe. Bill’s son is currently enjoying an extended period of fame based on his video on Youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6tlw-oPDBM) He appeared on Good Morning America and David Letterman this week!

And next Monday, the best scholastic press association in the country is hosting its annual journalism day. Cheryl Pell and her staff have created an event-filled day full of great sessions for newspaper and yearbook high school students and their advisers. The workshop for middle school and junior high students is set for Thursday, November 2 on the MSU campus. For more information, checkout http://mipa.jrn.msu.edu/ for more info.

Until next week, Go TIGERS!

Sunday musings

2006-10-08T14:07:00.000-05:00

Just kicking back today enjoying probably the last warm and breezy weather after a busy week in D.C.

It was great to connect with alums and meet some others I did not know like Jennifer Carroll, Gannett vice president of new media content. She moderated a Saturday session at the Online News Association conference I attended.

I've made some great contacts and got some solid ideas on where the news media is heading in the digital world. My goal is to make sure you, our future graduates, are competitive and skilled to take advantage of the digital newsroom.

To be competitive, you'll need to sharpen or learn skills in video and audio if you are planning a career in what was once the print media. We're going to help you. Stay tuned.

And go Tigers! You've gotta know that L.A. is grinning from ear to ear after last night's trouncing of the Yankees.

Mojos, dojos & sojos, oh my!

2006-10-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

Just finished day one of the Online News Association conference in D.C. Sessions included mojos,dojos and sojos, blogging, the future, where the industry is and where some of the top folks believe it is heading.

We talked about continuous news desks (and the return of the rewrite guy), citizen sites and even heard from the founder of Craig's List.

Most of the day was spent at Gannett's new headquarters in McLean, Virginia--all glass and marble and steel.

The irony of the day was the server at the hotel where the next two days of the conference will be held was down Thursday morning. It sure backed up my email!

Wednesday night had a terrific reunion meal with recent grads Ashley Bloom and Marc Rehmann, veteran alums Nancy Donnelly and Helen Kirkpatrick and DC interns Tina Reed and Lauren Phillips. What a truly impressive group of Spartans! We talked about the business, the changes and the future--and we all agreed not to talk about football!

Alum Jemele Hill shares what it's like to be black, femail, covering sports

2006-09-28T17:31:00.000-05:00

J-School alumna Jemele Hill was featured in a Q & A in the Daily Columbia Journalism Review. Check out her thoughts at www.cjr.org. In the search box just type in her name.

After six years covering sports at the Detroit Free Press she is now a sports columnist at the Orlando Sentinel.

J-School's Man of Steele Wants YOU!!

2006-09-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Alum Jeremy Steele writes: THEY CAN'T PLAY FOOTBALL, but Michigan State University students are proving they can reorganize an SPJ chapter. Ten students joined us Friday to talk about restarting the student chapter in the School of Journalism. If you missed it the first time, join us at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6 in the Deeb Conference Room (Room 191) of the Communication Arts & Sciences Building. Our organizing committee is planning to choose officers and begin planning programs. Since 11 a.m. is like the break of dawn for the college crowd (especially on Friday), we'll provide morning-friendly snacks. Special thanks to J-School adjunct faculty members Vic Rauch, who has agreed to be faculty adviser, and Cindy Kyle, who will assist. We're also looking for donations to cover future food expenses and financial aid to help students pay SPJ dues. Interested or need more information? Contact Mid-Michigan Pro Chapter President Jeremy Steele at jeremywsteele@gmail.com.

Mairin MacDonald wins film critic scholarship

2006-09-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

This just in from Dr. Kim Piper-Aiken, our broadcast guru: Third year Focal Point Team Member Mairin MacDonald is the recipient of the first Lesley Nagy Broadcast Film Critics Association Scholarship.

MSU J-School alum Lesley Nagy selected Mairin's winning essay this past weekend. Nagy is a film critic for KBWB-TV in San Francisco who graduated from MSU in 2000.

MacDonald will receive a $550 scholarship (as will Focal Point!) and is the official film critic for the Focal Point TV News Magazine. In that role, MacDonald will host the new Focal Point Critic's Corner and will provide film critics for each show this semester.

Congratulations to Mairin!!

Rules are rules!!

2006-09-13T19:21:00.000-05:00

I need your help. I know it may seem impossible to sit through a class without coffee, soda, food and candy, but that's what you have to do in the labs. I have to refrain from eating and drinking in them, too!

The tech folks report that a new Mac keyboard was already fried by a spilled pop this month.

MSU spent a bucket load of money over the summer to replace computers, put in new tables and chairs, lay down new carpet and paint the walls. (Some of the colors are admittedly...vibrant.)

So, I am asking your cooperation. No food, no drink in the labs. Faculty have to abide by and enforce the rules, too.

Thanks.

The J-SAC is in business

2006-09-07T19:18:00.000-05:00

We had a terrific first meeting with a small but enthusiastic group of J-Students. These members of the Journalism Student Advisory Council (J-SAC) will represent the concerns, issues and ideas that percolate up from you, their constituents.

The steering committee members of the J-SAC this year are Sherry Bagnall (bagnalls@msu.edu), Mike Hogan (hoganmi1@msu.edu), Vildana Kurtovic (kurtovi1@msu.edu) and Caitlin Scuderi (scuderi@msu.edu). Please contact them and/or me if you have any ideas or issues.

Here are two questions that came up at the meeting:

Why can students only take up to four credits of internship? The national accrediting body that we belong to (the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications) is very strict on its requirements. Internship credit is limited to a maximum of four credits. That's why we encourage students to take one-credit internships and build their experiences. I know many of you would like to take a lot more internship credits, but we want to make sure you have a well-rounded education because that will make you a better journalist...really!

Why can't J majors take more than 40 credits in journalism and other classes in departments like APRR, TISM and COM within the College of Communication Arts and Sciences? Again, it's a rule made by our accrediting body. You can exceed the 40 credit limit, but that means you will also have to graduate with more than 120 credits from MSU.

If you have similar questions, just let me know!

JBB

Check out The Intern

2006-09-05T15:15:00.000-05:00

Carrie Hoover, J-School senior and State News design editor, had a nerve wracking but totally satisfying week. She won top honors at the Society of News Design (SND) Intern contest.

The grueling process started when she applied last May. She was one of ten semifinalists who were put through their paces at the SND national conference in Orlando last week including being wakened at 4 a.m. with the breaking (phony) news that Osama bin Laden had been captured. She had to design a front page for the story.

Top design editors from the Orlando Sentinel, The Arizona Republic and the San Jose Mercury News winnowed the competitors down to five. SND attendees made the next cut voting Carrie into the top three. After a Quiz Bowl complete with buzzers where Carrie smoked the other two finalists, she was named the best of the best of student designers. Congrats, Carrie!!

She got to pick her internship for next summer. Her choice: the San Jose Mercury News. She completed an internship this past summer at The Virginian Pilot.

Along with Carrie, four other MSU students, all members of the Edmund C. Arnold chapter of SND on campus attended the annual conference along with three faculty: Darcy Greene, Cheryl Pell and Karl Gude. The four other students were Allisence Chang, Travis Ricks, Nick Mrozowski and Jessica Nowak.

You can see Carrie's video at http://snd.org/theintern/Hoover.html

Update from May Grad

2006-08-31T18:44:00.000-05:00

Ashley Bloom graduated in May. She landed her dream job at National Geographic Television and Film this summer. Ash did an internship there last summer. That was after internships at other places including the BBC. She has talent, drive and determination. That's what it takes to succeed.

Here's what she has to say: "I'm working for National Geographic Television and Film, just 4 blocks from the White House. I am a Production Coordinator and I handle (well, more like help with) the production and post-production matters for my series from the NGS headquarters. I'm really happy with what I'm doing. On a normal day I'm picking out and ordering stock footage for the films, working for both in-house and out-of-house producers, annotating scripts and working with our graphic department. I love my job!

-Ash"

Your J-School Needs YOU!!

2006-08-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

We need your help! No one is more expert on the student view of journalism classes than...you!

I've scheduled the first meeting of the year for the JSAC (Journalism Student Advisory Council). All formally admitted majors are invited to attend this very important meeting set for 5-6 p.m., Wednesday, September 6 in 147 CAS. Pizza will be served!!

Please let me know if you are coming so we can order enough pizza. To tell me, email Linda at hartwigl@msu.edu.

The JSAC plays an important role in the school. A rep attends our monthly faculty meetings and provides student input on issues. Members are selected to sit on the Hearing Board. And this year, as part of the ongoing self study for reaccreditation, students will help us prepare for the visit next fall by the accrediting team members.

Why do it? It's an impressive line on the resume, you will learn a lot about how an academic unit in a Big Ten place like MSU operates, but, most importantly, you will help make the J-School an even better place to study. Please join us next Wednesday, September 6 from 5-6 p.m. in 147 CAS!

The fun has begun

2006-08-28T16:34:00.000-05:00

The first day of classes kept everyone including faculty and staff hopping today. Karl Gude, formerly graphics editor of Newsweek, met his first class. He came back excited and enthused. Karl is a terrific addition to our staff. Students are going to learn an unbelievable amount about design and info graphics from him. He's part of our new design initiative.

Be careful out there. Bikes and pedestrians are everywhere as the freshmen learn to navigate through campus.

JBB

The Freshmen have arrived!

2006-08-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

Friday was a busy day for me and the rest of the faculty I met the first year students in the doctoral, masters and undergraduate programs. Looks like a terrific group of newbies! Welcome to the J-School!!

Keep checking this blog site for info on speakers, guests, intern recruiters on campus, scholarship deadlines and a really cool essay contest with a big $$$$ prize attached.

Classes start on Monday! It's going to be a great year! See you then!

JBB

Faculty retreat

2006-08-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

We had a terrific day-long retreat on Wednesday, August 23 at the Benegl Wildlife Center. Several of our Professional Advisory Council members attended. We are getting ready for reaccreditation by the Accrediting Council of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC), but I'll tell you more about that process later. Just know, it's important to the J-School and a focus of much of our work for the coming year.

At the retreat, we really came up with some exciting ideas about the future of journalism and how we need to address those changes to keep our students on the cutting edge.

I hope you'll join me in a similar discussion at the Journalism Student Advisory Council (JSAC) that will be having it's first meeting 5-6 p.m., Wednesday, September 6, 2006, in 147 CAS.

Melissa Sanchez

2006-08-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is a story written by one of our seniors. I think she did aterrific job. It's a story about two undocumented immigrantsfrom Honduras who were murdered in Fort Lauderdale.

J-School at Michigan State University

2006-08-16T17:44:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the blog site of the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. My name is Jane Briggs-Bunting, and I'm the Director and blogger for this site.

I will talk about J-School news, special opportunities and events. This is the place to come for info on deadlines for scholarships, special ticket giveaways, and great opportunities to meet professionals visiting campus. I also want to provide a more direct link to you sharing information concerning resources you may not know of that are available to you.

For now, let's start the conversation with my Top Ten Reasons Big TEN MSU is the place to study journalism:

Because in the J-School:

1. We’ve been teaching journalism at MSU since 1910.

2. We were among the first schools in the nation to earn accreditation back in 1949 and have been continuously accredited ever since.

3. We have an award winning faculty with extensive professional credentials in print, broadcast, magazine, information graphics and design.

4. We have award-winning students who win and place in national and regional journalism competitions.

5. We have a who’s who of alumni throughout the U.S. and the world.

6. We invented the Capital News Service, a much imitated subscription service where students cover the state capital for member newspapers across Michigan.

7. We began the nationally and internationally acclaimed Victims and the Media Program to train professional journalists and students how to cover tragedies, crime and disasters without further traumatizing the victims and how to deal with this stress themselves.

8. We are the home of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

9. We offer more than $80,000 in journalism scholarships to our majors.

10. We place students in internships across the nation from small market newspapers and broadcast outlets to national major market publications and outlets.

And what the heck, the Big Ten has 11 universities, so…

11. We have some of the best student run media outlets in the nation: the award- winning independent State News, Focal Point TV news magazine, The Big Green online magazine, IMPACT Radio and the online boundary pushing www.spartanedge.com.