Bradley Wilson

Florida college embraces online and social media

Dormant “newspaper” brought back to life online

Photo by Fred Arnold — My time with the Sandbox was rewarding. Every time I covered a story, I was covering someone's life, their best or worst moments. I got to experience many different people, cultures and ideas. On top of all that, I documented these moments in photography, videography, and graphic design. I witnessed these things and had a chance to leave a small mark on history. Adding social media to the mix allowed my colleagues and I to share the news in a modern way to a broader audience. — Photo by Fred Arnold — My time with the Sandbox was rewarding. Every time I covered a story, I was covering someone’s life, their best or worst moments. I got to experience many different people, cultures and ideas. On top of all that, I documented these moments in photography, videography, and graphic design. I witnessed these things and had a chance to leave a small mark on history. Adding social media to the mix allowed my colleagues and I to share the news in a modern way to a broader audience.

By Kathy Bryson
St. Petersburg College

Journalism in the last 10 years has been a roller coaster of change, and many of us have probably wondered whether or not we’re teaching a dinosaur. Some programs have gone so far as to merge with other disciplines, becoming double degrees with additional courses in computers, communications, public relations, or social media. With the overlap in subjects that comes with convergent media programs have to make decisions about what they will be be able to cover and, equally, what they will not.

When The Sandbox students revitalized the publication, they did so online only.

St. Petersburg College’s student newspaper, The Sandbox, began actively exploring change since its reincarnation in 2011. Ours is not a formal certificate or degree program, but rather an associate’s degree in mass communication with classes that transfer into the University of South Florida’s bachelor’s degree. However, the school wanted and needed an active paper to cultivate student interest and encourage practice. Continue reading “Florida college embraces online and social media”

Arizona students cover Olympics

A prime assignment for 1 of 25 selected to cover summer games…

Scotty Bara is a senior at Arizona State University majoring in journalism and mass communication. He was one of 25 students accepted into a program to cover the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He is posting on Twitter @scottybara. Follow the class posts using #CronkiteRio.

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

What led you to covering the Olympics?

It was always my dream to cover the Olympics. It’s the world’s biggest sporting event and I was in disbelief when I heard I was one of the 25 accepted to the program to cover the games out of the hundreds of students who applied.

When applying to colleges, I heard of the Olympic program at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU. I knew I wanted to pursue journalism in college and the Olympics program was a major factor I considered. I followed the school’s coverage of the 2012 London games and was amazed at how much content the student journalists produced over the span of three weeks. I worked hard in my classes to build up my resume at ASU and applied to the program. I went to football, basketball, soccer, water polo, baseball and lacrosse to attempt to master sports photography during my years at the Cronkite School. Continue reading “Arizona students cover Olympics”

NYC Shoot-out: Students of CMA

Photographers given opportunity to reflect on conference attendees

Humans of CMA

FIRST PLACE AND CLASS FAVORITE: “I grew up on the north side of Las Vegas, Nevada in a single parent household with a father that found better things to do than be a father. I watched my mother work two jobs to make sure that the bills were paid and there wasn’t enough money for food. I’ve been without food before sometimes even for days. We scratched, clawed, and begged for an opportunity at sustenance and this taught me to never waste food. When I was younger, I had high aspirations of going to college, and maybe one day in the future I could visit New York City. I could have never imagine that both would happen so soon. I go to an HBCU in Louisiana and I’m in New York attending this wonderful conference and learning so many new things. This city has shown me that any dreams could come true and as long as you work hard and are advantage of a God-given talent, in which writing was my saving grace. Langston Hughes asked a question, What happens to a dream deferred? I live to show you want happens when a dream isn’t. Don Montrelle Green, Southern University, Advisor Jermaine Poshee, [email protected]

01_k_abhari

SECOND PLACE Kiarash Abhari, Missouri Western State University (James Carviou); [email protected]; (This is the first time I feel free in New York. This is the first time I experienced not being lost in the New York subway for over three hours. I used to study finance at my previous university. When I visited New York before CMA, I saw it through the lens of economics. I spent many hours warming up to the Meryl Lynch bull down on Wall Street watching the numbers being tabulated. I was dressed as business woman ready to make a deal. At the moment, I am studying digital media and I serve as the design editor for my university yearbook. My perspective of New York has transformed. Going out outside of the business infrastructure of the city, I was able to meet people from all over the world. This allowed me to discover the opportunity the city has to offer through the lens of its diversity and aesthetic beauty. As I explore this new uncharted vision of the city, New York is becoming my dream!)

01_k_guo_web

THIRD PLACE “I’ve never been in New York City before. I’ve pretty much been to every another major city in the States, so this is like a whole new experience for me. I’ve completely fallen in love with everything about it. I feel like there is just something very romantic, I guess this is a good word about New York City. It’s very stereotypical, and it lives up to its stereotypes. To me, I like that a lot. You know you also heard that New Yorkers are pushy, they are rude. Everything is fast pace, it’s ‘go, go, go’. That is very much how I am as a person, so I felt I fit right in here.” Kainan Guo; University at Buffalo; Jody Kleinberg-Biehl, adviser, [email protected]

01_j_wall_web

HONORABLE MENTION Juliana Wall, Cedar Crest College (Dannah Hartman);[email protected]; “It started sophomore year of high school taking pictures with a cell phone, but when I borrowed a friend’s camera, I loved it. I didn’t get my own camera until a year and half ago and I love having control of the settings like exposure and aperture. I had the opportunity to spend a weekend working with National Geographic and that opened my eyes to the world of journalism and photojournalism. I want to learn how to tell stories with photos, like how do we tell a visual story of this dude in a molecular lab that’s researching endobiosis? I want to help to bridge the divide between the academic scientific journals and what people what to read and see in order to engage them in science. This is my first time in New York and it’s very different from Hawaii, where our tallest building is about five stories. It’s also very cold here, but it’s exciting! This conference is a way to connect with people and see what kinds of opportunities there are in the media world and I want to perhaps to find an internship in science journalism, specifically with marine mammals and biopsychology.” - Zachary Gorski, University of Hawaii at Hilo

02_G_Babush_web

HONORABLE MENTION, Greg Babush Moraine Valley Community College Ted Powers [email protected] Josh Mira waits for a love that leaves him blinded to the city.

02_m_west_web

HONORABLE MENTION Michela West, University of Massachusetts Boston (Donna Neal); [email protected] “I grew up in New Jersey, five minutes outside of the city. I spent every weekend up until in New York City. Being back in New York is a nostalgic feeling. It’s very nice being in what now is my rival city. It feels more at home than Boston does. I’m a New Yorker living in Boston.”

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

I couldn’t be at the College Media Association convention in New York City this spring. It was just bad timing the week before our spring break. Yet I knew there would be an enthusiastic group of students wanting to participate in the Shoot-out. Jack Zibluk again stepped up to help with the administration.

But I wanted to get a feel for what I was missing. So working with Brandon Stanton’s basic reporting concepts in Humans of New York, I tweaked the assignment to challenge the students so we could all have a little fun and learn a little more about our conference attendees as well.

Just based on the results, I’d say everyone had a little fun and learned something in the process. It was good to see that the students had time to get out of the hotel, visiting different parts of the city that never sleeps. The top entries made me feel like I was there.

But they went beyond that. The best entries also gave me some insight into the individuals who attended the convention. The write-ups didn’t take a shot-gun approach, telling me a little about a lot. They took an in-depth approach, as Stanton does, telling a lot about a tiny piece of the person’s life. If there was ever a time to exercise what a friend of mine used to say — “If you have five minutes to take a person’s photo, spend three minutes getting to know them and two minutes taking their picture. — this is it. Get to know them. Pick one interesting aspect of their life and tell me more about that.
Continue reading “NYC Shoot-out: Students of CMA”

Ethics conference honors Walter Cronkite, ‘the most trusted man in America’

Bob Bergland introduces a panel at the Walter Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics. Panelists discussed "Ethics in the Trenches" and included Derek Donavan, public editor of the Kansas City Star; Bridget Blevins, news Director of KQ2 television; Greg Kozol, digital content director of the St. Joseph News-Press; Ross Martin, editor of the Platte County Citizen and Adam Waltz, anchor and producer at Fox 26 KNPN. Photo by Bradley Wilson — Bob Bergland introduces a panel at the Walter Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics. Panelists discussed “Ethics in the Trenches” and included Derek Donavan, public editor of the Kansas City Star; Bridget Blevins, news Director of KQ2 television; Greg Kozol, digital content director of the St. Joseph News-Press; Ross Martin, editor of the Platte County Citizen and Adam Waltz, anchor and producer at Fox 26 KNPN. Photo by Bradley Wilson

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

In an era where decisions to cover something and to publish something can be made in second, not hours or days, college educators — and working journalists — continue to struggle with how to teach ethics and what to teach. Clearly, it is more than giving students a link to a code of ethics and putting them out on the streets.

To foster education in media ethics, Missouri Western State University hosted the Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics for the second year including academic presentations, panel discussions, lectures and open discussions on various aspects of ethics.

Continue reading “Ethics conference honors Walter Cronkite, ‘the most trusted man in America’”

Government officials reminded to be transparent in their actions

Sean Flynn, assistant United States attorney and deputy chief of the civil division, speaks during the AEJMC Scholastic Division meeting at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo by Bradley WIlson — Sean Flynn, assistant United States attorney and deputy chief of the civil division, speaks during the AEJMC Scholastic Division meeting at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo by Bradley Wilson

Access to information sometimes takes a nudge, sometimes more

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

Perhaps nothing is more frustrating to a college media adviser or a student working on the college media than being told that they — or their students — can’t have information. Sometimes just a phone call to the appropriate person can resolve the problem but often members of the media have to resort to filing a public information request.

While public university attorneys and other officials — acting on behalf of the state government — sometimes delay and appeal to the state attorney general’s office, sometimes just the request itself can remind public officials that their jobs are supposed to be conducted in a transparent fashion accountable to the public.

When members of the Scholastic Journalism Division of AEJMC met down at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in January, two federal government officials discussed the Freedom of Information Act.

Continue reading “Government officials reminded to be transparent in their actions”