August 2016 – College Media Review

Explore campus diversity with effective coverage

A dozen ideas on how to focus on diversity issues on your campus

Image courtesy George A. Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri. Via Creative Commons Flckr

By Rachele Kanigel
San Francisco State University

Over the past two years, college campuses around the nation have been rocked by unrest as activists have demonstrated against systematic racism, police brutality against people of color, insufficient facilities for transgender and gender-non-conforming people, cuts to ethnic studies programs, and other hot-button issues. These actions have shined a spotlight on long-simmering tensions and forced both administrators and student media outlets to pay closer attention to the realities of living in a diverse community.

Next week in CMR: Taking a look at the Diversity Style Guide with editor Rachele Kanigel.

Infused with emotion, these stories can be difficult to report, and student journalists sometimes find themselves in the middle of the conflict, with both administrators and activists criticizing their coverage.

Good journalism means building trust and that requires going beyond the news story du jour and taking a deeper look at the enduring and complex roots of these events.

As your student media outlet starts a new school year, consider ways to explore the larger issues behind the headlines. For inspiration, check out The Seattle Times’ “Under Our Skin” project, NPR’s new CodeSwitch podcast and the Associated Press’ “Divided America,” an ongoing series on the economic, social and political divisions in American society.

Here are some ideas for exploring diversity issues on your campus. Continue reading “Explore campus diversity with effective coverage”

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”

CMR research annual available for download

College Media focus of research activities

College Media Review’s Research Annual is now available for download from this site.

2016_CMR_AnnualCvr — CMR Research Annual 2016 (Click to image to Download)

Volume 53 for CMR contains peer-reviewed research relating to college media and its practitioners that was published by the College Media Review (CMReview.org) during the 2015-2016 Academic Year.

To download a copy of this volume, CLICK HERE.

For previous editions of the Research Annual, see the “Archive” link at the top of the home page.

CMR’s Research Annual reflects embrace of change

CMR research for Volume 53 available for download

By Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver
CMR Associate Editor

Perhaps nowhere is change more evident than in journalism. The world of communications is rapidly evolving, and as this evolution takes place, those of us who work with college and university student media sometimes need roller skates to keep up with what is happening with professional media in order to better prepare our students to go to work in that world.

Two of our authors in this volume of College Media Review deal with change and look at the issue of convergence, a word we hear all around us. Media organizations across the country are rushing to gure out how to converge their news operations, and readers and viewers are demanding more and faster options to get information. Campus media, however, are struggling with this issue and searching for the best model.

Mark Smith and Don Krause from Truman State University look at the topic in both print and broadcast operations in Missouri colleges and universities. Their article explores the status of convergence as well as its challenges and the reasons for the lack of convergence in numerous institutions. Continue reading “CMR’s Research Annual reflects embrace of change”