Sláinte! Learning community journalism in rural Ireland

Getting the story in Ireland

By Andrea Breemer Frantz, Ph.D. and Lindsey Wotanis, Ph.D.

(Credit: Lindsey Wotanis/Marywood University): Elysabethe Brown (Marywood University) stays behind to capture a shot at Staigue Fort while Molly Boylan (Marywood University) walks ahead.

In his book Community Journalism: Relentlessly Local, Jock Lauterer notes, “Few institutions of higher education offer classes called ‘Community Journalism.’”

This is especially true for the small journalism programs struggling to offer comprehensive curricula with too few hands and too many demands from an industry in mid-reboot.

Thus, according to Lauterer, journalism school graduates are “largely untrained and totally unprepared” for what they will likely face in their first jobs.

But as he and others have suggested, it comes down to this: It’s the story, stupid. And in that concept of “story” we also know it’s about reporters immersing in community to see its issues and experiences through the lens of those who live them.

The challenge lies in helping students, who are inherently transient, to define themselves as part of a community, even if temporarily. Through a study abroad opportunity in Ireland, American journalism students did just that: immersing themselves in local Irish culture to report for a village’s annual publication.

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Combining study abroad and undergraduate research

Make it a double

By Robert Bergland

While combining reporting and study abroad is an excellent way to enhance students’ skills while increasing their understanding of the world, combining research with study abroad is yet another way to double the educational value of a trip to another country.

Study abroad and undergraduate research are often considered two separate facets of applied learning. However, they can be very compatible, and combining them can enhance the learning experience for both activities. For the students enrolled in Spring 2010 in Global Journalism Research, a special topics class offered for the first time at Missouri Western State University, that combination led to an experience they will not soon forget. The goals were simple:

to expose students to media systems in other countries
to teach students about mass communication research methods
to have students undertake full-fledged, publishable-quality research projects
to have as many students as possible present their research findings at an international conference Continue reading “Combining study abroad and undergraduate research”

Journalism Study Abroad Programs

Providing an international perspective

Many journalism schools offer study-abroad opportunities, which may include year- or semester-long exchange programs or shorter-term faculty-led trips.

These journalism programs are open to students from any school:

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Contagion: Viral Articles in Student Media

Media phenomenon is both misunderstood and under theorized

By Holly-Katharine Johnson, M.F.A.
Professor of English and New Media
Mercer County Community College

Abstract: How does the viral media phenomenon add complexities to the obligations of student journalism and what demands does it place on student reporters and on college media advisers? To get at that question we must first establish a working definition of “viral article” as applied to online content, and then try to understand what kinds of articles go viral and why. Case studies will point up the benefits and the problematic outcomes of viral student reporting, allowing for a detailed analysis of the strategies college media advisers can use to assist students in anticipating and handling viral content.

“There is always an innate human urge to put something out there and see what people are going to make of it. We are doing exactly the same thing as the guys who were painting on caves.”

-Lee Clow from Art & Copy

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Editor’s note: Print still lives; Nordin Award modified

Print is dead. Long live print!

The decision by the CMA Board to move College Media Review to an online-only publication in 2011 was a difficult one. As with the publications we advise that are moving to online-first or online-only models, the combination of cost factors and the ability to serve readers with a more timely, converged distribution model weighed into the decision.

Thanks to the efforts of Associate Editor Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Managing Editor Debbie Landis and Webmaster Bill Neville, the change in distribution method has not resulted in a drop off in quality. As evidenced by the many fine topical articles and an excellent, Nordin award-winning research article by Holly-Katharine Johnson in this edition, the journal continues to provide very useful and informative pieces.

But, the online-only model does have the potential to have a negative influence on college media research, a concern raised by both readers and contributors. With some administrators and promotion/tenure review committees discounting research published in online journals, it’s understandable that some authors—even CMA members—would choose to first submit their college media research to print journals instead of CMR.

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When Disaster Strikes a College Community

Coping with disaster... Long Island University and Mercer County Community College. Background photo Brian Birke, Creative Commons. — Coping with disaster… Long Island University and Mercer County Community College. Background photo Brian Birke, Creative Commons.

Surviving Sandy, other storms and a flood–and getting the college paper out

By Carolyn Schurr Levin

One of the most important, albeit seemingly routine, tasks of a college newspaper staff is the physical act of getting the newspaper out.

But what happens when a crisis hits, as it did when Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, only to be followed the following week by a nor’easter?

Among the college newspapers hit by Hurricane Sandy were the Pioneer, the weekly student newspaper at Long Island University Post in Brookville, N.Y., and the College Voice at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey. The College Voice publishes every three weeks.

In anticipation of the forecasted strong winds and hurricane conditions, Long Island University Post cancelled all classes on Monday, Oct. 29. Administrators encouraged students who could to evacuate the dormitories and return home. Approximately 600 students remained in the dorms during the storm.

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Transitioning from the professional newsroom to the college newsroom

From professional reporters and editors to professional advisers: Veteran advisers share their stories

By Alexa Capeloto
John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY

Illustration by Colten Bradford, The UIS Journal

Jake Lowary says he loves advising The All State student newspaper and Monocle yearbook at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. But he recalls “a definite learning curve” moving from professional newspaper reporter to college media adviser nearly two years ago.

The curve can feel steep when reporters and editors become advisers.

On one hand, working with college media can feel like a natural extension of a journalism career. You pass on all the things you learned as a journalist to future generations, and stay connected to news production via a student newspaper, online publication or broadcast station.

On the other hand, professional journalists may have far less experience developing budgets, helping students craft media bylaws and attending campus meetings as an adviser and/or faculty member rather than as a reporter covering the meetings.

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Research Spotlight: Black and White and Still Read All Over

An Examination of the State of College Newspapers in a Turbulent Time

By Lisa Lyon Payne
Virginia Wesleyan College

Abstract: This paper provides an initial investigation of the current state of the college newspapers among liberal arts schools in the southeast. An online survey using both open and closed-ended questions examines variables such as method and frequency of publication, use of advertising and online presence. Only 37.5% of respondents reported having a journalism program at their institution, and those who contributed to the student newspaper came from majors ranging from biology to philosophy. While a full 100% of respondents reported having advertising in their college newspapers, about one-third of respondents reported they did not have an online edition of the paper. Most publications were fewer than 10 pages and did have a faculty adviser to the publication. Of the schools that participated, a majority said there is no class credit associated with their publications. Also of interest, just more than half of respondents stated staff writers receive some form of compensation for their contributions to the publication; where this compensation comes from varies.

Introduction

What do Twitter, the iPad and a campus newspaper have in common? Current literature suggests that all three are a preferred communication choice for many of today’s college students (The Washington Times, March 8, 2012). Despite the slow and agonizing decline of traditional newspapers, research indicates that even in this modern, wireless world of communication, many college students gravitate toward the print version of their campus newspaper over an electronic version. Additionally, despite the woes of the traditional news daily, many student newspapers appear to be weathering the storm with fewer economic troubles (Keller 2008, Supiano 2012).

Continue reading “Research Spotlight: Black and White and Still Read All Over”

Journalism major not necessarily required

Newsrooms at liberal arts schools tend to reflect the diverse backgrounds of the students

By Lisa Lyon Payne
Virginia Wesleyan College

A recent study of the current state of the college newspapers among liberal arts schools in the Southeast found that fewer than 40 percent of the editors at the Phi Beta Kappa institutions surveyed have a journalism program at their institution. Those students who contribute to their student newspapers come from a range of majors, including biology, philosophy, English, economics, American studies and international affairs.

It’s not uncommon for liberal arts institutions that do offer journalism majors to either require or strongly encourage students to double major.

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First Amendment Mileposts in 2012

Four noteworthy First Amendment cases for college media in 2012

By Frank D. LoMonte
Executive Director, Student Press Law Center

With the 25^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Hazelwood ruling approaching on Jan. 13, the College Media Review asked the Student Press Law Center’s executive director, Frank D. LoMonte, to take stock of the state of free expression rights on college campuses –which, as LoMonte notes, “is a frequent source of litigation, as courts try to make sense of a shifting and sometimes muddled area of First Amendment law.”

During 2012, courts decided four particularly noteworthy cases directly bearing on the legal rights of student journalists and bloggers – including one especially significant case recognizing that the Constitution can protect advisers as well as students against retaliation by public institutions.

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