Category: College Media

College Media Convention showcases student photojournalists

By Bradley Wilson, CMR Managing Editor

I made it. With one minute to spare. I was supposed to be at the opening session for the Photo Shoot-out three hours early. American Airlines had other plans. However, thanks to people like Meredith Taylor, CMA’s executive director, Kevin Kleine of Berry College and Sam Oldenburg of Western Kentucky University, I really didn’t need to be there. It was in good hands.

It’s always fun meeting with the photographers, discussing the assignment and possible interpretations of it and the challenges they’ll face in the next couple days. The reasons for NOT putting metadata in each image they want to submit have gotten down right clever. But, yes, they have to find a way to put the metadata with any image they submit.

So, we showed some past entries when the hotel’s technology cooperated and we sent the ban of some 50 college photojournalists on their merry way.

THE ASSIGNMENT: You need to find a person who lives or works in Washington, D.C. or the area — not a tourist. Tell that person’s story. Have some fun along the way and be prepared to explain what you were thinking at the critique. In the metadata File Info, include the following information in the following format. full name, school (adviser’s name); your e-mail address; caption that includes the names of all identifiable people in the image. Continue reading “Photographers challenge themselves during DC Shoot-out”

Student and freelance photographers taking close-ups of the bands at Picnic in the Park in Oslo, Norway.

Learning the craft, speaking the language of video production

By Paul Glover
Henderson State University

• “Did you use a tripod?”
• “Did you use a microphone?”
• “What format is the video in?”

Do these questions sound familiar?

One older definition of convergence refers to a “combination of technologies, products, staffs and geography among the previously distinct provinces of print, television and online media” (Singer, 2004). The idea of newsroom convergence forces many university programs to combine resources in order to develop student reporters into backpack journalists, Multimedia-Skilled Journalists (MSJ) or simply Multimedia Journalists (MMJ).

Whether print or broadcast, students and recent graduates entering their college internship or first real-world job are very often assigned the task of writer, videographer, audio engineer and video editor. Competency in all these skills is required and expected. This article will focus on essential skills for student journalists who are asked to produce videos for television, websites and social media and how students can best develop these skills. Continue reading “Same ol’ problems with student’s video?”

Come to DC: It’s More than the First Amendment

Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2019 • Grand Hyatt • Washington, D.C. • #collegemedia19

By Carol Terracina Hartman

In partnership with Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Association returns to Washington, D.C. for its annual fall convention this year. Speaker highlights include a slate of keynote speakers: Capital Gazette Editor Rick Hutzell, accompanied by Gazette reporters Danielle Ohl and Alex Mann.

Attendees also will welcome Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron of “Spotlight” Fame, NPR’s Nina Totenberg, and CNN’s Abby Phillip.

Convention offerings this year – 275 of them! – include career workshops, tech tips, media management and skills-oriented sessions such as photojournalism and design. Whether digging into data is your gig or jazzing up entertainment reviews is your goal, find it in the conference schedule.

Continue reading “Preview: ACP and CMA annual Fall National College Media Convention”

Book Review: A NewsHound’s Guide To Student Journalism, by Katina Paron and Javier Guelfi

Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin

Using a comic book to teach basic journalism principles may initially seem like an unusual, albeit original, idea, but, after  reading “A NewsHound’s Guide To Student Journalism,” the idea does not seem farfetched at all. In fact, you won’t be able to put it down. And, while enjoying the comics, perhaps even without knowing it, you will simultaneously be learning so many important journalism concepts and principles.

Written by Katina Paron, who has worked in different capacities as a student journalism educator, and illustrated by Javier Guelfi, a cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer, the book is clever and engaging. Although the book is not brand new – it was released in October 2018 – it is worth taking a look at, if you haven’t already done so.

The book includes content routinely included in other basic reporting books, such as interviewing tips, understanding and avoiding conflicts of interest, and using data in news stories. What makes it unique, though, are the comic strip vignettes that introduce each chapter and topic. To begin the chapter on “Deep Throat: Digging into Investigative Journalism,” readers meet Joe Kubble, a high school freshman who “was born to be a reporter.” In each subsequent chapter’s comic, Kubble navigates the perils and pitfalls of journalism, from the importance of verification to crowdsourcing through social media. In doing so, he learns, and teaches us, basic lessons in how to write a lead, how to localize news, and how to stay out of trouble. Continue reading “Graphic approach for introducing journalism to students not farfetched at all”

Where technology and copyright collide

By Carolyn Schurr Levin

There is nothing simple about copyright. The law is complex, with so many nuances. In this first CMR legal column, we analyze a pending copyright dispute involving newly developed technology in an effort to assist students and advisers as similar issues arise.

Audible, the Amazon.com audiobook company that bills itself as “the world’s largest seller and producer of audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment,” introduced a new feature in July 2019 that displays the text of a book while it is read. The feature, called Audible Captions, allows listeners “to follow along with a few lines of machine-generated text as they listen to the audio performance,” according to Audible’s website. “We developed this technology,” Audible’s website states, “because we believe our culture, particularly in under-resourced environments, is at risk of losing a significant portion of the next generation of book readers. We have heard from so many teachers and educators that they want to find new ways to improve literacy rates and inspire students to pick up a book and read.”

Book publishing companies, however, were less than pleased with the announcement about the launch of Audible Captions. On August 23, 2019, seven publishers—Chronicle Books, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers Macmillan Publishing Group, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster—filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against Audible alleging that Audible Captions infringes the copyrights in their books. The publishers are seeking a court order to stop the launch of Audible Captions, as well as collecting an award of monetary damages for the alleged infringement Continue reading “Legal analysis: Audible captions leads to copyright infringement suit”

‘In with the new…’ Establishing productive work relationships that benefit student media

By Debra Chandler Landis

Ongoing communication between student reporters and the people and programs they cover is key to establishing mutual rapport, trust and respect.

So is communication between editors-in-chief and the top brass of their colleges and universities.

Student editors can help set the stage for ongoing productive working relationships in much the same way executive editors of professional news organizations do when they meet with community leaders, elected officials and others in high-level positions their reporters cover. Continue reading “Student media leaders forge relationships with new administrators”

Book captures ‘what it takes for women to lead, not just in the news business but in any business’

Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin

The co-editors-in-chief of the college newspaper that I advise are women. Last year’s editor-in-chief was a woman. In fact, in my nine years as the paper’s faculty adviser, the vast majority of the editors have been women. They have been talented and confident and unafraid to use the skills they are honing on campus at their summer internships or, after they graduate, in the workplace. Yet, are college newspapers, which, according to anecdotal evidence, are often largely staffed and led by female students, reflective of the workplace these students will enter upon graduation? What awaits these passionate young female journalists? Can they rise to the same level that they have achieved on campus, where running the student newspaper makes them campus leaders?

Kristin Gilger, Senior Associate Dean and Reynolds Professor in Business Journalism in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and her colleague, Julia Wallace, Frank Russell Chair in the Business of Journalism at ASU, explore the answers to these questions in their new book, “There’s No Crying in Newsrooms,” published by Rowman & Littlefield in July 2019. Through the stories and experiences of female newsroom leaders, Gilger and Wallace examine “What Women Have Learned about What It Takes to Lead.”  Continue reading “Book Review: ‘There’s No Crying in Newsrooms,’ by Kristin Grady Gilger and Julia Wallace”

CMA’s Nordin Award recipients named

CMR Staff Reports

College Media Review has awarded Patrick Howe and Brady Teufel of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, the 2019 Ken Nordin Award, which recognizes the top college media research publication appearing in College Media Review.

The paper, “The Best Medium for the Story: A Case Study of Integrated Student Media” was published in volume 56 of the 2019 College Media Review Research Annual. The award was chosen based on a panel of CMR Associate Editor Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, CMA Research Chair Elizabeth Smith and CMR Editor Lisa Lyon Payne.

In the annual, Kopenhaver included an editor’s note that commends the authors for conceiving new models to ensure the best possible learning laboratory for achievement in student media. The 2019 CMR Research Annual, which compiles the publications in a bound annual volume, is available for purchase through the CMR Bookstore.

Continue reading “Study on integrated student media earns 2019 research award”