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By Ted Petersen
Florida Tech
The Florida Tech Crimson has hosted “Free Speech Day” for the past seven years. As Constitution Day approaches, other colleges might learn from the inexpensive and successful program at Florida Tech.
About six months into my role as adviser to the Crimson, the student-run newspaper at my private university, I learned something new—the Crimson is a free press. Continue reading “College Media Celebrate Free Speech”
The Five Ws of College Media TrainingBy Kelley Lash
Rice University
While the temperature outside might not seem to agree, fall is coming, and so are our students. Whether you work with a lab publication, just one or two media, or an entire group of outlets, one of the most important things you can do to serve your students is to set up some kind of training boot camp.
Like anything else in college media, the approach will vary, as you can see in this piece from CMR in 2013. This updated version will focus on the core five Ws and H of college media boot camp: whom are you serving, what will you cover, where should you hold it, when will it have the greatest impact, why it matters and how you can pull it all off.
The most important thing to remember is that training must suit your needs and, most importantly, the needs of your students. No single approach works for everyone, but paying attention to the core questions will help you develop something that sets you up for success in the coming year. Continue reading “College Media Boot Camp Basics”
Reviewed by Carol Terracina-Hartman, CMR Managing Editor
“The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach” takes results from writing faculty surveys, writing student surveys, qualitative interviews with media professionals and adds some classical rhetoric to offer a strategy-based introductory media writing textbook. Research and rhetoric are a tall order for an introductory textbook, especially one that’s not dry, dated, and completely out of context for the millennial generation. But, authors Scott A. Kuehn and James Andrew Lingwall argue, they are taking aim at a modern medium and updating the methods by which professors teach as they offer strategic writing models for students to follow.
In short, the authors, both professors of communication at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, crafted a textbook designed to get students thinking strategically about their writing, from approach through to publication.
“Millennials are not approaching writing the same way you and I would,” Lingwall said. “With these three research studies – and the textbooks rooted in the ’80s and ’90s seem so tired. We wanted to punch up content with a [coaching] approach: ‘you can do it.’”
Continue reading “Review: The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach”
By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor
Twenty-one years ago, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas, Griff Singer, recognized a need, a need to train copy editors. Together with Rich Holden, then executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund, they created the Center for Editing Excellence to train interns. They all received two weeks of training before they set foot at media outlets such as Newsday, the Houston Chronicle, the Beaumont Enterprise, Stars and Stripes, the Dallas Morning News or, as the profession has evolved, worked in copy editing centers such as Gatehouse’s Center for News & Design, or for online media such as Buzzfeed.
Over time, they’ve continued to focus on the different levels of editing:
In the last few years, the students have added to their skills in headline writing, trimming news briefs and designing pages and learn more about embedding video and best practices for Twitter. While now the training is only 10 days, it is just as grueling. Students, mostly college juniors and seniors, spend their last three days producing a six-page newspaper, a website and social media in real time with real publication deadlines — the Southwest Journalist.
The training center at the UT-Austin is one of six centers, two focusing on editing and preparing interns for their summer jobs as multi-platform editors. The other four, now led by Linda Shockey, managing director of the Dow Jones News Fund, focus on business reporting, data journalism or digital media.
Before they left each of the interns in Austin offered some advice for other copy editors. Here is their advice. Continue reading “Interns offer advice for copy editors”
Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin
These are perilous times for free speech on college campuses. So many invited speakers are being “uninvited” because of their disfavored views that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) maintains a database of “Disinvitation Attempts.” Students have faced expulsion and faculty members have faced punishment, including dismissal, for talks, online posts, or otherwise expressing disfavored views. College newspapers have been forced to apologize for stories or advertisements labeled as offensive “hate speech.” Some have experienced the theft of newspapers from their racks. And college media advisers are increasingly fearful for their own jobs and the very existence of their media outlets due to their publication of content that might be perceived as unpopular or unwelcome.
Enter Nadine Strossen at precisely the right time with her consequential new book, Hate: Why We should Resist It With Free Speech, Not Censorship. Strossen, a professor of constitutional law at New York Law School and a former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, provides needed elucidation about the grossly misunderstood concept of “hate speech,” not just on college campuses, but in our larger society. Strossen dispels the notion that “hate speech” is not free speech and she vehemently argues that the remedy for speech that might seem harmful to some eyes is more, not less, speech.
Continue reading “Review: Hate: Why We Should Resist It With Free Speech, Not Censorship”
So, it’s the first week in June. Do you know where you Pinnacle Awards entries are?
If you don’t, you are in luck, thanks to an entry deadline extension entries will be accepted through June 8, according to Pinnacle Awards co-chairs Don Krause and Brian Thompson.
“We get it, school’s over and you’re already thinking about summer vacations, internships (and possibly!) attending the mega workshop,” Krause and Brian Thompson posted on the CMA site. “Don’t miss this opportunity!” Continue reading “Pinnacle Award Deadline Extended”
Awards put the focus on student achievementBy Lisa Lyon Payne
CMR Editor
Each spring, our top writers, photographers and designers celebrate with caps and gowns, and we reflect on the impactful work they and their colleagues have produced. As advisers and their staff look back, consider recognizing them by submitting top content for the College Media Association’s Pinnacle Awards, which recognize both outstanding media organizations and individual work.
The deadline for all Pinnacle submissions is June 1.
Organizational Pinnacle Awards are free and open to any student media organization with an active member as an adviser. Categories include newspapers, websites, magazines, yearbooks, radio and television stations, and winners will be recognized at the Fall National College Media Convention in Louisville, KY. Individual award entries limit each school to one entry per category and cost $10 for members and $20 for non members.
More information can be found here.
By Jena Heath
St. Edward’s University
It is a tragic fact that many college journalists will be faced with the challenge of covering the suicide of a classmate, team mate or dorm friend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15-24-year-olds, accounting for 20 percent of all deaths annually, and the second leading cause of death among college students after accidents (CDC 2012). Professional newsrooms have long had policies in place regarding suicide coverage. These policies usually dictate that suicides committed in public places should be covered as new stories.
Unfortunately, these policies and the thinking behind them have not made their way with any consistency to college newsrooms, according to a study I conducted in 2014 with a former student, Brooke Blanton, who was Editor-in-Chief of the St. Edward’s University student news site (The Most Difficult Story: Covering Suicide on College Campuses, College Media Review, Vol 52, 2014-15).
What we found on the part of both student journalists and some advisers was confusion over how to walk the line between factual news coverage and fears of being perceived as insensitive or sensational. Some of this was the result of pressure, direct and indirect, from university administrators concerned about liability and public perception. Some was confusion over how to think about and cover death, especially of a peer.
As a result, a tendency to downplay suicide coverage, or not cover suicides at all, even those committed publicly, became evident in our interviews with both student journalists and advisers. This is unfortunate, as college journalists can play a key role in helping their campus communities gain a clearer, more accurate understanding of the causes of suicide. Continue reading “Covering Suicide: Resources for College Journalists”
By Matthew Salzano
Pacific Lutheran University
Consumers of Colorado State’s Rocky Mountain Collegian recently learned how to build a bar. A Ft. Collin’s liquor store owner told a freshly 21-year-old student just what to buy — from his store! — to have a classier selection in a college home than just whatever beer was cheap that week. The landing page for the video is marked with bold text, declaring it “SPONSORED CONTENT.” Sponsored content is the long-form version of advertising content that is known as native advertising.
Traditionally, ads stand out due to the difference in their form from editorial content—a quarter page ad looks different than a op-ed or reportage. With native advertising, however, the paid content looks like it natively inhabits to the platform it exists on: the liquor store video is only distinguishable from editorial video content due to that all-caps label.
The practice that was once only seen from large media outlets like Buzzfeed or the Guardian has made it to college newsrooms. Native advertising, especially creating sponsored content, poses challenges and opportunities for college newsrooms to educate and prepare students while serving clientele. Continue reading “Navigating Native Advertising in College Media”
By Kenna Griffin
Oklahoma City University
Location! Location! Location! I’ve heard it before, but I would not have believed how important location is when planning a college media convention until I saw it with my own eyes.
CMA’s spring national convention in New York was my first as a board member. I’ve seen evaluations for other collegiate media conventions and have been on planning committees, but I still was surprised how often location played into the feedback we received about #CMANYC18.
New York is an exciting, inspiring place, which was reflected in all of the positive comments about the convention’s location. Location is key, and several attendees said the convention being in New York was their favorite aspect of it. Airlines panicked about a winter storm that really wasn’t much, which caused some attendees travel problems, but the positive feedback was much greater than any grumbles about travel woes or expense of the city. Aside from feedback on the location itself, there were two specific areas of feedback in which it was important: 1) networking and 2) speakers. Continue reading “Takeaway Messages From the Spring National College Media Convention”
