Investigative Reporting – College Media Review

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”

Book Review: Journalists around the world killed while doing their jobs

“War on Words: Who Should Protect Journalists” full of in-depth research and interviews with 60 sources

By Pat Winters Lauro

During World War II, 37 American journalists were killed on the job, including the famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who was shot dead by a Japanese sniper in the Pacific.

In contrast, more than 1,000 journalists and their essential support staff, including drivers and translators, have been killed in just the last 10 years, according to the International News Safety Institute – and not necessarily because they were caught in crossfire. In a number of cases, they were targeted because of their jobs. And their murderers got away with it. According to INSI, eight of 10 murders of journalists have never been investigated.

Continue reading “Book Review: Journalists around the world killed while doing their jobs”

Investigative Reporting on Campus

Kent State reporter draws national attention with unraveling of university’s controversial relationship with would-be donor

By Dan Reimold
University of Tampa

Doug Brown, an enterprise reporter for the Daily Kent Stater at Ohio’s Kent State University, is the most famous student journalist so far in 2012.

Early last month, Brown reported on the past legal troubles of Jason Cope, an alumnus who was preparing to donate $1 million to the Kent State athletics program and have the school’s basketball court named after him. He dove into the story after the paper’s web editor received an email from a stranger with a one-sentence tip: “Google Jason Cope v SEC.”

What Brown discovered: A bit more than a decade ago, as branch manager of a financial firm, Cope had been part of a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of close to $9 million. He was found guilty of breaking federal securities laws that “involved fraud and deceit” and ordered with his co-defendants “to pay a total of more than $19 million in penalties.” Continue reading “Investigative Reporting on Campus”

Kent State Investigation: A Student Reporter’s Story

In Doug Brown’s own words on his investigative reporting:

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Kent State University student journalist Doug Brown has received national recognition in journalism circles for his coverage of the withdrawal of a $1 million donation to the university’s athletics department from an alumnus whose investment firm once defrauded investors of nearly $9 million.

Daniel Reimold interviewed Brown about this continuing story and the reporter’s use of public records in his investigative reporting. Continue reading “Kent State Investigation: A Student Reporter’s Story”