College Media Review

Resources focus on improved skills

By Carol Terracina Hartman
CMR Managing Editor

Doesn’t it happen to all professors that outside voices validate what we preach via PowerPoint, Brightspace Capture-hosted videos and small-group exercises? And sometimes those external sources drive it home just a bit further and ignite a flame.

We’ve all experienced it: a student runs in to our classroom, breathless, eyes glowing. A candle of inspiration has been lit.

“I just learned this new technique for composition. It’s called Rule of Thirds,” she exclaims. “It’s gonna totally change my photography.”

OK …

Toes tapping. Drawing on every possible reserve for patience.

How many weeks spent on this topic?

Fast forward: debriefing week after Dallas ACP conference.

“I just learned there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment. This is totally gonna change our editorial next edition.”

Continue reading “Five Copy Editing Tools”

Anthology of essays edited by Gregory Adamo and Allan DiBiase

Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin

In a time when college media budgets are being cut, access to information is increasingly difficult to obtain, and continued presence on campus seems precarious at best, many college media advisers are faced with having to justify not just their own positions, but often the very existence of the media outlets they advise. “College Media: Learning in Action,” an anthology of essays edited by Gregory Adamo and Allan DiBiase (2017), provides a plethora of arguments for not only the quintessential importance of college media outlets, but also for strengthening and investing in them for the future.

Adamo, an associate professor in the School of Global Journalism and Communications at Morgan State University in Baltimore, and DiBiase, who has taught philosophy and the philosophy of education at several universities, have collected research and essays from  college media advisers, professors, journalists, former journalists, and others to detail “the variety of ways students learn through participation in” college media, thus justifying “support of these rich, alternative learning opportunities.” Because, the editors argue, colleges today are increasingly assessing, and questioning, their commitment to this kind of learning, “it becomes increasingly important to understand and describe what happens in these unique spaces lest they become assimilated into more ubiquitous templates for learning or eliminated completely.” The goal of this anthology should be cause for jubilation for the ever-increasing number of college media advisers who face diminished funding and wavering administrative support. This book provides valuable data to bolster arguments for the future of both the advisers and the media outlets. Continue reading “Review: ‘College Media: Learning in Action’”

Shifting preferences for technology use, abbreviated word choices

By Carol Terracina Hartman
CMR Managing Editor 

Molly Ivins’ earliest collection of essays, titled “Molly Ivins can’t say that, can she?” (1991) highlighted an era of communication in which we questioned the manner and mode of commentary about public officials and each other.

Now with the growth of a generation in our classrooms that is less inclined to speak to or call each other by phone and more inclined to “snap” or “tweet” each other, communication styles and mannerisms direct this question toward our classrooms: “can they say that?” and conversely, “can we say that?”

We attribute the changes in politeness and acceptability to technology use – and abbreviated word choices – and decrease in oral communication. Doesn’t everyone say “please” in a text?

We’ve addressed this trend in multiple CMA sessions the last three national fall conventions. Jane De Roche, of Mira Costa College, raised this question in a 2016 CMA session in Washington, D.C., asking, “how do we respond to millennials in class when they say ….?”

Continue reading “Communicating with millennials in the newsroom and classroom”

Teaching mindsets instead of skills in Dallas

By Michael Koretzky

Having presented at CMA conventions for 12 years, I’ve learned as much as I’ve taught. The biggest lesson: Students seek survival skills more than technical skills. The reason is simple: Before they can excel, they must cope.

In other words, survival means gaining control of inner demons before mastering InDesign. Running a college news outlet is the most stressful extra-curricular activity on campus, for two big reasons:

1. It’s the only one constantly on deadline, and deadlines equal stress. If Student Senate can’t meet quorum, who cares? But if the newspaper doesn’t print or post on time, there’s hell to pay.
2. It’s the only one that hires anarchists on purpose. Reporters need to question authority, which means they tend to do so with their sources – and their bosses. Arguments in college newsrooms can easily escalate from professional to personal, because everyone is new at managing conflict.

That’s why three sessions at the newly rejuvenated CMA-ACP convention in Dallas impressed me so much. They had nothing to do with a particular skill and everything to do with a general approach to life…

Coffee with the Elderly

About 40 percent of college and university students are 25 or older, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. This statistic can make for interesting dynamics, especially in community college newsrooms: Oftentimes friction occurs when older students try to manage younger ones. And it’s even worse when younger editors supervise older staffers. Continue reading “A trio of unconventional convention sessions”

College Media research papers sought

By Lisa Lyon Payne
CMR Editor

Recently appointed CMA research chair, Elizabeth Smith, assistant professor of journalism and student media adviser at Pepperdine University, will organize two annual peer-reviewed research panels showcasing top scholarly research on all aspects of college media. Smith took her post in January 2018.

Smith says examining the various aspects of college media is critical in our role as advisers.

“I believe it is the responsibility of journalism faculty to produce high-quality research on topics most pertinent to college journalism and student journalists,” Smith said. “My own line of research has followed this passion, and I want to continue to encourage and support others to do so, as well.”

Continue reading “Smith heads CMA’s research panel”

AEJMC, CMA panel showcases college media research

Each year at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention, the Council of Affiliates and College Media Association sponsor a panel where scholars present research on topics related to college media. The College Media Association is currently accepting submissions of original, non-published research on all aspects of college media and advising college media. Papers will undergo a blind review process, and top research will be presented Thursday, August 9, at the 2018 AEJMC Convention in Washington, DC (Aug. 6-9).

Submission deadline is April 1.

Only full-length research papers are acceptable. Papers should include an abstract between 250 and 500 words. Full papers should be no longer than 25 pages, excluding references, tables and appendices. Continue reading “Call for academic research papers”

Young journalists can take home lessons from ‘The Post’

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

If there was ever a time for a feel-good movie about the media, it’s now. And in “The Post,” Director Steven Spielberg and big-name stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks realize the power and role of the media.

However, the movie goes well beyond showing how a newspaper and a few strong-willed editors and reports can change the course of a country. It brings in a modern discussion of the role of women, limits that need to be placed on government, the need for the First Amendment and even how media outlets also need checks and balances.

For a long-time journalist, it was fascinating to watch molten lead set into words, newsrooms filled with typewriters, copy editors given 30 minutes to work on one story and papers shipped out in hand-tied bundles. It was disheartening to see Katharine Graham portrayed as less than powerful, even weak, leader with shaking hands. She never came across that way when played by Nancy Marchand in the television series Lou Grant. But as her character develops, watching her finally make a decision with such potential negative ramifications and then walking down the steps of the Supreme Court, even in the shadow of The New York Times, was inspirational. Continue reading “‘The Post’ inspiration even for those not working in media”