College Media Review

Dormant “newspaper” brought back to life online

By Kathy Bryson
St. Petersburg College

Journalism in the last 10 years has been a roller coaster of change, and many of us have probably wondered whether or not we’re teaching a dinosaur. Some programs have gone so far as to merge with other disciplines, becoming double degrees with additional courses in computers, communications, public relations, or social media. With the overlap in subjects that comes with convergent media programs have to make decisions about what they will be be able to cover and, equally, what they will not.

St. Petersburg College’s student newspaper, The Sandbox, began actively exploring change since its reincarnation in 2011. Ours is not a formal certificate or degree program, but rather an associate’s degree in mass communication with classes that transfer into the University of South Florida’s bachelor’s degree. However, the school wanted and needed an active paper to cultivate student interest and encourage practice. Continue reading “Florida college embraces online and social media”

How college media is covering the ground game

College media hubs across the country are engaged in the 2016 elections at all levels. Their coverage includes multi-media projects, news stories, profiles, commentary, and editorial cartoons.

This week, CMR highlights work by two media operations — staff of the Pitt News at the University of Pittsburgh and series of in-depth articles titled “Your Next President,” by Christian Vasquez of The Prospector at the University of Texas El Paso.

• At the Pitt News, editors created a page for college daily reporting related to the election; new stories will be added at the top day after day:

http://pittnews.com/article/category/election-coverage-16/

• Here is the link to the “Your Next President” series published by The Prospector:

http://www.theprospectordaily.com/?s=christian+vasquez&submit=Search

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From CMR Editor

People still seek news, with the trend continuing away from print and toward multi-news platforms, the latest media research from the Pew Center seems to suggest.

 As college media plan for 2016-2017 and continue to evolve, the following from the Pew Center may be of assistance for print, broadcast, and web-based collegemedia.

News Media Trends | Pew Research Center

• www.pewresearch.org/topics/news-media-trends/

State of the News Media | Pew Research Center

• www.pewresearch.org/topics/state-of-the-news-media/

State of the News Media 2016: 5 key takeaways | Pew Research Center

• www.pewresearch.org/…/state-of-the-news-media-2016-key-take…

Advisers should consider pros and cons of reliance on Safe Harbor broadcast protections

By Chris Thomas
President, Intercollegiate Broadcast System

Anyone who’s advised radio or television students for more than a week has faced this question:  Can I say (insert questionable word or phrase) on the air?  Your gut reaction is no.  But are you aware that the answer could potentially be yes?

Since 1978 when Pacifica Radio lost their court battle to the Federal Communications Commission over the airing of George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television, there have actually been nine more instances (either court cases or FCC rulings) that have effected what can and can’t be said.  But what many people don’t realize is that something else even more important than what can be said was also decided – when the rules are to be enforced.

Initially the FCC wanted a 24/7 ban on everything obscene, indecent and profane citing that they had a compelling interest to protect children from being exposed to these types of broadcasts.  After some pushback from Congress (who wasn’t interested in unduly burdening our First Amendment rights), it was decided to create a “Safe Harbor” period from 10pm to 6am local time each and every night.

So does that mean that beginning at 10pm anything goes and it turns into the wild wild west on both radio and television?  Continue reading “Navigating the waters of Safe Harbor”

A Q&A with Rachele Kanigel, editor of The Diversity Style Guide

What would be the most accurate way to describe The Diversity Style Guide?

The Diversity Style Guide is a resource to help journalists and other media professionals cover a complex, multicultural world with accuracy, authority and sensitivity. The guide includes terms and phrases related to race/ethnicity; religion; sexual orientation; gender identity; age and generation; drugs and alcohol; adoption; and physical, mental and cognitive disabilities.

What prompted you to produce The Diversity Style Guide?

About 20 years ago the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism based at San Francisco State University compiled the original News Watch Diversity Style Guide, a compilation of terms from style guides put out by the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Center on Disability and Journalism and five other organizations. It was last updated in 2002.

In 2014, when I was interim director of the center, I wrote an article for San Francisco Magazine about people who identify as genderqueer, agender or nonbinary, and I realized the Diversity Style Guide didn’t include any of these terms, which were just coming into common parlance. I decided to update and expand the guide, which at that time was just a PDF posted on a website. I received a grant from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists to create a searchable online style guide and then I wrote a proposal for a book that would include the glossary but also provide a context and framework for diversity reporting. I was delighted to find that several publishers were interested and I signed a contract with Wiley to write the book.

The online guide now includes more than 750 terms – about double the number in the original News Watch Diversity Style Guide. Continue reading “A Style Guide for Diversity in the media…”

A dozen ideas on how to focus on diversity issues on your campus

By Rachele Kanigel
San Francisco State University

Over the past two years, college campuses around the nation have been rocked by unrest as activists have demonstrated against systematic racism, police brutality against people of color, insufficient facilities for transgender and gender-non-conforming people, cuts to ethnic studies programs, and other hot-button issues. These actions have shined a spotlight on long-simmering tensions and forced both administrators and student media outlets to pay closer attention to the realities of living in a diverse community.

Infused with emotion, these stories can be difficult to report, and student journalists sometimes find themselves in the middle of the conflict, with both administrators and activists criticizing their coverage.

Good journalism means building trust and that requires going beyond the news story du jour and taking a deeper look at the enduring and complex roots of these events.

As your student media outlet starts a new school year, consider ways to explore the larger issues behind the headlines. For inspiration, check out The Seattle Times’ “Under Our Skin” project, NPR’s new CodeSwitch podcast and the Associated Press’ “Divided America,” an ongoing series on the economic, social and political divisions in American society.

Here are some ideas for exploring diversity issues on your campus. Continue reading “Explore campus diversity with effective coverage”

College Media focus of research activities

College Media Review’s Research Annual is now available for download from this site.

Volume 53 for CMR contains peer-reviewed research relating to college media and its practitioners that was published by the College Media Review (CMReview.org) during the 2015-2016 Academic Year.

To download a copy of this volume, CLICK HERE.

For previous editions of the Research Annual, see the “Archive” link at the top of the home page.

CMR research for Volume 53 available for download

By Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver
CMR Associate Editor

Perhaps nowhere is change more evident than in journalism. The world of communications is rapidly evolving, and as this evolution takes place, those of us who work with college and university student media sometimes need roller skates to keep up with what is happening with professional media in order to better prepare our students to go to work in that world.

Two of our authors in this volume of College Media Review deal with change and look at the issue of convergence, a word we hear all around us. Media organizations across the country are rushing to gure out how to converge their news operations, and readers and viewers are demanding more and faster options to get information. Campus media, however, are struggling with this issue and searching for the best model.

Mark Smith and Don Krause from Truman State University look at the topic in both print and broadcast operations in Missouri colleges and universities. Their article explores the status of convergence as well as its challenges and the reasons for the lack of convergence in numerous institutions. Continue reading “CMR’s Research Annual reflects embrace of change”