College Media Review

[slideshow_deploy id=’3163′]

Colleagues praise former director’s contributions to college media and the CMA

From CMR staff reports

Ron Spielberger — called “Mr. CMA” by many admirers — has died, the College Media Association announced today.

“We are heartbroken to hear of Ron’s passing,” Kelley Lash, CMA president, said. “Ron was the consummate gentleman, a kind soul and a wealth of information, advice and support.”

Spielberger served as CMA’s executive director for almost three decades, 1982-2011, CMA’s longest serving executive director.

Spielberger was a frequent contributor to College Media Review, often contributing research articles that were the results of a long time collaboration with former CMA President Lillian Kopenhaver as they gathered information and explored the impact of college media programs nationwide.

“Serving CMA as executive director for nearly three decades, Ron was the face of CMA for many, working behind the scenes to make sure the spotlight was focused on issues of importance and on the work of others,” said CMR Webmaster Bill Neville, former CMA treasurer. “He seemed to treat CMA like family, knowing families squabble at times but still pull together for the good of all.”

In the executive director position, he coordinated numerous fall and spring conventions, summer workshops and other association events. After leaving the position, he continued to serve CMA by chairing the Hall of Fame committee, serving on the advisory council and presenting sessions.

“If you asked Ron Spielberger what his job was with College Media Association, he’d smile and say, ‘I’m in the making people happy business,'” Neville added. “Ron made it look easy. Juggling the needs of members, convention management, and innumerable behind the scenes details often taken for granted, while remembering that our members are advocates for the student journalists we serve. Ron did what he set out to do — he made people happy.”

Continue reading “Ron Spielberger was ‘Mr. CMA’”

Delta State’s adviser loses battle with cancer

 By Elisabetta Zengaro and Debra Chandler Landis
Special to College Media Review

While the late Patricia Roberts battled ovarian cancer, she also fought for college journalism at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.

She did both with grit and grace, and her journalistic legacy continues, say those who knew her.

Roberts, 66, adviser to The Delta Statement student newspaper and the university’s sole journalism professor, died Dec. 7 from complications from chemotherapy. A memorial service was held at the Bishop-King Funeral Home in Lake Village, Arkansas, on Dec. 11.

In spring 2015, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved the discontinuation of five academic programs, including journalism, communications/theater studies, and modern foreign languages, at Delta State University.

The university also decided to eliminate money for printing of The Delta Statement.

Roberts told the Student Press Law Center, Huffington Post and other media organizations the plan to eliminate the journalism program was announced after a Statement story about a lawsuit a former Division of Languages and Literature chairman filed against Bill LaForge, Delta State University president. However, LaForge denied the move was retaliatory, and said the $1 million budget cuts were university-wide.

Throughout it all, Roberts never lost hope. Continue reading “A remembrance: Patricia Roberts”

A multitude of educative, thought-provoking posts, blogs and stories have emerged in the wake of the incidents this week at the University of Missouri that resulted in the resignation of top administrators and a vigorous debate on the First Amendment  The insights can aid college and professional media looking to hire more diverse staffs and considering ways to improve news coverage. The New York Times collected varying view points in this discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/11/11/why-has-trust-in-the-news-media-declined

From the Washington Post:

“Mass media professor under fire for confronting video journalist at Mizzou” at http://wpo.st/wqSm0

“There’s a good reason protesters at the University of Missouri didn’t want the media around” at http://wpo.st/wqSm0

From the Columbia Journalism Review:

“Why journalists have the right to cover the University of Missouri protests,”  http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/university_of_missouri_protests_first_amendment.php

From the New York Times:

A Lesson in Journalism at the University of Missouri

From the Los Angeles Times:

 University of Missouri names black administrator with civil rights background as interim president

A study of campus media organizations’ convergence practices

 By Lindsey Wotanis, Ph.D.,
Janice Richardson, B.A.,
and Bowei Zhong, B.A.
Marywood University

Abstract: Scholars disagree on how to define “media convergence,” but in the past 15 years, literature suggests many newsrooms have shifted toward convergence, and they’re looking to hire journalists who understand it. Many university journalism programs have updated their curricula to emphasize convergence. However, students often learn journalism best by practicing it at campus newspapers, television and radio stations, or on web platforms. This paper asks: Are college media organizations practicing convergence? Researchers surveyed 142 campus media advisers to learn about convergence practices in campus newsrooms. Findings show that while half of advisers report their campus media organizations are practicing convergence, most are only practicing cross-platform publishing. Findings also suggest a correlation between campuses reporting converged media organizations and those reporting convergence-focused curricula.

Continue reading “Research (Vol. 53): Convergent media on campus”

“Redesign. The mere word can strike fear into a veteran adviser.”

By Ron Johnson
Indiana University

The adviser to The Maroon, said he was looking to give the newspaper a boost.

Michael Giusti, Student Media Adviser at Loyola University New Orleans, said the newspaper had a strong tradition, but it was time for an upgrade.

“We have traditionally done well in many areas — ones that I am personally strong in as a professional journalist — writing, editing, story selection,” Giusti said.

“But we were missing the whole package. We found that people didn’t tend to consume that great coverage because they weren’t drawn to it.”

Design was the piece that would pull it all together, Giusti said. “But I wasn’t the guy to lead it. I joke that when it comes to design, I am a technician, not an artist.”

Well, I’m no artist, either, but I signed on to help the folks at The Maroon in spring 2014. From advising my own newspaper staffs at three universities of different sizes, I knew the potential. I also I knew the pitfalls. Continue reading “The nuts and bolts (and more) of redesign in a collegiate setting”

The Plot Against Student Newspapers? David R. Wheeler, University of Tampa, published a piece in The Atlantic on how college media organizations always seem to be targets of the ire of officialdom. At many colleges, budding journalists and their advisers are still fighting for freedom of speech. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/09/the-plot-against-student-newspapers/408106/

Crossing boundaries: A journalist chronicles her friendship with a serial killer – Columbia Journalism Review. Vew it here  http://www.cjr.org/analysis/michael_ross_murdered_eight_young.php

The critical moment. How a reporter captured the moment a fifth grader found out she was HIV positive – Columbia Journalism Review. You can view it here http://www.cjr.org/the_profile/telling_jj.php

Why aren’t there more minority journalists? Columbia Journalism Review pece examines diversity in the journalism classroom and  transition into the workforce. http://www.cjr.org/analysis/in_the_span_of_two.php