Shoot-out returns to NYC

B&H Photo Video provides prize for top photographer

It’s been two years since photographers were able to participate in a Shoot-out as part of a national College Media Association convention. Two years ago, the headline was, “11 photojournalists document city in crisis.” This year, the 18 students were assigned to create “an image — worthy of a postcard — showing what life is like in the city that never sleeps after two years of the pandemic.”

And this year, they had an Apple Award as an incentive to win and a prize donated by B&H Camera Video —a Sony ZV-1 Digital Camera valued at nearly $900.

Some years, with the judges, a mixture of professional photographers, college photography instructors and media advisers as well as scholastic photography instructors and media advisers, the top entries are close. This year, 43 individuals judged the entries and all but 11 ranked the winning entries as one of their top entries. Nine of the judges said the winning entry was their choice for first place. No other single entry has scored so high in recent years. Continue reading “Shoot-out returns to NYC”

Applying Scanlan’s ‘The Coaching Way’ to media design instruction

Editor, adviser can assume coaching role

By Melanie Wilderman

I first heard of Chip Scanlan’s “The Coaching Way,” in 2004 when I was preparing to teach my first college-level class, Introduction to Media Writing, as a very green master’s graduate and new adjunct instructor for my alma mater. I was 23 years old and, like many new instructors, terrified my students would think I was a fraud. “The Coaching Way” saved me that first semester. It guided me as a teacher as much as it helped guide my students.

SAMPLE 1
SAMPLES: In examples of students’ final designs for the basic business card assignment, note that they make decisions concerning color, font and placement of simple shapes to create the business cards. In doing so, they are primarily practicing the concepts of dominance, balance, hierarchy and space in their work.

For those who may not be familiar, Scanlan, a seasoned journalist and former writing instructor for The Poynter Institute, detailed his approach as an editor in a 2003 Poynter article. He said he approached coaching journalists first with the question, “How can I help?” Then he listened to the answer. Sounds simple, right? Even Scanlan admitted this, but it’s an important first step, and what follows is a more intense progression of open-ended questions throughout the writing process and a back-and-forth between editor and journalist (or, in educational settings, between teacher and student) that requires participation from both parties. He calls this style “The Coaching Way.” Continue reading “Applying Scanlan’s ‘The Coaching Way’ to media design instruction”

Review: ‘News for the Rich, White and Blue’

Author Nikki Usher proposes a “post-newspaper consciousness” framework to viewing media today

Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin

I live in a town where, while we do have local newspapers, none of them regularly cover school board meetings (or police or fire department or other town meetings, for that matter). I would venture an educated guess that many – if not a majority of – college newspapers don’t regularly send a reporter to cover student government meetings, either in person or virtually during the pandemic. This state of affairs, both on campus and off, no doubt, is not good. In her recent book, “News for the Rich, White and Blue,” Nikki Usher tells us why.

“Journalism anchors American democracy by connecting people to the places they live,” Usher writes, “providing them with critical news and information as well as a sense of cultural rootedness and belonging.” If journalists are not covering the day-to-day meetings and events that impact our lives, are we getting what we need to be an “active and engaged citizenry,” college students and adults alike? We are not, Usher forcefully argues. She shares with her readers studies reflecting the underlying premise that without local news, the public cannot make informed decisions Continue reading “Review: ‘News for the Rich, White and Blue’”

Research (Vol. 59): Maintaining and Framing Social Media

A Multi-Method Examination of Award-Winning Student Newspaper Tweets

Emily A. Dolan
Slippery Rock University

Brittany L. Fleming
Slippery Rock University

Abstract: The current study examined how award-winning student newspapers used social media to maintain relationships with their audiences. We employed quantitative methods to examine 26,388 tweets for the presence of relational maintenance strategies. We then employed a qualitative analysis to understand how tweets featuring high levels of these strategies attracted audience engagement. Findings suggest that student newspapers employ relational maintenance strategies in their posts. Within each of these strategies, we identified patterns in the types of tweets that attracted high levels of user engagement. Broadly, our findings suggest that these strategies should not be centered on maintaining the relationships between audiences and newspapers, but instead should be centered on maintaining relationships between audiences and their university communities. We use these findings to propose a list of social media best practices for student newspapers and advisors. Continue reading “Research (Vol. 59): Maintaining and Framing Social Media”

Community newspapers the ‘lifeblood of every community’

Local publications provide ample opportunities 

Yvonne Mintz is the editor and publisher of The Facts in Brazoria County, Texas.

It’s not a newspaper most readers would have heard of. The Facts doesn’t compete with USA Today or even the Houston Chronicle, which is right up the road.

It doesn’t need to.

The Facts is just as likely to cover a local softball game or a high school graduation as it is the latest controversy at the town council.

The paper’s motto reminds readers of its mission: “No one delivers local news like The Facts.”

While sitting on a panel talking to college journalists, Mintz expanded on this idea.

“Without us, officials in this community would be unchecked in their power,” she told the interns participating in the Dow Jones News Fund / Texas Press Association Center for Editing Excellence training program before they left for internships at publications such as the Houston Chronicle and patch.com but also the Azle News, Hill Country News, Pleasanton Express and Tyler County Booster, all in Texas.

Mike Hodges, executive director of the Texas Press Association, said of community newspapers, “They are the lifeblood of every community.” Continue reading “Community newspapers the ‘lifeblood of every community’”

CMR Research Annual Vol. 58 is available

Back it up with data…

From the editor: I saw a photo of an adviser colleague on social media recently, proudly sporting a t-shirt that proclaimed “I BACK IT UP WITH DATA.” This year, College Media Review continues to uphold this sentiment by releasing Volume 58 of the print Research Annual of CMA’s flagship journal.

This past year’s scholarly publications have been compiled into a hard copy as a print-on-demand volume that can be purchased here for $5.

It features a publication by Katherine Fink of Pace University in a study titled “Freedom of Information in College: How Students Learn to File Public Records Requests.” Fink uses a qualitative approach to delve into the process of filing FOI requests and using those results to advance student reporting.

Continue reading “CMR Research Annual Vol. 58 is available”

Research (Vol. 58): The College Newsroom amid COVID

A Statistical Assessment of Advisers and their work in College Newsrooms in 2020

Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, EdD
Florida International University

Elizabeth Smith, EdD
Pepperdine University

Jody Kleinberg Biehl, MA
University at Buffalo

Research Associate: Lillian A. Abreu, MSW
Florida International University


Abstract: This research updates and explores the role and jobs of college newsroom advisers, the context of their work, and the newsrooms they advise. Using a survey (N=332) of student media advisers, the data provide important understandings for college journalism issues that have emerged, or re-emerged, in the past year: COVID-19, diversity, and prior review. Responses show, despite campus closures and some declining advertising revenues, COVID-19 did not halt the work of the vast majority of college newsrooms. On the contrary, data from this survey combined with national trends point to the growing importance of college news media across the nation. As local news outlets decrease, college newsrooms are filling the void.  Open-ended responses revealed anxieties among advisers about how the pandemic would affect newsrooms in the coming academic years, especially regarding budgets and advertising revenue. For the first time, this research collected information on race/ethnicity. Participants were mostly white, although community colleges had the largest group of advisers of color. Responses reveal that 87% of advisers report that they do not edit newsroom content, although responses raise questions about the role that faculty-guided class work plays in newsrooms and how advisers define prior review. Compared to past research, adviser salaries have increased in the past five years and 62% of advisers hold either a faculty or staff title. Overall, salaries have increased 12% among advisers since 2014.

Keywords: college media, student newsrooms, student journalism, newsroom diversity, COVID-19, prior review

Continue reading “Research (Vol. 58): The College Newsroom amid COVID”

Newsroom staffs: ‘think inclusively’

‘Post’ managing editor, Krissah Thompson, also tells students to share their passion for journalism

As the managing editor of diversity and inclusion for The Washington Post, Krissah Thompson’s goal for all newsrooms can be summed up in two words: “Think inclusively.”

That was her message to 86 college interns working for the Dow Jones News Fund this summer.

“I think of my role really rooted in coverage and also in jobs,” Thompson said. 

She emphasized how diversity, diversity in sources and diversity in who is reporting the stories, helps to develop trust.

“Talking about diversity in sourcing goes to the heart of why diversity matters,” Thompson, the first Black woman to hold the title managing editor at The Post, said. “(Consumers) want to see their communities reflected in all their nuances. They’re looking at who is telling those stories. Do those folks reflect the community they are talking about?”

Thompson got her start working for the college newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin — The Daily Texan. Continue reading “Newsroom staffs: ‘think inclusively’”

College radio perseveres, adapts to COVID-19 challenges

KZLX’s Nerdmageddon and the owner of a bar named The Pub. From left to right are The Pub’s owner, Jeff Zeller, and then the Nerdmageddon crew: Molly Hauser, Simon Clark, Corie Herzog, and Mckenzie Duval.

It’s not ‘the end of the world’

By Mason Bigler
Special to CMR

Borrowing from Matchbox 20, going to spring break in 2020 was like “waking up at the start of the end of the world” for college radio. Luckily, the world’s not over just yet.

Because of COVID-19, some college stations were abandoned for the spring semester, only on air because of automated systems. Others had to fight for their right to keep student DJs through strict rules and sanitation. As outlined below, some of those rules are still in place, while at other universities, precautions are being relaxed and the radio stations are returning closer to normal. Continue reading “College radio perseveres, adapts to COVID-19 challenges”

Collegiate photographer: ‘Chase your passions and what you love to do’

Elias Valverde II
Elias Valverde II

Like so many college students, Elias Valverde II started his college career pursuing a degree in architecture. Then he changed to political science. Then he switched to art with a concentration in photography. It’s clear he found his passion.

He took a photography class at Tarrant County College.

As he tells it, “The class was centered around a weeklong trip to Cuba where we spent our time walking the streets of Old Havana, mainly doing street photography.  However, we often stopped and talked with the local people, asking questions and getting to know them. We found out quickly that the Cuban people were just as curious as were, asking where we were from and why we were visiting. The experience was something I’ll never forget because it was almost like traveling back in time to a place before cellphones and Wi-Fi and that environment really made you live in the moment without distractions.”

But it was also where he discovered what turned into his passion. Continue reading “Collegiate photographer: ‘Chase your passions and what you love to do’”