breaking news – College Media Review

Navigating disasters and tragedy as a journalist

‘Empathy to the forefront’

By Christine Bartruff
University of South Carolina Honors College

A chemical smell. A haze in the air. Broken windows. Abandoned jugs of milk. Through the eyes of a reporter, this was the scene in Minneapolis following protests against police brutality sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

Erin Ailworth, Midwest correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, spoke to students via Google Hangouts while she was on the ground in Minneapolis. Ailworth is well-versed in covering heavy subject matter. She’s been The Wall Street Journal’s go-to disaster reporter since 2017, reporting on hurricanes, wildfires and, most recently, protests.

READ AILWORTH’S STORIES
IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

When interviewing people, especially those who are traumatized by the events she’s covering, Ailworth exercises empathy. Approach people gently, she said, without shoving a camera or notebook or recording device in their face. Start with introducing yourself, and then ask if they would be willing to talk with you. Continue reading “Navigating disasters and tragedy as a journalist “

Local media leaders encourage prospective journalists

Community journalism ‘never more important’ than now

By Megan Wehring
Texas State University

The Pew Research Center continues to report on declining newspaper circulation (“its lowest level since 1940”), revenue (“declined dramatically between 2008 and 2018”) and employment (“dropped by nearly half between 2008 and 2018”).

But Frank Blethen, in a Washington Post column, says, “Local journalism has never been more important or sought after.”

And longtime journalist Joyce Dehli calls local journalism “an essential force in our democracy.”

Emphasizing the continuing role of local media in American society, a panel of local journalists visited with college students as part of Dow Jones News Fund and Texas Press Association intern training May 27.

Panelists discussed how local journalists need to earn and maintain the public’s trust. They must tell all the stories of the community. Continue reading “Local media leaders encourage prospective journalists”

Hight reminds student journalists to take care of themselves

Sound advice from the Mega Workshop

By Bradley Wilson, CMR Managing Editor

When it came to the opening of the College Media Mega Workshop in Minneapolis, Joe Hight asked the 350 or so students what they all have in common.

Quickly, the students stated the obvious.

We tell stories
We all individually tell stories
We have deadlines
We’re nosey. We’re curious as well.
We’re skeptical.
We follow a set of ethical standards
We’re passionate. When you lose that passion that’s when u go into cynicism.
We’re here for the truth. People wonder what the truth is these days.
We’re tough. Only heard three or four of you say yeah.
We ask the tough questions.

Then Hight turned the talk into what he really wanted students to start thinking about.

He asked, “I’ve always learned how journalists are resilient. Is that a myth?”

Continue reading “Hight reminds student journalists to take care of themselves”

Videolicious: It does one thing…

videolicious class — My classic selfie in Louisville with the 9 a.m. Videolicious class.

… but Videolicious does it really well

By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor

My session on Videolicious was at 9 a.m. on Friday, on a cold and drizzly day in Louisville. I expected about five people to show up. After all, Videolicious has been around for a while. Either you’ve heard of it and are using it. Or you haven’t heard of it and don’t care.

When I got to the room, there were already five people. Perfect.

Then five more. And five more. And, before you know it, there are about 25 people there. So much for a hands-on demonstration. But we tried. And we played.

I believe it when the folks at Videolicious say, “Video is the most popular content in the world.” And it’s growing. Continue reading “Videolicious: It does one thing…”