Connecting Music to Media

ACRN is Ohio University’s All Campus Radio Network, but they are much more than just Internet radio. ACRN does everything from previewing local shows to reviewing albums.

ACRN focuses primarily on college rock. Their website, ACRN.com, is home not only to their online radio stream, but also their editorials. In the past ACRN has been able to gain access to many big name bands, such as Blink 182, Manchester Orchestra and Heartless Bastards. As far as feature their writing is concerned, ACRN tends to focus on the local music scene.

“We are in Athens so we need to focus on what is going on in Athens,” said Hannah Cook, managing editor of ACRN.

However, ACRN members strive to be more than just a music organization on campus.

“ACRN is about finding your voice,” said Cook. “We give students more chances to write creatively. That is why we focus on feature stories.”

A New Brand of Journalism

SPJ workshop teaches young journalists the importance of online branding

Grothjan demonstrates the basics of coding.

The age of journalism has gone digital. At least according to Ohio University student Sarah Grothjan, who indicates that students must find a way to brand themselves online, or they take the risk of going unnoticed.

Grothjan, a junior Carr Van Anda major and Society of Professional Journalists’ publicity chair, led an SPJ workshop Monday highlighting the importance of creating an online personal presence.

“Everyone should at least buy their own domain,” Grothjan advises. “Even if they don’t use it right now, they’ll want access to it in the future, if only for SEO [Search Engine Optimization] purposes.”

Her audience, a mixture of JSchool students from different sequences, listened intently as Grothjan guided them through the steps of creating a web page, designing the format and eventually getting it published.

Opportunity for Excellence

Students invited to submit media work

The Ohio University chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has been given the opportunity to submit entries to the Mark of Excellence awards free of charge. Each student who is an SPJ member can submit two entries of their work and they will be reimbursed by the JSchool for the entry fee.

The Mark of Excellence awards are given annually by SPJ’s national chapter to honor the best in student journalism. The awards offer categories for print, radio, television and online collegiate media. Entries are first judged at the regional level. Next, first place regional winners advance to the national competition and are recognized at the SPJ spring conferences.

Mark of Excellence submissions are due January 25, by midnight. This is the first year that the JSchool is paying these fees. OU SPJ President Taylor Mirfendereski brought this to attention.

“Every year we never have a turnout of entries like we should with how nationally known our program is,” said Mirfendereski. “SPJ always has winners every year and we understand that money is an issue for college students. So by being allowed to have two entries paid for, students are given a tangible benefit.”

“Generation Y” Logs On, Tunes Out

The latest DIY tips, celebrity gossip and newest apps are available literally at the fingertips of smart phone users. This is a generation where social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become the source of news for current events both domestic and international. In technology-infused environments from the classroom to the workplace where accessing information is easier than ever, many Americans still are tuning out important information in the media.

Americans now pay less attention to international affairs and consume less foreign news. Domestic news continues to dominate new American media. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 59 percent of Americans say they regularly watch the local news in their area. This has decreased significantly from the more than three-quarters of American who regularly watched local news in the early 1990s, but is largely unchanged from 2000.

“Our generation is so used to getting things instantly, everything is available in one click, and I think that makes us less interested in taking time to read and digest a traditional news story when we can get the gist in a 140-character tweet instead,” said Karah Finan, an OU junior studying journalism and political science.

Scripps Alumna Shares Tips for Time Management

When it comes to being successful, time management is a key component.  Jill Del Greco, an OU Scripps alumna, is an expert at time management and meeting pressure deadlines everyday at her job.

She has been working at the WHIO news station in Dayton as the crime and courts reporter for the past five years.  The members of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) skyped with Del Greco this past Wednesday evening to get an idea of what deadline reporting is all about.

As Del Greco began to describe an average 10-hour shift at the newsroom, many RTDNA students were in awe of all she manages to get done.  She even jokes that when she wakes up in the morning she “gets ready in front of my computer.”  She is constantly checking on the news beats and following up on old stories as well.

The Face of the JSchool

Scripps ambassadors ‘give back’ to their school

E.W. Scripps 2010-2011 ambassadors pose outside Scripps Hall last fall.

Have you ever wondered what to study or how to prepare yourself in college? Some say that asking college professors or family members can give you the right tools, but sometimes speaking to an E.W. Scripps School of Journalism student ambassador will do the trick. The ambassadors give a student’s perspective of what college life is like and are more than willing to offer advice.

This year, there are 22 JSchool ambassadors. Their majors range from magazine journalism to broadcast and news media, and some even chose a Carr Van Anda degree. No matter your journalism interest, there is an ambassador for you.

Symposium to stress fresh media models

Story // April Jaynes, Reporter

This year, The Schuneman Symposium on Photojournalism and New Media will yield several journalism experts at Ohio University’s Scripps JSchool to discuss the changing face of journalism, alternative business models, and new media on April 5-6.

Events scheduled to take place include topical lectures from nationally renowned experts, panels with successful alumni, and documentary showings.

Schuneman Symposium 2010: (Left to right) Panelists Jen Nedeau, Adam Conner, and Arian Smedley

“If you look at the list of speakers we have, we’ve got people who have sort of created their own outlets,” said Robert Stewart, Director of E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

Grover Sanschagrin, Business Development and co-founder of PhotoShelter and Executive Producer/co-founder of SportsShooter.com, will kick off the symposium Tuesday at 3:10.

At 5:10, renowned photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner, John Kaplan, will show his documentary, Not as I Pictured, which tells the story of his successful journey through lymphoma treatment.

“In journalism, cancer stories are considered the biggest cliché,” said Kaplan. “But, when you get cancer, you don’t feel like a cliché, you just pray you can beat it. The film shares a powerful will to make it through the fear, and survive hardship, with serendipitous and surprisingly magical moments.”

Kaplan said his goal is to distribute 10,000 free copies of the documentary and he will discuss strategic communications for doing so.

Documentary producer Casey Hayward will discuss the process of distributing his film, which is about pediatric patient care for cancer, said Stewart. Both Kaplan and Hayward will focus on how to get important messages distributed in other ways than through the television or theaters said Stewart.

On Wednesday at 9:10, alumnus and communications worker for ProPublica Mike Webb will give his presentation entitled, “Are Nonprofit Newsrooms Moving into the Media?”  ProPublica is a nonprofit organization that works with media to fund investigative media projects. “Twenty years ago, there wouldn’t have been anything like ProPublica,” said Stewart.

Following Webb’s lecture, the panel “New Media/New Medicine” will take place at 10:10. Kaplan, Hayward and representatives from Scripps College of Communication and OU College of Osteopathic Medicine will participate.

At 2:10, photographer, author and significant contributor to National Geographic since 1964, William Albert Allard will give his presentation entitled “William Albert Allard: Five Decades.”

Schuneman Symposium 2010: Jose Azel, of Aurora and Quanta Productions

Next, a panel entitled “Redesigning Your Reality” will feature seven recent Scripps grads to share and discuss their experiences in the field.

One panelist, Garrett Downing, new media producer for WEWS, ABC’s Cleveland affiliate, does a little bit of everything. “On a broad scale, I basically run the website for our news organization. I do a lot of article writing, photo editing, video editing and then showcasing that content online,” said Downing. In addition to maintaining the organization’s website, Downing said he carries out social media strategies, shoots video and regularly appears on-air.

Another panelist, Jessica Beinecke is an award-winning international journalist for Washington D.C.’s Voice of America (VOA), and reports in Mandarin Chinese. “We as communicators need to be able to communicate with a global audience,” said Beinecke. “An international approach will give you a competitive advantage.” Beinecke also said she has a three-step process that helped her get to where she is today, of which she plans to share with students during the panel.

“Students in the audience will come out (of the symposium) thinking about their career differently,” said Stewart.

The final speaker, and whom Stewart described as the inspiration of this year’s symposium, Robert McChesney, co-founder of Free Press and host of Media Matters, will speak at 5:10.

McChesney’s presentation title is a quote from famous journalist Walter Lippmann, “In an exact sense the present crisis of western democracy is a crisis of journalism.”

In his lecture, McChesney said he will discuss the problems facing journalism today and “how we should understand those problems, how we should respond to them, why we should respond to them and why this is a crisis that is existential for us as a free people, but also a very solvable problem.”

Major problems McChesney will discuss are the lack of funding for, and quality of, journalism today. “The amount of resources to pay for journalism in our society are plummeting. We have far few reporters per capita than we did 25 years ago. We see newsrooms shrinking or disappearing, and the commitment to do quality reporting is just not there anymore,” McChesney said.

McChesney said he strongly argues for federal subsidies of journalism, as our nation once provided at the beginning of its history, and a high priority for quality reporting.

“Students are entering a world that’s not hospitable to doing journalism,” said McChesney. “But that doesn’t mean the work isn’t important. This country would not be worth living in without journalism.”

The Symposium is made possible each year by the generous donations of OU alumni R. Smith and Patricia Schuneman. All events are free, open to the public and will take place in the Baker University Center Theatre.

While Ohio University is in the midst of a hiring freeze and anticipated budget cuts, Tom Hodson recently started his new position as interim director and general manager of WOUB.

Hodson, the former director of the Scripps school, will now face a new task of taking on the financial difficulties WOUB is facing.

He is replacing former director, Carolyn Bailey Lewis, who applied for state disability retirement in early October and is expected to hear the official ruling this week.

Hodson, who was notified Nov. 26, 2010 by Dean Gregory Shepherd of the College of Communications regarding his promotion, only had one month to develop a “game plan” before officially beginning his new job on Jan. 3.

Shepherd asked Hodson to take on the new role because of his “unique set of skills and experience (and)strong association with the broadcasting business, but also great experience as an academic leader,”  Shepherd said.  All of which play a factor in Hodson’s goals.

During his month of planning, Hodson identified three main goals to focus upon during his time as interim director.

The first of his goals  is “making sure the center [WOUB] is financially solvent and on a good financial footing,” which is “a major challenge with dwindling service resources.”  This includes maintaining the center’s six TV and six radio stations.

Hodson plans to research what money is available for WOUB and identify cost saving efficiencies while planning to “keep the same services or figure out how to improve service but at a lesser cost than in the past.”

For starters, Hodson plans to use much more website-based distribution to reduce cost.

He will also be researching some national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) content to determine how cost-effective they are compared to more locally produced shows.

With the next fiscal year beginning in July, WOUB will not know its budget allocation until March at the earliest.  From there, Hodson expects to spend from March to June tailoring the budget.

“The budget is a huge issue, with so many unknowns,” Hodson said. Historically, the annual budget is around $5 million, although it’s expected to decrease this year with anticipated budget cuts.

WOUB receives the majority of their funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) who helps underwrite the cost of the PBS content.  The problem WOUB is currently facing this year is PBS changing their formula for programming fees, and the money received from CPB are from essentially interlocking formulas, Hodson said.  Meaning both will need to be determined before WOUB will have any idea of the upcoming budget.

WOUB receives funding from grants, donations and directly from the university just as other units of OU. This  is dependent on all the sources of revenue the school is receiving.

Also on Hodson’s to-do list is the integration of the center with the five Scripps schools to help make it possible for students to receive academic credit for certain jobs performed at WOUB.

“[We] want to promote use of student and faculty together,” Hodson said.

Approximately 250 students work through WOUB without receiving academic credit, though some do earn a small amount of money, an aspect Hodson wishes to improve.

“[We want to] give students real professional experience with academic credit,” Hodson said.

Most work done at WOUB is categorized under volunteer enterprise when used to update professional portfolios.

It is already a work in progress since Hodson has started reaching out to the schools to integrate them more toward an academic mission. He will also be working with classes and talking to directors to see what common ground they currently have.  Currently, Hodson said there is some linkage between academics and WOUB but nothing very productive.

Eventually, Hodson hopes to update and modernize the approach the center takes to news and entertainment and bring it more into the 21^st century.  With technology having changed  more in the past five years then in the past 60, it presents a major problem, Hodson said.

“I am especially interested in seeing WOUB become an even more important player in the education of our students, providing them cutting edge experiences in all aspects of media production and delivery,”  Shepherd said, indicating it will be a problem that Hodson can solve.

Some of the more modern and cutting edge techniques are surprisingly more cost-efficient, Hodson said.  For example, “It’s much cheaper to populate a website than to do a live television program.”

Although the budget will have an effect in the development of the center, “The budget won’t keep us from modernization,” Hodson said.

Meanwhile, Hodson is unsure if he will fully become the permanent director and general manager at WOUB.

“I have an uncertain time frame here,” Hodson said.  “These are times of change and excitement in the media professions and we are dedicated to ensuring that our students graduate with the abilities to lead the way.”

The discovery story of Ted Williams is one that could inspire just about anyone. It offers hope to the homeless man, searching for means of survival. It offers encouragement to the healing addict, that there is life after dependence. But what does it offer to the journalist, laboring day after day, who finally made an impression?

It was a long night of studying when, from across the room, my friend pulled up a video someone had e-mailed him. That was the first time I experienced The Voice. I was shocked — as most were — when I saw the face issuing the words, sounding just like the professional dialogue of a radio host.

A reporter from The Columbus Dispatch allegedly had the first video copy, the same one that many of us first saw on YouTube. There are many sides to the story surrounding the exposure of Ted Williams’ talent, but underneath all of the politics lies a powerful story.

I bet I can tell you the first thing that came out of just about everyone’s mouth when they first caught wind of this story: “Wow, what a lucky break.” But when I think of this story, I see that it can be boiled down to more than any fabulated coincidence. In fact, it is this kind of story that many of us will someday strive to find. In turn, this is the standard of work that can offer new inspiration to our studies and our time spent in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism.

Some controversy has risen following the release of this divisive story. Many believe that Williams caught a break that he didn’t deserve, considering his sticky past that has been called to attention. Apparently, this was a past that Williams’ newly found fame could not shake. Just days after his video hit the Web, news circulated that he had broken his alleged sobriety. In response to this controversy, Williams checked himself into rehab.

In my opinion, this validates the fortune he came upon. Given the opportunity, it seems that Williams will try to turn his life around, and he deserves that second chance, no matter what luck or talent may have brought him to it. The point I’d like to stress here is this: If one journalist’s inkling can bring this much favor to a man who has an exceedingly shaky track record, imagine the possibilities when applied elsewhere. This single account shows us all the effect that any one piece of journalistic work can have.

Setting aside the personal convictions anyone may hold on this topic, it is an anecdote alive with morals that journalism students should be thinking on mulling over. Such ethically challenging stories are the ones that keep our field in constant flux, reminding us to set our own standards as well as our own priorities.

If this can get you thinking on one thing, let it be your motivations for your future career.  What will be your incentive to flourish as a professional communicator? If you’re still riding on, “Because I like to write,” maybe it’s time to dig a little deeper. Stories like the discovery of Ted Williams prove that if we set out to use our talents to make a difference, we may hold the power to change lives.