Students find inspiration in International Week
May 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
To kickoff International Week, Ohio University students and faculty greeted the reputable Arun Ghandi, grandson to notable pacifist and ideological leader Mohandas Ghandi, on Monday, May 16 for a lesson on nonviolence in the face of adversity and racism.
The focus of Ghandi’s presentation centered around the culture of violence that has been built up throughout the centuries and how to shed this exterior in order to form a more perfect world of peace and unity.
“I think it is time we change this culture of violence with a culture of non-violence,” Ghandi said.
Arun Ghandi speaking at Tempelton Blackburn Memorial Auditorium.
Ghandi related the infrastructure of a predominately violent culture to a spreading cancer that must be stopped.
At the event, Ghandi provided personal anecdotes of living with his now famous grandfather. Ghandi shared how his grandfather instilled in him the knowledge that each action has a consequence.
He related this to the time he discarded a worn pencil. His grandfather Mohandas Ghandi had made him search for the discarded pencil and relayed the significance of this action.
He said that this taught him two lessons. The first was that by discarding the small pencil, he was contributing to violence against nature. The second was that as a population, overconsumption deprives people of their resources causing others to live in poverty.
This anecdote eventually transitioned into discussion of Ghandi’s anger journal, which he utilized as an outlet for moments of outrage.
While documenting each of life’s transgressions may extend beyond the role of a journalist, students were able to learn from Ghandi and how he kept records of each of life’s facets.
As a former journalist in India, Ghandi’s life was predominantly shaped by observation and documentation. The skills he learned are skills that journalists and other students can benefit from by not only noting the world’s injustices, but by reflecting on and learning from them. Ghandi said harnessing this knowledge is the seed to progress.
Ghandi closed his speech with references to foreign policy, current world problems, and attaining peace, criticizing the foreign policies of countries today.
“Every nation has a foreign policy on what is good for them,” Ghandi said.
Ghandi pointed out that a nation cannot survive on its own, and barriers must be broken to ensure a greater communication and unity with other countries.
“We have to remember that if the rest of the world goes down the drain, we go down with them,” Ghandi said. “…The only way we can secure ourselves is by securing the whole world.”
Ghandi then spoke of an ancient Indian tale involving a king and his quest to understand the meaning of peace. Without any satisfactory answers, he went to an old sage who gave him a grain. The king kept this grain buried in a box and when the sage came to visit, he admonished this action explaining that this seed symbolized peace; by storing it a way nothing will happen, but by burying and allowing it to grow and prosper, it can grow and flourish into a field of wheat.
“I have come here to give the grain of peace,” Ghandi said. “Do not let it rot.”
Scripps publications welcome next year’s leaders
May 17th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
With every coming year, publications grow and change with the introduction of new editors to bring their unique visions into the mix. With this school year coming to an end, and new executive boards having already been declared, people can anticipate a fresh approach from their favorite campus news outlets.
For Wesley Lowery, incoming Editor-in-Chief for The Post, this position only comes naturally after serving three years as a Post reporter.
“I started at The Post the first day of my freshman year, so every day I’ve been a student at Ohio University has been with The Post,” Lowery said.
After having to face an extensive range of judges comprised of The Post’s publishing board, 12 faculty members, administrators, students, the business manager and past editor, Lowery will be taking the reigns for next year’s spot of editor-in-chief.
As for what to expect next year, the planning process has already begun for Lowery. “Even things we’re doing well, we can always do better,” Lowery said. One of the aspects Lowery will continue to focus and improve upon is the website, which he says has been a two-year process. “There are going to be some major changes. We’re looking about doing some newer, more unconventional things next year. There will definitely be some changes to the way The Post physically appears, branding ourselves differently, and we’re going to do a little more outreach to the community,” Lowery said.
The Post has already made some major changes this year with its new look, and Lowery admits that not many more big changes will be made with that other than working out the kinks. However, the website will continue to evolve in these coming years, according to Lowery.
“The big thing is to continue pushing online content; the rush to web policy. It’s definitely an attainable goal,” said Lowery.
While Lowery intends to focus on continuing The Post’s image, incoming editor-in-chief for Backdrop magazine, Alex Bojalad, said that after a major facelift for the printed magazine this year, readers should not expect to see additional major changes to the publication.
“We’re trying to keep things relatively consistent. We went through a pretty big branding change with color scheme, and I don’t want to change too much too quickly; keep everything relatively stable,” Bojalad said.
Bojalad said his concrete goal for the upcoming year will be to focus on the writing and stories within Backdrop.
“I would like the content to be as good as possible. We’ve worked hard for a while so the magazine looks good, so I’d like to see some excellent content, stories people would remember after they graduate,” Bojalad said.
On the flip side, the interactive online magazine Thread will see its first transition to new editors. For incoming Editor-in-Chief Ali Mazzotta and Managing Editor Catherine Caldwell, the help of current editor-in-chief and founder of Thread, Jamie Ratermann, has been greatly helpful in this new stage.
“She is awesome. I am with her so much now, and she’s so helpful.” Mazzotta said. “Anything I could ever think to ask her, I can ask her and she’ll be there for me.”
Mazzotta admittedly stated that this transition process has been in baby steps compared to what they can expect in the future. Yet, the wheels are already turning on how they can perfect the popular multimedia magazine.
“I guess the biggest thing I want to accomplish is, every issue we’ve gotten better, and I want to keep that momentum going,” Mazzotta said.
As with any journalism publication, keeping the momentum and shifting for the changing times is essential.
“We want to be continuing to transition, keeping up with technology of the time, and making sure we’re continuing to fulfill our mission statement, along with getting people excited about it, and making people feel included,” Caldwell said.
One of the greatest changes to the publication will be the introduction of a coffee table book that will be available in print around week nine.
All editors make it known that they are not the only people behind the publications. It is a collaborative effort with the rest of their team.
“I can’t say enough how thankful I am that they’ve been so helpful; I finally found my fit,” Mazzotta said.
Social media finds homage offline and in classrooms
May 3rd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
As social media begins to grow in popularity by the second and with the scope of journalism broadening to include these features, the top journalism schools across the country are beginning to offer classes specific to social media to accommodate future job requisites.
“This is an exciting time in journalism with new developments daily in the tools we can use to tell stories,” said Ann Schierhorn, professor at the Kent State School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Although Kent State University does not offer courses exclusive to social media at the current time, Professor Schierhorn said that social media is integrated into several news classes in addition to extracurricular media outlets on campus that further aid in teaching students the basics and tools of social media. A new course will soon be offered in multimedia reporting that further expounds upon social media as a tool for reporting news.
For now, students are focusing on three essential cores of social media in relation to the journalism industry.
“At the Kent State School of Journalism and Mass Communication, students use social media as a method of reporting, publishing and promoting their work,” Schierhorn said.
Traditional courses are transitioning social media into the curriculum through means, such as using Twitter as a reporting tool in Newswriting, Schierhorn said.
“They blog in a host of courses ranging from Magazine Publishing to Ethics,” Schierhorn said. “In reporting courses, they use Facebook to send out questions and find sources. On election night in Reporting Public Affairs, they tweet.”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is another top journalism school that now includes social media into their curriculum, said Assistant Professor David Cupp.
Ohio University is following the lead. While no courses titled “Social Media” are offered, this topic is an integral element in many journalism classrooms.
Professor Cindy Royal from Texas State University said students should also take initiative to learn these tools on their own.
Students must take it upon themselves to keep up with the evolving industry and, in turn, faculty members will follow their lead if students express the importance of a certain skill and an eagerness to learn more.
“If faculty sees that you’re bringing in guest speakers, they’ll see that they have to catch up and the effect will permeate. It’s almost at the point where it is becoming critical,” Royal said.
With the first student chapter of a social media club in Texas, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication
at Texas State University is making great strides in social media education.
Texas State University now offers a class that focuses on social media in the professional sense called Intro to Multimedia: Social Media at Work. The course teaches students how to use social media as an asset at work, teaches tools for success, and teaches students history and background to increase their knowledge base of the newcomer transit for communication.
These courses can be extremely beneficial to journalism students unfamiliar with social media at work or unfamiliar with the networking benefits.
“I’ve really found that with students in my class, there have been a lot of successes,” said Professor Royal at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University. “I always hear, ‘I met someone on Twitter and got an interview.’ It’s great to hear those successes, it works,” said Royal.
In addition, classes at Texas State University integrate blogs as commenting forms. Twitter is used in the classroom, hashtags are integrated as a discussion forum in class, and Facebook groups are designated for some classes.
Like all skills taught in the classroom, these are taught in a manner to prepare students for the job market.
The New York Times recently received slack for releasing undisclosed details of the new Facebook Deals launching in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco.
This service will focus on interests singled out by Facebook users in hopes of bringing deals that are relevant to that specific user as a form of advertisement and business promotion.
“It holds a lot of potential,” said Royal about the Facebook Deals service. “Like anything, it depends on how well it’s executed. [There are] a lot of opportunities for people to be inundated with that type of advertising.”
If it proves to be successful, social networking sites may be the main form of advertisement of the future. Without a concrete knowledge base of the professional workings of social media, students’ attempts to find a job may be futile in comparison with students better prepared and suited for the market.
While social media may be integrated into curriculum, the foundation of writing a story and producing it should be considered no matter what vehicle of communication is chosen. The essentials that are still being taught remain because the form of media is pointless without a captivating and accurate story.
“My opinion is it’s really more about having a engaging story. Get it up on the web and share it, then integrate a YouTube video in the blog and figure out how they work together,” Royal said.
Student program hones communication
April 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
The basics of what an Ambassador at Ohio University is and does is buried beneath murky waters. Not very much information is provided through the Ohio University directory, or by word of mouth. But rest assured, ambassadors are a vital function in recruiting top students to this university.
“We’re volunteers, I just think people don’t even know about us. We’re like a subterranean level below tour guides, kind of like a club, on our own volition,” Kelly Phillips, Ohio University out-of-state ambassador (OSA), said.
Not even recognized as a student organization, these ambassadors dedicate their time and energy into giving students a personalized account of Ohio University.
Typically, Phillips and other OSA’s meet with out-of-state prospective students for a luncheon on Friday with their parents to discuss any questions or concerns that a pamphlet is not sufficient in dealing with. It’s about bridging the gap between anecdotes and reference sources and factual statistics.
“What I really cherish about being an OSA is that we’re off the record. If parents and students ask us questions, we can answer questions as frankly as we want, within reason,” Phillips said.
There are no better resources to offer these perspectives than actual students who have dealt with the same or similar problems or concerns. Phillips herself is an out-of-state student.
As a JSchool Ambassador, students would offer their own accounts of how the journalism school has prepared them, why they chose E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, and unique experiences.
“It’s really fun to give your personal experience in a way to mediate. They can read as many statistics as they want but it’s not going to mean anything; they aren’t going to synthesize that until they come walk around for the Ohio University experience,” Phillips said.
High school seniors that have any fear or doubts about Ohio University can use these ambassadors as a tool. However, the ambassadors can benefit greatly from this commitment.
The importance of networking is never forgotten in casual conversation or lectures, and as an ambassador, students can take advantage of more networking opportunities.
Phillips remembers a time when she met a student who went to high school fairly close to her and whose mother went to high school with her own mother and whose father worked with her mother.
“I hope and aim for the seniors to get a lot out of it. It always does put a smile on my face,” Phillips said.
Ambassadors can also gain essential skills in communication. First impressions can make the difference between a job or no job, a raise or demotion. As an ambassador, not only will your first impression be considered, but you also must deliver a great first impression of Ohio University. It can make the difference between a student choosing Scripps, or elsewhere.
“It’s really helped me to communicate in general. I honestly enjoy every single luncheon I go to,” Phillips said.
If students are interested in becoming a JSchool Ambassador, Sharon Case can provide students with information to lead them in the right direction.
If a student is interested in becoming as OSA and are an out-of-state student, they can contact Lindsay Lake for more information.
Social media blur lines of infringement
April 19th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
Social media and sites like Twitpic and Flickr are now obfuscating the copyright boundaries between journalists and citizen photographers who are capturing news events and posting it to their social media domains.
On Wednesday, April 6, Shawna Malvini Redden tweeted about the ongoing events of an emergency landing on Southwest Airlines 737 after a hole was discovered in the jetliner. She snapped photographs of the plane’s landing and the panicked passengers and posted them to Twitpic, where shortly after she received a flood of Twitter requests from reporters and was notified that her photos were circulating on large media networks and news sites.
Many news organizations used Redden’s images without contacting her, requesting permission, or giving her credit. This blatant disregard for rights of the photos’ owner was due to the grey area that journalists often face when dealing with amateur photographer’s photos. Sites like Twitpic and Flickr are making it that much easier for the media to obtain these pictures—without acknowledging the source.
(Graphic by Mikaela Longo)
However, this is still a case of photo plagiarism. In an interview with Adam Hochberg from the Poynter Institute’s website, Redden was said to be distressed over the misuse of her pictures.
“The courteous thing would have been to put my name up there,” said Redden in the interview with Hochberg.
Copyright infringement is much more common when it comes to citizen photography because of the simple fact that many journalists do not view it as a violation of copyrights or plagiarism.
“One of the great things about the first amendment is that it doesn’t say it only applies to people making a living at journalism,” said Ohio University Associate Professor Stan Alost.
Yet, the act of posting it, whether through Twitter or the Associated Press, is still publishing. The confusion comes in with this transition from physical copies to electronic publications.
“I used to work for the papers, and if someone wanted to use a picture from the newspaper, they would have to cut it out and mail it. Now, someone takes a picture off one site and puts it on their blog,” said Stan Alost, associate director.
It is easy to forget that pictures taken off Google or the Internet are someone else’s property.
“It’s like a farmer and people are stealing his cows. It’s got your brand on it, but someone else is taking it to slaughterhouse,” Alost said.
Journalists in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism must be aware of this and have the ability to produce photos for a story, either through a separate photographer or by themselves. As preparation for this future, Professor Alost requires students to produce their own pictures for projects and assignments. Alost claims this is to start the education process and reinforce students’ awareness of the property rights of others.
“Taking a picture is not hard. Creating a really good photograph is more of a challenge,” Alost said.
This challenge is auxiliary to photo plagiarism, especially for students. However, in cases where students cannot personally obtain a particular photograph for a story they are doing, there are other options.
“There is material that is Royalty free, but often it’s just the simple matter of contacting whoever owns the rights to that picture and explain what you’re going to do,” Alost said.
Many websites offer photo sharing privileges along with respectable news organizations. The Associated Press allows journalists to purchase photos, and Getty Images offers similar services.
Locally, students can turn to places like the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau in Athens or the Chamber of Commerce for pictures. Almost every city has similar establishments that own many pictures of the area to attract customers, which may be beneficial to journalists.
Often the problem is merely the misunderstanding of copyright infringements and popular ignorance of the fact that posting something on the Internet is publishing. In this way, there can be a simple solution to the problem.
“Because it’s so easy, generally there’s not bad intent. If people understand that it’s wrong, not just that it’s illegal, it’s not polite. There are other ways to solve the problem,” said Alost.
Professor blog drives discussion and debate to Scripps site
April 12th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
Blogs can be advantageous for many reasons, but Professor Bill Reader proves that they can serve to be an elemental form of discourse between journalists.
Back in March, Reader wrote a critique of a regional site called TBD.com. The critique was later made available through the Scripps homepage. His post was then mentioned through Jim Romenesko’s blog on the Poynter Institute’s website, which helped him gain even more views and feedback from readers.
Director of Community Engagement for TBD, Steve Buttry, reached out to Reader through email shortly after viewing this blog post regarding several facts in Reader’s community journalism blog, and later posted his response in his own blog on March 3.
“Blogs are powerful tools for public debate and serve their best purpose when used to that effect,” Reader said.
Both Reader and Buttry took advantage of their blogs as tools that allow for a public discourse with an exchange of opinions and acquirement of new information.
“We in the journalism business are about benefitting society at large, which is why we are comfortable with, even insistent upon, arguing in the public sphere,” Reader said.
Buttry’s blog allowed comments where much of the discussion took place.
“As we debated the issue, we all incorporated the opinions of the others into our own thinking,” Reader said. “All of it advanced the dialogue on the issue at hand, and all of us left the debate with new ideas and better understanding.”
As professionals, feedback, whether posing disagreement or accordance, should be taken into account when publishing anything from a blog post to a highly publicized print article.
“I got feedback, which is the goal of publishing opinions,” Reader said.
When Professor Stewart set up the current Scripps website several years ago, this idea of feedback and a connection to outside media sources was the premise of inviting professors to offer their expertise in blog posts linked through the Scripps page.
“I really feel like Scripps hired me for a purpose here, to come in and objectively look at how we can adapt better. I’m looking critically at the industry and looking for new ways and ideas, and hopefully that shows students Scripps is trying,” said Professor Hans Meyer who offers his perspective about aspects of online journalism on his blog.
While each professor proves how multidimensional blogs are, many agree that the main purpose is, in essence, to communicate.
“One of the things that scares people is that they have to be perfect. The best blogs start conversations,” Meyer said.
These blogs can often shift from the Scripps homepage to the classroom. Professor Mark Tatge makes between six to eight blogs available for his students as an exterior and ancillary form of communication.
“I view students as an audience, and you have to find one of the best vehicles to communicate with them,” Tatge said.
This can also help connect his classroom to outside sources. Tatge views blogs beneficiary for reasons including their searchable nature so people outside of Ohio University can read about what is discussed in the classroom, what research Scripps is doing and how Scripps is trying to help the industry.
While these blogs can range from editorials, personal blogs or an extension of the classroom, they must al- ways be saturated in fact. For this reason, Professor Tatge relays his greatest pet peeve about blogging: anonymity.
“Don’t let people hide behind the veil of anonymity. I have a call of action to force people to fess up on who they are. As journalists in a journalism school, we ought to be forcing people to be accountable,” Tatge said.
With accountability serving as an important aspect, it must still be remembered that as Reader has demonstrated, journalism dwindles down to communication. Without a name attached to a post, an exchange of information and opinions isn’t able to take place.
Turmoil erupts over New York Times digital subscription
April 5th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
Another shadow of uncertainty is cast on the future of print journalism as more and more news industries are beginning to shut down certain free services and offer digital subscriptions instead.
On March 28, the New York Times said goodbye to their free website and App services and announced their plan for the future: digital subscriptions. Joining the bandwagon of other top news industries like The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times outlines the changes made through digital subscriptions in a “Letter to Our Readers” written by Editor Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Sulzberger went so far as to call this major alteration an “investment in our future.”
Already in effect, the enactment of digital subscriptions now limits unsubscribed online readers to only 20 articles per month. Smartphone and Tablet App users will also experience a change in their news availability by only receiving access to “Top News,” unless they take the initiative to purchase one of the three packages the New York Times offers for digital subscriptions.
This questions how or even if digital subscriptions will impact the malleable journalism field. According to Ohio State journalism instructor and advisor to The Lantern, Dan Caterinicchia, partial digital subscriptions have already been attempted and were generally not well-received.
“They tried this already. They tried to put certain columnists along the paywall but they decided it didn’t work,” Caterinicchia said. “But now that the iPad has just exploded, and there are millions of people that are using it, they probably think the market has hit a critical mass that even if they sacrificed some of the market, enough people would pay for these services.”
Customer loyalty seems to be the premise of their idea for success but remains something hard to gauge and predict.
“People are used to certain things being free. You may have to pay for print and even if it has a web, it most likely will be free. That is the biggest challenge that is facing not only media, but also business and market. We’re not making money or haven’t monetized this way, so we have to start charging,” Caterinicchia said.
Caterinicchia said this assumption that people will pay for subscriptions is the “million dollar question.”
“What is that level, how many people do you have to bring that makes alienating some worth it?” Caterinicchia said.
Every new shift in media creates the same questions of the future. It is a topic often perseverated that can never be certain.
“Publications that are medium to small in size have to show everyone else that it is possible to do [digital subscriptions] online. They were having these conversations five and ten years ago. We just don’t know,” said Caterinicchia.
Journalism students rewarded by damage control
March 29th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
Journalists are usually told to make sure to get their résumé “on the right desk.” However, what happens when the résumé makes its way to the desk of the“right” person, but a mistake lingers in the résumé or cover letter?
With spring here and the summer of opportunity and internships rapidly approaching, it is important to consider the do’s and don’ts of applying for internships and job positions. A simple mistake, like a misspelling in an email, can make the difference between landing a dream internship and waving the future goodbye.
The forerunning “do” is to start early and prepare so that a résumé or cover letter is not being put together last minute.
Michelle O’Donnell, director at the ad network Collective Media, stresses the importance of staying abreast of application procedures for internships.
“I’ve been in advertising for 11 years now, so I have a ton of thoughts. For right now, the best thing you can do is talk to a counselor and apply for as many good internships as possible,” O’Donnell said. “Try to get a paid one, even if the pay is low.”
Applying for as many internships as possible, though important for a journalist, can also lead to mistakes and a common “don’t.” Grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, incorrect formatting and typos stand out, especially for the journalists pursuing the very jobs that try to prevent and correct these mistakes.
Lauren Byrwa, a junior majoring in magazine journalism and interactive multimedia and visual communications at Ohio University, has experienced the heart-sinking feeling that results from an erroneous resume. Byrwa failed to change the headings to the multiple corporations to which she was mass emailing.
“At first I sent a couple emails and cover letters to places in Columbus: Resource Interactive and SBC Advertising. Then I wanted to look at places closer to home, so I started Googling places in Cincinnati,” Brywa said. “Well there were two Cincinnati firms where, after sending it, I realized I never changed the name of the firm in the email. I was mortified to say the least.”
To avoid job-comprising mistakes like Brywa’s, students are advised to take advantage of the Student Writing Center, which provides services like résumé help.
Dr. Candace Stewart, coordinator for the Student Writing Center, said one of the main mistakes students make with résumé and cover letters is making their name too small.
In A competitive field, anything that stands out to media corporations who see résumé after résumé can set someone apart, and it starts with the name. A large bold name can make it memorable and may help lead the résumé to the “right desk.”
Proofreading is essential to prevent mistakes from being sent out to multiple job corporations and agencies. Common proofreading tips like re-reading everything multiple times can be ancillary to success.
“You should have several people read it over; that’s a major one,” Stewart said.
An even more important tip is learning how to handle mistakes. In Brywa’s case, fixing the mistake turned a “don’t” into a “do.” Her erroneous resume actually led her to seize a great opportunity.
“I think the fact that I’m willing to face my mistakes and try to make amends for them says a lot about my character, my ambition and my dedication to this firm,” Brywa said in an email to the company.
Brywa’s candid email led to a subsequent interview with the company. While some mistakes are best avoided, Brywa’s case demonstrates that students are well advised to also practice damage control.
INC takes a look back on stellar quarter from SPJ
March 8th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Story // Raquel Harrah, Reporter
Ohio University’s Society of Professional Journalists has delivered another successful quarter with more than enough events to give even the journalism beginnings a crash course in preparation for the future.
Weekly events ranged from creating a fundamental knowledge-base of sometimes challenging programs like Final Cut Pro to speakers who have influenced the journalism field. SPJ also co-hosted two notable events this quarter: Battle of the Bands, co-hosted with Ed2010, and the Sunshine Summit, co-hosted with OU’s Radio Television Digital News Association.
“My personal favorite was the Sunshine Summit,” noted Gina Mussio, secretary for SPJ. “It was such a groundbreaking event, and I am proud to say I was a part of such a new and inspiring journalistic endeavor.
Thanks to the collaborative efforts of SPJ and RTDNA, the Sunshine Summit took place on February 26th and garnered over 100 attendees.
“The Sunshine Summit focuses on bringing attention to making records available to journalists,” said Maranda Saling, former member of the SPJ executive board.
Guests ranged from all over the journalism gamut, including the national president of Society of Professional Journalists, Hagit Limor.
The Sunshine Summit found its place this quarter as a staple event of SPJ, allowing journalism students to understand the rights and battles of the everyday journalist.
Requests have already been made to RTDNA and SPJ for a Sunshine Summit 2011.
“We may be student journalists now, but someday we will be journalists out there fighting the same fights, [and] it is important that our rights are given to us now,” Mussio said.
Battle of the Bands took place two days prior to the Sunshine Summit for the second year in a row as SPJ’s new and entertaining fundraiser. The musical competition welcomed performances by students and a surprising kick-off performance by Robert Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Matt Reed and the TGP took first place in the February fundraiser, but all performances were well received by the crowd for a compelling opportunity to raise money.
Apart from the two large events, SPJ welcomed a return of Grammar Smackdown!, engaging discussions on ethics, presentations by RP Brenner and Rebecca Hamilton and a one-on-one with an investigative journalist, Joe Mahr.
“It is always important to listen to people currently in the field and try to learn from someone else’s experiences,” Mussio said.
SPJ allows students to have a place to access advice and workshops that can help mold and shape their current skills into something more concrete and useful for the future.
“These are so beneficial for students to add to their journalism toolbox and list of skills and we provide,” Mussio said. “We are a useful organization both on campus as well as in connection with the national SPJ.
As for what to look forward to for next quarter’s meetings, Mussio mentioned a couple ideas that SPJ will entertain in the upcoming quarter.
“I think we may do more of a social event since the weather will be nice and to reward everyone for their hard work,” she said. “We will continue to work to bring in great speakers and to hold interesting meetings.”
Journalism wins top spot as most useless degree
May 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Raquel Harrah, Reporter
This study leaves readers with one question: “If a journalism major is useless, what if it were to disappear from college programs? What if journalism were left to untrained citizens and ceased to exist in the professional sense?”
“I don’t think it’s possible for a world without journalism to exist. It is very fundamental,” said Elizabeth Sullivan, Opinion Editor for The Plain Dealer.
Could the world truly not function without journalism? After all, journalism has shaped and built this country as far back as the 17th century. When destruction plagues every other entity in this world, journalism remains, and even thrives, from the turmoil.
It is almost difficult to envision journalism being stripped from this world, because citizens are so dependent on it. I tried my best to picture a world without journalism, just for a day; and like a bad dream, this is what I imagined.
1. There would be no newspaper to inform me of the previous day’s events. I turn the television on, and no cheerful man explains the rain cloud coming in from the South, so I walk out in the rain fully unprepared. Tornados could be headed my way, but I would not know.
2. Twitter and Facebook no longer exist. My computer remains idle as I walk aimlessly around with no other procrastination tool at hand. I don’t know what my friends did last night, I don’t know who is dating whom; and on a larger spectrum, I don’t know if China dropped an atomic bomb and wiped out half the country. It could happen.
3. I turn on the television to once again find something to do. There is no Saturday Night Live, no Colbert Report, and no Daily Show for my daily fix of humor. Satire no longer exists since there is no news-providing raw material. Not only do I have no clue what is going on in the world, but I can’t even laugh about the ridiculous circumstances of everyday life.
4. I head outside as I watch a chemical company dump their chemicals into a nearby water source. There are no reporters to report the corruption, no newspapers to turn to, and hundreds of thousands of people could be sick in an instant, with no explanation and no incentive to fix it.
5. Utter chaos ensues. The government embezzles money, people go on murder sprees; but who brings light to these situations? This leads to the next problem.
6. Everyone becomes a journalist. Without training or knowledge of the journalism field, everyone becomes their own journalist. Like a game of telephone, facts are distorted, rumors spread. No one really knows the difference between fact and fiction. This leads us, once again, to utter chaos. And then everyone dies.
Alright, this might be an exaggeration, but it is not impossible. Because of average pay or job availability, a website might label a journalism degree as useless, but this in no way means that professional journalism is not essential. Journalism is the stability of any society. It is a translator between the public and the government. It brings light to injustices and corruption to solve society’s problems. If people are ignorant to the problems, how can they go about solving them?
It is also a falsehood that anyone can be a journalist. Between blogs and modern media conventions, the line between journalism, citizen journalism, and idle gossip is often blurred.
Journalism in the true sense, however, demands accuracy and reliability, and its existence shapes society.
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