INC to Raffle Wiz Kahlifa Tickets

Don’t miss your chance to see Wiz Kahlifa!

INC will be raffling off two tickets to the concert within the weeks of May 7 to May 15.

The rapper will be headlining the spring concert in the Convocation Center on May 18 at 7:30 p.m. along with hip-hop artist Sean Kingston as his opening act.

 The tickets are valid for center seats 8 and 9 of row 203 in the Convo. Tickets will be sold outside of Baker Center next week. (See schedule below for dates and times) Tickets will be sold at $1 for 2, $5 for 12 and $10 for 30.

INC staff is currently asking local businesses to participate by donating smaller prizes for the raffle. Through sponsorship, businesses will have their logo’s present on promotional materials for the event such as fliers and social media promotions.

The proceeds for this fundraiser will go towards printing fees for the publication. INC is aiming to publish an Orientation Guide for the upcoming school year, which will be available to freshman and transfer students.

Where to buy tickets:

Look for the INC table that will be set up outside at the top of Baker Center.

When to buy tickets: 

Monday, May 7

12-2 p.m.

Tuesday, May 8

2-3 p.m.

Wednesday, May 9

1-3 p.m.

Monday, May 14

12-2

Tuesday, May 15

12-2 p.m.

Weds: Drawing

 For any questions regarding the raffle or how to donate a prize please contact Editor’s Lindsay Friedman and Jimmy Roller at ouspjinc@gmail.com and don’t forget to like our Facebook page for your chance to win a $5 gift card to your favorite OU venue.

“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.

SPJ Students Learn to Utilize Journalism Apps

SPJ VP shows students how to use apps while working in the field

The Society of Professional Journalists started off their winter quarter meetings with a look into the ever-growing list of applications for smart phones and tablets that can be applied to journalism.

With technology constantly evolving and improving, it is becoming more important for journalists to see the benefits of using apps that can help them in the field.  The smart phone is starting to become the eyes and ears for those working on a breaking story.

While being stuck behind a desk is not the ideal situation for journalists trying to cover a story, smartphones like the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry have apps that now make a journalist’s daily work much easier.

App Expert and Vice President of SPJ, Emma Morehart, led this meeting by explaining some of her favorite and most useful apps. 

Social media finds homage offline and in classrooms

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.

ImPRessions team hosts first Social Media Summit

Story // Nicole Spears, Reporter

A lot of hard work goes into each and every Scripps publication. Between delving into fresh and entertaining stories, chasing down that perfect photo, and working on a deadline, not much time or energy is reserved for extra work.

But why put in all this time and effort, only to supply your craft to a limited readership? Along with the evolving technologies of the day has come social media—the solution to this problem. Social media, when in the right hands, allows us to connect and interact in ways previously unimaginable. As a publication’s social media increases, so does its readership and success.

The Social Media Summit, hosted by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism ImPRessions team aided OU publications with their social media expertise. Their mission was to improve interactivity among Scripps publications in order to attract a larger readership from OU students, as well as prospective students.

“Working primarily with Facebook and Twitter, we wanted to try to get all publications working together, on a cohesive page,” Sam Bartlett, ImPRessions account executive, said.

The ImPRessions J-School account, prior to hosting the Social Media Summit, was already utilizing their newly released Scripps Facebook page to spark up conversation between publications. Bartlett and her team wanted to further engage social media activity among Scripps students. They set out to do this by inviting several campus publications to the event, where they offered an in-depth educational session on the uses of social media.

The Social Media Summit attracted members and writers from The Post, PRSSA, The New Political, the Alumni Association, and Students for Global Media and Diversity, among others. Bartlett, along with other ImPRessions account associates involved in the event, viewed it as a success.

“We got really good feedback, they had a lot of questions that we had good answers for,” Bartlett said. Publications came seeking advice on how to get more interaction from students, along with getting them more members. The team taught attendees to start a conversation with retweets, or by posing a question.

Better use of social media platforms can help promote each organization, while also bringing them together.

“Although we may be competitors, we’re working towards the same goals,” Sarah Maloy, ImPRessions account associate, said. “The heart of Scripps is the organizations, and we wanted to promote that.”

The ImPRessions PR students wanted to spread the word that the benefits of these social media sites reach beyond improving communication within the Scripps community. A bigger Facebook and Twitter presence will help to draw in prospective students, which is a primary focus for the ImPRessions J-School team. In addition, more interactivity will display the diversity of opportunities incoming students will find amongst Scripp’s growing range of publications.

While updating social media outlets may appear as just another thing to get around to, trends around the industry show that being versed in their intricacies can give you a surprising advantage. As titles like “Social Media Specialist” pop-up in well-known corporations, these tools are becoming increasingly important to job seekers.

As for using social media to your current publication’s advantage, look out for the next Social Media Summit, which could be happening as soon as the end of Spring Quarter.

SGMD works to enhance understanding of international media

Story // Sandhya Kambhampati, Contributing Writer

From Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, global media is constantly changing.  Students for Global Media and Diversity (SGMD) focuses on these changes and analyzes the different aspects of media around the globe.

“Knowledge about global media is continually growing in importance, especially with the prominent role that the Internet plays in the distribution of news,” said Andreya Carlson, secretary of SGMD.  Carlson said the news is no longer in the hands of traditional news outlets, so anyone who wants to have their voice heard could contribute to this information transfer.

Director of the Pulitzer Prize Center on Crisis Reporting, Jon Sawyer, chats with IIJ/SGMD.

Nadia Sheng, president of SGMD, said that understanding different viewpoints and why they do what they do is also important. Because of this, Students for Global Media and Diversity focuses on all media groups and calls for the understanding of the history that makes one country’s media different from another.

SGMD has a new focus every meeting, which ties hand-in-hand with the fastpace of global media. In the past, the group has had students present their study abroad experiences, looked at media strategies in different countries, and hosted guests and speakers from various backgrounds. Sheng said the group aims to give an opportunity for members to meet new people and share their experiences in an open and respectful environment.

“SGMD implores its members to ask questions and be active in their pursuit for information and in broadening their world view,” said Sheng.

This, Sheng said, is done through guest speakers, including journalists and other experts in the field from across the country and the world. Speakers also include students and faculty members, such as Scripps Professor Kevin Grieves, who shared stories of his time working at CNN.

SGMD has also co-hosted several major events in collaboration with the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ). Last year, Jon Sawyer, the executive director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting came and spoke to students about the issues faced all around the globe. This year, Rebecca Hamilton, Washington Post special correspondent and author of the book, “Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide” spoke about the current situation in Darfur and the US involvement over the years.

SGMD has also utilized social media tools such as Skype to connect with people. The first Skype chat was with GOOD Community Organizer Hillary Newman who spoke to students about the website and her role. Since then, students have also gotten the chance to chat with UPIU mentors Harumi Gondo and Krista Kapralos.

As for now, the group encourages students to actively participate in discussions.

“Anyone who is at all interested in other cultures, the media, or communication strategies should stop by one of our meetings,” Carlson said.

SGMD meets on Thursdays from 6-7 PM in Baker room 236. On April 7^th, Ros Atkins, from the BBC’s program “World Have Your Say” will Skype chat with members and answer questions on what goes on behind the scenes of the show and what goes into moderating shows.

Bridging the fields of professional outlets

Story // Nicole Spears, Reporter

The uncertain future of journalism is causing many changes in the industry. Some resolves are being found in changing technology, or changing business structures, but what is bringing journalists to change their entire careers paths as a whole?

The careers of journalism and public relations call for a common skill set: strong writing, communicative skills and knowledge of social media. Yet many professionals in the fields could agree that these two careers require different specialties as well. To be successful in either area requires a fine-tuned discipline and reputable personality, or a “brand.”

Ohio University alumnus Bruce Cadwallader spent thirty 30 years in the journalism industry before making his recent transition to Peritus PR, a communications firm. After being barred from promotions and watching several colleagues be let go due to the declining revenues in the print industry, Cadwallader decided it was time for a change.

“I chose to investigate public relations as a career because of the skill sets I had developed over the years for event planning and marketing, communication skills and leadership,” Cadwallader said.

Out of hopes for the rebound of his print employer, Cadwallader made the transition to a career in public relations. He found that his journalistic background was more of a help than a hindrance.

“Journalism is a great teacher of focused writing and preparation. It helps me create messaging points that are succinct, meaningful and accurate,” Cadwallader said.

He reported that the marketing aspect has been one of the biggest challenges, along with figuring out how to appeal effectively to the public.

“Trying to motivate total strangers to take action on an issue has been challenging,” Cadwallader sayssaid.

Overall, his experience serves as proof that the transition between careers can be a smooth one.

“I have yet to find a client I couldn’t work for, and that is satisfying,” Cadwallader says. In his case, the strong writing and accurate reporting skills attained by his journalism experience helped in the transit to PR.

If switches like Cadwallader’s becomes a recurring trend in the professional field, it is likely to be reflected in the JSchool as well. Theresa Ianni, a Freshman pursuing the PR route in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, always knew she wanted to delve into the field of communications.

“I was convinced early on in high school that I was going to do journalism,” Ianni said. But her experience writing for her school newspaper, an online magazine and also  being on student council revealed to her a new set of preferences.

“I realized I loved planning and promoting events and activities. You can do so much with PR that I feel like I’ll be able to incorporate a lot of things that I love, like event planning and writing,” Ianni said.

As for the possibility that many students may be gaining interest in public relations, Ianni explains this as others exploring what they truly want to do. She does believe, however, that PR is an appealing major.

While it’s known that journalists and PR professionals work great well together, they surely do not serve the same purpose. The two careers not only require different strengths, but also different personality traits.

“I think a PR person needs to have a lot of negotiating skills along with patience, creativity. You have to really consider all the possible ways to better represent and sell an event, organization or product,” Ianni said.

Cadwallader, however, believes the knowledge of journalism can suffice when carried over into the world of PR.

“I have always believed good journalists make fine public relations professionals, but I’m not sure some of my new PR colleagues could say the reverse,” Cadwallader said.

Regardless of varying opinions, it seems that many journalists will not fear testing the waters. As more common ground is found in terms of social media and also multi-media skills, the two professions are only growing closer.

“I have found the lines between the two industries are constantly merging, and I’m dealing with many of the same people on a daily basis, just from a different perspective,” Cadwallader said.

While the uncertainties may at first seem threatening, these ties may bring new opportunities to the fields of both journalism and public relations.

SPJ to offer social media critique

Story • Sarah Grothjan

Drunken photos, techno dance pictures and keg party invites are a few of the items that have found their way to the top of the social media “what not do to” etiquette list — that is, if you would like to see yourself in the job market at some point in the near future.

CBS News Internship Coordinator Katie Curcio warns not to include information on Facebook that is inappropriate for even the wandering gaze of a parent. Additionally, Curcio advises students dawning the Internet Age mindset to utilize basic understanding of what is and is not professional.

“I think it’s pretty much common sense, and that’s what I want [students] to know. You can post photos of having fun and going out, but nothing in the extreme,” Curcio said.

Warnings in place, the students sporting more professional profiles are still at risk of being caught red-handed and discarded from the queue of job seekers without ever posting, Tweeting or uploading inappropriately. Why?

“The way our industry works is, let’s say, we’re hiring someone for an on-air position or producer for our political unit,” Curcio said. “We would go over his or her social networking sites because we want to see if they have opinions posted. We wouldn’t be able to hire them if he or she has [personal] opinions posted. If [an employee has] them posted, and he or she works for CBS news, people may assume CBS holds that bias.”

Additionally, Curcio advises all applicants to understand how social media can influence a potential employer’s decision in both directions, particularly when it is in his or her favor.

“I hire about 200 interns every year, and the summer is our most competitive time; I don’t have time to go through each applicant,” Curcio said. “When it comes down to going through just two students, I can use Google [results for the person’s name] as sort of a tiebreaker.”

Managing an online presence may become a complex process of understanding which information to include and which to discard. To ease the process, Society of Professional Journalists will be hosting a social media critique with Katie Curcio today at 5 p.m. in Scripps 111.

Curcio will be critiquing the social media sites of students who are interested in knowing if their online presence could be deemed job-worthy. It will also provide insight to onlookers about what information catches the eye of a hiring manager.

 

Media in the courtroom

Story • Nikki Lanka

As new media are integrated into daily life, the portion of the world remaining unaffected by increasingly advanced technology is rapidly diminishing. All areas of society are susceptible to these quickly changing times, and America’s courtrooms are no exception.

The public can handle the truth; in fact, the public deserves as much of the truth as can be supplied. Yet, the sanctity of legal proceedings may prompt a variety of questions regarding new media. Are they permitted inside the courtroom? If not, how do we determine which forms are allowed and which are forbidden? Do different regulations apply on the state and federal level?

According to Judge John Poulos of the Canton Municipal Court, there is no distinction in reporting between new and old media. A news story is a news story, whether it is printed in traditional outlets of news or uploaded on a social media site or blog.

Ohio courtrooms must permit all broadcasting or reporting; in fact, some judges many even encourage it, Poulos said. He has presided over several high-profile cases, all of which attracted reporters from across the country; yet, he said he has never hesitated to allow members of the media into his courtroom.

“I’m a public servant, and I’m here because of the taxpayers and the voters,” Poulos said. “Media should be allowed to cover whatever I do.”

Journalism professor Thomas Hodson, who has a legal background including 30 years as a trial attorney and 10 years as a judge, also acknowledged the journalist’s right to access a courtroom. Much of the confusion regarding this topic is due to a difference in regulations on broadcasting of a journalist versus that of a private citizen, he said.

“It’s easier for courts to regulate and have a relationship with media that are there all the time and have a working relationship with the court,” Hodson said.

Jury members are not permitted to conduct any independent investigation, which is one concern of new media. Also, private citizens may not photograph or record in the courtroom. New technology such as Facebook and Twitter make these occurrences much more frequent as media outlets become increasingly available to the public, but not all social media users are journalists, Poulos said.

Hodson was a consultant for the Conference of Court Public Information Officers, which released a study on the current and future prospects of media in the court on August 26th of this year. More than 800 members of new media and of the court, both judges and court personnel, were surveyed.

The study shows a judicial branch that “clearly recognizes the importance of understanding new media but is proceeding cautiously with concerns about effects on ethics, court proceedings and the ability to support public understanding of the courts.” In fact, 97.6 percent of respondents agree with this statement.

The study noted that the typically decentralized, personal and multimedia new media are directly incongruent with the institutional, independent and highly textual court culture. This distinction leads the court to exercise caution when diving into the realm of technology.

“Now with the advent of new media — smart phones, microblogging, social media — the old rules are in a state of flux,” Hodson said. “They have not yet been uniformly changed to accommodate for new media.”

Yet the CCPIO shows adapting to the current digital revolution is inevitable. In addition to re-examining rules and procedures, courts may adopt official and personal presences on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. About 40 percent of surveyed judges already use these — roughly the same percentage of users in the general adult population. That number is projected to increase in the near future.

New media can also provide the courts with new means of transmitting information to the public. Judge James Kimbler of the Medina County Common Pleas Court has already taken advantage of new technology by setting up a digital camcorder in his courtroom and uploading the footage online.

Another incongruity in media regulations is due to the different levels of court. While judges of state courts have no discretion in the type of media journalists are permitted to use, federal courts only allow traditional, print forms; absolutely no broadcasting is permitted.

Even this rule can raise questions, Hodson said.

“The issue is what constitutes broadcasting,” he said. “Does multi-blogging [count]? Does anything in real time constitute broadcasting?”

SPJ captures national, regional titles

Story • INC editors

The Ohio University chapter of Society of Professional Journalists has been recognized as the 2009-2010 SPJ Region 4 Campus Chapter of the Year and the national Outstanding Campus Chapter of the Year.

Last year’s chapter president and now-junior Ian Bowman-Henderson said he is flattered to receive the award but added the purpose of the chapter’s efforts outweighs the recognition.

“We don’t do it for the award; we do it for journalism,” Bowman-Henderson said. “But it’s nice to have that validation from professionals you look up to bending over and saying you are on the right track.”

There were many events hosted by SPJ in the past year; numerous speakers spent invaluable time in front of a crowd of students in the Scripps auditorium.

Documentary producer Matt Sienkiewicz spoke with SPJ, as well as a group of more than 200 first-year J101 students, about his film, “Live from Bethlehem.” A copy of the film now holds a spot in the Journalism school’s media library.

Jerusha Klemperer, an advocate of the slow-food movement and Slow Food USA worker, spoke on the impact of social media and online communication, such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter, to spread a message of food sustainability.

SPJ treasurer, Emma Morehart, brought in speaker Charles Davis, executive director for the National Freedom of Information Coalition, to give students insight on the use of public records both in reporting and daily life. Morehart said her time spent with Davis on campus was invaluable.

“Obviously his presentation was great, but I got to show him around campus and sit down and have coffee with him,” Morehart said. “I got to talk to him about my future plans and his family, his kids and how his career got started.”

In addition, SPJ collaborated with professor Bernhard Debatin when two distinguished doctoral candidates from Germany, Stefanie and Jedrik Pannier, cultivated a method for analyzing news images from various perspectives. Their presentation, “Analyzing News Images: A Triangulation of Methods,” provided an approach to image interpretation that avoids bias, prejudice and unfounded assumptions.

SPJ co-hosted a Battle of the Bands at Union Bar & Grill with Ed2010, a magazine organization, to bring a discussion of music journalism to Scripps students. The event was largely organized by Bowman-Henderson.

“I think the Battle of the Bands was a big deal… I was able to fill out the whole place, and I had never done anything like that before,” Bowman-Henderson said.

SPJ also organized two service projects – one on citizen journalism at Trimble High School and another on journalists’ First Amendment rights during Sunshine Week. The latter involved a demonstration of student journalists attempting to exercise their rights but consequently experiencing friction from university officials.

Three workshops were conducted by SPJ involving Final Cut Pro, freelancing and how to take film.

SPJ also produced a weekly newsletter, INC, that provides J-School students and faculty updates on vital professional news. Key features include Q&As with Scripps alumni, speaker interviews, columns by the Scripps community, internship listings, Scripps news and articles about industry events.

A notable Q&A from last year was an in-depth interview with Pulitzer Prize winner John Kaplan, who discussed his film showcased during the 2010 Athens Film Festival. Kaplan, a professor of journalism at the University of Florida, shared his experiences with cancer in the film and the interview.

Current SPJ president and senior Jamie Ratermann said she hopes to attract students of all sequences and ages for the 2010-2011 year. With many former executive SPJ members returning for another year, more can be expected from the nationally recognized student chapter. Ratermann described the advantages of an SPJ membership as unique and valuable.

“The major (advantage) I always stress is networking because we are the largest national organization in the country,” Ratermann said. “But as far as OU’s chapter… we tailor the meetings to what the students want to learn – what they cannot get out of their classes – and we work with other organizations across campus.”