Pintak named founding dean of Murrow College of Communication at WSU

Lawrence Pintak has been named founding dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. Pintak, who spent the past four years as director of the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research at The American University in Cairo, assumes his position Aug. 17. Pintak has logged more than 30 years in the journalism and media business on four continents and specializes in the role of media in shaping policy and the perceptions of policy; the intersection of media, religion and conflict; and the impact of technology, culture and globalization on journalism. His work can be found at www.pintak.com. He is also the author of Seeds of Hate: How America’s Flawed Middle East Policy Ignited the Jihad (2003) and Beirut Outtakes: A TV Correspondent’s Portrait of America’s Encounter with Terror (1988). Pintak holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Wales, Lampeter.

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J-School’s should urge students to specialize

With the new industry in turmoil and layoffs and buyouts of editorial staffers continuing, throughout the country, former journalist turned-teacher Ron Martz questions whether the age-old academic approach to journalism curriculum needs an overhaul. A general communication or journalism degree simply does not prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs, he argues. He urges schools to require students to undertake a specialized focus or even second degree to lay the ground work to tackle beats with a sophistication needed in today’s market. He writes: “As society and business have gotten increasingly complex, journalism has failed to keep pace by failing to properly educate, or insist that reporters be properly educated, about the intricacies of what they cover.” A specialization could help reporters to land a job in which they become indispensible to the news organization, and provide the in-house expertise needed to elevate the organization’s brand and reputation.

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LSU Releases Diversity That Works for J-Schools

Ever wish there was a simple-to-use resource for Journalism Schools to help improve their diversity efforts – from hiring to research to student body to curriculum? Well, it’s actually out – and it’s free.

The Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University has just published, with Knight Foundation support, a free publication that highlights examples of successful diversity programs in universities around the country. Edited by Ralph Izard, "Diversity That Works" contains personal reports from journalism/mass communications programs about successful efforts and the ideas and activities that made them work.

To download the book, visit: http://www.masscommunicating.lsu.edu/diversitythatworks.html

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Ohio State Hosts Conference on Coverage of Climate Change

A tour of the Byrd Polar Research Center to see up close actual ice cores each containing a piece of the history of the earth’s atmosphere. A talk by global warming pioneer Lonnie Thompson and a thoughtful speech by Sen. John Glenn. A timely session contrasting the proposed policies of the presidential candidates on global warming. Sessions on both reporting – and disseminating news interactively – using new media. These were some of the highlights of the Specialized Reporting Institute hosted by Ohio State University Oct. 12-14 that brought together some 28 journalists from across the country and as far away as Australia.

The OSU conference, a collaboration between the university's Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism, John Glenn School of Public Affairs and Climate, Water and Carbon Program, provided a wealth of information in a short time to attendees. The events also were taped, Blogged, Ninged and Twittered for those unable to attend. Kudos to the Kiplinger Program for producing a model in conference communication dissemination.

To see conference materials and links to extensive coverage: http://mccormickc3.ning.com/

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McCormick Hosts Ethnic Media Leaders

The recent “McCormick Ethnic Media Conference: Strategies for Growing the Sector” brought some 30 leaders from across the nation to Chicago to discuss strategies, obstacles, lessons learned and impact of the work they do. The conference featured a public panel Friday, June 20 on “The State of Ethnic Media: Boom or Bust?” This public discussion was moderated by Community Media Workshop’s Thom Clark and featured Sandy Close of New America Media, Cristina Azocar of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University and Juana Ponce de Leon of New York Community Media Alliance. Here are video excerpts from that lively exchange:

• Thom Clark of CMW introduces the panel and discusses the results of his organization’s research into Chicago’s 200 ethnic news outlets (click here)
• Panelists discuss challenges facing ethnic media
(click here
• Juana Ponce de Leon discusses the vibrancy of the ethnic media in a city where 40% of residents are foreign-born (click here)
• Cristina Azocar discusses the research conducted by SFSU on opportunities and threats to EM nationally (click here)
• Sandy Close on the role and strengths of EM (click here)
• Sandy Close on EM and advertising potential (click here)
• Closing comments on MSM v EM v the death of journalism (click here)

A highlight of this event was a spoken word performance by Esther Ikoro and Adam Gottlieb of Young Chicago Authors (click here)

Photo above by Demetrio Maguigad of Community Media Workshop

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'Reznetters' Net National Award, Internships

Eleven staff members of reznetnews.org have snagged summer internships this summer at eight organizations, including The Boston Globe, Denver Post and three bureaus of The Associated Press.

All are grads of the American Indian Journalism Institute, an intensive three-week program for college students sponsored by the Freedom Forum. AIJI is held each June at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Reznet reporter Sunnie Redhouse was recently was named as one of the nation’s 100 best student journalists by UWire, a news and career service for college students. Redhouse, a Navajo who graduated this month from the University of New Mexico and is a 2005 AIJI grad, will report at The Salt Lake Tribune.

“It’s validation of what we’re trying to do, both in terms of reznet and AIJI,” said Denny McAuliffe, who teaches reporting at AIJI and is the project director and creator of Reznet. The six-year-old Web site, a grantee of the McCormick Foundation, is a project of the University of Montana School of Journalism in Missoula.

For more information, click here: www.reznetnews.org.

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American University Joins J-Schools Exploring Ethnic Media

American University's School of Communications is beginning to develop a relationship with the growing DC-area ethnic media community. This project is an outgrowth of Angie Chuang's class "Race, Ethnic and Community Reporting," which partnered with New American Media to identify more than 70 area news outlets working in a dozen languages. The School is now helping to nurture a relationship between ethnic media and the area's public schools.

For more on this growing initiative - as well as Chuang's description of some of the advantages and disadvantages of reporting on your own ethnic community, click here: http://veracity.univpubs.american.edu/today/vol/11/29/042908_chuang.html

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New America Media's Web Site Features J-School Ethnic Media Projects

The New America Media (NAM) Web site now links to a variety of projects at journalism schools that involve the ethnic media outlets in their regions.

With assistance from NAM (and financial backing from MTF & others), a growing number of J-Schools are exploring, researching and engaging the ethnic media in their own backyards and finding that this work reaps huge dividends in return. It helps the schools attract more diverse students, redefine and energize their role within their own universities and become more relevant in their communities. Schools are:

* Studying this growing sector’s diversity, scope and audience;
* Convening ethnic reporters to provide training in investigative reporting, online story telling and issues such as public health; and
* Creating advisory boards and networks of ethnic journalists to explore commonalities and challenges and to explore partnerships.

See more, plus an interactive map of the projects, at: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_alt_category.html?category_id=535

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"If It Catches My Eye"

Northwestern University's Media Management Center has just published a new report, "If it catches my eye: An exploration of online news experiences of teenagers." For those interested about how teens use the internet this is must reading.

The in-depth study examined a diverse group of 65 Chicago-area teens. In summary, it found:
+ That news isn't that important to teens right now. Following news on politics, government, public affairs, etc. is stressful for teens. It reminds them of the peril in the world.
+ Local news sites aren't on their radar screens. Teens are seeing news that pops up in front of them from large Internet portals and news aggregators; they're not going out of their way for news.
+ However, teens do show interest in news in certain circumstances. In interviews for the study, they repeatedly used the phrase “I will read it IF IT CATCHES MY EYE.” Teens will read about a variety of news topics – if the subject interests them or if there is stimulating video, pictures, humorous or weird news, etc.

The report goes on to discuss the characteristics of sites that teens turn to most often for news AND to make recommendations to news organizations on ways to attract teens.

To see the full report go to http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/research/teeninternetstudy.pdf

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Who's Steering the Ship?

Stop the presses: Journalism and Mass Communication schools are run predominantly by older white males, at least according to a recent study released by the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This despite the fact that two-thirds of j-school student enrollees are female.

The Knight-funded survey of 165 JMC administrators found that 90 percent of respondents were white, 64 percent were male and their average age was 55 years old. The study was designed "to take a snapshot of the nation's JMC administrators and learn more about some of the key issues and pressures they face—among them the growing expectations to raise private funds, adaptation of their schools’ curricula in a digital world, and faculty hiring challenges."

For more data from the study: http://www.journalism.umd.edu/newrel/07newsrel/jmcsurvey07.html

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