The Student Newspaper Survival Guide is on vacation. We'll be back in late January with more news, notes and commentary about student newspapers.
Happy new year!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Princeton student admits fabricating attack
A Princeton student who claimed he was the victim of hate e-mail and a brutal physical attack for his conservative views has admitted he fabricated the whole thing, according to news reports.
Francisco Nava, a 23-year-old junior, told local police officials that scratches on his face were self-inflicted, and that he had sent threatening e-mail messages to himself, as well as to fellow members of Princeton’s socially conservative Anscombe Society, and to the group's adviser, Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at the university, according to an article on the Chronicle of Higher Education news blog. The society opposes premarital sex and advocates for a return to traditional family values.
On Dec. 9 Nava wrote a guest column for The Daily Princetonian criticizing a recent health fair for distributing free condoms.
"How is a collegiate casanova to feel if his own school can stuff his pockets with condoms?" Nava wrote. "It is no wonder, then, that University Health Services (UHS) over the years has had to limit a student's daily allowance to 10 condoms per visit! What Princeton's condom campaign amounts to is a tacit sponsorship of hookup sex that is fundamentally unsafe for females and ethically unconscionable for the doctors and health professionals who promote it."
A few days after the column ran, Nava reported he and other members of the Anscombe Society had received hate mail. And on Friday night, he went to the University Health Center with scrapes and scratches saying that he had been assaulted by two men.
On Sunday, Nava confessed to police that the beating and the e-mails were part of a hoax.
In a brief interview, Nava told The Daily Princetonian he thought his actions would draw attention to the pro-chastity cause.
Princeton University officials are investigating the fabricated attack and threatening e-mail messages Nava reportedly wrote, actions that could bring disciplinary actions ranging from a warning to expulsion, according to The New York Times.
The Daily Princetonian left several stories about Nava up on its Web site with notes like this at the top: "Update: Francisco Nava '09 has since admitted that he fabricated the assault described in this article. Please see the updated story."
The case raises issues of how journalists -- students and professionals -- can be deceived and manipulated by sources.
Francisco Nava, a 23-year-old junior, told local police officials that scratches on his face were self-inflicted, and that he had sent threatening e-mail messages to himself, as well as to fellow members of Princeton’s socially conservative Anscombe Society, and to the group's adviser, Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at the university, according to an article on the Chronicle of Higher Education news blog. The society opposes premarital sex and advocates for a return to traditional family values.
On Dec. 9 Nava wrote a guest column for The Daily Princetonian criticizing a recent health fair for distributing free condoms.
"How is a collegiate casanova to feel if his own school can stuff his pockets with condoms?" Nava wrote. "It is no wonder, then, that University Health Services (UHS) over the years has had to limit a student's daily allowance to 10 condoms per visit! What Princeton's condom campaign amounts to is a tacit sponsorship of hookup sex that is fundamentally unsafe for females and ethically unconscionable for the doctors and health professionals who promote it."
A few days after the column ran, Nava reported he and other members of the Anscombe Society had received hate mail. And on Friday night, he went to the University Health Center with scrapes and scratches saying that he had been assaulted by two men.
On Sunday, Nava confessed to police that the beating and the e-mails were part of a hoax.
In a brief interview, Nava told The Daily Princetonian he thought his actions would draw attention to the pro-chastity cause.
Princeton University officials are investigating the fabricated attack and threatening e-mail messages Nava reportedly wrote, actions that could bring disciplinary actions ranging from a warning to expulsion, according to The New York Times.
The Daily Princetonian left several stories about Nava up on its Web site with notes like this at the top: "Update: Francisco Nava '09 has since admitted that he fabricated the assault described in this article. Please see the updated story."
The case raises issues of how journalists -- students and professionals -- can be deceived and manipulated by sources.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Obama pens column for The Daily Iowan
Readers of The Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa got a surprise when they turned to the opinion page Friday -- a guest column from none other than Barak Obama.
In the column, the Democratic presidential candidate shares his positions on health care, the environment and student loans.
"I'm running to make college more affordable for any American who wants to go," the column says. "I've proposed a $4,000 a year refundable tax credit that will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. And I'll strengthen our community colleges by offering new degrees for emerging fields and rewarding schools that graduate more students.
On Dec. 4, the Iowa State Daily, the student newspaper at Iowa State University, endorsed Obama. "Obama has not been afraid to throw a lot of his time and resources into trying to invigorate the younger crowd," the editors wrote. "This strategy has failed other candidates in the past, but we appreciate Obama's commitment to the generation who will inherit the country."
The Dec. 14 guest column is a part of Obama's strategy to court the college student vote for the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Earlier this month Obama caught some flak from his opponents for urging Iowa students living out of state to cut their holidays short and return to school so they could participate in the Iowa caucuses, according to an article in The Daily Iowan.
In the column, the Democratic presidential candidate shares his positions on health care, the environment and student loans.
"I'm running to make college more affordable for any American who wants to go," the column says. "I've proposed a $4,000 a year refundable tax credit that will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. And I'll strengthen our community colleges by offering new degrees for emerging fields and rewarding schools that graduate more students.
On Dec. 4, the Iowa State Daily, the student newspaper at Iowa State University, endorsed Obama. "Obama has not been afraid to throw a lot of his time and resources into trying to invigorate the younger crowd," the editors wrote. "This strategy has failed other candidates in the past, but we appreciate Obama's commitment to the generation who will inherit the country."
The Dec. 14 guest column is a part of Obama's strategy to court the college student vote for the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Earlier this month Obama caught some flak from his opponents for urging Iowa students living out of state to cut their holidays short and return to school so they could participate in the Iowa caucuses, according to an article in The Daily Iowan.
Monday, December 10, 2007
"The Paper" to air Tuesday night
"The Paper," the documentary about The Daily Collegian at Penn State University, is scheduled to air on most PBS stations at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. (For local listings check here.)
The distributor is offering the DVD of the 78-minute documentary to college newspapers at a special discount -- $150 instead of the regular price of $398 -- but the offer is only good through December 31, 2007. This discount "is only for college newspapers, and only for use within the paper and its staff," according to a message from the distributor, First Run/Icarus Films. "These discounted copies are not to be housed or used in departments or the library."
To take advantage of the special offer contact Ellen Hogarty at 1 (800) 876-1710 or via email at ellen@frif.com and refer to this special offer.
Thanks to Gerry Lynn Hamilton, general manager of Collegian Inc. for arranging for the discount and reporting it on the College Media Advisers' listserv.
For more about "The Paper" see this previous post.
The distributor is offering the DVD of the 78-minute documentary to college newspapers at a special discount -- $150 instead of the regular price of $398 -- but the offer is only good through December 31, 2007. This discount "is only for college newspapers, and only for use within the paper and its staff," according to a message from the distributor, First Run/Icarus Films. "These discounted copies are not to be housed or used in departments or the library."
To take advantage of the special offer contact Ellen Hogarty at 1 (800) 876-1710 or via email at ellen@frif.com and refer to this special offer.
Thanks to Gerry Lynn Hamilton, general manager of Collegian Inc. for arranging for the discount and reporting it on the College Media Advisers' listserv.
For more about "The Paper" see this previous post.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
More on the Merrill plagiarism case
If you've been following the story of John Merrill, the professor emeritus at the University of Missouri who was relieved of his column in the Columbia Missourian after lifting quotes from a student paper, you should read this piece on the Poynter site.
The article, written by four University of Missouri journalism professors, responds to criticisms that Columbia Missourian Editor Tom Warhover overreacted in publicly humiliating Merrill and stripping him of his weekly column for what some have said is a "misdemeanor" offense. The piece lays out what happened and why Merrill's actions violated the newspaper's and the school's policies on plagiarism.
The Poynter piece includes links to other stories and columns, which offer a variety of perspectives on the incident. This is material for a great journalism ethics lesson because it reaches into gray areas. Read it and discuss it with your students, professors and colleagues.
Ironically, this may end up Merrill's greatest legacy as a journalism educator. I suspect journalism students will be talking about this case for years to come, debating whether lifting quotes for a column is truly plagiarism and how editors should respond when it happens. Perhaps this case will do more to instill the values of journalism than anything Merrill taught in his classroom.
The article, written by four University of Missouri journalism professors, responds to criticisms that Columbia Missourian Editor Tom Warhover overreacted in publicly humiliating Merrill and stripping him of his weekly column for what some have said is a "misdemeanor" offense. The piece lays out what happened and why Merrill's actions violated the newspaper's and the school's policies on plagiarism.
The Poynter piece includes links to other stories and columns, which offer a variety of perspectives on the incident. This is material for a great journalism ethics lesson because it reaches into gray areas. Read it and discuss it with your students, professors and colleagues.
Ironically, this may end up Merrill's greatest legacy as a journalism educator. I suspect journalism students will be talking about this case for years to come, debating whether lifting quotes for a column is truly plagiarism and how editors should respond when it happens. Perhaps this case will do more to instill the values of journalism than anything Merrill taught in his classroom.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Cardinal Courier site barraged by Paul supporters
Want to get people to read your online newspaper? Want to be flooded with comments? Write about presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Just look at what happened to the Cardinal Courier, the student newspaper at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.
On Wednesday, the newspaper wrote an editorial criticizing the presidential candidate's performance in the Nov. 28 CNN/YouTube debate.
"I saw the debate," Editor-in-Chief Bill Kuchman wrote in the signed editorial. "I watched every minute of it. I heard every answer. While the results were a mixed bag, I know one thing for certain: Ron Paul is a waste of my time and trivializes the entire debate process."
The response was almost immediate.
"Within the first two hours of the article being available online, it had over 2,000 views," Kuchman wrote in a letter to The Student Newspaper Survival Blog Wednesday evening. "This was a lot for us considering our previous high for a day was just under 2,000. As of now, the article has close to 6,000 views and over 220 comments." (By Thursday evening there were 287 comments on the editorial.)
The Cardinal Courier staff did some research and found that DailyPaul.com, a site created by Paul booster Mike Nystrom, had picked up the article and was urging readers to comment against it.
"The comments not only defend Paul, but attack the character of our paper and of myself," Kuchman wrote in his letter to us. "The funny thing is that in the editorial, I talked about Paul supporters hijacking political discussion on sites like CNN and in response, that's exactly what they did to Cardinal Courier Online."
Kuchman asks: "Have any other newspapers run into this kind of thing? I'm sure the Cardinal Courier isn't the only one to wade into political arena now that we're less than a year away from the presidential election."
If you've had a similar experience with presidential politics or with a blog launching a campaign against your site, post a comment.
Just look at what happened to the Cardinal Courier, the student newspaper at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.
On Wednesday, the newspaper wrote an editorial criticizing the presidential candidate's performance in the Nov. 28 CNN/YouTube debate."I saw the debate," Editor-in-Chief Bill Kuchman wrote in the signed editorial. "I watched every minute of it. I heard every answer. While the results were a mixed bag, I know one thing for certain: Ron Paul is a waste of my time and trivializes the entire debate process."
The response was almost immediate.
"Within the first two hours of the article being available online, it had over 2,000 views," Kuchman wrote in a letter to The Student Newspaper Survival Blog Wednesday evening. "This was a lot for us considering our previous high for a day was just under 2,000. As of now, the article has close to 6,000 views and over 220 comments." (By Thursday evening there were 287 comments on the editorial.)
The Cardinal Courier staff did some research and found that DailyPaul.com, a site created by Paul booster Mike Nystrom, had picked up the article and was urging readers to comment against it.
"The comments not only defend Paul, but attack the character of our paper and of myself," Kuchman wrote in his letter to us. "The funny thing is that in the editorial, I talked about Paul supporters hijacking political discussion on sites like CNN and in response, that's exactly what they did to Cardinal Courier Online."
Kuchman asks: "Have any other newspapers run into this kind of thing? I'm sure the Cardinal Courier isn't the only one to wade into political arena now that we're less than a year away from the presidential election."
If you've had a similar experience with presidential politics or with a blog launching a campaign against your site, post a comment.
Monday, December 03, 2007
NPR interviews college newspaper editors
National Public Radio often interviews professional newspaper editors to take the pulse of public opinion on the issues of the day. On Saturday reporter Andrea Seabrook interviewed editors of three college newspaper editors to talk about how the presidential campaign is playing out on their campuses. She interviewed:
* David Montgomery, co-editor-in-chief of the Scarlet and Black at Grinnell College in Iowa
* Elise Waxenberg, executive editor of The Dartmouth at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
* Jess Davis, news editor for The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina
It's great to see professional media seeing college editors as the knowledgeable and articulate sources many of them are.
* David Montgomery, co-editor-in-chief of the Scarlet and Black at Grinnell College in Iowa * Elise Waxenberg, executive editor of The Dartmouth at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
* Jess Davis, news editor for The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina
It's great to see professional media seeing college editors as the knowledgeable and articulate sources many of them are.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Free speech, press battle at Quinnipiac U
The editor of The Chronicle at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut is locked in a battle with university administrators over student journalists' First Amendment rights, according to an article in Sunday's edition of The New York Times.
Jason Braff, the 20-year-old editor of The Chronicle, has said the university administration threatened to fire him after he criticized a university policy in an interview with The Waterbury Republican American in late October. Braff was quoted in the Oct. 30 article as saying the university's policy prohibiting the student newspaper from posting articles on its Web site before running them in print was “ridiculous.”
In a follow-up story on Nov. 13, The Republican-American reported that Braff "was told in a letter from Dean of Students Manuel C. Carreiro that he may 'need to reconsider' his position at the paper if he continues to speak publicly against university policy."
Lynn Bushnell, the school’s vice president for public affairs, denied that such a threat had been made, according to the Times article.
“We do not discipline students who criticize the university or its policies,” she was quoting as saying. “We do discipline students who fail to follow clearly established policies. However, student leaders, especially those in paid positions, are expected to generally be supportive of university policies. If they disagree with established policies, we expect them to go through normal administrative channels to try to change policies.”
The university has taken a number of actions to limit The Chronicle's ability to report news. In addition to the ban on Web-first publishing, administrators have enacted policies limiting access to university officials and discouraging reporters from covering student government meetings when the university president speaks.
Braff and Chronicle Managing Editor David Westerberg laid out the pattern of limitations on student press freedom in an Oct. 24 article entitled "Lahey: Student media hinders progress," and in an open letter (also signed by Managing Editor Melissa Moller) to university President John L. Lahey published in the opinion section the same day.
"It is apparent from your actions and statements that you are trying (and succeeding) to limit our outreach and access," the letter to the president said. "As a private institution, Quinnipiac is not required to adhere to the First Amendment. However, the administration's recent actions are a threat to freedom of the press on our campus."
Kudos to Braff and The Chronicle editors for reporting on and publicly criticizing the university's efforts to stifle the press. They're standing up for student journalists everywhere.
Even though Quinnipiac University is a private school there are clearly some significant First Amendment issues here. I hope to see College Media Advisers, Associated Collegiate Press, the Student Press Law Center and other groups concerned about student press freedom to enter the discussion.
Those who want to get involved can join a "Support Jay Braff and The Chronicle" group on Facebook.
If you're concerned about the university's policy preventing the paper from breaking stories online first or about its threat against Braff, you can contact Quinnipiac University President John L. Lahey at John.Lahey@quinnipiac.edu or call 203-582-8700.
Jason Braff, the 20-year-old editor of The Chronicle, has said the university administration threatened to fire him after he criticized a university policy in an interview with The Waterbury Republican American in late October. Braff was quoted in the Oct. 30 article as saying the university's policy prohibiting the student newspaper from posting articles on its Web site before running them in print was “ridiculous.”
In a follow-up story on Nov. 13, The Republican-American reported that Braff "was told in a letter from Dean of Students Manuel C. Carreiro that he may 'need to reconsider' his position at the paper if he continues to speak publicly against university policy."
Lynn Bushnell, the school’s vice president for public affairs, denied that such a threat had been made, according to the Times article.
“We do not discipline students who criticize the university or its policies,” she was quoting as saying. “We do discipline students who fail to follow clearly established policies. However, student leaders, especially those in paid positions, are expected to generally be supportive of university policies. If they disagree with established policies, we expect them to go through normal administrative channels to try to change policies.”
The university has taken a number of actions to limit The Chronicle's ability to report news. In addition to the ban on Web-first publishing, administrators have enacted policies limiting access to university officials and discouraging reporters from covering student government meetings when the university president speaks.
Braff and Chronicle Managing Editor David Westerberg laid out the pattern of limitations on student press freedom in an Oct. 24 article entitled "Lahey: Student media hinders progress," and in an open letter (also signed by Managing Editor Melissa Moller) to university President John L. Lahey published in the opinion section the same day.
"It is apparent from your actions and statements that you are trying (and succeeding) to limit our outreach and access," the letter to the president said. "As a private institution, Quinnipiac is not required to adhere to the First Amendment. However, the administration's recent actions are a threat to freedom of the press on our campus."
Kudos to Braff and The Chronicle editors for reporting on and publicly criticizing the university's efforts to stifle the press. They're standing up for student journalists everywhere.
Even though Quinnipiac University is a private school there are clearly some significant First Amendment issues here. I hope to see College Media Advisers, Associated Collegiate Press, the Student Press Law Center and other groups concerned about student press freedom to enter the discussion.
Those who want to get involved can join a "Support Jay Braff and The Chronicle" group on Facebook.
If you're concerned about the university's policy preventing the paper from breaking stories online first or about its threat against Braff, you can contact Quinnipiac University President John L. Lahey at John.Lahey@quinnipiac.edu or call 203-582-8700.
Dining guides keep readers coming back for more
Looking for a Thai restaurant that delivers? A Chinese place that takes checks? A pizza joint that offers a student discount?
If you're in Boise, Idaho, you're in luck because The Arbiter, Boise State's independent newspaper, offers a searchable online dining guide.
Like many student papers, The Arbiter uses a dining guide powered by College Publisher. It invites readers to search restaurants by atmosphere (family, fine dining, romantic, sports bar), location or cuisine using a College Publisher template. Some newspapers, like The Daily Pennsylvanian at the University of Pennsylvania, creates special lists like "Best Places to Watch a Game" and "Best Places to Go With Parents."
You don't have to use College Publisher to set up a dining guide. The Badger Herald at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's guide allows readers to search for bars and restaurants by district. The rival paper, The Daily Cardinal, offers a Bar Guide with daily specials.
The Daily Collegian at California State University, Fresno, invites readers to search for and comment on restaurants using a clickable map, powered by Community Walk.
Dining guides like these are fun and useful for readers and will keep them coming back to your site. Most are also interactive; users can post comments or rate the businesses listed. These kind of interactive features help build the relationship between a newspaper and its readers. And many restaurant guides generate advertising revenue.
If your paper doesn't have an online dining guide, think about starting one. Be sure to promote it in your print edition and feature it prominently on your Web site. Remember that the better you serve your community, the more your paper will be seen as a trusted resource.
Does your newspaper have a dining guide? Are you doing something new with reviews, reader comments or interactive maps? Share it by posting a comment here.
If you're in Boise, Idaho, you're in luck because The Arbiter, Boise State's independent newspaper, offers a searchable online dining guide.
Like many student papers, The Arbiter uses a dining guide powered by College Publisher. It invites readers to search restaurants by atmosphere (family, fine dining, romantic, sports bar), location or cuisine using a College Publisher template. Some newspapers, like The Daily Pennsylvanian at the University of Pennsylvania, creates special lists like "Best Places to Watch a Game" and "Best Places to Go With Parents."You don't have to use College Publisher to set up a dining guide. The Badger Herald at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's guide allows readers to search for bars and restaurants by district. The rival paper, The Daily Cardinal, offers a Bar Guide with daily specials.
The Daily Collegian at California State University, Fresno, invites readers to search for and comment on restaurants using a clickable map, powered by Community Walk.
Dining guides like these are fun and useful for readers and will keep them coming back to your site. Most are also interactive; users can post comments or rate the businesses listed. These kind of interactive features help build the relationship between a newspaper and its readers. And many restaurant guides generate advertising revenue.
If your paper doesn't have an online dining guide, think about starting one. Be sure to promote it in your print edition and feature it prominently on your Web site. Remember that the better you serve your community, the more your paper will be seen as a trusted resource.
Does your newspaper have a dining guide? Are you doing something new with reviews, reader comments or interactive maps? Share it by posting a comment here.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
College sex writers to be honored
Attention all sex columnists and sexuality beat writers! If you've gotten ribbed all year for your no-subject-is-taboo columns or stories about orgasms and kinky sexual positions, read on.
Now you can get some respect. And money.
The makers of Trojan brand condoms and the National Sexuality Resource Center's Campaign for Sexual Literacy are now accepting entries for the first-ever Trojan Evolve Student Journalism Award.
The grand prize: $2,000 in cash and a trip for two to San Francisco, where the winner will be honored at the 2008 Champions for Sexual Literacy annual dinner. Four additional students will receive honorable mentions and a $500 prize. All winning entries will be published on the Trojan Evolve Web site.
The award is designed to recognize "college journalists who do an exceptional job reporting on sexual health topics in their college print or online media outlet." Students can apply by submitting an article published in 2007 relating to sexual health issues, statistics, products, policy or opinions at www.trojanevolve.com.
Contest entries must focus on sexual health, "the experience of enjoying our sexuality, both emotionally and physically, throughout our lives."
According to the contest rules, "topics may include, but are not limited to, sexual health issues, statistics, products, policy and opinions. Articles should include references to condom use and must be consistent with the Evolve master narrative summary."
"With this award recognition, we hope to support student journalists who strive to articulate the evolving challenges, experiences and perspectives related to sexual health and condom usage in their college community or the greater U.S. population," Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for Trojan, said in a news release about the contest. "College students are truly in a position to help to shape this nation into a sexually healthy society, and that requires an evolved media discourse about what it actually means to be sexually healthy."
The contest will be judged by a panel of sexual health experts, journalism professionals and Trojan brand representatives.
Now you can get some respect. And money.
The makers of Trojan brand condoms and the National Sexuality Resource Center's Campaign for Sexual Literacy are now accepting entries for the first-ever Trojan Evolve Student Journalism Award.
The grand prize: $2,000 in cash and a trip for two to San Francisco, where the winner will be honored at the 2008 Champions for Sexual Literacy annual dinner. Four additional students will receive honorable mentions and a $500 prize. All winning entries will be published on the Trojan Evolve Web site.
The award is designed to recognize "college journalists who do an exceptional job reporting on sexual health topics in their college print or online media outlet." Students can apply by submitting an article published in 2007 relating to sexual health issues, statistics, products, policy or opinions at www.trojanevolve.com.
Contest entries must focus on sexual health, "the experience of enjoying our sexuality, both emotionally and physically, throughout our lives."
According to the contest rules, "topics may include, but are not limited to, sexual health issues, statistics, products, policy and opinions. Articles should include references to condom use and must be consistent with the Evolve master narrative summary."
"With this award recognition, we hope to support student journalists who strive to articulate the evolving challenges, experiences and perspectives related to sexual health and condom usage in their college community or the greater U.S. population," Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for Trojan, said in a news release about the contest. "College students are truly in a position to help to shape this nation into a sexually healthy society, and that requires an evolved media discourse about what it actually means to be sexually healthy."
The contest will be judged by a panel of sexual health experts, journalism professionals and Trojan brand representatives.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
PBS to air series on Penn State Newspaper
Even before MTV could get "The Paper," its high school newspaper series, on the air, PBS is beating it to the punch with another "The Paper," a documentary on The Daily Collegian at Pennsylvania State University.
The 78-minute documentary, directed by veteran filmmaker Aaron Matthews, is scheduled to make its national broadcast premiere on the weekly show Independent Lens at 10 p.m. on Dec. 11, according to PBS. You can watch a preview of the documentary here.
Matthews spent six weeks in the fall of 2004 filming at The Daily Collegian, one of the nation's largest student newspapers. With a 200-person staff and a circulation that rivals that of many small-town newspapers, the paper serves as a microcosm of journalism today.
“The most fascinating thing about making THE PAPER was seeing just how much this college newsroom was our media world in miniature," Matthews says in a news release.
"These students struggle to report what’s relevant, all while asking basic questions that newsmakers as well as news consumers seem to have stopped asking. The kids in THE PAPER aren’t cynical or resigned, and of course just like the professional media they don't always get it right. But they’re talking about really important issues, and confronting them head on."
James Young, the Collegian editor-in-chief at the time of the filming, reflected on the experience in his farewell column for the paper in 2005.
The film was shown on the Penn State campus on Nov. 7.
It's also been making the film festival circuit this year, with showings at the Maryland Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. You can view of slideshow of Matthews and Daily Collegian adviser John Harvey talking about the documentary at the Philadelphia Film Society site.
Those who want the DVD can rent a copy for $125 or buy one for $398 from First Run/Icarus Films.
Thanks to Pat Parish of Louisiana State University for the tip.
The 78-minute documentary, directed by veteran filmmaker Aaron Matthews, is scheduled to make its national broadcast premiere on the weekly show Independent Lens at 10 p.m. on Dec. 11, according to PBS. You can watch a preview of the documentary here.Matthews spent six weeks in the fall of 2004 filming at The Daily Collegian, one of the nation's largest student newspapers. With a 200-person staff and a circulation that rivals that of many small-town newspapers, the paper serves as a microcosm of journalism today.
“The most fascinating thing about making THE PAPER was seeing just how much this college newsroom was our media world in miniature," Matthews says in a news release.
"These students struggle to report what’s relevant, all while asking basic questions that newsmakers as well as news consumers seem to have stopped asking. The kids in THE PAPER aren’t cynical or resigned, and of course just like the professional media they don't always get it right. But they’re talking about really important issues, and confronting them head on."James Young, the Collegian editor-in-chief at the time of the filming, reflected on the experience in his farewell column for the paper in 2005.
The film was shown on the Penn State campus on Nov. 7.
It's also been making the film festival circuit this year, with showings at the Maryland Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. You can view of slideshow of Matthews and Daily Collegian adviser John Harvey talking about the documentary at the Philadelphia Film Society site.
Those who want the DVD can rent a copy for $125 or buy one for $398 from First Run/Icarus Films.
Thanks to Pat Parish of Louisiana State University for the tip.
Daughter shares moving portrait of mentally ill mom
Tiara Etheridge, a staff writer for The Daily at the University of Oklahoma, wrote a powerful story last month about her mother's experience with mental illness.
The first-person piece deftly weaves together Etheridge's personal experiences with facts about mental illness. She notes that Oklahoma has among the highest rates of mental illness, "with 13.26 percent of residents 18 years old and older having experienced a severe mental disorder."
It's a great example of using a difficult personal experience to educate and enlighten readers. It's also a terrific piece of writing.
Thanks to Kenna Griffin for calling the piece to our attention in her blog, The KRG, A Practical Resource for Student Journalists.
The first-person piece deftly weaves together Etheridge's personal experiences with facts about mental illness. She notes that Oklahoma has among the highest rates of mental illness, "with 13.26 percent of residents 18 years old and older having experienced a severe mental disorder."
It's a great example of using a difficult personal experience to educate and enlighten readers. It's also a terrific piece of writing.
Thanks to Kenna Griffin for calling the piece to our attention in her blog, The KRG, A Practical Resource for Student Journalists.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Medill J-school alumni protest changes
Alumni of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism have sent a petition and letter to the university protesting recent changes in the curriculum, according to a post on the Chicago Reader's News Bites blog.
The alumni wrote that they were particularly concerned about the way changes have been implemented at the school by Dean John Lavine.
"Because faculty governance has been suspended, Dean Lavine has been making changes unilaterally or with staff members that support him indiscriminately. Those who have expressed dissent have been demoted or forced out."
The petition, signed by more than 75 alumni, was delivered to the university’s Board of Trustees and provost.
A 2006 Columbia Journalism Review article about Lavine quoted him as saying he planned to "blow up" the school's curriculum. The new 2020 Curricula, which was unveiled in August, puts increased emphasis on integrated marketing communications, new technology and "audience understanding."
The alumni also objected to changes in the school's Washington program, which allowed students to work as Washington, DC correspondents for specific publications. "The changes to the program will not only damage the quality of the Washington reporting experience, but it will also hurt student job prospects," said the letter, signed by Camille Gerwin, who earn her MSJ in 2004, and Andrew Bossone, graduated from the program in 2005.
You can read questions and responses about the J-school's new curricula on the school's Web site.
What do you think of Northwestern's new curricula -- is it a vision for the future or does it sacrifice old-fashioned journalistic values? Post a comment.
The alumni wrote that they were particularly concerned about the way changes have been implemented at the school by Dean John Lavine.
"Because faculty governance has been suspended, Dean Lavine has been making changes unilaterally or with staff members that support him indiscriminately. Those who have expressed dissent have been demoted or forced out."
The petition, signed by more than 75 alumni, was delivered to the university’s Board of Trustees and provost.
A 2006 Columbia Journalism Review article about Lavine quoted him as saying he planned to "blow up" the school's curriculum. The new 2020 Curricula, which was unveiled in August, puts increased emphasis on integrated marketing communications, new technology and "audience understanding."
The alumni also objected to changes in the school's Washington program, which allowed students to work as Washington, DC correspondents for specific publications. "The changes to the program will not only damage the quality of the Washington reporting experience, but it will also hurt student job prospects," said the letter, signed by Camille Gerwin, who earn her MSJ in 2004, and Andrew Bossone, graduated from the program in 2005.
You can read questions and responses about the J-school's new curricula on the school's Web site.
What do you think of Northwestern's new curricula -- is it a vision for the future or does it sacrifice old-fashioned journalistic values? Post a comment.
Facebook for College Newspapers
Sean Blanda, a magazine journalism major at Temple University and Webmaster for The Temple News, offers some useful tips in his blog post "How to use Facebook to leverage your college newspaper."
Blanda offers step-by-step instructions for creating a business page.
Several other campus newspapers are doing interesting things with Facebook. The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi, for example, offers news updates on its Facebook page.
What's your student newspaper doing with Facebook? Have you created any cool applications? Are you using it to build readership or recruit staff? Post a message below.
Blanda offers step-by-step instructions for creating a business page.
Several other campus newspapers are doing interesting things with Facebook. The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi, for example, offers news updates on its Facebook page.What's your student newspaper doing with Facebook? Have you created any cool applications? Are you using it to build readership or recruit staff? Post a message below.
Student newspaper copes with racism charge
The Hoya, the student newspaper at Georgetown University, recently found itself in a not-uncommon position for college newspapers: it was charged with racism.
The allegation came after the newspaper gave scant coverage to an all-day rally and candlelight vigil in September supporting the Jena Six, the group of six black male students who were charged with attempted murder after attacking a white student in Jena, La.
Shortly after the rally, which the paper covered in a mere news brief, someone chalked the words, "The Hoya is racist," in the university's Red Square, according to a column last Friday by outgoing Editor-in-Chief Max Sarinsky. The six-letter word was also scrawled across dozens of copies of the paper. The paper received angry columns and letters. And someone threw a rock through the editor-in-chief's apartment window.
The response has forced The Hoya staff to examine its composition and its coverage.
"As far as The Hoya is concerned, there are a lot of hard questions that we've been asking ourselves, though I'm sorry that it took such drastic action for us to do so," Sarinsky wrote.
On asking himself if the charge of racism is valid, Sarinsky said he is confident The Hoya is "not racist in its coverage, recruiting and training practices and the personal views of those on the staff."
However, he noted that the staff is far less diverse than it should be.
"The fact is, The Hoya is an unfortunate reflection of the divides that pervade this campus. If you were to put every member of our staff and each of their closest friends in a large room, some minority groups wouldn't be represented too well."
In the column, Sarinsky pledged to reach out to student organizations with the goal of diversifying coverage. He urged readers to reach out to others, too.
"Interact with the kind of people you may have given funny looks in high school. Stop self-segregating from the day you step foot on campus. And be critical of yourself and think of ways that you can be part of the solution."
The Hoya is not the first student newspaper to be called racist. Other papers have gotten that label for running racially insensitive cartoons and columns and for failing to cover events and issues of particular interest to certain groups.
How can students newspapers better cover the communities they serve? How can they avoid charges of racism? How can they be more inclusive and diversify their staffs? Post a comment below.
The allegation came after the newspaper gave scant coverage to an all-day rally and candlelight vigil in September supporting the Jena Six, the group of six black male students who were charged with attempted murder after attacking a white student in Jena, La.Shortly after the rally, which the paper covered in a mere news brief, someone chalked the words, "The Hoya is racist," in the university's Red Square, according to a column last Friday by outgoing Editor-in-Chief Max Sarinsky. The six-letter word was also scrawled across dozens of copies of the paper. The paper received angry columns and letters. And someone threw a rock through the editor-in-chief's apartment window.
The response has forced The Hoya staff to examine its composition and its coverage.
"As far as The Hoya is concerned, there are a lot of hard questions that we've been asking ourselves, though I'm sorry that it took such drastic action for us to do so," Sarinsky wrote.
On asking himself if the charge of racism is valid, Sarinsky said he is confident The Hoya is "not racist in its coverage, recruiting and training practices and the personal views of those on the staff."
However, he noted that the staff is far less diverse than it should be.
"The fact is, The Hoya is an unfortunate reflection of the divides that pervade this campus. If you were to put every member of our staff and each of their closest friends in a large room, some minority groups wouldn't be represented too well."
In the column, Sarinsky pledged to reach out to student organizations with the goal of diversifying coverage. He urged readers to reach out to others, too.
"Interact with the kind of people you may have given funny looks in high school. Stop self-segregating from the day you step foot on campus. And be critical of yourself and think of ways that you can be part of the solution."
The Hoya is not the first student newspaper to be called racist. Other papers have gotten that label for running racially insensitive cartoons and columns and for failing to cover events and issues of particular interest to certain groups.
How can students newspapers better cover the communities they serve? How can they avoid charges of racism? How can they be more inclusive and diversify their staffs? Post a comment below.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Student newspapers are doing something right
While newspaper executives around the country wring their hands about declines in readership and rack their brains about how to bring in younger readers, student newspapers continue to thrive.
Perhaps the professionals should be looking to student papers for the answers.
In fact, some of them are.
In her blog, Run of Paper, this week, Jody Reese, publisher of a small group of free newspapers and magazines in Manchester, New Hampshire, writes about the success of college papers.
"Despite Facebook and Myspace, college kids still read their campus newspapers, in print," Reese writes. "What does it say about the death of newspapers that as many as 76 percent of college kids say they have read one of the last five issues of their college newspaper?" (The statistic comes from a 2006 report from Y2M: Youth Media & Market Networks and College Publisher that also found 44 percent of students read their college papers in print at least twice per week and 33 percent pick them up at least once per month. By comparison, only 28 percent of college students regularly read their community papers in print -- and even fewer read community papers online.)
"It says that nothing is wrong with the medium of the newsprint," Reese continues. "It should loudly remind newspaper companies that it's their poor content that is driving younger readers away for their products, not college students' lack of interest in civic affairs or the internets."
While I agree with Bryan Murley and the folks at the Center for Innovation in College Media that student newspapers need to beef up their Web sites and embrace new media, clearly college newspapers are doing something right in print.
For one thing, they're hyperlocal, just as Rob Curley of Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, suggests all papers should be.
"There's no more local paper than a campus paper," Dina Pradel, general manager of Y2M, which founded College Publisher in 1999, told The Baltimore Sun last year.
Good student newspapers write about people, places and events at a college or university that are often ignored by mainstream media. The more college papers can stick to this philosophy, the more targeted the coverage, the more successful they will be.
Perhaps the professionals should be looking to student papers for the answers.
In fact, some of them are.
In her blog, Run of Paper, this week, Jody Reese, publisher of a small group of free newspapers and magazines in Manchester, New Hampshire, writes about the success of college papers.
"Despite Facebook and Myspace, college kids still read their campus newspapers, in print," Reese writes. "What does it say about the death of newspapers that as many as 76 percent of college kids say they have read one of the last five issues of their college newspaper?" (The statistic comes from a 2006 report from Y2M: Youth Media & Market Networks and College Publisher that also found 44 percent of students read their college papers in print at least twice per week and 33 percent pick them up at least once per month. By comparison, only 28 percent of college students regularly read their community papers in print -- and even fewer read community papers online.)
"It says that nothing is wrong with the medium of the newsprint," Reese continues. "It should loudly remind newspaper companies that it's their poor content that is driving younger readers away for their products, not college students' lack of interest in civic affairs or the internets."
While I agree with Bryan Murley and the folks at the Center for Innovation in College Media that student newspapers need to beef up their Web sites and embrace new media, clearly college newspapers are doing something right in print.
For one thing, they're hyperlocal, just as Rob Curley of Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, suggests all papers should be.
"There's no more local paper than a campus paper," Dina Pradel, general manager of Y2M, which founded College Publisher in 1999, told The Baltimore Sun last year.
Good student newspapers write about people, places and events at a college or university that are often ignored by mainstream media. The more college papers can stick to this philosophy, the more targeted the coverage, the more successful they will be.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Another take on journalism prof's "plagiarism"
Bob Stepno, a professor in the Media Studies Department at Radford University, offers another perspective on the allegations that University of Missouri Professor John Merrill plagiarized a student newspaper in his column for the Columbia Missourian.
"Using Web links might have saved a distinguished Missouri journalism professor the sight of this nightmare headline: Journalism Professor Admits Plagiarism," Stepno says in his blog.
"I think it's a bad headline based on a bum rap. He didn't deserve it. The word 'plagiarism' implies much worse offense than this case, which may be routine practice for many newspaper columnists: He quoted people. He identified the people he quoted. He just didn't identify a publication where he read those quotes. All that's missing from his column is a link to the earlier story."
As we reported earlier this week, Merrill lifted several quotes from The Maneater, the independent student newspaper at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in his controversial Nov. 4 column without attributing them. Editors reviewing his columns for the past year found five other instances where Merrill had taken quotes without attributing them to the publication where they first appeared.
Stepno offers these distinctions:
What do you think? Is it OK for columnists to use quotes from other media outlets without citing the original publication? Post a comment here.
"Using Web links might have saved a distinguished Missouri journalism professor the sight of this nightmare headline: Journalism Professor Admits Plagiarism," Stepno says in his blog.
"I think it's a bad headline based on a bum rap. He didn't deserve it. The word 'plagiarism' implies much worse offense than this case, which may be routine practice for many newspaper columnists: He quoted people. He identified the people he quoted. He just didn't identify a publication where he read those quotes. All that's missing from his column is a link to the earlier story."
As we reported earlier this week, Merrill lifted several quotes from The Maneater, the independent student newspaper at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in his controversial Nov. 4 column without attributing them. Editors reviewing his columns for the past year found five other instances where Merrill had taken quotes without attributing them to the publication where they first appeared.
Stepno offers these distinctions:
- Reporters go out and interview people, then write stories.
- Columnists write opinions. Some columnists don't get out much. Some of them make stuff up so much that they add "I'm not making this up" here and there.
- Plagiarism is taking someone else's writing and presenting it as your own.
- Poaching is borrowing someone else's reporting and presenting it as -- just possibly -- your own. When reporters do it, they're being dumb, lazy or egotistical. When columnists do it, it's probably just columny.
What do you think? Is it OK for columnists to use quotes from other media outlets without citing the original publication? Post a comment here.
Editor fired for posting noose
A student editor at a Minneapolis college newspaper who used a hanging noose as a threat to motivate writers to meet their deadlines has been fired and the multiracial campus is embroiled in a debate about racial sensitivity.
In October, Gabriel Keith, an assistant editor at the City College News at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, made a drawstring from a hooded sweatshirt into a noose and hung it from the newsroom ceiling with a note about making deadlines, according to reports by Uwire, the City College News, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Keith told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he didn't understand the racial implications of the noose, which was commonly used in the lynchings of African Americans in the South.
School investigators concluded that the incident was not racially motivated, but it angered many on the racially diverse campus, where about 30 percent of the nearly 12,000 students are African American. On Thursday more than 150 students and faculty members gathered for a discussion about race, according to an Associated Press report.
I have not been able to find any kind of letter from the editor or editorial about the incident on the City College News Web site explaining the story and the decision to fire Keith. It seems like one would be in order.
If you know more about the incident and want to share information please post a comment.
In October, Gabriel Keith, an assistant editor at the City College News at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, made a drawstring from a hooded sweatshirt into a noose and hung it from the newsroom ceiling with a note about making deadlines, according to reports by Uwire, the City College News, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.Keith told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he didn't understand the racial implications of the noose, which was commonly used in the lynchings of African Americans in the South.
School investigators concluded that the incident was not racially motivated, but it angered many on the racially diverse campus, where about 30 percent of the nearly 12,000 students are African American. On Thursday more than 150 students and faculty members gathered for a discussion about race, according to an Associated Press report.
I have not been able to find any kind of letter from the editor or editorial about the incident on the City College News Web site explaining the story and the decision to fire Keith. It seems like one would be in order.
If you know more about the incident and want to share information please post a comment.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Daily O'Collegian staff won't post to Web site
The newspaper staff of The Daily O'Collegian at Oklahoma State University has stopped providing content from the print edition to its own Web site because of a dispute over hiring practices.
Students are publishing a daily print newspaper, but stories and photos are not being posted on Ocolly.com, the newspaper's Web site.
The dispute stems from a decision by the Student Publications Board, which oversees all publications on campus, to grant power to the Web site's adviser, a nonstudent, to hire and Web site contributors, according to a letter in Monday's print edition from Editor-in-Chief Jenny Redden.
“This action goes against the heart of a student-run publication,” she wrote. “If students control a publication, they must have the ability to hire and fire employees of that publication. When nonstudents are afforded this power, the publication is no longer student-run. It belittles me and the other editors in the newsroom, undermining our authority to the point that we are ineffectual. … What is our recourse? We can fire them, but they can in turn seek employment at the Web site.”
Fritz Wirt, the O'Collegian's general manager, told Uwire that the print and online editions have operated separately for 12 years and have different editors. Both news organizations and their content are owned by the O’Collegian Publishing Company.
As Bryan Murley notes on the Innovation in College Media blog, this is an unusual management structure, one that really doesn't make sense in this era of converged news operations.
The print news staff is posting stories on MySpace and Facebook.
The O'Collegian Web site has a poll this week asking: "Do you agree with the newsroom's move to withhold content from the web office and migrate to Facebook and MySpace instead?"
Of the 421 people who had voted as of this writing, 71 percent said "No" and 29 percent said "Yes."
The Web site also offers this note of explanation under the heading "What's Going On?"
OColly.com was started in 1995 as a student honors program project and has been on the Web since the Fall 1996 semester, according to the Web site. "A student organizing group chose the ocolly online web name to differentiate it from the printed Daily O’Collegian, although virtually all of the local news, information and entertainment online content is provided from Daily O’Collegian printed editions," the Web site says.
Best wishes to the staff of the Daily O'Collegian and Ocolly.com to straighten this out and provide the Oklahoma State University with the coverage -- online and in print -- it deserves.
Thanks to Andrew Young, editorial director of UWIRE, for the story tip.
Students are publishing a daily print newspaper, but stories and photos are not being posted on Ocolly.com, the newspaper's Web site.The dispute stems from a decision by the Student Publications Board, which oversees all publications on campus, to grant power to the Web site's adviser, a nonstudent, to hire and Web site contributors, according to a letter in Monday's print edition from Editor-in-Chief Jenny Redden.
“This action goes against the heart of a student-run publication,” she wrote. “If students control a publication, they must have the ability to hire and fire employees of that publication. When nonstudents are afforded this power, the publication is no longer student-run. It belittles me and the other editors in the newsroom, undermining our authority to the point that we are ineffectual. … What is our recourse? We can fire them, but they can in turn seek employment at the Web site.”
Fritz Wirt, the O'Collegian's general manager, told Uwire that the print and online editions have operated separately for 12 years and have different editors. Both news organizations and their content are owned by the O’Collegian Publishing Company.
As Bryan Murley notes on the Innovation in College Media blog, this is an unusual management structure, one that really doesn't make sense in this era of converged news operations.
The print news staff is posting stories on MySpace and Facebook.The O'Collegian Web site has a poll this week asking: "Do you agree with the newsroom's move to withhold content from the web office and migrate to Facebook and MySpace instead?"
Of the 421 people who had voted as of this writing, 71 percent said "No" and 29 percent said "Yes."
The Web site also offers this note of explanation under the heading "What's Going On?"
"There have been some interesting developments inside the offices of The Daily O'Collegian. In short, the newsroom has started a protest and is withholding all content from the Web site. Please be patient in the coming days. We do not know how long this will last. Our goal remains to provide not only a means of accessing the more than 30,000 stories we have available, but to supply breaking news when it happens with or without the content of the printed newspaper. Please comment on this story with any suggestions, we would greatly appreciate them."
OColly.com was started in 1995 as a student honors program project and has been on the Web since the Fall 1996 semester, according to the Web site. "A student organizing group chose the ocolly online web name to differentiate it from the printed Daily O’Collegian, although virtually all of the local news, information and entertainment online content is provided from Daily O’Collegian printed editions," the Web site says.
Best wishes to the staff of the Daily O'Collegian and Ocolly.com to straighten this out and provide the Oklahoma State University with the coverage -- online and in print -- it deserves.
Thanks to Andrew Young, editorial director of UWIRE, for the story tip.
November Story of the Month
OK, we've been a little behind on the Story of the Month, but we've got a doozy for you now. This week the Daily Bruin at UCLA broke a major investigative story on preferential admission practices by the university's prestigious orthodontics residency program.
In an investigation that took more than four months, Robert Faturechi, the newspaper's enterprise editor, found that the residency program had violated University of California policy and standards governing public schools by giving special admissions consideration to relatives of major donors.
"In this unprecedented practice within the School of Dentistry, applicants related to donors giving six-figure gifts were automatically advanced over other students despite their lower test scores and grades," the story said.
"This was definitely the hardest story I’ve ever done," said Faturechi, a senior who has worked on the Daily Bruin since his freshman year. "It was several months of really hard work."
The university had already investigated the allegations and found “no credible and convincing evidence that deals were made or understandings reached to admit an applicant in return for donating money to the school,” according to an internal audit.
But the Daily Bruin found evidence, including e-mail messages and internal documents, showing that the orthodontics program had systematically advanced applicants related to major donors over more qualified students.
The Daily Bruin Web site included links to documents, including the audit and a letter of resignation from a faculty member who quit in protest of the university’s inaction on the allegations of admissions impropriety. It also included graphs depicting the university's increasing reliance on private donations.
No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry, said in a prepared statement that the admissions program was fair and based on merit.
"While an independent investigation requested by Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams found no credible and convincing evidence to support allegations of a legacy program in the orthodontics admissions process," Park said, "it did provide us with an opportunity to review our admissions policies and procedures and make improvements in the areas of oversight and transparency."
The story was picked up by several major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and even The Drudge Report.
Faturechi said he first learned about the story from an e-mail tip.
"Most of the time when you get e-mails like that there’s nothing to them," he said. "I gave the guy a call and he sounded fairly legitimate so I drove out to his house. He had some documents to support what he was saying."
Faturechi said it was a difficult story to report, because many of the key sources declined to be interviewed or were hesitant to talk. "I had to be persistent," he said. Others, however, were outraged and willing to share their views.
"Some of the folks I talked to take great pride in the program and they were frustrated with what they had seen had happen. They wanted to clean things up."
Faturechi said investigative stories like this one renew his faith that journalism is alive and well.
"A lot of folks say good print journalism is dying," he said. "If my friends are any indication, that’s not true. My editors and fellow reporters at the Daily Bruin are incredibly committed to covering our community well. There is still a passion for print journalism."
In an investigation that took more than four months, Robert Faturechi, the newspaper's enterprise editor, found that the residency program had violated University of California policy and standards governing public schools by giving special admissions consideration to relatives of major donors.
"In this unprecedented practice within the School of Dentistry, applicants related to donors giving six-figure gifts were automatically advanced over other students despite their lower test scores and grades," the story said.
"This was definitely the hardest story I’ve ever done," said Faturechi, a senior who has worked on the Daily Bruin since his freshman year. "It was several months of really hard work."
The university had already investigated the allegations and found “no credible and convincing evidence that deals were made or understandings reached to admit an applicant in return for donating money to the school,” according to an internal audit.
But the Daily Bruin found evidence, including e-mail messages and internal documents, showing that the orthodontics program had systematically advanced applicants related to major donors over more qualified students.
The Daily Bruin Web site included links to documents, including the audit and a letter of resignation from a faculty member who quit in protest of the university’s inaction on the allegations of admissions impropriety. It also included graphs depicting the university's increasing reliance on private donations.
No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry, said in a prepared statement that the admissions program was fair and based on merit.
"While an independent investigation requested by Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams found no credible and convincing evidence to support allegations of a legacy program in the orthodontics admissions process," Park said, "it did provide us with an opportunity to review our admissions policies and procedures and make improvements in the areas of oversight and transparency."
The story was picked up by several major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and even The Drudge Report.
Faturechi said he first learned about the story from an e-mail tip.
"Most of the time when you get e-mails like that there’s nothing to them," he said. "I gave the guy a call and he sounded fairly legitimate so I drove out to his house. He had some documents to support what he was saying."
Faturechi said it was a difficult story to report, because many of the key sources declined to be interviewed or were hesitant to talk. "I had to be persistent," he said. Others, however, were outraged and willing to share their views.
"Some of the folks I talked to take great pride in the program and they were frustrated with what they had seen had happen. They wanted to clean things up."
Faturechi said investigative stories like this one renew his faith that journalism is alive and well.
"A lot of folks say good print journalism is dying," he said. "If my friends are any indication, that’s not true. My editors and fellow reporters at the Daily Bruin are incredibly committed to covering our community well. There is still a passion for print journalism."
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Journalism prof responds to plagiarism charge
John Merrill, the University of Missouri-Columbia journalism professor who admitted to lifting quotes from a student newspaper last week, published a response to the incident in Wednesday's Columbia Missourian.
Titled "Carelessness is not Plagiarism," the piece begins: "After some 60 years of dedicated service to journalism and teaching, I must admit that I am almost traumatized by the recent tempest in a teapot incident related to what The Missourian editor has called my plagiarism. I have written and edited more than 30 books, articles for journals and newspapers, and a column in The Missourian for three years, and this is the first time I have been accused of plagiarism. The media have stressed the monolithic negative of the term 'plagiarism' and have not attempted to consider ethical and semantic aspects of the story. So I am left in public view as a villain, a linguistic thief, or worse."
Merrill, a journalism professor emeritus at the University of Missouri, was relieved of his weekly Sunday column for the Columbia Missourian, a community paper written by students, last week after editors found he had used quotes from The Maneater, the independent student newspaper in town, without attribution. (You can read about the incident in this earlier blog post.)
Merrill contends that taking quotes without attribution is not plagiarism but simply carelessness.
"I did not lift any sentences or paragraphs from anybody else’s writing," he writes. "I look on these short, directly quoted expressions from the two women in the news story as 'news-facts' and see them as in the public domain. Certainly, if what I did is plagiarism, it was unintentional and could, at the most, be considered technical, not unethical."
The piece has a number of comments, mostly from Merrill supporters.
What do you think? Is lifting quotes plagiarism or just carelessness? Was the Columbia Missourian right to take away Merrill's column or did the editors make a "tempest in a teapot," as Merrill contends? Post a comment below.
Titled "Carelessness is not Plagiarism," the piece begins: "After some 60 years of dedicated service to journalism and teaching, I must admit that I am almost traumatized by the recent tempest in a teapot incident related to what The Missourian editor has called my plagiarism. I have written and edited more than 30 books, articles for journals and newspapers, and a column in The Missourian for three years, and this is the first time I have been accused of plagiarism. The media have stressed the monolithic negative of the term 'plagiarism' and have not attempted to consider ethical and semantic aspects of the story. So I am left in public view as a villain, a linguistic thief, or worse."
Merrill, a journalism professor emeritus at the University of Missouri, was relieved of his weekly Sunday column for the Columbia Missourian, a community paper written by students, last week after editors found he had used quotes from The Maneater, the independent student newspaper in town, without attribution. (You can read about the incident in this earlier blog post.)
Merrill contends that taking quotes without attribution is not plagiarism but simply carelessness.
"I did not lift any sentences or paragraphs from anybody else’s writing," he writes. "I look on these short, directly quoted expressions from the two women in the news story as 'news-facts' and see them as in the public domain. Certainly, if what I did is plagiarism, it was unintentional and could, at the most, be considered technical, not unethical."
The piece has a number of comments, mostly from Merrill supporters.
What do you think? Is lifting quotes plagiarism or just carelessness? Was the Columbia Missourian right to take away Merrill's column or did the editors make a "tempest in a teapot," as Merrill contends? Post a comment below.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Journalism professor plagiarizes from student paper
A prominent University of Missouri-Columbia journalism professor has taught his students a powerful lesson in plagiarism by stealing information from a student newspaper and passing it off as his own.
John Merrill, a professor emeritus at the university's School of Journalism, was relieved last week of the Sunday column he wrote for the Columbia Missourian, a community newspaper written by students, after it was revealed that he lifted quotes and other phrases from an article in The Maneater, the independent student newspaper that serves the Columbia campus.
In a Nov. 9 letter to readers, Tom Warhover, the Columbia Missourian's executive editor for innovation, explained that Merrill's Nov. 4 column about the university's women's and gender studies program "used three quotes and other phrases taken directly from an Oct. 5 article in The Maneater."
"Several journalists and journalism educators I spoke with referred to the use as the ethical equivalent of a misdemeanor, not a felony," Warhover wrote. "I believe the Missourian, and the School of Journalism, must hold itself to a higher standard."
Warhover's column quotes a letter of apology from Merrill:
“Let me say first that I am truly sorry about the plagiarism in my column about Women’s and Gender Studies,” Merrill wrote. “I thought I had mentioned The Maneater as the source from which I got the few and scattered quotes I used to spin off into my column. I always am sensitive to that. I thought I had done it in that column and was really surprised, when you called me in, to find that I had neglected to do this.
“But I assure you that it was ‘unintentional’ plagiarism, and I had no reason to make it look as if I got these quotes from the sources directly. I was using them as a springboard for my opinion. But I did it, and I’m sorry. Careless, I’ll admit, but not intentional. All these dozens and dozens of columns and some 30 books and innumerable magazine and newspaper articles and never before have I been accused of plagiarism.”
Missourian editors examined Merrill's columns from the past year and found five more columns in which at least one quote had been taken from other publications without attribution, Warhover wrote.
"Missourian policy does not allow any writer to appropriate someone else's words as his own, even when those words are within quotation marks," he wrote.
Update: Read about Merrill's response here.
Hat tip to Scot Tucker of San Francisco State University for alerting us to this story.
John Merrill, a professor emeritus at the university's School of Journalism, was relieved last week of the Sunday column he wrote for the Columbia Missourian, a community newspaper written by students, after it was revealed that he lifted quotes and other phrases from an article in The Maneater, the independent student newspaper that serves the Columbia campus.In a Nov. 9 letter to readers, Tom Warhover, the Columbia Missourian's executive editor for innovation, explained that Merrill's Nov. 4 column about the university's women's and gender studies program "used three quotes and other phrases taken directly from an Oct. 5 article in The Maneater."
"Several journalists and journalism educators I spoke with referred to the use as the ethical equivalent of a misdemeanor, not a felony," Warhover wrote. "I believe the Missourian, and the School of Journalism, must hold itself to a higher standard."
Warhover's column quotes a letter of apology from Merrill:
“Let me say first that I am truly sorry about the plagiarism in my column about Women’s and Gender Studies,” Merrill wrote. “I thought I had mentioned The Maneater as the source from which I got the few and scattered quotes I used to spin off into my column. I always am sensitive to that. I thought I had done it in that column and was really surprised, when you called me in, to find that I had neglected to do this.
“But I assure you that it was ‘unintentional’ plagiarism, and I had no reason to make it look as if I got these quotes from the sources directly. I was using them as a springboard for my opinion. But I did it, and I’m sorry. Careless, I’ll admit, but not intentional. All these dozens and dozens of columns and some 30 books and innumerable magazine and newspaper articles and never before have I been accused of plagiarism.”
Missourian editors examined Merrill's columns from the past year and found five more columns in which at least one quote had been taken from other publications without attribution, Warhover wrote.
"Missourian policy does not allow any writer to appropriate someone else's words as his own, even when those words are within quotation marks," he wrote.
Update: Read about Merrill's response here.
Hat tip to Scot Tucker of San Francisco State University for alerting us to this story.
Grinnell student paper breaks Clinton scandal
Some are calling it "Plant-gate."
The Scarlet and Black, the student newspaper at Grinnell College, broke a big political story last week when it reported that a Hillary Clinton campaign aide had asked a student from the Iowa college to pose a question about global warming to the presidential candidate.
Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff told her campus newspaper that audience questions at a Nov. 6 campaign event at a Newton, Iowa biodiesel plant were "canned." “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],” she told reporter Patrick Caldwell.
Clinton has said she wasn't aware the question had been planted.
The professional media has been all over the story ever since, with reports in The New York Times, the New York Post, The Nation and other media.
Interestingly, the Scarlet and Black didn't seem to realize just what a big scoop it had. The story ran on Page 2 of the newspaper's special 4-page "caucus insert" although it's the top story on the newspaper's home page.
Update: You can view a taped interview with Gallo-Chasanoff at CNN.com.
The Scarlet and Black, the student newspaper at Grinnell College, broke a big political story last week when it reported that a Hillary Clinton campaign aide had asked a student from the Iowa college to pose a question about global warming to the presidential candidate.Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff told her campus newspaper that audience questions at a Nov. 6 campaign event at a Newton, Iowa biodiesel plant were "canned." “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],” she told reporter Patrick Caldwell.
Clinton has said she wasn't aware the question had been planted.
The professional media has been all over the story ever since, with reports in The New York Times, the New York Post, The Nation and other media.
Interestingly, the Scarlet and Black didn't seem to realize just what a big scoop it had. The story ran on Page 2 of the newspaper's special 4-page "caucus insert" although it's the top story on the newspaper's home page.
Update: You can view a taped interview with Gallo-Chasanoff at CNN.com.
Monday, November 12, 2007
LA Times series offers journalism lessons
Hey Journalism Educators,
Looking for an easy and powerful lesson for this week? The Los Angeles Times has put together a package just for you -- The Marlboro Marine.
Three years ago Luis Sinco, a photographer for the LA Times, took a photograph of a battle-weary soldier smoking a cigarette in Fallouja, Iraq.
"With the click of a shutter, Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, a country boy from Kentucky, became an emblem of the war in Iraq," Sinco writes in the story that ran Sunday. "The resulting image would change two lives -- his and mine."
In a masterpiece of multimedia storytelling using photographs, video, text and original music by the subject of the story -- Sinco tells the story of what happened to the marine when he came back.
The beauty of this piece is that it offers many kinds of lessons -- the power of multimedia storytelling, the importance of photojournalists learning to tell stories with words and a courseload of lessons on ethics. You can discuss the way a single high-profile photo can change a person's life, what happens when a journalist gets personally involved with a source and where to draw the line between being a journalist and being a human being.
It's a piece every journalist should see.
Hat tip to Tom Nelson of Loyola Marymount University for bringing this piece to our attention.
Looking for an easy and powerful lesson for this week? The Los Angeles Times has put together a package just for you -- The Marlboro Marine.
Three years ago Luis Sinco, a photographer for the LA Times, took a photograph of a battle-weary soldier smoking a cigarette in Fallouja, Iraq."With the click of a shutter, Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, a country boy from Kentucky, became an emblem of the war in Iraq," Sinco writes in the story that ran Sunday. "The resulting image would change two lives -- his and mine."
In a masterpiece of multimedia storytelling using photographs, video, text and original music by the subject of the story -- Sinco tells the story of what happened to the marine when he came back.
The beauty of this piece is that it offers many kinds of lessons -- the power of multimedia storytelling, the importance of photojournalists learning to tell stories with words and a courseload of lessons on ethics. You can discuss the way a single high-profile photo can change a person's life, what happens when a journalist gets personally involved with a source and where to draw the line between being a journalist and being a human being.
It's a piece every journalist should see.
Hat tip to Tom Nelson of Loyola Marymount University for bringing this piece to our attention.
From soldier to student newspaper columnist
Georgetown University student and Iraq veteran William Quinn had an interesting essay in The Washington Post yesterday about his transition from soldier to student.
"I find it frustrating that Facebook is a bigger part of most students' lives than the war," he writes.
Quinn, a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service, also writes a column called Aimless Feet every other Tuesday for The Hoya, the student newspaper at Georgetown. It's a great example of the kind of provocative, insightful commentary student newspapers can get by tapping non-traditional students.
"I find it frustrating that Facebook is a bigger part of most students' lives than the war," he writes.
Quinn, a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service, also writes a column called Aimless Feet every other Tuesday for The Hoya, the student newspaper at Georgetown. It's a great example of the kind of provocative, insightful commentary student newspapers can get by tapping non-traditional students.
Friday, November 09, 2007
The Advocate faces ethical dilemma
The Advocate, the student newspaper at Contra Costa College in Richmond, Calif., had a difficult ethical decision to make yesterday.
One of the newspaper's photographers got a shot of a campus police aide, a student, who had been shot just minutes before. The powerful image shows the young man lying on the ground with other police aides gathered around him.
The photo was ready to be published within an hour of the shooting, but the young man's family had not been notified. The editors had a tough decision: Should they run the photo immediately, wait, or not run the photo? The student editors decided to hold off until the victim's next of kin had been notified about his injuries. The newspaper posted the photo on its Web site later that day, after authorities had notified the family and confirmed the victim's identity. (By that time the editors also knew the victim was still alive but seriously injured.)
Though the editors held the photo for several hours, the newspaper ran updates on the story throughout the afternoon and evening, including a report on the manhunt for the gunman and another on the cancellation of classes in response to the shooting. The Advocate's coverage is an excellent example of how a weekly college newspaper can cover a big breaking news story.
Do you think the newspaper editors made the right decision? Should the paper have held the photo? Should the photo have been posted to the Web immediately? Post a comment here.
One of the newspaper's photographers got a shot of a campus police aide, a student, who had been shot just minutes before. The powerful image shows the young man lying on the ground with other police aides gathered around him.The photo was ready to be published within an hour of the shooting, but the young man's family had not been notified. The editors had a tough decision: Should they run the photo immediately, wait, or not run the photo? The student editors decided to hold off until the victim's next of kin had been notified about his injuries. The newspaper posted the photo on its Web site later that day, after authorities had notified the family and confirmed the victim's identity. (By that time the editors also knew the victim was still alive but seriously injured.)
Though the editors held the photo for several hours, the newspaper ran updates on the story throughout the afternoon and evening, including a report on the manhunt for the gunman and another on the cancellation of classes in response to the shooting. The Advocate's coverage is an excellent example of how a weekly college newspaper can cover a big breaking news story.
Do you think the newspaper editors made the right decision? Should the paper have held the photo? Should the photo have been posted to the Web immediately? Post a comment here.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Daily Titan aborts condom promotion
The Daily Titan at California State University, Fullerton has scrapped plans to distribute free condoms in its Nov. 14 issue after the student health center backed out of the promotional deal.
The newspaper had made arrangements with the student health center to place 4,500 condoms into the paper to encourage students to have safe sex. But when the paper announced the plan with promotional signs featuring stick figures having sex in the missionary position, students and administrators began to complain.
“If I’m picking up a paper to read it, I would not necessarily want to have a condom there,” Dean of Students Bob Palmer told the Orange County Register. “You know how newspapers are; we would probably have condoms out all over campus.”
Last week the health center administration pulled out of the deal.
Instead, the newspaper has decided to print a coupon that students can clip and use to redeem a free condom from the health center.
The Daily Titan editors expressed their annoyance at the health center's decision in an editorial on Nov. 1.
"Those in charge of the center are sorely mistaken," the editorial said. "They are adopting a very dangerous philosophy that denies a person the ability to protect themselves simply because that protection may offend some people."
The bottom line, the editorial notes, is that fewer students will get the condoms.
"Out of the 4,500 condoms the Daily Titan was going to distribute to students by way of impulse grabs, only a small fraction will take the trip with their coupon to the center and get their free condom. Rather than 4,500 condoms in the pockets, wallets, purses and backpacks of students all over campus, the center will only give out a small fraction of this number through their coupon system."
The newspaper had made arrangements with the student health center to place 4,500 condoms into the paper to encourage students to have safe sex. But when the paper announced the plan with promotional signs featuring stick figures having sex in the missionary position, students and administrators began to complain.
“If I’m picking up a paper to read it, I would not necessarily want to have a condom there,” Dean of Students Bob Palmer told the Orange County Register. “You know how newspapers are; we would probably have condoms out all over campus.”
Last week the health center administration pulled out of the deal.
Instead, the newspaper has decided to print a coupon that students can clip and use to redeem a free condom from the health center.
The Daily Titan editors expressed their annoyance at the health center's decision in an editorial on Nov. 1.
"Those in charge of the center are sorely mistaken," the editorial said. "They are adopting a very dangerous philosophy that denies a person the ability to protect themselves simply because that protection may offend some people."
The bottom line, the editorial notes, is that fewer students will get the condoms.
"Out of the 4,500 condoms the Daily Titan was going to distribute to students by way of impulse grabs, only a small fraction will take the trip with their coupon to the center and get their free condom. Rather than 4,500 condoms in the pockets, wallets, purses and backpacks of students all over campus, the center will only give out a small fraction of this number through their coupon system."
Monday, November 05, 2007
A vision of students today
OK, this doesn't really have anything to do with student newspapers, but I thought it was an interesting use of video technology for transmitting a message. And the message is certainly one of interest to students of media and the educators who teach them.
So check it out.
The video was created by Professor Michael Wesch at Kansas State University and the 200 students enrolled in his ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course in Spring 2007.
"It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in," Wesch writes on the class Web site. "We created a Google Document to facilitate the brainstorming exercise, which began with the following instructions:
… the basic idea is to create a 3 minute video highlighting the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. We already know some things from previous research (and if you know of any interesting statistics, please list them along with the source). Others we will need to find out by doing a class survey. Please add whatever you want to know or present.
The video was posted on YouTube, where you can read comments from viewers around the world.
Hat tip to Sylvia Fox of Sacramento State University for turning me on to this video.
So check it out.The video was created by Professor Michael Wesch at Kansas State University and the 200 students enrolled in his ANTH 200: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course in Spring 2007.
"It began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in," Wesch writes on the class Web site. "We created a Google Document to facilitate the brainstorming exercise, which began with the following instructions:
… the basic idea is to create a 3 minute video highlighting the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. We already know some things from previous research (and if you know of any interesting statistics, please list them along with the source). Others we will need to find out by doing a class survey. Please add whatever you want to know or present.
The video was posted on YouTube, where you can read comments from viewers around the world.
Hat tip to Sylvia Fox of Sacramento State University for turning me on to this video.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Ira Glass shares storytelling secrets
If you happen to think Ira Glass is brilliant (I do) or even if you just kind of like This American Life, you should check out this series of videos on YouTube, in which Glass shares his thoughts on storytelling.
It's a great primer for student journalists getting into video, audio slide shows, podcasting or even narrative writing. Glass' advice is wise, amusing and even self-deprecating. In the third part, he critiques one of his own radio stories, pointing out where it's boring, where it's stilted, where it's false.
It's a great primer for student journalists getting into video, audio slide shows, podcasting or even narrative writing. Glass' advice is wise, amusing and even self-deprecating. In the third part, he critiques one of his own radio stories, pointing out where it's boring, where it's stilted, where it's false.- Ira Glass on Storytelling #1 -- on the basics
- Ira Glass on Storytelling #2 -- on finding great stories
- Ira Glass on Storytelling #3 -- on good taste
- Ira Glass on Storytelling #4 -- on two common pitfalls
Friday, November 02, 2007
Student journalists offer scoop on '08 election
Has a presidential election ever captivated young voters the way this one has? Have student journalists ever had so many ways to report and publish?
Bringing these two currents together is a group of student journalists who are creating Scoop08, a national online student newspaper focusing on the 2008 presidential campaign. The site is scheduled to launch Sunday, exactly one year before the election.
“We’re creating a national forum for students to participate from a journalistic perspective in this exciting 2008 election,” says Andrew Mangino, the 20-year-old editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News and cofounder of Scoop08. His partner in political journalism is Alexander Heffner, a high school senior at Phillips Academy, where he is general manager of WPAA, the academy's radio station, and the host of The Political Arena, a political and public affairs radio program.
“This is the first national student newspaper,” Mangino says. “The Internet presents so many new possibilities. Why does a student newspaper have to stop at the school gates?”
The two met in 2006 when they were interning for Hillary Clinton’s New York senatorial campaign. But Mangino, who is registered as an independent (at 17, Heffner is too young to vote), insists they’re not biased. “We are both openminded. If my mind was made up I couldn’t do this project. I plan to be pretty undecided until Nov. 4, 2008 at noon or so when I got to the polls to vote.”
The pair has already assembled a network of more than 300 high school and college student journalists from around the country to contribute to the site “and that number is growing by the hour,” Mangino says. The site even has some foreign correspondents, mostly American students studying abroad in places like South Korea, Egypt, Chile and the United Kingdom. Some foreign students have also asked to participate.
Content will be edited by a team of student journalists from Yale, Ohio University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, the University of Maine, Oberlin College and other schools.
Even before its launch the site is getting some buzz. It’s been written up by the BBC, Editor and Publisher, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Some of the attention may come from Scoop08's star-studded advisory board, which includes politicians (Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, former presidential candidate and Colorado Sen. Gary Hart and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson) and journalists (Judy Woodruff of PBS, New York Times columnist Frank Rich and Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter).
How did a couple of students persuade so many hotshots to get involved? “We got them the same way we got students excited: by stating the idea,” Mangino says. “This is a logical thing that has to be done. By presenting the message in an e-mail or phone call, people get excited about the idea.”
Mangino says the high-powered advisory board will help ensure that the site maintains a high caliber of reporting. “This is not a blog with random rants,” he says. “This will be professional, unbiased reporting on interesting topics and then commentary that’s separate from that.”
Asked how he balances his responsibilities as editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News and co-founder of Scoop08 on top of his school work, Mangino replies: "A lot of all-nighters. It's totally worth it, though. Anytime I get tired I just think to myself there's no other year this is going to happen. This 2008 election is generating so much excitement. That's how I motivate myself and others on the project."
Scoop08 is looking for students to contribute audio, video, photo and text reports on all aspects of the election, as well as thoughtful commentary pieces. To get involved, simply fill out this form.
Watch the Scoop08 trailer.
Bringing these two currents together is a group of student journalists who are creating Scoop08, a national online student newspaper focusing on the 2008 presidential campaign. The site is scheduled to launch Sunday, exactly one year before the election.“We’re creating a national forum for students to participate from a journalistic perspective in this exciting 2008 election,” says Andrew Mangino, the 20-year-old editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News and cofounder of Scoop08. His partner in political journalism is Alexander Heffner, a high school senior at Phillips Academy, where he is general manager of WPAA, the academy's radio station, and the host of The Political Arena, a political and public affairs radio program.
“This is the first national student newspaper,” Mangino says. “The Internet presents so many new possibilities. Why does a student newspaper have to stop at the school gates?”
The two met in 2006 when they were interning for Hillary Clinton’s New York senatorial campaign. But Mangino, who is registered as an independent (at 17, Heffner is too young to vote), insists they’re not biased. “We are both openminded. If my mind was made up I couldn’t do this project. I plan to be pretty undecided until Nov. 4, 2008 at noon or so when I got to the polls to vote.”The pair has already assembled a network of more than 300 high school and college student journalists from around the country to contribute to the site “and that number is growing by the hour,” Mangino says. The site even has some foreign correspondents, mostly American students studying abroad in places like South Korea, Egypt, Chile and the United Kingdom. Some foreign students have also asked to participate.
Content will be edited by a team of student journalists from Yale, Ohio University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, the University of Maine, Oberlin College and other schools.
Even before its launch the site is getting some buzz. It’s been written up by the BBC, Editor and Publisher, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Some of the attention may come from Scoop08's star-studded advisory board, which includes politicians (Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, former presidential candidate and Colorado Sen. Gary Hart and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson) and journalists (Judy Woodruff of PBS, New York Times columnist Frank Rich and Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter).
How did a couple of students persuade so many hotshots to get involved? “We got them the same way we got students excited: by stating the idea,” Mangino says. “This is a logical thing that has to be done. By presenting the message in an e-mail or phone call, people get excited about the idea.”
Mangino says the high-powered advisory board will help ensure that the site maintains a high caliber of reporting. “This is not a blog with random rants,” he says. “This will be professional, unbiased reporting on interesting topics and then commentary that’s separate from that.”
Asked how he balances his responsibilities as editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News and co-founder of Scoop08 on top of his school work, Mangino replies: "A lot of all-nighters. It's totally worth it, though. Anytime I get tired I just think to myself there's no other year this is going to happen. This 2008 election is generating so much excitement. That's how I motivate myself and others on the project."
Scoop08 is looking for students to contribute audio, video, photo and text reports on all aspects of the election, as well as thoughtful commentary pieces. To get involved, simply fill out this form.
Watch the Scoop08 trailer.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Science writing for college newspapers
Writing about science and medicine for a college newspaper can be intimidating. How do you make scientific advances and medical concepts interesting to college students? How do you write about things you barely understand yourself? And how do you get people with all those letters after their names to speak English?
But many students who report on science come to appreciate -- and even learn to love -- the intellectual and practical challenges that come along with it. With science writing, you're always learning something new. You get to understand cool stuff, like how the human body fights off invading organisms or what black holes really are.
And experience on a science beat can pay off down the career road. Some solid clips and a line on your resume that says "science writer" or "medical writer" can lead to lucrative and satisfying careers in medical journalism, public relations, government and private agency work, as well as health and science fields. For those thinking about graduate programs in science writing like the one at MIT (my brother Robert Kanigel is the director--tell him I sent you), UC Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins, and Boston University, experience writing about science will help set you apart from the pack of applicants.
So how do you cover science and medicine? Here are some tips to get you started:
Resources
Organizations
National Association of Science Writers
Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
American Medical Writers Association
Association of Health Care Journalists
Books
Best American Science Writing, an annual series published by Harper Collins
Ideas Into Words, Mastering the Craft of Science Writing by Elise Hancock
A Field Guide for Science Writers edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig
But many students who report on science come to appreciate -- and even learn to love -- the intellectual and practical challenges that come along with it. With science writing, you're always learning something new. You get to understand cool stuff, like how the human body fights off invading organisms or what black holes really are.
And experience on a science beat can pay off down the career road. Some solid clips and a line on your resume that says "science writer" or "medical writer" can lead to lucrative and satisfying careers in medical journalism, public relations, government and private agency work, as well as health and science fields. For those thinking about graduate programs in science writing like the one at MIT (my brother Robert Kanigel is the director--tell him I sent you), UC Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins, and Boston University, experience writing about science will help set you apart from the pack of applicants.
So how do you cover science and medicine? Here are some tips to get you started:
- Cultivate sources. As with any beat, you're only as good as your sources. You can find them in the laboratories around campus, in student associations of medical or nursing students, in environmental groups, in the student health center, in academic departments. Don't feel that you have to only use top officials and professors. Graduate students who work in a lab and receptionists who work in the health center can also be helpful sources of information.
- Ask the right questions. In talking to sources, always ask: What's new? The answer may be a scientific advance, a troubling trend, the outbreak of an illness or the launch of a new treatment or product. You should also ask what's not going well. Are scientists frustrated because their funding is running out? Is there a shortage of equipment? Are cadavers being misused?
- Do your homework.To find story ideas and to educate yourself about science writing, you should regularly read The New York Times, particularly Science Times, the weekly science section that comes out on Tuesday; some of the major scientific journals like Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association; and whatever other specialty publications you can find about the field you're covering.
- Milk your public affairs office. Try to get a line not just on upcoming press releases but on ongoing research on your campus. Who are the major players? Who's getting the biggest grants? What kinds of research is your campus best known for?
- Use online science information services. Regularly check Newswise and Eurekalert, which distribute press releases from research institutions around the nation.
- Localize national stories. Think about how national headlines apply to your campus and community. If there's a new contraceptive on the market, see if it's available at your campus health center or at local drug stores. If a natural disaster strikes elsewhere in the country, see if experts from your campus will be providing any technical assistance.
- Explore the science behind the news. Many news stories have a scientific angle -- the injury that sidelined your team's starting quarterback, the earthquake that struck a nearby community, weird weather patterns. Find scientists and physicians who can put these stories into context for your readers.
- Learn the lingo. Writing about science means translating foreign or complex concepts into simple language. Learn what the scientific terms mean and then figure out how to explain them to a lay audience. If you can find the right metaphor, you can explain nearly anything. But don't just make these up. Science writing is really a partnership between the experts and the journalists -- make sure whatever you write is technically accurate.
Resources
Organizations
National Association of Science Writers
Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
American Medical Writers Association
Association of Health Care Journalists
Books
Best American Science Writing, an annual series published by Harper Collins
Ideas Into Words, Mastering the Craft of Science Writing by Elise Hancock
A Field Guide for Science Writers edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Golden Gate [X]press editor shares vision
Last week, Golden Gate [X]press, the student newspaper at San Francisco State University, unveiled its redesigned Web site, which highlights multimedia. The redesign caught the attention of Bryan Murley at Innovation in College Media. Aaron Morrison, online managing editor, shared some thoughts on the redesign in an e-mail interview.
Why did you want to redesign the site?
The old site was, to be honest, a bit cluttered. I was interested in finding a way to highlight our audio/visual content (audio slideshows, photo galleries, multimedia packages). That content, unlike many of the stories from the print edition, is a product of hours of production (editing, story-boarding, sequencing). Jesse (Garnier), our advisor, has done an awesome job of facilitating that change.
What are you hoping to accomplish with the new site?
More than anything, I would like for us to get more mileage out of our multimedia work. The old site lacked a clear hierarchy for the content. So when we published stories, they'd be added to a list of stories with no clear designation of what type of media it was (i.e. podcasts, slideshows, etc.)
What are some of the new features you are incorporating?
The new site should communicate what our biggest stories are. We can do that by highlighting our packages in the new multimedia widget, which appears prominently in the middle of the front page. Each section front will soon have that widget. Story pages will also display larger main images.
What do you want the redesigned site to say to readers?
I would like readers to see that [X]press is all about drawing you into the stories that we do. Jesse always tells us that online multimedia has the benefit of being an intimate experience for the user, as they are typically sitting very close to their computers and often use headphones to listen to audio. With that in mind, the redesigned site draws more attention to content that takes advantage of that intimate environment. I want readers to know that we take pride in bringing them where we've been.
How are you publicizing the site?
Parties, parties and more parties! No, just kidding. We're working on ways to get the campus community aware and involved with what we are offering online. Making ourselves visible might mean sitting in the student center with a couple of laptop computers and fliers with the web address on them. And of course we'll have a launch party soon.
Why did you want to redesign the site?
The old site was, to be honest, a bit cluttered. I was interested in finding a way to highlight our audio/visual content (audio slideshows, photo galleries, multimedia packages). That content, unlike many of the stories from the print edition, is a product of hours of production (editing, story-boarding, sequencing). Jesse (Garnier), our advisor, has done an awesome job of facilitating that change.
What are you hoping to accomplish with the new site?
More than anything, I would like for us to get more mileage out of our multimedia work. The old site lacked a clear hierarchy for the content. So when we published stories, they'd be added to a list of stories with no clear designation of what type of media it was (i.e. podcasts, slideshows, etc.)
What are some of the new features you are incorporating?
The new site should communicate what our biggest stories are. We can do that by highlighting our packages in the new multimedia widget, which appears prominently in the middle of the front page. Each section front will soon have that widget. Story pages will also display larger main images.
What do you want the redesigned site to say to readers?
I would like readers to see that [X]press is all about drawing you into the stories that we do. Jesse always tells us that online multimedia has the benefit of being an intimate experience for the user, as they are typically sitting very close to their computers and often use headphones to listen to audio. With that in mind, the redesigned site draws more attention to content that takes advantage of that intimate environment. I want readers to know that we take pride in bringing them where we've been.
How are you publicizing the site?
Parties, parties and more parties! No, just kidding. We're working on ways to get the campus community aware and involved with what we are offering online. Making ourselves visible might mean sitting in the student center with a couple of laptop computers and fliers with the web address on them. And of course we'll have a launch party soon.
Monday, October 29, 2007
The Ethicist answers student newspaper dilemma
Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column for The New York Times Magazine, addresses a common problem for student newspapers in this week's column.Here's the question:
My college newspaper ran an opinion article supporting a professor who had not been rehired. The article now appears at the top of any Internet search of the professor’s name. Hoping not to discourage potential employers, the professor asked us to remove the article from our archive for two years. Should we? — B.B., New York
Cohen argues that the newspaper should not pull the story from the Web site.
"If the article met your standards for publication — and it did — you may not purge it," he writes. "Helping even a worthy professor’s career is not sufficient reason to falsify by omission the historic record, even so modest a record as back issues of a college paper."
As it turned out, the student editors at the unnamed student paper didn't follow The Ethicist's advice. They redacted the piece in the archive.
This is a very common problem at student newspapers. At Golden Gate [X]press, the student newspaper at San Francisco State University that I advise, we get regularly receive requests from sources asking that articles be pulled from the online archive for various reasons. The most common is they don't want their college exploits to follow them in the professional world. My editors usually decide not to grant these requests unless there are questions about the accuracy of the story.
Has your newspaper faced this ethical dilemma? If so what did you do? What do you think of Cohen's position? Post a comment below.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Edwards campaign tries to kill student's video
John Edwards' presidential campaign has allegedly tried to scuttle a University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill student's video story about his campaign headquarters, according to an article in The News and Observer.
UNC Associate Professor C.A. Tuggle told the newspaper that aides to the former North Carolina senator demanded that the school drop the segment by graduate student Carla Babb from the student-run television program "Carolina Week" and remove it from YouTube.
The video report picks up on a point made earlier this fall by James Edward Dillard, a columnist for the UNC student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. Both question Edwards' decision to open his campaign headquarters in the affluent Southern Village neighborhood of Chapel Hill while trying to claim he's a man of the people.
"...for a man who's positioning himself as the president to unite poor America with rich America, Southern Village seems to be an odd place to start," Dillard wrote in the Sept. 4 column. "It's hard to imagine a more white-bread place outside of Disney World (or perhaps Meadowmont)."
You can view the video, which is scheduled to air on Monday, at YouTube. As of this writing, nearly 150,000 people have watched the video on YouTube.
UNC Associate Professor C.A. Tuggle told the newspaper that aides to the former North Carolina senator demanded that the school drop the segment by graduate student Carla Babb from the student-run television program "Carolina Week" and remove it from YouTube. The video report picks up on a point made earlier this fall by James Edward Dillard, a columnist for the UNC student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. Both question Edwards' decision to open his campaign headquarters in the affluent Southern Village neighborhood of Chapel Hill while trying to claim he's a man of the people.
"...for a man who's positioning himself as the president to unite poor America with rich America, Southern Village seems to be an odd place to start," Dillard wrote in the Sept. 4 column. "It's hard to imagine a more white-bread place outside of Disney World (or perhaps Meadowmont)."
You can view the video, which is scheduled to air on Monday, at YouTube. As of this writing, nearly 150,000 people have watched the video on YouTube.
Curleyize your student newspaper
WASHINGTON, D.C.--I’ve seen new media guru Rob Curley give basically the same speech four times in the past few years, but I always find his message inspiring. The gospel of hyperlocal coverage mixed with what he calls “multimedia overkill” that he delivered Friday at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention here is one all student newspapers should heed.
Student media organizations may not have the legions of database whizzes and eager-to-please interns who have supported Curley’s innovations through the years at the Lawrence Journal World, the Naples Daily News and now at Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, but here are some things you can do to apply his philosophy to your student paper.
Do you have other ideas student newspapers can use to emphasize multimedia and hyperlocal coverage? Share them by posting a comment below.
Student media organizations may not have the legions of database whizzes and eager-to-please interns who have supported Curley’s innovations through the years at the Lawrence Journal World, the Naples Daily News and now at Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, but here are some things you can do to apply his philosophy to your student paper.
- Seek out the “nerds” that Curley says every newspaper needs. Go to your computer science department to find people who think it might be cool to create a searchable database of all the restaurants in your college town or to crunch the numbers in university salary records or other data.
- Strive for your own brand of “multimedia overkill.” That means creating videos, slideshows and podcasts about everything happening on campus, not just the big events, but the little ones – health fairs and routine games and the bands that perform on the quad at lunchtime every week.
- Create your own version of The Washington Post’s “On Being” series--two-minute videos about what life is like for regular Joes that has become one of the most popular features on the newspaper’s Web site.
- Make a series of virtual tours of your college campus. Take readers to the most outrageous dorm rooms, the coolest research labs, the messiest professors’ offices, the best places to kiss.
- Collect mini videos of professor’s lectures so students can see if they’d prefer Professor Chen or Professor Jones for Art History 101.
- Give more attention to college sports, creating video reports for every game and pages for each player like Curley’s staff does for the high school teams of Loudon County, Virginia.
- Link to data that already exists. When you write about professors like to their university Web pages so readers can read their bios, find out more about their research and get their office hours and contact information. If your campus is audiotaping or videotaping lectures and putting them on the Web, link to those, too.
- Create the partnerships with readers that Curley advocates by encouraging students to send in their photos, videos and other materials. Link to regular contributors' Facebook and MySpace pages.
- Encourage students who don't work for the newspaper to write blogs about specific aspects of campus life--dorm life, medical school, study-abroad programs, fraternities and sororities.
- Create resource guides to your campus like the ones at LoudonExtra.com These might include guides to student or community elections, student clubs and organizations, Greek organizations, local bands, local restaurants and/or businesses. Include photos, videos and useful information like hours, phone numbers and maps. Once readers know these guides are on your site, they will come back again and again to check information. You can update them each year or each semester.
Do you have other ideas student newspapers can use to emphasize multimedia and hyperlocal coverage? Share them by posting a comment below.
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