Archive for November, 2009

Exclusive Interview with College News Network Founders

Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on November 29, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Ryan Dunn and Dave Hendricks are the co-founders of college media’s very own CNN. College News Network is a nationwide student press content-sharing service that the Ohio University duo launched very recently in the wake of UWIRE’s sudden disappearance.

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The talented Scrippsters graciously chatted with CMM about the the basic gist of their service, their longterm goals, and their thoughts on their once-domineering, now-dormant chief competitor.  The buzzwords that stand out: nonprofit, necessity, and GoDaddy.

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Dave Hendricks, a Scripps journalism student from Connecticut who once climbed Ayers Rock.

Ryan Dunn, a Scripps journalism student from Lancaster, Pa., whose favorite movie is "Bait Shop" with Bill Engvall and Billy Ray Cyrus.

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What motivated you to start College News Network?

Ryan: We started College News Network out of necessity. I manage the opinion page of The Post, and when our well of letters dried up, we would pull a column from UWIRE. If local content isn’t an option, we still need something to put on the page.  Now, it’s a bit trickier for us, and most editors are probably in the same boat. UWIRE went under at the end of September. We quickly e-mailed a few other Ohio student papers in hopes of sharing columns and the occasional breaking news. It expanded to an actual Web site with 27 student papers from across the country on board.

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Explain the service in a simple nut graf.

Ryan: Every day, we or our members post stories on the site that would be relevant to any student, regardless of college. When other papers in the network are hurting for content, they can check our site. Posts are marked as private so only those who signed up can see them. Membership is free, and all we ask is the original newspaper and author/designer/photographer be credited when his or her work is reprinted.

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Any memorable moments so far?

Dave: We got a free month of hosting from GoDaddy after the company (my registrar of choice for years) botched our server setup. That’s kept our total investment to just $17.

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What’s the long-term goal for the service?

Ryan: Basically, we want the site to keep growing. The more posts, the better. UWIRE was a safety net that also promoted our content, and that’s what we want for College News Network. As for specific goals, I’d love to have a student paper on the network from all 50 states. I’m pretty sure UWIRE had 800 members before shutting down. They set the bar.

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What’s the plan of attack if and when UWIRE returns?

Ryan: That’s the big question, isn’t it? We know the stakes here.  UWIRE is/was the student media syndicate everyone knows. The site hired student editors (of which I was one) to add news and columns, while we rely on essentially volunteer work. It could be a very uphill battle.

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Our main strength against UWIRE is that we have no corporate owners demanding a profit, or any intention of profit at all. College News Network doesn’t exactly have a budget. Dave and I continue putting the time in because the site’s grown into something that we’re very pleased with. We do read a lot of these newspapers anyway to see what other student papers are reporting on, that’s why we asked them to join. Of course, if UWIRE wants to buy us out for a few hundred million dollars, we’d probably listen.

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For all the student newspaper haters out there, why do college news media matter?

Ryan: I look at student newspapers as the kind of journalism done by people who simply love reporting news. We write about serious topics that matter to students and try to cut through the jargon. Just because we’re under 25 doesn’t change a newspaper’s mission of holding people accountable. There are dumb mistakes from time to time, but these are reporters who cut class and give their all for very little pay to produce a free product. Plus, we aren’t burnouts yet.

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A Note of Thanks to USC, Annenberg for ‘& Journalism’

Posted in Journalism, Journalism Education, tagged , on November 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »

During this time of thanks, I want to offer a sincere thank you to the University of Southern California. In early October, USC announced that its Annenberg School for Communication was being renamed the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

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In this era of uber-uncertainty and declining professional prospects within the industry, the school’s name change is a clear sign that universities will fight to keep journalism alive. The school’s dean: “The ‘Fourth Estate’ has been under siege. As one of the premier educational institutions in the United States to offer comprehensive communication, journalism and public relations programs, it is incumbent upon us to step up and publicly support the future of the profession.”

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As the prominent journalism educator who passed the announcement my way noted, “While one could say it’s only words, I think it’s a strong signal of enduring values in a rapidly changing world.”

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Report: Journalism Should Be Embedded Within “Very DNA of American Higher Education”

Posted in Future of Journalism, Journalism, Journalism Education, tagged , , on November 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Journalism education will not only survive but should be embedded into “the very DNA of American higher education,” according to an Ohio State University law professor.

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As reported in a new Lantern piece, the prof’s vision of modern j-education includes “train[ing] people from all walks of life to deal with the enormous amount of information available in the digital age.”  A separate Lantern op-ed confirmed, “During a time when the newspaper business is severely struggling, some might find it shocking to hear such a proposition. . . . Although newspapers might be slowly reaching obsolescence, journalism is still just as, if not more, important than ever. The shift toward digital media is certainly modifying the practice of journalism . . . Democracy, essentially, is based on the important principles of equality and freedom. But in order for it to function properly and as it was intended, the people must be informed. The information must be fair and accurate. This is why journalism is so important to American society and why it always will be.”

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As enrollment grows (grows!) within journalism schools and departments at universities worldwide- while the mainstream news media simultaneously declines in staff and resources- j-students and educators will undoubtedly play an increasingly influential role in shaping the craft and reporting news that matters NOW. As Atlantic correspondent Peter Osnos blogged, “[T]he breadth of what is being offered [at j-schools] is amazing . . . The role of the university is potentially significant in the transformation of news from a primarily market-driven enterprise to recognition of its essential role as a civic asset- like education itself.”

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University of California Campus Newspapers Editorialize (Mostly) Against Student Fees Hike

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on November 22, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Along with providing top-notch coverage of the outcry over the recent student fees increase within the University of California system, UC campus newspapers are also fighting back in editorials.  Below is a rundown of a few standout pieces at student papers throughout the state.

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Daily Californian: “The Last Straw”

“What the regents clearly don’t see is the human cost of their decisions. . . . Their decisions govern the everyday lives of students, faculty and staff at the university- yet without a campus and with separate careers, the regents rarely interact with those who are most affected by their decisions.  They see numbers, percentages and a bottom line. They don’t know the middle-class students who will be forced to drop out because they can’t afford to pay more than $10,000 in fees per year. They don’t know the members of underrepresented communities, who, fazed by sticker shock, will assume the university is out of their reach.“

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Daily Nexus: “UC Needs Alternative to Ever-Increasing Fees”

“Students feel disproportionately targeted by the UC’s hikes and cuts, shouldering a large share of the budget shortfall as fees rise and services disappear. Moreover, there is no indication whether these adjustments will suffice or if further painful steps will be necessary. The UC student of tomorrow will pay more to receive less.”

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Daily Bruin: “Potential mid-year fee hike unfair”

“Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the California Master Plan for Higher Education.  The statewide plan articulates the mission of public education: to keep higher education in California affordable and achievable for everyone. Nearly half a century later, the particulars of the plan are no longer applicable to a public education system that has changed drastically since the document’s inception. For instance, the plan has no standardized policy for setting student fees, so increases are inconsistent and unpredictable.”

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Ricardo Martinez, Daily Nexus

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Guardian: “We’ve Got the Momentum— Let’s Run With It”

“The thing about the UC Board of Regents is that no matter how violent a protest gets or how dramatic a scene it are confronted with, it remain completely unaffected. At the end of the day, a few hundred people storming around with cardboard signs is a relatively small inconvenience. Local newspapers will run a couple of stories. . . . But soon the hype will pass, and everything will go back to normal.  Until next year, that is, when the board decides to raise fees yet again. And that right there is the heart of the problem. This whole unfortunate charade is an unending cycle.”

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A Guardian editorial illustration accompanying a related piece. (UC San Diego)

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A different take… City on a Hill Press: “Misinformed Enthusiasm”

“I’m sitting in lecture on Wednesday, trying to get the education that I’m paying over $8,000 per quarter to receive, and in barge five students, faces painted, wielding signs that warn of 32 percent fee hikes and shouting at the students before them. Through a megaphone, they declare that our student fees are going to construction projects instead of to our education, and that UC President Mark Yudof enjoys a $900,000 annual salary while we struggle to make ends meet.  Not quite.”

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Northwestern Innocence Project Sparks Journalism Debate

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Education, Journalism Ethics, tagged , , , , , on November 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »

In case you have been stuck on no-journalism-allowed island recently: Past undergraduate journalism students at Northwestern University working on the famed Innocence Project have been accused of bribing witnesses and acting somewhat inappropriately while investigating a murder case that eventually set a wrongfully-convicted man free.  As the New York Times reports: Illinois prosecutors “said that during their three years of work on the case, the students . . . paid witnesses money, flirted with them and, in one instance, flashed a shotgun.”

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From the evidence that Innocence Project head and NU professor David Protess presents in return- plus my general faith in the Medill program- I have almost no doubt the charges are untrue. The actual case though is not as interesting as the precedents it has the potential to set, extend or set back within collegemediatopia.

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For example, the prosecution is arguing you cannot be a student journalist unless you publish!  Kind of interesting.  The argument is that students are not protected under relevant free press laws because they never published any work (at least in a traditional journalism way). What do you think? It is a tricky question in an age of unconventional communication techniques.  (For example, the students’ work was obviously hyped on the related project’s Web site.  Does that not count as publication?)

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My take: Protess and his Medill minions should be rewarded, not subpoenaed.  They are prime examples of a larger trend in which student journalism will have evermore significant real-world implications.  By extension, j-students will increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs.  They are undertaking the work the professional press used to have the staff, time, and resources to do.

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College News Network: The New UWIRE?

Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

It is the story of the student press so far in fall 2009: UWIRE’s vanishing act.  It happened without warning- and lots of questions remain.  What happened (and is happening) behind the scenes?  Is its MIA status temporary or long-term?  What does it mean for oft-shared-never-shy student press content previously featured and available for poaching on the site?

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In a new MediaShift piece, Center for Innovation in College Media director Bryan Murley provides a nice summary of the stoppage situation, including pulling together all the scattered quotes and posts (even one of mine) that have been tossed into the world hinting at and seeking an explanation.

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According to Murley, one new student-initiated service angling to potentially take its place, or simply become a content-sharing player: College News Network.  Run by two Ohio University students (both former Post editors), the service (CNN?) boasts a 14-paper contingent so far, including a few biggies!  The WordPress site screams beta and its no-touch-no-fuss rule about all content may cause problems if it was to grow, but it is definitely yet another example of student press empowerment 2.0.

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One of the founders: “I’d interned at the Columbus Dispatch this summer, which spearheaded a content-sharing agreement among Ohio’s newspapers. We figured a content-sharing network would help fill space on the Post‘s opinion page and allow college papers to share big stories, like the out-of-control street parties at Kent State and Ohio University last spring. The arrangement should benefit student reporters, who gain access to a wider audience, [as well as] readers at colleges across the country, who will gain access to perspectives and news from other student-run media.”

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Northern Kentucky Student Newspaper Drops Resistance Ad

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , on November 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The Northerner has apologized for running the Resistance. The Northern Kentucky University student newspaper issued a mea culpa for featuring an advertisement in two recent issues for Resistance Records, which sells “white supremacist music” (I’m putting that in quotes because I do not know and do not even want to know what that might entail).

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The Louisville Courier-Journal: The paper’s editor “found out there was a problem with the advertisement . . . when he got a voice mail from a reporter at a local television station. He quickly researched the business and discovered that it sold white supremacist and neo-Nazi music.” Apparently, a few people sent in e-mail complaints and one individual came to the paper’s newsroom in person to register an objection. The editor: “It was a mistake on our part not to research the ad enough. It’s our responsibility to research our clients if it seems a little weird or a little sketchy. It was a total honest mistake.”

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An apology has been issued by the paper, with the top editor stating in part: “While it is not illegal to run ads of this nature, we at The Northerner see it as an ethical issue.  We do not wish to be in business with groups or organizations that promote any form of racism, sexism, ageism, or any other form of discrimination. While issues of this nature are dependent on who runs The Northerner each semester, it was my decision that the paper, for this semester, will not advertise with this business or other businesses like it.”

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My take: Hey, it happens. Yes, more research should have been done upfront, but some things will inevitably slip through the cracks within the deadline multi-tasking hell that is student newspapering in the second half of a semester.  I applaud the editor and staff for handling the situation with class. The newspaper chose the correct route- full disclosure, return of the money, a front-and-center apology (literally atop the homepage right now), and a spirit of learn-as-you-go-do-better-next-time embedded in every word.

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“University-Based Reporting Could Keep Journalism Alive”

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, Journalism Education, New Media, tagged , , , , on November 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »

As the professional press compresses and its original content wanes, student journalism will rise to a place of uber-importance, a new Chronicle of Higher Education report confirms.  As the piece quotes a professor recently telling his journalism students, “We are surrounded by people who say that the world is coming to an end, but it is just beginning for you.”

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The article- co-written by former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. (now at Arizona State) and Columbia University Grad. School communication professor Michael Schudson- outlines a few of the many new initiatives being jumpstarted at universities nationwide to further push students’ “practice” stories into the print, broadcast, and online universe once dominated by professionals.  A snippet:

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[T]he major engine of original news gathering since the 19th century— the daily newspapers— are producing less original news reporting than they did a decade ago. Few newspapers have actually shut their doors in the past few years, but many of them have sharply cut their budgets to survive. They have closed foreign bureaus and statehouse bureaus, reduced the number of days each week that they print and deliver the papers. Major papers across the country have bought out or laid off editors, reporters, and photographers. . . . There has been a substantial loss of reporting capacity. Journalism schools, thanks to the Internet, can help fill the gap.

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My take: Duh. And water is wet. It should NOT take Schudson and Downie to define this trend. This has been happening for a number of years. Universities in the loop are not simply being proactive.  They are also reacting to their students’ own thirst for a presence in the new journalism landscape, NOW. Yes, there is still a learning curve for students aspiring to be journalists, but there is no reason they cannot make certain portions of their work public along the way.  It will aid in their education and serve as extra motivation.  And it just may save journalism- not journalism as we once knew it, but journalism as our wildest dreams envision it to be.-

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How Liveblogging is Changing Journalism by digitaljournal.com.

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THE END . . . has already fully begun.

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Fairfield Student Newspaper Faces Harassment Charge

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on November 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The student newspaper at Fairfield University is being charged with harassment by the school’s student conduct board for a satirical sex column published in late September- the first time this charge has been levied against an organization instead of an individual at FU.

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A Boston Herald report: “The controversy erupted over a satirical column in the Sept. 30 edition of The Mirror that poked fun at female students who agree to one-night stands. The ‘He Said’ column described a female’s ‘walk of shame’ leaving a male’s dorm, and used words like ‘pounding’ and ‘hood rat’ to talk guys through the morning after consensual sex. Copies of the columns were ripped from copies of the newspaper by more than two dozen students who protested outside the paper office in the student center.”

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My take: The newspaper hosted a campus forum to allow students to air grievances. An apology was issued. A lesson was learned. It is time to move on. Do not harass an independent student journalism entity that has been operating with ink-stained excellence for decades, providing a mirror to all-things-Fairfield.  What type of reflection does this send out to the world?

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Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center: “It’s incredibly dangerous to start using the mechanism of a school disciplinary policy to resolve a disagreement over a student editor’s judgments.”

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Mirror story, with links to related pieces

Sampling of related material, including feedback from column protesters

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Memphis Student Newspaper Copies “Absolutely” Trashed

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper, Student Newspaper Theft, tagged , , , , on November 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Well, I will give her credit for clarity.  The sister of a University of Memphis student suspected of burning the rainbow flag outside the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center said she “absolutely” trashed hundreds- possibly thousands- of copies of the The Daily Helmsman that featured a story on her brother’s misdeeds.

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But of course, alas, that is the last thing clear-cut about the incident.  Since the student newspapers are free, it is “legal gray area” time!  As one report noted, “The woman didn’t litter with the newspapers . . . and she told the reporter she looked at each one before she threw it away. ‘There are other free publications around town,” [the director of campus police services said], ‘and I guess if someone wants to pick up 10 or 20, where do you draw the line?’”

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The Helmsman though is reporting that campus police say it may be malicious mischief.  Ryan Poe, the paper’s managing editor: “She committed a crime, not only against the Helmsman, but also against the Helmsman‘s readers, who rely on the newspaper for their information. Although she disagreed with the story, throwing away the newspapers was out of line.”

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So the brother allegedly burned the rainbow flag. Now the sister is accused of trashing tons of newspapers. What do these siblings have against the First Amendment???

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Northern Star Student Newspaper Calls for Removal of Campus Police Chief

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , on November 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Sometimes, the headline says it all: “NIU Police Chief Donald Grady needs to be removed from his position.”

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The Northern Star, the student newspaper at Northern Illinois University, is publicly calling for the ouster of the campus police chief previously praised for his bravery during the shooting at the school last year. According to the Star, university administrators, and area law enforcement officials, apart from that day’s courage, Grady has built up a reputation as contentious, polarizing, and hostile (to borrow a few words from the Star editorial). According to the piece, “Stories of Grady screaming and being described by those on the receiving end of the tirades as ‘crazed’ and having ‘lost it’ are growing horrifically commonplace among university employees from all walks of campus. One official even described him as ‘not fit to be a police officer.’”

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Thanks to the attention provoked by the editorial, Grady is currently serving a 30-day suspension and awaiting word on his permanent fate. During his tenure though, he apparently cut off communication with other local law enforcement agencies and often withheld crime reports from the press that are commonly released everywhere else nationwide without prompting. He has not even released a report on the school shooting! The final straw: a recent heated interview between Grady and Star editor in chief Justin Weaver. The Chicago Tribune reports that Grady turned it into an “hours-long tirade” that included threats against Weaver. Grady then also “allegedly held out the possibility of a job for Weaver if a positive story was written.”

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My first reaction is BRAVO. It shows the courage of the student press to stand up to this guy when apparently many others wanted to but were too scared or busy to make it a public issue. My second reaction is HOW SAD, specifically that it took a newspaper editorial to finally force some real action on an issue NIU admins. seemingly should have recognized and dealt with long ago.

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Holocaust Satire Article Prompts Apology; Purdue Students on “Hotseat”

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , on November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I have been sitting on a scattered mix of news items.  Some are current, some a bit dated.  Before all become stale, here are a few:

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An article joking about the start of a new U.S.-based Holocaust that ran last month in a satirical newspaper put out by Reed College students has spurred criticism and fierce debate. According to one report, the piece intended to spoof the rash of Holocaust deniers, but as sometimes happens all readers did not get the joke.  In a statement on the newspaper’s Web site, the editors write, “We are not hateful people. We are college students who write a joke newspaper in our free time. One joke we wrote went too far and we are sorry to those who were hurt. Everyone needs to stop wasting time and just get on with their lives. Thanks.”

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Reed student: Apology not enough

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In other news, Purdue students are on the hot seat, and apparently are loving it. According to Mashable, the school has rolled out “a new application . . . called Hotseat that integrates Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging to help students ‘backchannel’ during class. . . . Hotseat is used to allow students to comment on the class as it proceeds, with everyone in the class including the professor able to see the messaging as it happens. . . . Right now it’s only being pilot tested in two courses, but has already become a fast favorite for both teachers and students. Professor Sugato Chakravarty, whose personal finance course is one of the pilot tests, said, ‘I’m seeing students interact more with the course and ask relevant questions.’”

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Hotseat

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Arizona Wildcat Editorials Demand Justice for Stolen News

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper Theft, tagged , , , , , on November 6, 2009 | 3 Comments »

The Arizona Daily Wildcat is rightfully demanding justice for the recent theft of 10,000 copies of the paper. In a pair of spirited editorials aimed at the alleged culprits (a campus fraternity) and those who did not do much to investigate it (campus police), Wildcat anger leaps off the Web page.

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A portion of the editorial taking the police to task, which includes a kick-a** starter phrase:

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“Someone stole the news, and the University of Arizona Police Department hasn’t done much to find the culprits. . . . After Spanish homework carrying the names of UA students and Phi Kappa Psi members Alex Cornell and Nick Kovaleski were found in a pile of the stolen newspapers in the western outskirts of Tucson, the first step by UAPD would seemingly be to contact the two men. Instead, campus police dragged their feet, giving up after two unreturned phone calls and one unreturned e-mail to Cornell, Kovaleski and Phi Kappa Psi President Keith Peters. ‘No other investigative leads exist at this time,’ the investigating detective wrote in his final police report, closing the case after only 16 days. What about the single one they had, but failed to follow through on? In what world does UAPD work where it takes 16 days to fail to reach anyone in Phi Kappa Psi?“

If you are keeping score at home, that would be Wildcat 1, UAPD 0. On the heels of the police’s inertness, the paper has passionately led a probe into the theft (totaling by Wildcat estimates about $8,500 in lost advertising and affected staff pay and printing costs) with CSI-level of precision. Make no mistake, this is a team of journos who intend to see things through.

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As they write: “Until this case is definitively settled, the newspaper’s staff will continue to do whatever is necessary to find justice in this case. First Amendment advocates and journalists from across the state and the country have called in to the Daily Wildcat offices to inquire after this incident. We would be remiss in our duties if we let this thing go.”

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Video News Analysis

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CoPress Lands on Poynter, Becomes a Power-Player

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on November 3, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, collaborate, and cross-pollinate. Those are five of the many tech-drenched words a new Poynter piece uses to describe the impressive-beyond-belief CoPress. It is an online network of student journalists and Web junkies who are providing tips, tools, and entire online platforms for student media outlets (SMOs) looking to up their Web games.

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The roughly one-year-old organization promotes a student-first, open-source philosophy- attempting to persuade students to TAKE CONTROL of their own online destinies instead of being controlled by the corporate, the proud, the effete College Media Network. (I don’t actually think CMN is evil- as someone who looks at student newspaper Web sites more than almost anyone else on earth I’m simply tired of looking at the sameeeeeee template day after day after day.)

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Some are calling CoPress student media’s future. My take: They are looking way too far ahead. The future is now. CoPress is a presence, a burgeoning power-player in a student media online universe that was ripe for the innovating. So far, 21 U.S. and foreign SMOs of mainstream and alternative ilk have signed on as clients, choosing CoPress as their Web host.  (By comparison, CMN boasts 600 clients. My guess: In a year CoPress will be triple digits and executive director Daniel Bachhuber will be smiling even wider than in the photo below. The real question: Will he go corporate and cut the hair?) :-)

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Daniel Bachhuber CoPress


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As the Poynter summary notes, one of the toughest aspects of a switch to a student-run site and CMS is having a Web-savvy team in place to do the regular heavy coding/lifting. Frequent staff turnover (one of college media’s many hard truths) often means that by the time a few individuals learn the ropes, they are soon after studying abroad or transferring or stepping cap-and-gowned into the graduatory abyss- leaving the new influx clueless about how to even spell Django let alone run a CMS.  I do think it’s a problem that will ease with time, as more students grow up with tech-geek-status embedded into their DNA.

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Bachhuber on bigger picture: “Rather than outsourcing the heavy-lifting to College Publisher, student newspapers need to allocate resources internally to running and developing their own platform. This can seem somewhat paradoxical, adding to your staff when you’re losing more and more revenue, but it is a necessity for survival. The future isn’t all that bleak, we’re just in a time of transition.”

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Student Journalist Spotlight: Jonathan Anderson, Ultimate College Press Freedom Fighter, UW-Milwaukee

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Journalist Spotlight, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , , on November 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Jonathan Anderson is a terrific journalist. He has the records to prove it- most of which he requested himself. Simply put, Anderson is the ultimate college press freedom fighter. He may not be Braveheart, but he’s the epitome of Mel Gibson’s famous scream.

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As the student journo extraordinaire at the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee says, “The fundamental idea of freedom of information is immensely inspiring to me.” His legwork has become inspiring to others. The former top editor and current special projects editor at The UWM Post recently earned the Student Press Law Center’s College Press Freedom Award “for his tireless advocacy in pressing for greater access to public records from the university and its student government association.”

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In a recent interview, the journalism and political science double major granted CMM access inside his watchdog aura and open-record adventures. He also provides advice for student journalists looking to follow in his FOI footsteps. (Records of this interview are available by request.) :-)

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Jonathan Anderson

Award-winning student journalist Jonathan Anderson smiles as the open records roll in.

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Write a six-word memoir of your student journalism experience so far.

Request. Wait. FERPA! Redact/deny/release.

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What has motivated you to seek out public records and push for greater disclosure so passionately?

The fundamental idea of freedom of information is immensely inspiring to me. As the theory generally goes, when government is permitted to operate in the dark, the citizenry will be ill-informed and unequipped to participate in, and ultimately sustain, democracy. I think the introductory text of Wisconsin’s public records law incorporates this idea pretty well: “In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them.” (Sounds pretty good until we get into the exemptions, fees, etc.!)

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I believe that it is a significantly important function of the press to serve as a watchdog of government- whether it’s the White House, university administration or student government officials. Just look at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics: Journalists should “recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.” So my motivation lies in a deep belief that the public has a right to know what its government is doing. I also believe it’s an important duty of the press to utilize, advocate, and enforce that sacred right through freedom of information laws, including filing public records requests, publicizing government secrecy, and litigating.

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What is your proudest FOIA achievement?

I was part of a team of student journalists from UW-Milwaukee that filed a request in April with Wisconsin’s attorney general asking if student governments in the University of Wisconsin System are subject to Wisconsin’s public records and open meetings laws. Students in the UW System enjoy a statutory right- indeed an obligation- to participate in university governance. This includes the responsibility of allocating tens of millions of dollars of public money every year and formulating and reviewing important institutional policies. We filed the request because of access problems with the student government at UW-Milwaukee, the UWM Student Association. It’s amazing to me that in all the years students have been involved in university governance through student government organizations this issue hasn’t been resolved. Anyway, the AG hasn’t responded yet, but we’re hoping for a response soon.

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Other particularly memorable moments…

Last fall, I was conducting a system-wide records request at all four-year University of Wisconsin schools. I found it interesting in how the different UW campuses responded. A few of the chancellors e-mailed me directly. Some campuses provided records in a very timely manner. Other campuses were painstakingly slow in responding. Additionally, it was interesting to observe the formality of responses. Some campuses replied very relaxed and informally, while others responded in a very cautious, what-are-you-up-to kind of manner.

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Another memorable moment was a request I made out-of-state this past summer, while I was working on a story regarding a fired university official. I wanted to get the official’s employment records from their former employer, which was a public university- but my request was immediately denied. As I found out, the state has a statutory exemption for personnel records. I contacted the state’s press association and they confirmed that the denial was legally legitimate. This experience was really the first time that I thought about the major differences in FOI laws among states. In Wisconsin, while there is no blanket exemption for personnel records, I think there are aspects of the public records law that don’t fare as well compared to other states, such as the type and quantity of fees that can be applied and the time restrictions on the government’s response.

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What advice do you have for j-students looking to obtain school records?

Here are some great resources that already have very useful advice on filing records requests: Student Press Law Center, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and SPJ. Be sure to check them out!

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Here are a few of my thoughts:

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1. Communicate in writing as much as possible. Not only does this help as a practical matter for remembering what was requested and subsequently said, but it also ensures a solid record of communication should there be any problems with the request/response or an appeal.

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2. Even if a records custodian isn’t obligated to produce a record or share information, and isn’t barred from doing so, press them on their decision to side with secrecy instead of transparency, and publicize it!

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3. Push student government to comply with sunshine laws and operate transparently. The law aside, student government officials should want to conduct business with the door open.

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4. Read your state’s FOI laws and know the basic provisions. Not only will this help you be a better journalist, but you’ll be more valuable to prospective employers, too.

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You wake up in ten years. Where are you and what are you doing?

I’m strongly leaning toward a career as a media attorney (think Floyd Abrams or Charles Glasser at Bloomberg). But I plan to get a master’s degree first to do research on FOI policy and perhaps work as a reporter for a bit. I think such experience would be really valuable and add credibility as a newsroom lawyer.

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