Archive for February, 2010

Georgetown Voice Helps Start High-Profile Snowball Fight

Posted in College Media, Magazine Journalism, New Media, tagged , , , , , on February 28, 2010 | 1 Comment »

When is a snowball fight also a social media revolution? On a wintry day in Washington D.C., one ambitious George Washington University undergraduate employed Twitter and The Georgetown Voice student newsmagazine to help spread the word about a snowy battle “that would eventually be referenced in one way or another by the Washington Post, LA Times, U.S. News & World Report, NBC DC, and a host of campus media outlets.”

–

In an exclusive e-interview with Campus Overload, a fantastic new online addition to the Washington Post run by education reporter Jenna Johnson, GW’s Kyle Boller explains:

–

The day before the snowball fight, I sent a tweet to @GtownVoice, Georgetown’s student magazine and blog, and suggested the idea. About 46 minutes later, they replied and planning began. We created an event page on Facebook and spread the word on Twitter. Within 24 hours, about 600 students from both schools had RSVP’ed (that number would eventually rise to 850 by the time of the event). . . . There is no doubt that the #gwgusnowdown was historic, as was the snowfall that made it possible. Hopefully, though, students from both schools will hold on to the greater messages of the event. One of those messages is that when organizational skill meets the power of social networking anything can be accomplished.

–

In the fierce, snowy combat, GWU prevailed.  Here is a Voice battlefield report: “Due to the lack of depth on the Georgetown side, the fight quickly devolved and most Hoyas were trudging back to campus with triumphant shouts from GW in the background within a half an hour. Other students report that GWU continued pelting GU until they were out of range, even as they removed their wounded from the battlefield.”  (Click the screenshot below to watch video of the fight.)

–

Read Full Post »

Syracuse University Dining Halls Now Open to All Servings of the Student Press

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Magazine Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2010 | 4 Comments »

The dining halls at Syracuse University are at long last deliciously free of student press censorship.  A report in the SU’s Daily Orange (via Paper Trails) confirms the reversal of a long-held policy by the school’s Food Services allowing distribution of only the Orange in student dining halls.  Food Services staffers did not have a problem with competing pubs, they just did not like the added waste.

–

Or at least that has been the official word.  The real story is even less appetizing- brought to light by Jerk, a monthly SU student magazine that also sports a blog with a beyond impressive amount of updates.  A Jerk editor said she was recently stopped from distributing the current issue of the magazine in a dining hall by a Food Services employee, solely because the employee did not like the content.

–

–

Lorraine Branham, the dean of SU’s Newhouse School of Public Communications: “It was clear that it was a policy that wasn’t being enforced for years. This policy was unwritten, unknown and the magazine had distributed (in dining centers) for years. If you actually thought about it, it made no sense. Someone was suddenly making it a problem because of something they saw in the magazine.”

–

The university chancellor has now publicly confirmed the cancellation of the policy, enabling Jerk and other Orange alternatives to be consumed by interested students.  (Check out a brief video report detailing the Jerk removal incident.)

Read Full Post »

Exclusive: Optimist Editor at Abilene Christian University Explains the Paper’s iPad Plan

Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , , on February 25, 2010 | 1 Comment »

The Optimist student newspaper at Abilene Christian University can be consumed in print, online, via iPhone, iPod touch, and soon enough . . . on the iPad.  Student staffers and an ACU faculty and staff support team are optimistic that the paper will be the first iPad-friendly student publication.

–

As MacNewsWorld reports, “Designing a publication for hardware one can’t get one’s hands on yet can be challenging, admitted ACU Assistant Journalism Professor Kenneth Pybus. ‘It’s like designing a newspaper without paper,’ he [said]. Even with the developer’s kit for the iPad issued by Apple, ‘there are some things that we’re not sure how they’re going to work,’ he noted. ‘We’re deciding, how much of the built-in Apple operating system do we use, and how much do we build on our own?‘”

–

–

–

In a quick exclusive chat with CMM, Optimist editor in chief Colter Hettich lays out a bit about the newspaper’s and school’s iPad plan and the thinking behind it.-

–

–

How will iPad integration add to the news consumption experience of your readers?

–

I think the iPad will take readers one step closer to the type of news consumption they want.  It’s textile, it’s customizable, and it’s mobile.

–

–

What is the appeal of moving so fast toward integration versus waiting to see how the device catches on?

–

This is not about the iPad. This is about understanding a new technology and discovering its potential to improve news delivery. The iPad just happens to be one of the latest devices. We expect maybe a dozen students to have an iPad in the fall, and if it turns out to be as popular as the iPhone, then that will be an added bonus.

–

–

What is involved in rolling it out?

–

This project permeates several departments on campus.  Students from the JMC department, the department of Art & Design, and the iSchool are working under faculty guidance to produce an app designed around Optimist content.

–

–

Why is it important for student media to stay on the cutting edge of high-technology and new media trends like iPad?

–

Right now, keeping up with technology is key to a journalist’s survival. Newspapers were once the primary method of delivering print news because it was the only option and people liked it. Now, people would rather not read a 12-square foot stack of paper. They’re using the Web via laptops and mobile devices, they’re following social networking sites, and journalism is adapting. The iPad likely could be a trend, but whether it is or not has nothing to do with our efforts. What we learn while designing for the iPad will be invaluable when we sit down to design for the next device or platform.

Read Full Post »

Racial Slur Leads to Student Media Funding Freeze at UCSD

Posted in Broadcast Journalism, College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , , on February 24, 2010 | 3 Comments »

A “racial state of emergency” has been declared and funding for all school-supported student media has been frozen at the University of California, San Diego in the immediate aftermath of a racist campus event coupled with a televised racist slur.

–

Late last week, the editor of the Koala, a controversial UCSD student humor newspaper “everyone loves to hate,” used the phrase “ungrateful n***ers” (the derogatory term for African Americans) while speaking on the publication’s campus television program. The on-air n-word stirred student anger already brewing over a controversial campus party, called the “Compton Cookout,” whose main theme was an overt mockery of Black History Month. (One report: “An invitation to the party urged participants to dress and act like ‘ghetto chicks’ by speaking loudly, starting fights and wearing cheap clothes.”)

–

Apparently the Koala has a history of, ahem, boundary pushing, on air and in print.  As the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, “In years past, Koala TV has been temporarily unplugged at least once for airing pornographic material.  The Koala publication has poked fun at Muslims, Latinos and Asians for years, and has been repeatedly criticized by the administration.”  On its homepage, a current message brazenly makes fun of the brouhaha and the outrage it has sparked, including this faux admonition: “The Koala would like to condemn the organizers of the Compton Cookout. If history has shown us anything, you need more black people at your party to have enough black-on-black violence to actually justify the  name ‘Compton.’   Shame on you.  SHAME.”

–

The cover of the current Koala issue.

–

While the UCSD administration attempts to calm an understandably enraged minority student contingent, the student government is irrationally pulling pursestrings- temporarily suspending the school’s student media funding.  Not just funding for the Koala, but 33 student media outlets at the university.

–

My head cocked to the left in confusion as I read about this action, and I have not yet come across an explanation suitable enough to straighten it back up. As best as I can tell, it seems to be a political maneuver meant to placate angry students by showing their concerns about racism have engendered prompt action, along with being an act of recognition that student media played a part in the current “emergency state.”  As the student government president said, “In any game where the players are getting hurt, you hit the pause button.” The problem though is that this pause has terrible free press consequences.

–

The Guardian, the UCSD student newspaper, which is not funded by the university, penned a fantastic editorial response, noting in part: “Because [the student government president] is aware it’s near impossible to seek immediate alternative funds, he therefore must be aware he is essentially censoring all existing publications. . . . If there’s one thing the American Civil Liberties Union and Vice Chancellor of Student Life Penny Rue (not to mention any good therapist) can agree on, it’s that more speech- not less- is most beneficial to a hurting community.”

–

Or in other words, to borrow from the Koala‘s current online message: “Shame on you.  SHAME.”

–

(Note: This is the second free press issue this semester involving UC student governments.  Read about the other one here.)

Read Full Post »

Huffington Post College News Section Launches, In Debt

Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , on February 23, 2010 | 4 Comments »

On Monday morning, The Huffington Post’s College section launched amid great hype and an introduction by the blog’s namesake.

–

In the words of Arianna Huffington, the section “features blog posts from students, professors, and academics on all things collegiate- from the high-minded to the just-for-fun- as well as the great issues of the day. . . . My years at university were among the most stimulating- and challenging- of my life. They utterly transformed me, and created the opportunities that shaped the rest of my life.   That once-in-a-lifetime blend of stimulation and challenge, risk and reward, promise and uncertainty, the intellectual and the playful- all served up with a heaping helping of youthful vigor- is what animates HuffPost College.”

–

Along with spotlighting news from more than 60 campus newspapers nationwide (a number co-founder Leah Finnegan hopes will reach 90 soon enough), the most invigorating, innovative feature on day one was an original report on undergraduate and graduate student debt.  The presentation includes a set of blog posts and intimate videos from indebted students talking about the financial challenges they have faced since joining higher ed.

–

–

–

–

My first impression of the section: Kind of exciting.  It is an eclectic page, providing a nice mishmash of important and lighthearted stories, while faithfully linking back to the original student sites that provided them.  The presentation style is more homespun and personal, similar to the rest of HuffPost, achieving a reader connection that former top student news aggregator UWIRE never quite mustered on its main site.  It should be a nice traffic driver for the campus paper Web sites.  Ultimately, it proves once again that student journalism content is just as timely and original as the work produced by the professional press.

–

As Finnegan wrote in her introductory post, “Suffice it to say that college newsrooms are special places. Reading our partners’ papers, I’m not worried about the future of journalism. Rest assured it exists, en masse, typing away on college campuses around the country. And it’s here at HuffPost College that you’ll get to see a lot more of it.”

–

Full disclosure: I am listed on the section’s blogroll.

Read Full Post »

Student Journalist Spotlight: Josh Shannon, The Review, University of Delaware

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalist Spotlight, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , on February 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

In Josh Shannon’s words: “I wanted to be a journalist long before I ever knew I wanted to be a journalist.” He has long saved newspapers from  historic moments in contemporary history (including presidential elections and the start of the Iraq War) and his own journalism history (including reporting clips), leaving one of his bedroom walls almost overrun with paper and ink.

–

Shannon, 21, joined the staff of The Review only three weeks after enrolling at the University of Delaware.  The political science major and journalism minor from Newark, Del., is now the student newspaper’s editor in chief. “People often ask me how I’m able to dedicate so much time to The Review,” Shannon said.  “Besides the fact that I love every minute of it . . . I don’t even know college life without it.”

–

For efforts to save journalism (in his bedroom and the Review newsroom), Shannon rightfully earns a spot in the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight.  Below, he shares a bit about his journalism passion and the paper’s coverage of a U.S. and campus president.

–

Josh Shannon, editor in chief, The Review, University of Delaware (Photo by Lauren Savoie)

–

–

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

Not a job, but a lifestyle.

–

–

Standout memory from your time at the paper.

My most memorable experience was covering the 2008 election and Obama’s inauguration.  The fact that Joe Biden is a University of Delaware alumnus, as were Obama and McCain’s campaign managers, made the historic election even more exciting for the school.  During the few weeks leading up to the election and especially on Election Day, the staff came together like never before to cover the many election-related activities on and around campus.  I broke the story that Biden would be making an appearance on campus the week before the election and then several of us were in the press area covering his speech.

–

On election night, the staff gathered in the newsroom to prepare the next day’s issue.  We watched the returns come in on TV, then scrambled to put the finishing touches on the paper.  That’s one of my proudest moments at The Review: helping publish 16 pages of original election coverage, including exclusive interviews with Joe and Jill Biden.  UD is often called a politically apathetic school, but the campus was so abuzz about the election.  I still feel fortunate to have been in a position to chronicle it all.

–

But the most exciting part came a couple months later when another editor and I went to Washington to cover the inauguration.  We took a 1 a.m. train out of Wilmington, arrived in D.C. by 3 a.m. and spent the next 18 hours trekking around the incredibly crowded capital city. We got lost for a few hours, but made it to the National Mall a few minutes before Obama took the oath of office.  To be able to cover something that received so much international attention was pretty neat.

–

What is one story you are especially proud to have worked on?

About a year ago, I began looking into the salary of UD president Patrick Harker. UD is one of the only public universities that does not release the current-year salary of it’s president- instead we have to wait a year-and-a-half for tax filings to be released.  A Chronicle of Higher Education article that named Harker’s predecessor as the nation’s highest-paid public university president renewed my interest in the subject, and I began digging through tax records.

–

Harker was in his first year as president, so his salary was still unavailable, but in the previous year’s records, I found a $450,000 “transition payment” paid to Harker before he came to UD.  That information had been skipped over by the Chronicle and local media that picked up the story.  I talked to experts who said the transition payment was unusually high, and ran a front-page story about it.  Months later, the next year’s tax documents showed that Harker’s pay ranked third in the nation for public university presidents, and I did a follow-up story.

–

I received more feedback about those stories than all the others I’ve written put together.  Several people e-mailed me to thank me for writing them.  And that, of course, is the highest compliment a journalist can receive.

–

–

What sparked your passion for journalism?

I’ve read the daily newspaper for as long as I can remember.  I’ve always loved being the first one to share a piece of news, and even in elementary school, I used to read The Landry News and other kiddie books about journalism and think how cool it would be to run a school paper.  But it was never something I thought of as a career path.  My answer to that quintessential adult-to-kid question: “What do you want to be when you grow up” was always something else: lawyer, environmental analyst, or, in my less ambitious stages, waiter.

–

It was in a 10th grade journalism class that I realized my passion for the field, mostly thanks to a teacher who shared her love of reporting and drilled AP Style into us, a teacher who herself had worked at The Review only a few years prior.  I got my start writing about a controversial student-run Web site, covering a bitter rivalry with another school, and exposing mold in the locker rooms that sent one teacher to the hospital and caused another to leave the school.  (At a high school with prior review, I still to this day can’t believe they let me run that one.)

–

But my aha! moment came my senior year of high school. The final issue of the year was laid out and ready to to be sent to the publisher when reports started coming in about the shootings at Virginia Tech.  Several alumni of my school attended Virginia Tech, a counselor told me, but were they OK?  I skipped all my classes and instead spent the day frantically making calls to Blacksburg, writing a story and changing the layout of the paper.  It was that day that I proved to myself I could be a reporter.  And it was the next day, watching people turn to my story for information about their former classmates, that I realized that’s how I want to spend the rest of my life: dropping everything to get an important story.

–

–

What is one question we should all be asking much more often about the current state or future of journalism?

How do we stay relevant amongst a flood of PR and opinions?

–

With the prominence of the Internet, gone are the days when companies and politicians send out press releases, the media sorts through them, finds the truth, and reports it back to their readers.  Now, every company, school, government office, and politician posts information directly to their Web site, often passing it off as “news” or as better than what the media would report.

–

What that means is that we as journalists have to find ways to go beyond the basic “who-what-when-where” style of reporting.  For example, it’s no longer good enough to report that a particular bill passed Congress.  Anyone who really cared about the issue could have very well been following their congressman’s tweets from the Senate floor.  Instead, we have to go in-depth with the issues, tell people how it affects them, and above all, remember our watchdog role and be sure to fact check the information disseminated through “official” channels.

–

–

What do you think is still driving students to study journalism and work on the campus paper?

Thinking about entering the job market is indeed daunting, but in a lot of ways, there’s no better time to be a journalist.  Think about it: Thirty years ago, being a reporter meant sitting behind a dusty typewriter or running to the nearest phone booth to call in your story to the rewrite desk. Now, we have so many more tools at our disposal to help tell a story.  We can post breaking news updates to the Web.  We can post videos and slideshows.  We can tweet live updates and get real-time feedback and tips from readers.  And, heck, I can even do all that from my iPhone, while still out in the field.

–

–

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

I’m working as a multimedia investigative reporter for a major metro daily.  I leave the house everyday with my pockets full not only of a notebook and pen, but also all the latest gizmos and gadgets for multimedia reporting.  I spend my days uncovering the truth and exposing corruption, all while taking pictures, recording audio, shooting video and tweeting updates via my iPhone.

Read Full Post »

Showdown at the Blacksburg Corral: Virginia Tech, The Collegiate Times, and Anonymous Online Comments, Part 3

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, New Media, tagged , , , , , , , on February 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

The battle at Virginia Tech over the student newspaper’s allowance of anonymous online comments is far from over.  (Read past posts on this story here and here.)  The tactics now in play- an increasingly dubious blame game, pulled advertising, and, ironically, “professional mediation.”

–

The latest Roanoke Times report (please read, it will make your eyebrows raise several times) mentions the word “accord” in the headline and the phrase “mediation process” in paragraph two.  But make no mistake: This is still a showdown at the Blacksburg corral.  The school’s Commission on Student Affairs is traveling the mediation route not in search of an agreeable compromise, but to simply try once again to achieve the only outcome it seems willing to accept: “to persuade the [Collegiate Times] leadership to restrict anonymous comments on the newspaper’s Web site.”

–

Another problem with the mediation attempt: the Collegiate Times and its parent company most likely will not even take part, choosing instead to keep communication open with the commission only in writing for the time being (a legally smart decision).

–

The final problem is that commission members, including undergraduate and graduate students, still seem to be holding the Collegiate Times accountable for a slew of problems that have little or nothing to do with anonymous online comments.  As the Times piece mentions, “The [online comments] controversy stretches back to January 2009, when a Chinese graduate student decapitated a woman in the Graduate Life Center, and anti-Asian comments were posted at the CT Web site. ‘This is an issue of violence prevention,” said Leighton Vila of the Graduate Student Assembly.”  At the same commission meeting earlier this week, a Virginia Tech professor added: “[It is] reprehensible that African-Americans see that the university has to underwrite an organization that posts something racist.”

–

Triggering campus violence?  Promoting racism?  I think we all need to take a deep breath, and remember we are talking about a scattered set of inflammatory remarks that are read by a few people and tend to be taken down in a timely fashion.  We also need to accept that anonymous comments, both offensive and inane, are EVERYWHERE on the Web, including YouTube and many major news media sites.  One popular online encyclopedia even allows anonymous entries!  Let’s be rational: If a student is incited to decapitate someone or carry out a hate attack based on anonymous online comments posted after a student newspaper story, I do not think the comments are to blame. (As a snarky colleague told me, “I’d blame video games instead.”)

–

According to the Times, a growing number of VT student groups have stopped or plan to soon stop running ads in the newspaper as a call-to-arms against the CT’s pro-online-anonymity stand.  In one student’s words, “The power is in our hands.”  That student is a member of the commission.  So much for accord and mediation.

Read Full Post »

CoPress, We Hardly Knew Ye: Web Service Shutting Down

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, New Media, tagged , , , , on February 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »

College media’s backbone has cracked.  CoPress, the student-run Web hosting service and all-purpose journalism think-tank, has folded a bit more than a year after its much-heralded arrival within collegemediatopia.

–

–

In the closure announcement posted on its site earlier this week, founder Daniel Bachhuber writes with elegance and appreciable candor about the realities of running an organization high on idealism but low on profit and with hard-working staff stretched beyond their breaking point.  As Bachhuber admitted, “[W]ithout the revenue to pay our team full-time, we’ve become dependent on the generosity of committed students to offer our 24/7 support. In addition, the nature of our hosting and support business is such that we encouraged publications to tinker as much as they want with their site. What this ultimately meant was a rapidly growing number of emails for us to answer. Needless to say, it’s become difficult to make this scale in any meaningful way.”

–

Did the team, which called themselves from the start “college media’s backbone,” try to tackle too many clients and offer too many services and tinkering options, too soon?  Yes, possibly. Did the down economy play a huge part re: profitability?  Absolutely.  Is CoPress another victim of what I have previously dubbed the MOD (move-on disease), in which students’ school-time efforts fall prey to separate post-grad plans?  My guess would be yes.

–

Yet, amid the flaws and hard realities, CoPress still goes down as a major new media success in my book/blog.  The venture, while short-lived, shows that a single student’s frustration (in this case, Bacchuber’s disenchantment with the lack of options for college media Web sites) can be transformed into a positive, impacting call-to-arms.  It shows that a team of students in separate corners of the country can connect online, balance their studies and other commitments, and provide a meaningful service.  It shows that all j-students are not simply beholden to the way-things-are gloomy J&MC forecast and instead are pushing to try something, anything, to reinvent and prolong the industry.

–

There is no failure in the CoPress closure.  The failure would have been to not have started it up at all.  In Bachhuber’s words: “We think that [the] story of CoPress highlights some of the most important needs for college media, and the news industry in general. Primarily, this is a willingness to experiment, iterate, and try new things.”

–

Admirably, CoPress will not go quietly into the new media abyss.  In the near future, the CoPress crew will publicly dissect the ups and downs of the org’s ultimately abbreviated lifespan, searching for lessons that might help the next student with a frustration, a sense of innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit. As Bachhuber once said in his famous “Future of Journalism” video: “Onward and forward, let’s make a better world.”

Read Full Post »

Student Newspaper Wins Open Records Victory, a Year After Request

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , on February 17, 2010 | 1 Comment »

A settlement has been reached: At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, what was once redacted will now be set free.

–

A yearlong legal fight between the UWM Post and the school over the release of a specific set of university records has ended with a big student press victory, the SPLC and others have confirmed.  The university will release the requested records in full, and pay the Post‘s legal fees.  As the Badger Herald at UW-Madison reports: “The student newspaper will receive $11,764.65 for attorney fees from the university and will be provided with the redaction-free files from the Union Policy Board, a governing body comprised of students and faculty that allocates office space to student organizations. . . . The records were of interest to the UWM Post . . . because there was the possibility the board was discussing office allocations earlier than usual.”

–

UWM originally provided the records to the Post but blotted out several portions, including the names of students who serve on the policy board, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Given that the meetings are public and the students voluntarily serve, the FERPA excuse always seemed to me like a stretch or a misinterpretation at best and a blatant legal flouting at worst, a perspective now confirmed and legally settled.

–

In a Student Journalist Spotlight post last November, Jonathan Anderson, the (now former) Post editor in chief who spearheaded the records fight, told me: “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. . . . 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.

–

Below is a brief Badger Herald video interview with Anderson, also circa November 2009, in which he discusses the now-concluded case.

–

Read Full Post »

Daily Nexus Fights for Access, Uncovers Possible Misconduct

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , on February 15, 2010 | 2 Comments »

The Daily Nexus at the University of California, Santa Barbara is mounting a significant call-to-arms for open meetings while simultaneously investigating high-profile student government misconduct.  As Nexus editor in chief Mackenzie Weinger put it, “Overall, it’s been a highly interesting time to be a student journalist at UCSB.”

–

The basics: Late last month, the Associated Students Legislative Council [ASLC] at UCSB suddenly began closing off portions of its meetings to the public and press.  The Nexus quickly learned of a possible trigger behind the closures: a private villa owner alleging that a boozy ASLC-funded event in early January resulted in thousands of dollars of property damage.  It is embarrassing for the council and university, with possibly litigious consequences, made worse according to the paper by the cloak-and-dagger manner in which decisions on how to handle it are being debated.

–

The paper recently published an open letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, the University of California president, state legislators, and UC regents pushing for a legal closure to a loophole that allows UC student governments to bar outsiders from their proceedings: “Various California laws express the clear opinion that open meetings are a vital part of democratic government. . . . The only public higher education legislative council in this state unregulated by an open meeting act is [Associated Students of the University of California]. . . . Transparency in the legislative, fiscal and ethical arenas is vital to the quality and credibility of this university, and it is appalling that these abuses by student government have gone unchecked until now.  By proposing an amendment to an existing open meeting act or drafting a new act specifically designed to keep ASUC publicly accountable, we can ensure that our student governments answer to the people they claim to represent.”

–

Below, Weinger shares a few thoughts about the paper’s fight to open things up.

–

–

How would you describe the current relationship between the Daily Nexus and the ASLC?

–

While there’s always been a natural tension between the newspaper and the student government, as there should be, this had been by far the most positive relationship during my time at the Nexus.  There had not been any accessibility problems, either at meetings or for interviews, prior to these allegations emerging.  Since the articles regarding open meetings and alleged misconduct on the retreat, however, there is obviously a heightened tension.  Legislative Council members are refusing to speak about the incident, and have issued a resolution asking the administration and campus community to withhold information regarding the accusations against them.  It’s definitely become heated.

–

On the whole, though, this current issue moves beyond just the Daily Nexus/ASUCSB relationship.  More than 1,900 people joined a Facebook group (started by individuals unassociated with the Nexus or A.S.) demanding accountability from A.S.  People are concerned with how their money is spent and are deeply troubled by the allegations against their elected officials regarding this retreat, as well as the repeated closed meetings.

–

–

What has especially impressed you about your staff’s handling of the stories involving the alleged ASLC misconduct?

–

I have been beyond impressed with my staff’s reporting. The hours they put in, the number of people they contacted and their overall professionalism has proved to me that we are one of the best college newspaper staffs out there.

–

One of our best moments was our op-ed regarding the necessity for regulating closed sessions of UC student governments.  We’re currently sending it out to numerous California officials and a fellow UC student newspaper, Riverside’s Highlander, also published it.  This story goes beyond just allegations of drinking and misconduct on a retreat.  It also brought to light that UC student governments face no oversight other than their own easily changeable by-laws in regards to closed meetings.  In essence, any ASUC can conduct business as secretly as they like, and that is quite troubling, especially in light of this situation.

–

–

What advice do you have for j-students who find themselves in a similar reporting situation?

–

The most crucial advice I could give is to keep at the story and use every lead available.  If there’s something suspicious going on, such as a secretive closed meeting, do not dismiss it.  Keep pursuing the story.  Be ready to spend a lot of time sifting through documents and making phone calls.  Additionally, there’s going to be a big response to a story like this, so I’d advise students to prepare themselves for what happens post-publication.

Read Full Post »

Update: No Funding Cuts for Collegiate Times After All

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on February 14, 2010 | 1 Comment »

First, the threats.  Next, the bad press.  Now, the retreat.  After a quick burst of mostly negative media attention nationwide and the specter of a brewing legal battle, Virginia Tech officials are backing down from their earlier call for funding cuts to the Collegiate Times student newspaper.

–

As the Roanoke Times reports, ”Virginia Tech will not pull funding for the publisher of the campus newspaper, nor will it ban student organizations from buying ads with university funds, as a Tech advisory group had proposed, officials announced Friday. . .  The commission, an advisory group made up of students, faculty and staff, had objected to a CT editorial policy that allows anonymous reader comments to be posted to collegiatetimes.com. Some of the commission members had characterized some of the comments as homophobic, racist or otherwise offensive and demanded the CT take action to stop them. Ongoing discussions between the groups about the policy had broken down last week.”

–

My take: This is one more example of a very serious, very genuine truth within modern collegemediatopia: It is tougher than ever to mess with the student press.  The organizational backing on a national level (FIRE, SPLC, ACP, etc.) has never been stronger.  The Web also enables a rapid response scenario in which the professional press, the blogosphere, and the Twitter-verse can immediately band together, offer advice and other assistance, and spread the word about an injustice worldwide, creating a John-Mayer-Playboy-interview-sized PR nightmare for student press opponents.

–

This connectivity breeds empowerment.  It is obvious that student media outlets today feel much more secure drawing firm lines in the sand over a controversial issue because they know they will not be alone when times get tough.  In this respect, the Virginia Tech commission that took on the Collegiate Times this past week is not stupid.  It is naive.  It did not realize, in modern times, a fight against the CT is also a fight against collegemediatopia, free press advocates, and the very power of the Web itself.

Read Full Post »

Virginia Tech May Cut Collegiate Times Funding Due to Paper’s Online Comments Policy (?!)

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , , on February 12, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Administrators at Virginia Tech are threatening to cut the funding of The Collegiate Times student newspaper and other campus media due to their distaste for the paper’s allowance of anonymous comments following stories posted online.

–

As the Roanoke Times reports, the university’s Commission on Student Affairs is declaring that the paper’s failure to oversee and remove troublesome anonymous comments from its Web site violates the school’s “principles of community.” Part of the Roanoke Times piece: “In a letter dated Feb. 8, officials laid out a plan to cut university funding to the paper, the yearbook and other publications . . . and ban student organizations from using university funds to buy advertising in the CT, a move that could shut down the paper. Officials have asked the newspaper to disallow anonymous comments on stories at its Web site, saying that staff, students and some faculty had objected to comments they characterized as racist or otherwise offensive.”

–

A snippet from the commission’s letter to the parent organization of the Collegiate Times (scroll to page four): “Last semester . . . the Commission became aware of discontent among students, faculty, staff, administrators, and others regarding the online commenting system through the Collegiate Times. The consensus of the Commission has been that the commenting system is irresponsible and inappropriate because it lacks accountability . . . The Commission has now decided to take action [basically not renewing a contract that provides financial assistance to the paper].”

–

In a letter responding to this missive, the paper’s parent company reminded the commission of the CT’s editorial independence and outlined the legal tenuousness of so-called “principles of community” on college campuses. It also confirmed that CT staffers had conducted an industry-wide review of online commenting practices after the commission first voiced its concerns.  “But this is no longer a dialogue,” the letter stated, “it is coercion.” On behalf of VT student media, the company has promised a legal fight if the funding threat is carried out.

–

On top of the letter, FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) has also released a rebuke of the school’s threats, noting: ”Virginia Tech is acting because of content-based concerns, which is plainly unconstitutional. Virginia Tech, after all, is a public university bound by the First Amendment, although it seems that Virginia Tech has little interest in acknowledging this fact.  And . . . anonymous speech has a very important place in our democracy, a place it has had since the founding of our nation. A statement such as the ‘Principles of Community’ may not be given binding force against free expression without violating the First Amendment . . . Woe be to Virginia Tech.”

–

My take: The commission is being irresponsible, inappropriate, irrational even. What does it possibly hope to achieve in a positive sense?  It must know the paper is not going to back down, meaning the school now comes across as the bully in an ugly PR fight.  Or worse yet, it will be responsible for effectively shutting down student VT student media.  There is nothing wrong with the commission communicating its concerns and encouraging the Collegiate Times to monitor and when warranted delete libelous or especially nasty online feedback.  But to dangle a major funding cut over anonymous online story comments, a generally accepted practice within Journalism 3.0 and the Web world?  That is censorship, and should not be accepted without a fight. Signed, Dan Reimold

Read Full Post »

Updated: Duke, North Carolina Rivalry: On the Court, Online, in Print

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper, tagged , , , , , on February 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Update: Huge thanks to Sara Gregory at the Daily Tar Heel for providing the following clarification on this post:

–

“I don’t think ESPN should have linked to dailytarhole.com when talking about what the Chronicle does rivalry-wise. The Daily Tar Hole Web site is different from the Daily Tar Hole spoof the Duke Chronicle does each year. The Chronicle didn’t do a Daily Tar Hole this year, but when they do, it’s on game day and they change their flag to look like ours and write stories mocking UNC on their front page. It’s similar to when NCSU’s Technician does the Daily Tar Hell. The Daily Tar Hole Web site is registered in the name of a UNC alumni. Last year it was being run by her and two others who have since graduated. This year we’re not sure who is behind it, but it’s unlikely to be Duke Chronicle students.”

–

Meanwhile, related to the real Chronicle-DTH rivalry, Gregory provided a photo of her and fellow DTH editor Andrew Dunn delivering copies of the recent devilish-blue Daily Tar Heel to Chronicle staff.  In Gregory’s words, “it’s a hell of a rivalry.”

–

–

The Daily Tar Hole is a newspaper unlike any other in collegemediatopia.  For the past year, the spooftastic online-only rag has periodically published a new set of articles mocking the University of North Carolina and its flagship student paper, The Daily Tar Heel.

–

As a new ESPN.com blog post confirms, the article releases have especially been timed to appear just before a basketball game between UNC and its fiercest rival, the Blue Devils of Duke University.  The alleged student satirists behind the Tar Hole: staffers at The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper.

–

With the latest Duke-UNC showdown looming (and now just completed), a trio of new pieces were placed on the Hole homepage.  Meanwhile, the two most read articles on the Daily Tar Heel‘s site today are a pair of pieces by a DTH columnist circa 1990 named Ian Williams.  One or more of his columns are apparently run before each Battle for Tobacco Road.  The headlines say it all: “Why I Hate Duke” and “Why I Still Hate Duke.” (The third most-read piece, by a current UNC j-student: “Never Hang Our Heads for Duke.”)

–

It is a rivalry on the court, online- and in print.  As ESPN reports, “Pushing the envelope even further, the two publications have agreed the loser of the first basketball matchup must put the winning school’s logo in a prominent area of the school paper claiming the winning school is ‘still the best.’  If Duke wins the game, The Daily Tar Heel is required to print their masthead in Duke blue and if UNC is victorious, The Chronicle must stamp their masthead in Tar Heel powder blue. We haven’t seen this much action in periodicals since Newsies hit theaters in 1992!“

–

Last night, in what the Chronicle called “a battle between royal and baby blue,” Duke defeated UNC 64-54.  Even if you did not know the final score, however, the color of the masthead on today’s DTH front page reveals the outcome.

–

Read Full Post »

HackCollege Interviews Onward State Editors at Penn State (Nickelback Not Amused)

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, New Media, tagged , , , , , , on February 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I recently came across an interesting audio interview featuring Davis Shaver and Evan Kalikow, two of the undergrad gurus behind Penn State University’s “unruly news blog” Onward State.  For those who might forget, the pair and their PSU new(s) media machine earned a prominent shout-out in a mid-January Chronicle of Higher Ed. piece.  The lead: “Davis Shaver may be the future of alternative student media. From his room in Springfield- a dorm floor painted with characters from ‘The Simpsons’ the Penn State sophomore battles a storied college newspaper that employs 200 student journalists.”

–

Late last month, Shaver and Kalikow took a brief break from battle to speak with Kelly Sutton, co-founder and top gun of the crazy cool student betterment and empowerment blog HackCollege (more on him and HC in an upcoming post).  One thing I learned about Onward State through the trio’s chat: It was almost called Keystone!  Fortunately, this brainstorm was quickly nixed during the “alpha” planning stage.  (Onward State, meanwhile, is apparently a phrase popularized on campus through a PSU football fight song.)

–

Otherwise, along with a very funny exchange about the (lack of) quality of the band Nickelback, my three favorite snippets from the interview are below.

–

–

Shaver, discussing his about-face on joining The Daily Collegian, PSU’s student paper, and instead starting OS: “Last fall, I arrived at Penn State and I was planning on joining the newspaper.  I got there and it just kind of felt- I don’t know- like a newspaper. I realized that I didn’t really want to be doing another four years at a paper. You know, because through high school [he worked on a student paper], which is different but still the same kind of thing.”

–

A quick breakdown of the Collegian/Onward State competition factor:

–

Sutton: Is there a certain rivalry between you and the Collegian, like do you guys not sit at the same tables in the cafeteria?

–

Shaver: There have been definitely occasions where the tension between the two media outlets kind of went over to our extracurricular social lives.  For the most part, it’s a fun, I think, professional kind of thing.  We both want to do a good job and when we’re trying to go after the same students, naturally we’re going to compete.

–

A back-and-forth on what the future holds for collegemediatopia:

–

Sutton: As far as I know, you guys are one of the first groups of people to kind of do this successfully.  Do you think these types of things will be more commonplace . . . to the point where student newspapers will just completely go away and you’ll have things like Onward State that just get like handed down from year to year?

–

Shaver: I think the major question . . . is [after the founders of these sites graduate] how do you transition it to the next generation of staff?  We’ll know the full story in about two years.

Read Full Post »

In the Spotlight: Cameron Henderson, Publisher, Northwestern Art Review

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalist Spotlight, Magazine Journalism, New Media, tagged , , , , , , on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Eight Northwestern University students. A “cheap pizza joint.” Spirited conversation about a shared love of art and architecture. An idea for a publication whose aim would be nothing less than to “provide a forum for greater exchange among an expanding community of students who devote their time to studying, thinking and writing about art.”  The Northwestern Art Review was born.

–

Cut to three years later.  2010.  NAR 3.0.  Two words on the cover of the current issue say it all, talking about both the art world and the publication’s future, “Now What?”  It is a question NAR publisher Cameron Henderson is sweating- a situation only troublesome because Henderson happens to be allergic to his own sweat.

–

Henderson, 22, now an NU senior, was at the pizza joint three years ago.  The history and African studies double major has been instrumental in NAR’s evolution and success.  He has seen immense readership growth for the online journal, along with burgeoning crowds and dynamism at related campus events. The pub’s profile is high- and a majority of its staffers will soon be leaving/graduating.  As Henderson told North By Northwestern, “We’re really at crossroads right now. The last three founding members have sought to make NAR more cemented and sustained on campus. We’re at a place right now where I feel comfortable leaving the organization this year in the hands of others, but there are just so many possibilities for our direction in the future.”

–

Below, in an exclusive chat with CMM, Henderson shares a few thoughts about the past, present, and future of NAR and his own artistic passions.

–

Cameron Henderson is the current publisher and a founding member of Northwestern Art Review.

–

–

Write a six-word memoir of your Northwestern Art Review experience.

–

College art critics?  We are online.

–

–

Standout NAR memory.

–

During the first year of the Northwestern Art Review’s creation the founding members embarked on our first season of programming.  We secured funds to pay for two buses to charter students from Northwestern’s campus to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s opening party for a Jenny Holzer exhibition.  We fought for funds, worked in conjunction with the MCA, and prepared for what we thought would be a great event.  However, as the buses departed for the museum, I looked from my seat to see only about 20 people on buses capable of carrying 100 students to our event.  Most of the attendees were the journal’s staff.  Thus came the epiphany: There is a long long way to go.

–

Now the Northwestern Art Review is an established organization commanding crowds of 150 to 200 people for our events.  In just three years we have seen our readership increase 20 fold and our presence in the art community of Northwestern and Chicago become ever more dynamic.  That first event and the inherent difficulty of creating an academic journal have not been forgotten.  It is now a marker of how far we have come and more importantly of the further growth the Northwestern Art Review is capable of.

–

–

What does the current issue, NAR 3.0, offer interested readers?

–

The most recent edition is undoubtedly the most cohesive and polished journal we have published yet.  NAR 3.0 takes aim at the eternal question of the value and purpose of art.  This is a question that has haunted artists for centuries. However, the current era for artists is one even more daunting: There is a seemingly boundless amount of freedom coupled with an extreme pressure to distinguish one’s practice from that of one’s peers.  As my editor Elliot Reichert has said, “Of course, artists of every age have grappled with the fundamental questions of the value and purpose of art, but never with such a self-conscious awareness of the history of art, its social functions, and its potential for significantly impacting the lived experience at a juncture when it appears to have both everywhere and nowhere to go.”  Art and publishing are at a similar crossroads and this departure from the status quo is something NAR and the most relevant artists of today are exploring.

–

–

Where does your love of art come from?

–

I have always possessed an inherent fascination with color, texture, and the other characteristics of invigorating design.  At a young age I did not realize that my interests could be summed up as an interest in art and design.  Rather, new basketball shoes were not only pragmatic purchases to assist in my passion for sport but were adventures in architecture and craftsmanship. Cars were loved not simply for the power and vigor found in the engine but for the strength and beauty found in the lines of the car’s grill.  Simply put, I have always had a fervent attraction for aesthetic endeavors.  Additionally, I have been very fortunate to have parents who have not only encouraged my pursuit of the arts but have been passionate examples themselves.  Museums have always been places that we have visited together and art, music, theater and more have all been abundantly discussed.

–

–

NAR is at the forefront of art journals moving online.  What are the advantages of the online medium for a publication like NAR?

–

When the Northwestern Art Review was first created three years ago publishing was yet to be in the doldrums that it is in today.   However, being that NAR was just born and we had to create a sustainable business model, we were forced to completely analyze all costs and options objectively without prior precedent. We examined the costs of publishing on paper thoroughly.  For the level of image quality that we deemed necessary the costs were completely out of reach.  For the kind of readership we were striving for, and most importantly the quality of appearance, we would have had to raise roughly $15,000 just for our first edition.  We had about $2,000 in our coffers to start.  Thus, the online format not only became attractive but a necessity.

–

When NAR was first founded the general sentiment was that as we became more relevant nationally we would begin printing on paper.  However, now as NAR is more established the benefits of existing online are now fully apparent. Firstly and most importantly, we are capable of exhibiting only the most high-resolution images for the journal.   The artist’s work is done much more justice on the glossy screen of a MacBook than on newspaper quality paper. Furthermore, publishing online has enabled us to reach a much broader audience then if we were disseminating paper copies.  Our readership is international and this would have been a foolish dream if we were using a printing press.

–

Finally, functioning as an Internet based publication allows us to incorporate many more features than if we were publishing a journal quarterly.  We have an active blog, serve as the epicenter for undergraduate criticism, and use the myriad of social networking sites to promote our work.  We are more significant today within the art community than we ever would have thought possible simply because we are accessible online.

–

–

What is the most challenging part of running a student art journal?

–

Undoubtedly the most difficult aspect of leading the Northwestern Art Review is establishing a dedicated and consistent reader base.  Furthermore, since we are publishing an academic journal, we have to abide by a higher standard of scholarship.  Not only do we need to attract readers by publishing exciting and pertinent information, we have to satisfy the academic portion of our readership that demand only the most immaculate scholarship.  Thus, we are forced to confront a dual-natured readership. However, this is an exciting challenge.  The blending of academic art criticism and more general art enthusiasm creates a product that is applicable to all.

–

–

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

–

I will be serving as an attorney specializing in the intellectual property aspect of artwork. I will be working on a daily basis with artists, publishing houses, museums, and creative agencies.   Such a job would enable me to pursue the myriad of interests I possess all which are focused on the beauty of artistic practices.  Furthermore, I will be contributing essays to publications like Art Forum or Art in America as a fresh voice presenting a different perspective on the art market and its trends.  Most importantly, I will be working in a field that I am passionate about and will be surrounding myself on a daily basis with the most invigorating and original individuals possible.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,015 other followers

%d bloggers like this: