Professor Owen V. Johnson is the author of two entries in the recently published Encyclopedia of American Journalism, edited by Stephen L. Vaughn (New York: Routledge, 2008).

One is a historical overview of the Indianapolis Star and the other is a biographical sketch of long-time Indiana publisher Eugene C. Pulliam.

The evolution and history of American journalism is chronicled in the 405 articles in the 636-page volume. Vaughn, now a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin, earned his Ph.D. in history from Indiana University.

A new book, Global Journalism Research, edited by Roy Howard Professor David Weaver and German colleague Martin Loeffelholz, has just been published by Blackwell Press.

This book includes sections on theories and methods for studying journalism and journalists, as well as overviews of journalism research in Greater China, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. It concludes with a section on the future of journalism research in this era of globalization and media convergence.

The online application form for 2008-2009 School of Journalism scholarships is available on the forms page. Look for “Scholarship forms: Current Students” and click on “Undergraduate Scholarship Application.”

Use the “Undergraduate Scholarship Application” to apply for all undergraduate scholarships except for the Ross Hazeltine Travel Scholarship. Only seniors are eligible to apply for the Hazeltine Travel Scholarship. If you are a senior graduating in December 2007, May 2008 or August 2008 and wish to be considered for the Hazeltine, click that link and complete the application.

Deadline for undergraduate scholarship applications is Jan. 22, 5 p.m.

Deadline for the Ross Hazeltine Travel Scholarship is Feb. 1, 5 p.m.

If you have questions about the scholarships, or eligibility for them, contact Linda Long. For technical questions about the online applications, contact Jeff Johnson.

 

Photo by Erin Riley

(From left) IU Interim Student Media Director Nancy Comiskey, HSJI Director Jack Dvorak, North Central High School publications adviser Tom Gayda, Columbus North publications adviser Kim Green and IU SPJ chapter president Alberto Morales formed the First Amendment panel last week.

Related Former Kenya class partner now KTN broadcaster (May 13) Students interested in magazines find several options to learn, network (May 2) Students developing tablet apps to extend storytelling options (April 30)

Panelists urged area high school students to understand the First Amendment’s guarantees and use them to take responsibility for their writing at an open discussion last week.

More than 100 high school students, School of Journalism students and area media advisers gathered Thursday for a panel discussion at Bloomington High School North.

Organized by North’s publications adviser Ryan Gunterman (B.S. ’02), the panel included Diana Hadley, executive director of the Indiana High School Press Association; IU Interim Student Media Director Nancy Comiskey; Indiana High School Journalism Institute Director Jack Dvorak; Director of Student Publications at North Central High School Tom Gayda; Columbus North High School publications adviser Kim Green; IU sophomore and Society of Professional Journalists IU chapter president Alberto Morales; and School of Journalism Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Amy Reynolds.

Gunterman wanted high school students to listen, learn and ask questions.

“I don’t expect them to walk out of here as experts on the First Amendment,” he said. “I just love to see that it’s a topic that’s being discussed.”

Comiskey opened the discussion by reminding young journalists that they must tell the truth and get it right.

“You have a responsibility to consider the impact of what you write or what you broadcast,” she said.

Dvorak read passages from a study called “Putting the First Amendment First.” According to the study, the majority of America’s high school students do not know their First Amendment rights. Dvorak said school curriculum could be to blame.

Each panelist urged students to take advantage of their First Amendment rights, while still taking careful responsibility for their writing.

“You have the power to make or break another student’s life,” Green said.

She said students must work with administrators to guarantee a free press. In high schools, principals have rights to prior review of the school’s publication.

Reynolds spoke about the impact of the Supreme Court case commonly known as “Bong Hits for Jesus.” She also spoke about Internet social networks and student’s rights regarding free speech on the Web.

“As a student, you have opinions and you have a right to share those opinions on your MySpace page,” Reynolds said. But students must not be on school grounds while using MySpace or other social networking Web sites, she said. If students use school computers to post, she explained, administrators may take disciplinary action.

Photo by Erin Riley

School of Journalism Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Amy Reynolds talked about free speech on the Web.

Comiskey also stressed the importance for students to demand First Amendment rights.

“We have the free-est press in the world and we should be vigorous in protecting that,” she said.

Students raised questions about being required to stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance at school. They also questioned whether the words “under God” should be included. Green assured students that they do not have to say anything they do not want to, including the words “under God.”

“Even if it’s laziness that keeps you from wanting to stand up,” she said, “that’s your right.”

To close the discussion, each panelist shared why they think students should learn about the First Amendment.

“It’s so important to our function as a free society,” Comiskey said. “It’s the keystone of our democracy.”

Several pounds lighter and loaded with stories to tell, Andrew Prinsen, B.A.J. ’07, recently returned from India, where he spent the fall reporting and photographing life in that country as part of this Ross Hazeltine Travel Scholarship.

The $7,000 grant is designed for a newly-graduated journalism student to report on global issues outside North America. Prinsen, the 2007 recipient, documented leper colonies, interviewed a World Health Organization official and volunteered with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta (Kolkata). Along the way, he wrote, took photos and produced audio slide shows for his blog. He tailored them for North Americans who may not have known much about leprosy in India.

“My goal was really just to get people to care about that part of the world and blogging was good for that,” he said. The blog is posted at the School of Journalism Web site.

The Hazeltine was established in 1978 to encourage new grads to travel to different countries to report on different cultures. Past recipients have visited Spain, Russia, China, Haita and Latvia, among others. A committee reviews applications to select the recipient.

"His project struck us as very ambitious, but at the same time we were confident that he would follow through," said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Bonnie Brownlee.

Photo by Andrew Prinsen

This man found solace at one of the Missionaries of Charity homes founded by Mother Teresa. "In the mix and swell of people that occupy the downtrodden city of  Kolkata (Calcutta), it’s easy for people to be forgotten, to fall  through the cracks," Prinsen said. This man was near of the city’s train stations, being walked past by thousands of people during their daily comings and goings.

Prinsen took off for India in August. The Evansville-area native spent several weeks at a leper community in Sarnath, where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Through translators, Prinsen interviewed multiple patients and heard a common narrative emerge: After finding themselves ill, leprosy patients would go through a period of denial, then visit an unqualified “witch doctor” who would typically give bad advice, Prinsen said. By the time they sought proper treatment, patients often had irreversibly damaged limbs. Leprosy is curable but without treatment, victims can lose the ability to sense pain, resulting in more serious injuries.

“It wouldn’t be such a problem if people could get over the social fear of it and go right to treatment,” Prinsen said.

He said reporting through a translator presented new challenges.

“It’s hard to connect through a translator,” he said. “The way I like to write, I like to try to connect with the person and feel like I understand them, which is tough to do through a translator. But once in a while it would happen.”

He mentioned helping with breakfast in Sarnath with patients who spoke only Hindi.

“Crouching on the ground at 6 a.m., making dough for rotis [flat bread] with no translators around…There was a connection in that, somehow,” he said.

His father visited for a vacation on the beach and a trip to the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh, and a friend came to accompany him in Calcutta. The rest of the time, he traveled alone, with only one rough stretch.

“Giardia (an intestinal bug) was kind of a bummer,” he said. “Being able to eat less than one full meal a day…I like to eat.”

He said he’s gained back ten of the 20 pounds he lost during the illness.

Prinsen began journalism school on the photography track, but he came to appreciate the value of a multimedia approach, he said.

Photo by Andrew Prinsen

One boy gives another a piggy-back ride near a market in Calcutta (Kolkata). Prinsen documented daily activities as he traveled in India.

“That was great,” he said of focusing on photography. “But the more time I spent in the school, I learned that to tell the stories I wanted to tell, I had to know writing. Photos can’t do everything, although they work well in conjunction with writing.”

He plans to look for a job in journalism, and he said he is open to a variety of media.

“I want to find something that’s going to let me tell stories,” he said. “Whether that’s public radio or a newspaper or something else, I don’t really care…I hope never to lose the drive to make people care about other people, especially the marginalized and poor.”

December graduate Ben Weller, M.A. ’07, is the winner of an Overseas Press Club Foundation scholarship and the chance for a paid internship.

Weller will pick up his award at a luncheon Feb. 15 at the Yale Club in New York City. A full day of programming will include talks with past winners, top journalists and other guests.

The foundation also plans to offer recipients paid internships that could take interns abroad for their work.

Weller remains on campus this spring working on special projects as well as teaching J201 Reporting and Editing II.

For more about the scholarship program, check out the foundation’s Web site.

Even though he graduated in May, Andrew Shaffer, B.A.J. ’07, continues to earn honors for his work as an IDS reporter and writer. The William Randolph Hearst Foundation announced last week that Shaffer won first place for his IDS editorial, “IU building should not be named after racist.”

Shaffer will receive a $2,000 scholarship and Indiana University will receive a matching grant, as do the journalism departments of all 20 scholarship winners. He currently works as an editorial producer for MLSnet.com, Major League Soccer’s Web site.

More than 100 students from 61 universities participated in the program’s second writing competition of this academic year. For samples of winning work, check the monthly winners section of the Journalism Awards’ Web site, www.hearstawards.org.

 

The Fall 2007 issue of the ongoing e-zine produced by J201 Reporting and Editing II students.

Students in Jim Kelly’s Fall 2007 J344 Photojournalism Reporting class created slideshows with audio for their final project.

Web sites for every student in J210 during Fall 2007. Each page contains a self-portrait and biography, plus pages of the student’s photography, design and video assignments.