Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » April

Weaver discusses research findings,considers journalism’s future

Sarah Hutchins — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:00:12 +0000

Photo by James Brosher

Roy W. Howard Professor David Weaver talked about journalism research and newspapers’ futures during his Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture Wednesday afternoon. Many colleagues and former mentors attended the talk in Ernie Pyle Auditorium.

Mentors, colleagues and students packed the Ernie Pyle Auditorium Wednesday afternoon to hear Roy W. Howard Professor David H. Weaver deliver the 2009 Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture.

His talk, “Journalists, Journalism and Research: What Do We Know and Why Should We Care?” highlighted his 35 years of research conducted at Indiana University and discussed the future of print and online journalism.

Weaver earned his Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of North Carolina in 1974 and began to teach at Indiana University the same year. He has lectured around the world and edited several publications, including a new edition of The Global Journalist book that he edited in 1998.

The Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture honor, an annual award highlighting the achievements of an IU-Bloomington faculty member, is one of many awards Weaver has received throughout his teaching career. The Research Lecture award , which is awarded to only one IU-Bloomington faculty member each year, is co-sponsored by the Office of the Bloomington Provost and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

While Weaver was pessimistic about the future of newspapers and skeptical about online-only reporting in his lecture, his research painted a more complex picture.

Despite a growing population, the number of full time journalists is declining. While newspapers employed the great majority of these journalists in the past, this number is also dwindling. Educational backgrounds of journalists are now less diverse, and an undergraduate college degree is the minimum requirement for an American journalist.

Furthermore, many reporters feel like their autonomy is deteriorating as newsrooms slash resources. And yet public service journalism remains important in the eyes of many journalists.

“We have some indications that the values of public service are alive and well in the hearts of many journalists,” Weaver said. “But there are also serious concerns about all the closing of newspapers, the layoffs and reductions in size of newsrooms, the declining levels of autonomy and the ability to keep idealistic young men and women of various backgrounds in journalism.”

Photo by James Brosher

Weaver talked about 40 years of research that shows the power of news media to influence public policy or even public opinions. He doubts online media can have this effect without the help of more traditional media.

Several of Weaver’s mentors and former colleagues traveled to Indiana for the lecture. Maxwell McCombs, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, and Donald Shaw, a professor at the University of North Carolina, both helped Weaver with agenda setting research.

Since their initial studies on the impact of agenda setting on mass communications, hundreds of studies have been conducted around the world. In one study, Weaver and a former doctoral student analyzed agenda setting between the media, public and Congress over a 58-year time span.

The results were surprising. They found a small and decreasing correlation between the New York Times agenda and the public agenda, a substantial and increasing correlation between the Times and Congress, and almost no correlation between Congressional agenda and the public agenda.

“All of these studies and the others we’ve conducted over the last 40 years show considerable power of the news media to set, or at least to reinforce, the public policy agendas and even to influence public opinion,” Weaver said.

The studies conducted by Weaver and other researches also suggest that the independence of journalists and the ability of journalists to do investigative reporting are declining. Newsrooms are cutting reporters and resources as advertisers switch from pricey print ads to cheaper online versions.

“Paper is not just how the news is delivered,” Weaver said. “It’s how it’s paid for.”

While individuals can get news from a variety of sources, there are drawbacks to news Web sites. Online news publications generally have less time for fact checking and fewer resources to devote to investigative work. Policy makers, he said, are not responding to blogs and Twitter feeds in the same way they respond to newspapers.

Photo by James Brosher

Before his introduction, Weaver (left) chatted with colleagues Edward Caudill (center) of the University of Tennessee and Donald Shaw of the University of North Carolina. They were among several who traveled from out of state to attend the lecture.

“The loss of newspapers is not just about the loss of one method of delivering news, or even the loss of jobs for journalists, as important as that is,” Weaver said. “It’s also about the loss of influence on politicians, policy makers, as well as on the public. I do not see any medium waiting in wings that has this kind of influence or resources to challenge powerful institutions of government and business that can jail and tax citizens and have them removed from their homes if they don’t pay their mortgage or rent, or even wage wars.”

Despite the prevalence of citizen journalists and news Web sites, Weaver treated Internet reporting with concerned pessimism.

“I doubt that the Internet has the capabilities to challenge the powerful people in our society without the help of more traditional media,” he said. “This could change, of course, but right now it’s difficult to imagine.”

Major article in Politics & Policy

Gena Asher — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:31:55 +0000

Assistant professor Lesa Hatley Major‘s article, "The Role of an African-American Candidate on Psychological and Political Discussion in a Local Election," was published this month in Politics & Policy.

Major’s co-authors are Jas Sullivan, Kirby Goidel and David Kurpius, all of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Johnson to host two ‘Profiles’ segments

Gena Asher — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:01:28 +0000

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Associate professor Owen V. Johnson hosts two segments of the radio interview show Profiles on public radio station WFIU this month.

First up is an interview with David Rocks May 3. Rocks, the senior editor for global news at Business Week, visited the School of Journalism earlier this year.

May 31, Johnson interviews James Burke, author and TV producer best known for his series, Connections. Burke was the first of the School of Journalism Speaker Series guests this spring.

Profiles airs at 7 p.m. Sunday evenings on WFIU, 103.7 FM.

Grad student unveils new documentary

Ariel Tung — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:02:21 +0000

Photo by Alex Farris

Graduate student Shameka Neely talked to her audience after they watched Witnesses to History, her new documentary. The premiere was Monday night in the Ernie Pyle Auditorium.

Multimedia

View a preview of Witnesses to History. (11.01MB)

More than 30 students and professors were among the first to watch Shameka Neely’s Witnesses to History documentary Monday night at Ernie Pyle Auditorium.

Neely, a WTIU producer and a journalism graduate student, journeyed to Washington D.C. with WTIU videographer Bill Shaw to attend President Obama’s inauguration in January. The team traveled with local groups and filmed them as they watched the ceremony and heard the inaugural speech Jan. 20.

While WTIU will air the documentary several times in the next few weeks, Neely said it is important that fellow journalism students get the first viewing.

“I want to show fellow students what writing and producing a documentary is about, and the possibility of them being involved in a project like this,” said Neely.

Neely spent the last three months working with WTIU videographer and editor Eric Bolstridge to edit the material into a documentary. Neely put together footage of the bus journey to Washington D.C. and the inauguration day itself, some historical archives, and interviews with famous people such as former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and educator/philosopher Cornel West.

The documentary consists of three story elements. The first is the historical perspectives of African-Americans and their quest to gain the right to vote. The second story is about the 13-hour bus ride to Washington, D.C., when Neely and Shaw departed with the IU chapter of Zeta Phi Beta to attend the inauguration The third story is on the inauguration itself, showing President Obama taking the oath to presidency.

Photo by Alex Farris

Neely enlisted the help of WTIU videographers to help edit the hours of video into a 30-minute documentary. The film has three segments of storytelling.

Winnowing down hours of footage into a coherent half hour documentary is tedious work. She and Bolstridge talked about documentary making during a question and answer session after the screening. Bolstridge discussed the difficulties in finding music to use in the film.

Ann Shea, news bureau chief at WTIU, said Neely always has several people look at her writing before she makes any changes, and that reviewing and rewriting are part of the editorial process of making a documentary.

Neely’s fellow students were impressed.

“I am surprised by how much work, materials and time are required to create a 30-minute documentary. I think she did a really good job,” said freshman Alma Figueroa.

One of Neely’s J510 Media and Society classmates, Lesley Ham, came to show her support for Neely.

“The documentary is excellent. I am impressed that Neely and her videographers managed to get interviews with Tony Dungy and Cornel West,” she said.

To see the documentary, tune into WTIU Channel 30 at one of these times:

8:30 p.m. May 14
10 p.m. May 22
11:30 p.m. May 24

Class reflects on Supreme Court trip

Riya V. Anandwala — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:29:32 +0000

Photo by Emily Loftis

Graduate students Riya V. Anandwala, left, and Ann Shea watched as reporters interviewed attorneys and plaintiffs after a session at the Supreme Court. The class spent several days in Washington, D.C., reporting on oral arguments.

After covering a series of local police and court stories in Bloomington, associate professor Anthony Fargo‘s nine graduate students packed their bags to cover the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

The J551 Reporting the Law class left April 19 to cover oral arguments at the Supreme Court and returned five days later having blogged about their findings at IndyStar.com, the Indianapolis Star’s Web site.

The students spent the semester preparing for the trip, the second Fargo and the school have sponsored. Students spent much of this semester researching the Supreme Court cases, learning about the justices and exploring the style of reporting required to cover courts. The students formed teams of two or three to study four cases: Iraq v. Beaty, Safford v. Redding, Horne v. Flores and Ricci v Destefano.

Each day, students mingled with professional court reporters, such as those from CNN, CBS and Bloomberg. While some students were shoulder to shoulder with the likes of National

Photo by Riya V. Anandwala

Graduate student Lindsay Eckert interviewed a firefighter involved in one of the cases the Supreme Court heard while students visited Washington, D.C.

Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, recording the respondents’ statements, others tried fitting their cameras along those of CBS and CNN.

During hearings, they watched the proceedings, studying the attorneys and justices as well as noting the court artist who sketched the scene.

Oral arguments are a chance for the attorneys to make presentations and answer justices’ questions about cases, which usually are selected because they involve interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. The justices already have read the attorneys’ briefs, submitted earlier, and often question the attorneys about significant points, according to the Visitors Guide to Oral Argument at the Supreme Court of the United States.

As soon as each case was submitted, students went to work, rushing back to their hotel to file their stories for the Star blog.

“It was gratifying to see students write such intelligent stories in a very short amount of time,” said Fargo.

During downtime, they continued to talk about cases, reflect on what they had seen and dissect each justice’s remarks and body language.

Photo by Emily Loftis

IU alumnus Bill Nichols, managing editor of Politico and Politico.com, talked with graduate students, including Alycin Bektesh, at company headquarters in Arlington, Va. He gave students a tour and talked about political reporting.

Student Emily Loftis’s team covered the Iraq v. Beaty case. She said the trip not only made the process of Supreme Court decisions more tangible, it helped her understand the dedication and diligence that is required of a Supreme Court reporter.

“I realized how important a court reporter is to keeping the public informed of the evolution of law in a nation,” she said.

Loftis had no journalism experience. She saw the trip as a valuable learning experience.

“A student cannot possibly have the same experience of reporting in such a significant environment while sitting in a classroom,” she said. “It revealed elements of reporting that will help me in career decisions as well as journalism methods.”

Also during their stay in Washington, students visited IU alumni Shawn Chen, Associated Press online news editor, and Bill Nichols, managing editor at Politico.com. Each spoke about graduates’ chances to join news organizations.

“They made me feel I can be an integral part to the transformation,” said Loftis. “They balanced the optimism with a warning that it might be rough, and gaining multi-media skills and experience is vital to making me marketable.”

IndyPro SPJ awards students, faculty

Gena Asher — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:54:06 +0000

Photo by Connor Wollensak

Senior Michael Sanserino accepted the Indiana Collegiate Press Association award for Collegiate Journalist of the Year March 28. Friday, he won similar honors from the Society of Professional Jouralists.

The IndyPro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored IU students and adjunct lecturers during its annual awards banquet Friday night in Indianapolis.

Senior Michael Sanserino was named SPJ Student Journalist of the Year, his second “journalist of the year” honor this month. The Indiana Collegiate Press Association presented him with the Collegiate Journalist of the Year March 28.

Graduate student Daniel Robison, assistant news director at radio station WFIU, raked in several awards in the professional division: First place in radio feature, first place in radio use of sound (shared award), first and third place awards in radio writing, second place in radio continuing coverage (shared) and second place for radio documentary.

SPJ is an affiliate of the national group headquartered in Indianapolis. SPJ is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Other awards:

First place: Paul Coover and Brian Spegele, IDS, best in-depth or series reporting, student division.First place: Brian Spegele, INside magazine, best feature, student division.
First place: Larry Buchanan and Ellis Latham-Brown, Indiana Daily Student, best layout/design for page one, student division.
First place: Kyle Mitchell, WTIU, best radio feature, student division.
First place: Staff, IDS, best election night coverage, student division.
First place: WTIU, best election night coverage, student division.
First place: Arianna Porthero, WFUI, best radio feature, student division.
Third place: Larry Buchannan and Ellis Latham-Brown, Indiana Daily Student, best layout/design other than page one, student division.

In the professional division, several professors and graduate students compete with professional journalists around the state to come away with awards:

Professor emeritus Peter Jacobi won third place in arts/entertainment features for his work in the Herald-Times.
Graduate student Ann Shea won first place for best criminal justice reporting (shared) for WTIU and second place for best television sports reporting (shared) for WTIU.
Adjunct lecturer and Herald-Times reporter Laura Lane won second place awards for criminal justice reporting, non-deadline reporting and feature writing.
Adjunct lecturer Nancy Comiskey won a third place for magazine feature writing for her work in Indianapolis Monthly.

UWire names five IU students to top 100

Gena Asher — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:02:40 +0000

UWire, the network of collegiate journalists, has named five IU students on its list of UWire 100 collegiate journalists.

Journalism majors James Brosher, Audrie Garrison and Georgia Perry joined IUSTV’s Alexis Hosier and Ronan O’Shea on the list.

UWire was founded in 1994 as a network for aspiring college journalists who contribute their own news to the site, interact with peers around the nation and post their portfolios.
Each year, the organization names its top 100. This year ,there were 825 nominees representing 135 universities.

Brosher, a junior, is a photojournalist and Web developer for the IDS. Garrison, a senior, was editor-in-chief at the IDS. Perry has written for the IDS and publishes The Robin, a satirical newspaper.

Hosier is an associate producer at IUSTV and O’Shea is sports director at the student-run TV station. Both are regular contributors to Palestra.net, a college media network.

Agency 7 modifies Web site

Gena Asher — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:21:10 +0000

Agency 7, the student-managed integrated marketing communications agency in the School of Journalism, has updated its Web site.

Additions include “Meet Us” member profiles of students in the class, a portfolio of new examples of the agency’s work and applications for students who want to participate.

Agency 7 launched in 2007 as the basis of a four-credit course,.

Senior Salute Thursday

Gena Asher — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:10:20 +0000

Door prizes, free food and a chance to win a balloon ride are just a few of the offerings at this year’s Senior Salute, a campus-wide party for those about to graduate. Sponsored by the IU Student Alumni Association and IU Alumni Association, the party is 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 30, behind the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center at 1000 E. 17th St.

The event helps graduating seniors develop ways to stay in touch with IU after they leave, according to IUAA. For more details about this year’s party, see this IU News Info story.

May 9 commencement schedule set

Gena Asher — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:04:51 +0000

Commencement ceremonies at IU Bloomington are May 9. Here is the schedule for the School of Journalism:

Noon: School of Journalism Reception, Hoosier Room in Memorial Stadium.
1:30 p.m. Line up for procession is at 1:30 p.m. in the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse.
2:15 p.m. Procession starts.
3 p.m. Commencement ceremony begins.

For more details, see the IU Commencement Web site.

Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » April

Weaver discusses research findings,considers journalism’s future

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Major article in Politics & Policy

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Grad student unveils new documentary

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Class reflects on Supreme Court trip

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IndyPro SPJ awards students, faculty

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UWire names five IU students to top 100

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Agency 7 modifies Web site

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Senior Salute Thursday

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May 9 commencement schedule set

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