Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » November

Spegele one of 10 Hearst Foundation winners

Gena Asher — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:12:30 +0000

Corya wins Counts photojournalism award (May 14)
Students celebrate Hearst achievements (May 3)
Students interested in magazines find several options to learn, network (May 2)

Senior Brian Spegele is one of the top 10 winners in the 50th annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program.

Spegele won third place and a $1,000 scholarship in the program, in which 110 undergraduate journalism programs at colleges and universities across the nation are eligible to participate. First place went to Brad Luttrell of University of Kentucky.

Last year, Spegele placed sixth in the contest.

The program had a record 142 students from 75 universities who participated. Samples of winning work can be viewed in the monthly winners section of the Hearst Web site, which will be updated later this week.

Duvall chapter set for new book

Gena Asher — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:05:02 +0000

Doctoral candidate Spring-Serenity Duvall will publish a chapter based on her dissertation research in the compilation Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Representation and Power in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures, which will be published by Cambridge Scholars Press.

The book will be available around the end of this year and was edited by Robert Clarke (University of Tasmania). The chapter, "Dying for Our Sins: Christian Salvation Rhetoric in Celebrity Colonialism," will be Chapter Six (pp. 91-106) in the compilation and was based on a paper presented at International Communications Association 2009.

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

Polsgrove launches online magazine

Jessica Birthisel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:05:22 +0000

Photo by Alex Farris

Professor Emerita Carol Polsgrove launched her Web magazine to explore the writing and publishing process through the experiences of writers. Her first Q&A is with Carol Sklenicka, author of a book on Raymond Carver.

Check out the new magazine.
Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Professor Emerita Carol Polsgrove recently launched a new author’s Web site featuring interviews and commentaries on writing and publishing in addition to updates on her own writing.

And the site, Carol Polsgrove on Writers’ Lives, debuts with a Q-and-A interview with Carol Sklenicka, author of a new biography, Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, a book that’s getting a lot of attention, including a Nov. 22 review in The New York Times by author Stephen King.

“It’s an experiment, a little room of my own on the Web,” said Polsgrove, who developed the site in WordPress with the help of School of Journalism Web developer Jeff Johnson and technical assistant Jeremy Lacey. “It’s kind of an indulgence, a way to sit down and have an in-depth conversation with someone I’m really interested in.”

Polsgrove said she always intended to do an author’s site for the release of her latest book, Ending British Rule in Africa: Writers in a Common Cause, but the decision to include interviews with writers came later. She decided to add this feature after conducting a fruitful interview with Sklenicka about the life of short story writer and poet Raymond Carver

“I thought it was just really fun,” said Polsgrove of the interview in Sklenicka’s northern California home.

Once the interview was complete, Polsgrove needed a platform through which to share the material. A believer in the Web’s ability to organize and archive important resources, Polsgrove thought the Internet could be a good venue for longer-form writing (her first interview runs over 5,000 words.)

“There’s an intensity and a wholeness and a depth that you won’t get in a 10-minute interview,” said Polsgrove of her format.

Sklenicka said in an e-mail that participating in author interviews is good for publicity, for gaining insights into her own writing and for communicating with the larger writing community.

“Participating in author interviews can be lots of fun if the interviewer has read your work and thought about her questions,” said Sklenicka. “Carol Polsgrove was this type of interviewer, so I was glad to have a conversation with her about my book. Not only that, but Carol is a terrific writer herself, and I’ve learned many things from reading her books. I hope the Polsgrove site will grow and grow.”

Polsgrove also noted the site’s usefulness to the burgeoning population of writers.

“I think there are many, many people who want to be writers,” said Polsgrove. “A lot of people think, ‘If I’m great, why am I not famous?’ Whatever can throw light on the power structures and institutional realities behind who becomes a published writer will be beneficial to them.”

For this reason, Sklenicka’s biography of Raymond Carver was an ideal choice to kick off the site because of what Polsgrove called Carver’s own “hard and luck-strewn road to being recognized as a writer.”

To add another layer of insight, Polsgrove’s interview covers Sklenicka’s own path to publication, including some of the struggles she experienced while writing the biography.

Polsgrove, who has spent much of her research energy studying the lives of writers, said by learning more about the authors of texts, audiences can have a different interaction with a piece of writing.

“Reading what someone else has written is a conversation,” said Polsgrove, but once you learn about the author’s own life experiences and writing processes, that conversation will be different.

Polsgrove admitted after reading Carver’s biography and interviewing his biographer, she was drawn back to his original writing and was able to consider it in new and different ways.

Polsgrove is not yet naming names, but said she has several more authors in mind for upcoming interviews, and she
is not limiting herself to only those writers who have been commercial successes.

“There’s a sadness in the idea of writing for money and fame,” said Polsgrove. She would like to explore on her site the basic human impulse to write even when the goal is not about publication or money making.

Polsgrove also is quick to distinguish the site from a blog because she said she has no intention of making daily or even weekly updates.

“It’s not a Web site where people will jump up in the morning and say, ‘Hey! What’s Carol up to today?’” she joked. “Because it says ‘Fall 2009’ on the site, I’ll feel some pressure to come up with [new content] by winter. But this has to be fun. I’m retired now.”

Fulbright chair Johnson busy with conferences

Gena Asher — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:49 +0000

Associate professor Owen V. Johnson has been busy as he has spent the semester in Poland as part of his duties as Fulbright Distinguished Chair in East European Studies at the University of Warsaw.

Nov. 18, he chaired a panel on "Polish-U.S. Academic Partnership Programs: State of the Art & Perspectives" at the Perspectives in Polish-U.S. Academic Exchanges conference organized by the Polish-U.S. Fulbright Commission, Warsaw. (Connect here to see a photo report.)

His paper, "Journalism in Slovakia 1948-68: A Force for Change," will be presented at Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Nov. 24.

He also will give the keynote address, "Defining the People, Serving the State: Slovak Mass Media, 1989-2009," for the Transformation of Media in Slovakia & the Countries of Central & Eastern Europe After 1989 conference Nov. 26-27 held in conjunction with the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Bratislava School of Law.

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

PRSSA meeting to focus on event planning

Gena Asher — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:10:28 +0000

PRSSA team wins Contiki contest (May 14)
Journalists for Human Rights chapter seeks photos for calendar (April 15)
PRSSA team submits Bateman competition entry (April 6)

The IU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America will meet at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium (EP 220) to discuss "Event Planning 101: You think you know but you have no idea."

Guest speaker will be Valerie Pena, executive director and chief of staff for the Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations at Indiana University.

For more information, e-mail PRSSA member Darcy Marlett.

Newspaper editors tell how they guide narrative storytelling

Sarah Hutchins — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:52:23 +0000

Photo by Jessica Haney

John McCormick (foreground) of the Chicago Tribune joined Tim Franklin of the National Sports Journalism Center in explaining an editor’s role in working with long-form feature stories. The two talked to a narrative storytelling class Thursday.

Panel on women in news set for Monday (April 19)
Panel discusses media coverage of LGBT community (April 17)
Lehrer draws on many presidential debates to analyze political process (April 15)

Longtime newspaper editors Tim Franklin and John McCormick talked to students in visiting professor Tom French‘s J460 Narrative Journalism class Thursday to shed light on an editor’s perspective of the craft.

Franklin, director the IU National Sports Journalism Program and a former editor of the Baltimore Sun, started the class with some insights into the future of narrative journalism. Staff cuts and shrinking news space have reduced the amount of narrative and enterprise reporting in publications.

"The reporters left behind feel increasing pressure to crank out blogs, tweets and multimedia," Franklin said.

While daily demands take precedent at traditional print publications, Franklin said locally based journalism organizations in print and online have the potential to focus on enterprise journalism.

"The successful publications left are increasingly recognizing that they holy grail of success is unique narrative reporting," he said.

Both Franklin and McCormick, deputy editorial page editor at the Chicago Tribune and former Midwest bureau chief for Newsweek , emphasized the importance of being an "idea machine."

"Put yourself in the position to be proactive," Franklin said. "Give you editor confidence that you’re in control."

Franklin and McCormick also discussed six phases of narrative journalism.

Develop a quality idea.

A good narrative story should be novel, necessary and narrowed.

"The best ideas come from reporters who have done research and interviews, looked through archives," Franklin said. "They spot a trend before it happens or find an issue."

At Newsweek, McCormick said editors asked three questions about stories. Is it surprising? Will it have impact? What’s the cover language? It’s crucial that reporters and editors understand the point of the story early.

Exploratory stage.

This is the stage where projects materialize or die, Franklin said. Reporters should do factual and personal research to gauge where the story is headed.

McCormick said it’s important for reporters to keep the editor interested in the project.

"It might be the biggest thing in your life," McCormick said, "but it’s not the biggest thing in your editor’s life."

Photo by Jessica Haney

Franklin (left) and McCormick outlined six steps editors and reporters should follow in developing the narrative story."Every great writer needs an editor," Franklin said.

Outline.

If a reporter’s story survives the first two stages, Franklin said he encourages an outline. This can be a skeleton of the longer story or a plan for the different parts of a series. This is also the stage when reporters and editors should map out the time and resources the publication will commit to the project.

Full emersion reporting.

Reporters should begin to identify subjects that will be the focus on the story and find secondary sources and documents.

McCormick warned students about "falling in love with your best sources." Just because a source is open and likeable doesn’t mean he or she is the right subject. Ask about weaknesses, he said.

In addition to indentifying a subject for the story, McCormick said reporters should collect the tiny details that can help create a "cinematic experience" on the page.

Writing stage.

For Franklin, this is the most enjoyable part of the process. However, he warned student to resist the temptation to empty their notebooks onto the page.

Photo by Jessica Haney

Franklin said working with an editor means a reporter will develop and write a better story. Reporters, though, must not be defensive about their work but rather understand the working partnership.

"You’re not stenographers," he said. "You’re storytellers."

Writing will illustrate the best, the worst and the missing elements of a story. Very often reporters will have to go back and do follow up reporting at this point.

Editing and publication.

"Every great writer needs a great editor," Franklin said.

An editor is a fresh set of eyes and can look at the story like a reader. Writers should assume disinterest, McCormick said. Every word is a chance to fight for the reader’s attention. Franklin cautioned students to not get defensive when working with an editor at this stage.

"It’s not about you," he said. "It’s about the story and the reader."

Faculty, grad students participate in MAPOR conference

Gena Asher — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:46:25 +0000

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

Three faculty members and seven graduate students head to Chicago Friday and Saturday to attend the 2009 Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research conference in Chicago.

Roy W. Howard Professor David Weaver said this is the highest number of journalism researchers to attend the conference in his 33 years of participation.

Here's the line up:

Weaver is one of the judges of the MAPOR Fellows Student Paper Competition and is attending the meeting.
Professor Lars Willnat will present a paper entitled “How the World Sees America: Political and Cultural Dimensions of Anti-Americanism.”
Assistant professor Joann Wong will present a paper entitled “How Newspapers and Voter Contact Impact Voters: Testing a Model of Political Knowledge and Voter Turnout.”
Doctoral student Jason Martin's paper is "Predicting Political Knowledge from Online Media Use and Discussion." He also will moderate a paper session on political participation and public opinion that includes Wong’s paper.
Doctoral student Lanier Holt will present two papers: “Ladies First? Did Gender and Incumbency Make a Difference in the Newspaper Coverage of Two 2006 Senate Elections?” and “Black Like Me? Comparing and Contrasting How the Media Framed the Campaign Coverage of Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama.” He also will moderate a research paper session on views of country, home and abroad that includes papers by Willnat and Yunjuan Luo.
Doctoral students Seong Choul Hong and ChangHee Choi will present a jointly authored paper, “Inter-Media Frame Building: The U.S. Beef Import Case in South Korea.”
Doctoral student Mohammed al-Azdee’s paper is "Agenda-Setting Theory in 2008 when President Bush was in His Last Year in Office."
Doctoral student Yunjuan Luo’s paper is "International News Exposure and the American Public's Perceptions of China." Yunjuan Luo also is moderating a paper session on international public opinion.
Master's student Shin Haeng Lee’s paper is "Selective Exposure to News Media: Individual Predispositions and Online News Consumption." The paper was based on a final paper for J660 Public Opinion. Lee said professor Lars Willnat’s comments on the paper helped shape the final product.

Martin article on college coaches in research journal

Gena Asher — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:48:29 +0000

Doctoral student Jason Martin‘s article, "When It Comes to Headlines, Winning Really is Everything," was published in the fall 2009 edition of the Newspaper Research Journal.

The article examines the visibility of college football coaches in newspaper sports journalism. A survey of national print media found strong correlations between a coach’s career longevity, his won-loss record, and the number of his team’s appearances in the Associated Press poll rating the top 25 college football teams and the number of times that coach was mentioned in newspaper and wire reports.

The article began as Martin’s master’s thesis under the direction of Roy Howard Professor David Weaver.

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

Lab, library closed over break

Gena Asher — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Multimedia lab closed Sunday, Monday (Jan. 15)
Lab, library set finals week hours (Dec. 7)
School adds 35 HD video cameras to lab inventory (Dec. 4)

Both the library and multimedia lab at the School of Journalism will be closed over the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 25-29.

The library is closed Nov. 25-29 and reopens with regular hours Nov. 30.

As for the multimedia lab, the last chance for over-the-break checkouts is Monday, Nov. 23, first come, first served. If you need equipment over break, go to the lab as early as possible this day. Equipment is due back to the lab Nov. 30 at noon.

The lab will be closed for checkouts Tuesday, Nov. 24. Students still may use computers in the lab. The lab will be closed completely Nov. 25-29 and reopens with regular hours Monday, Nov. 30.

Hatley Major conducting experiments for health policy research

Jessica Birthisel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Photo by Jessica Haney

Assistant professor Lesa Hatley Major is conducting research to find out how framing health news affects news consumers’ attitudes. She received an OVPR grant to support the work.

Franklin: Sports journalists in great demand (Nov. 14)
Business program interviews NSJC's Franklin (Sept. 13)
National media tap into Franklin's expertise (Aug. 2)

Assistant professor Lesa Hatley Major recently received a $38,150 grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research in order to study the presentation of health news and its influence on media audiences’ attitudes about health problems.

The grant was awarded through the 2008-2009 Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP). According to Donna Carter, program administrator, Hatley Major was the first journalism applicant for the grant, which seeks to support development, expansion and enhancement of research by faculty at Indiana University Bloomington, and to improve the faculty’s ability to garner external funding.

With the assistance of research assistant and doctoral student Stacie Meihaus Jankowski and additional financial assistance from the School of Journalism, Hatley Major will conduct a series of experiments throughout the 2009-2010 academic year. She says she anticipates holding one experiment this semester and two in the spring semester.

Using adult volunteers from a multi-county region, Hatley Major’s experiments will explore the ways that the presentation of news (referred to in research as the “framing” of news) influences the ways audience members think about health problem causes and solutions. She will create Web sites that present healthcare news stories about obesity and lung cancer using different types of language (“frames”) and then see how her subjects’ attitudes about who is responsible for the health problems are affected by the specific stories they read.

The study will include 140 subjects in the first experiment and twice as many in the second and third experiments. Participants will come to Ernie Pyle Hall to read the stories and answer the questions, a process Hatley Major anticipates will take approximately one hour to complete.

“This research is taking it to the next level,” said Hatley Major, not only because of the study of emotion (or affect, as it’s often referred to in research), but also because of a focus on policy-level outcomes. As she wrote in her proposal, “[It] is groundbreaking because it expands theory in mass communication and social psychology.”

In order to consider the policy implications of health communication, Hatley Major is collaborating with Robert Goidel, professor and director of public policy and research in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. Goidel and Hatley Major began working together on this topic during Hatley Major’s dissertation work at LSU.

“Some health practitioners say we need to not only focus on individual intervention for health care problems, but also look at the larger picture of public health,” said Hatley Major. “That’s why this research is also looking at outcomes at the policy level.”

School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm said the FRSP grant is seed money. This is the university’s way of saying that the project has potential for external funding, he said.

“This leads to the professor’s ability to attract external research funding in the future,” said Hamm, explaining that IU is dependent on external funding. “It’s an endorsement of faith that there’s potential there.”

These initial three experiments are only the beginning of a set of research initiatives outlined in Hatley Major’s proposal. Based on the findings of these experiments, Hatley Major said she plans to generate two publications in peer-reviewed journals, to give two presentations at national communication conferences, and to write two grant proposals for additional external funding in order to more closely examine physiological responses to combined news frames.

Indiana University School of Journalism » 2009 » November

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