Indiana University School of Journalism » Twitter

French revisits Pulitzer Prize-winning story

SoJ Web Report — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:18:08 +0000

Riley Visiting Professor Tom French continued to follow the story of the murder of three Ohio women documented in his Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Angels & Demons, by meeting with their husband and father just before the man convicted of the murders was executed in a Florida prison.

His latest piece of the story was published in the St. Petersburg Times Nov. 16. But the story began decades ago. As a reporter at the newspaper, French covered the 1989 case of Joan Rogers and her daughters, Michelle and Christe, whose bodies were found floating in Tampa Bay.

Three years later, Oba Chandler was convicted of their murders. He was executed by lethal injection Nov. 15 in Florida. French’s coverage of the case, serialized in the newspaper over several weeks, won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1998.

The week before the execution, French met with Hal Rogers, the husband and father of the murdered women, at the family farm in Ohio. The two also talked the day of the execution at Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla.

Since 2009, French has taught narrative storytelling courses at the School of Journalism. He also is an alumnus of the program, graduating in 1981, and was awarded the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award in September.

Read the latest story published Nov. 16.
Aquila presents research at Feb. 20 colloquium (Feb. 12)
Ibold guest of Kling Center Speaker Series (Feb. 9)
Ibold to talk on 'Dissent at Distance' (Feb. 9)

IU students sweep Keating competition

SoJ Web Report — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:53:30 +0000

Photo by Jim Kelly

IU students swept the Keating awards. From left are first place winner Lauren Sedam, second place winner Michael Auslen and third place winner Danielle Paquette.

IU journalism students swept the 25th annual Thomas R. Keating Feature Writing Contest Nov. 12, taking the top three prizes.

Lauren Sedam of Indiana University won first place and $2,500 prize money for her feature story. Michael Auslen finished second and won $1,250 and Danielle Paquette won third place and $750.

"I'm proud that our students dominated the competition and am grateful the journalists in Indianapolis put on a such a high-quality educational experience for the journalism students of Indiana," said associate professor Jim Kelly, who accompanied the students along with Student Media director Ron Johnson and Indiana Daily Student editorial adviser Ruth Witmer.

The contest, sponsored by the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation, drew 35 entrants, 10 of whom were selected as finalists to compete in an on-the-spot feature writing assignment as part of Saturday’s activities. This year, the finalists were dropped off at the Indiana State Museum and Eiteljorg Museum at 11 a.m. and were given four hours to develop and write feature stories. The Indianapolis Star provided space in its newsroom for the finalists to craft their stories.

IU students comprised nine of the 10 finalists, including Claire Aronson, Elizabeth “Biz” Carson, Margaret Ely, Lindsey Erdody, Sean Morrison and MaryJane Slaby in addition to the three top finishers. Each received $100 for being a top 10 finisher.

"Being chosen a finalist in this annual competition is a significant achievement," said Kelly. "Each gets a one-on-one critique session with an Indianapolis Press Club member and then a chance to report and write a feature story under deadline pressure."

The writing contest is named in honor of Tom Keating, a popular former Indianapolis Star columnist and Lilly Endowment executive who died in 1985 at the age of 45.

To date, the foundation has awarded more than $210,000 to help students further their educations.

More:

Learn more about the 2011 Keating competition.
Read about IU students' success in the 2010 contest.

Columnist Brooks to lead fall Speaker Series

SoJ Web Report — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:59:42 +0000

Courtesy photo

New York Times columnist and author David Brooks will visit Nov. 1.

New York Times columnist David Brooks will lead off the school’s fall Speaker Series with a talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

Brooks has been an op-ed columnist at the Times since 2003, and had been senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributor to Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly. He is a commentator on PBS NewsHour, and appears regularly on CNN and NPR.

In the mid-1990s, Brooks reported for the Wall Street Journal from Brussels, covering Russia, the Middle East, South Africa and Europe.

He is author of several books, including The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, published earlier this year; Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There; and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense. He edited the anthology, Backward and Upward: the New Conservative Writing.

The School of Journalism Speaker Series gives students and area residents the opportunity to meet with some of the top media professionals in the country. This year, the series has featured panels of distinguished alumni as speakers in honor of the 100th anniversary of journalism education at IU.

Brooks' visit is co-sponsored by the IU Center on Congress, which is led by former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton. The center aims to educate Americans about the role of representative government through events, outreach and resource development.

Students, faculty earn SPJ state honors

SoJ Web Report — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:13:37 +0000

Courtesy photo

From left, IU students honored by the Indy Pro Chapter are MJ Slaby, Sean Morrison, Kolby Harrell, Sarah Hutchins, Caitlin Johnston, Alex Brown and Megan Erbacher.

Students, faculty and alumni earned numerous awards for their work and journalism senior Caitlin Johnston was named Indiana Student Journalist of the Year at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Indy Pro Chapter annual awards banquet April 22.

Students working on the Indiana Daily Student, Inside magazine and Bloomington’s WFHB community radio competed in the collegiate section. Johnston was honored for her overall body of work for the IDS and Inside.

Some of the work, such articles in 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana and some of the audio pieces airing on WFHB, were created as part of their journalism class work.

Here are the student winners:

Michael Auslen, Mary Kenney, first place, coverage of government or politics (print), IDS.
Alex Benson, Molly Johnson, Bailey Loosemore, Jake New and John Seasly, first place, series, IDS.
Alexandra Brown, third place, feature, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana.
Kenny Bruns, first place, medical/science reporting, WFHB.
Larry Buchanan, first place, page one/cover, Inside; second place, page one/cover, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana; first place, design other than page one/cover, Inside; second place, design other than page one/cover, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana.
Biz Carson, first place, non-deadline news, IDS.
Kelly Cochran, first place, feature, IDS.
Mark Fishman, Rachel Stark, CJ Lotz, Caitlin Johnston, first place lifestyle feature, Inside magazine.
Bennett Fuson, third place, coverage of government or politics, WFHB (shared with staffers); third place, newscast, WFHB (shared with staffers).
Jessica Haney, first place, in-depth reporting, IDS.
Kolby Harrell, first place, sports reporting, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana.
Sarah Hutchins, first place, spot news, Indiana Daily Student.
Caitlin Johnston, honorable mention, feature, IDS; first place, editorial writing, Inside.
CJ Lotz, first place, arts/entertainment feature, Inside.
Sean Morrison, second place, sports reporting, IDS.
Staff, first place, college journalism website, idsnews.com.
Staff, second place, lifestyle feature, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana, second place, lifestyle feature.
Peter Stevenson, first place, sports photograph, IDS.
London Swan, first place, college television, WTIU.

Courtesy photo

From left, Alex Brown, lecturer Nancy Comiskey and Megan Erbacher celebrate some of 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana's numerous wins. The magazine was produced as a class project last fall.

Faculty winners include:

Professor Emeritus Peter Jacobi, second and third places, arts/entertainment feature, for two music review columns appearing in the Herald-Times.
Lecturer Nancy Comiskey, third place for magazine feature, “Rooted in Memory,” Indiana Alumni Magazine.
Adjunct lecturer Steve Higgs, first place for coverage of environment, “Foul Farms,” NUVO Newsweekly.
Adjunct lecturer Laura Lane, first place for criminal justice reporting, “No one sets out to live a life like this,” Herald-Times.

The list of numerous alumni winners includes Chad Carrothers, BAJ'99, Elyse Evans, BAJ’05, Aishah Hasnie, BAJ'06, January Jones, MA’10, Regan McCarthy, BAJ’10, Andrew Anderson, MA'10, and Daniel Comiskey, MA’05.

More:

Download the PDF of all the winners at the Indy Pro Chapter website.
View the winners and listen to their work at the WFHB website.

Jump-start your job, internshipsearch at Career Cafes

Gena Asher — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:46:26 +0000

Read more about Career Cafes.
Experts Workshop provides networking, feedback (Nov. 15)
Sign up now for Nov. 12 Experts Workshop (Oct. 28)
Untold Stories:
Workshop focuses on nonprofits (Sept. 23)

Career Cafes offer a way to plan your internship and job searches. Career Services director Marcia Debnam will be on hand to help you develop your strategies and point you to resources.

All sessions are in the Ernie Pyle Hall library and are on a drop-in basis (no appointments).

The next Career Cafes are:

1-3 p.m. Monday, April 25
9 a.m. to noon Friday, April 29.

Questions?

Contact Career Services director Marcia Debnam.

IU tops Hearst for second year, three students to compete at nationals

SoJ Web Report — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:33:05 +0000

Photo by Thomas Miller

From left, Caitlin Johnston, Danielle Paquette and Caitlin Keating are three of eight college students who will compete in the Hearst's national competition in June.

Design group meets Feb. 16 (Feb. 13)
Brubeck places third in Hearst enterprise reporting division (Feb. 9)
Three win Dow Jones editing internships (Jan. 17)

Indiana University won the Intercollegiate Writing Competition portion of the Randolph Hearst Foundation's Journalism Awards Program for the second year in a row, and three IU students will compete in the national contest in San Francisco in June.

Caitlin Johnston, Caitlin Keating and Danielle Paquette are three of eight winners who will compete in June in the national writing competition, which drew 639 entries from students around the nation competing in six writing divisions. The contest also has divisions for broadcast, photography and multimedia.

Students who win the first three places receive scholarships, and schools accumulating the most points based on student performance receive matching grants. IU will win $10,000 and a medallion for its first place overall in the writing competition.

Johnston won in the opinion category for “The home front,” a piece that ran in Inside magazine about her Marine brother’s deployment to Afghanistan. Paquette placed first in the personality/profile category for her piece, "The shepherd's lamb," about an evangelist’s daughter.

IU is celebrating 100 years of journalism education in 2011, so these awards are particularly meaningful, said Brad Hamm, dean of the School of Journalism.

“This year will rank as one of the most remarkable in school history for our undergraduate journalism program,” Hamm said. “Never before in one year has the school captured the overall Hearst national championship in writing, had IU students win two of Hearst’s six writing competitions, and had a student selected as the Indiana collegiate journalist of the year.” The Society of Professional Journalists' Indy Pro Chapter named Johnston Indiana Student Journalist of the year at its annual awards program April 22.

Some consider the Hearst competition the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate writing.

“Obviously, we are so tremendously proud of the students whose stories have been honored,” said Riley visiting professor Tom French, a Hearst and Pulitzer Prize winner who worked with many of the students on their stories. “It's a testament to the depth of talent in our program that this success is based on the reporting and writing of 12 students.”

Most of the award-winning articles were written for the Indiana Daily Student newspaper and Inside magazine. French praised the student editors who helped prepare and present the work, and student media advisers Ron Johnson and Ruth Witmer for their support.

Follow the timeline of IU’s successes and see the winning work in the Hearst:

Paquette wins first, IU still first in competition (March 25, 2011)
- Read "The shepherd's lamb," the winning story
- Read CJ Lotz' "The accidental tenor"
IU still in first, two students place in Hearst sports writing contest (Feb. 20, 2011)
- Read Sean Morrison's "Gray Goat Cycling earns own victory in 6th-place finish"
- Read Rachel Stark's "Holding Out: Stephen Haas extends his running career with leap to the marathon”
Two place in Hearst photojournalism category (Feb. 11, 2011)
- See James Brosher's third place winner
IU ranks first place, two students earn honors in Hearst (Feb. 2, 2011)
- Read Danielle Paquette's "Man dedicates life to saving exotic cats"
- Read Jessica Haney's "Kiss or crime?"
Johnston, IU take top Hearst honors (Dec. 26, 2010)
- Read Caitlin Johnston's "The home front," the winning story in the opinion writing category.
Cochran, IU place in Hearst (Dec. 7, 2010)
- Read Biz Carson's "Night Owl-A bus driver enjoys seeing variety of people during his run"
- Read Kelly Cochran's "Far too common"
Stark recounts Hearst reporting experiences (June 24, 2010)
IU tops Hearst writing contest (April 25, 2010)

News bureau to cover women’s Final Four

Gena Asher — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:51:38 +0000

Learn more about the news bureau project.
American Student Radio launch party Feb. 21 (Feb. 9)
Students gain experience during Super Bowl week (Feb. 8)
File now to graduate in May (Feb. 2)

For the second year, IU journalism students will work alongside professionals to cover an NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis.

This time, the Student News Bureau will produce stories, blogs and multimedia during the women’s basketball Final Four championship April 2-5. Last year, a similar team covered men’s basketball.

Organized by the IU National Sports Journalism Center and the NCAA, the team of student journalists will have press credentials that allow access to cover games, practices and news conferences. Their finished work will be available to commercial and student publications across the nation.

Read more about the Student News Bureau at the NSJC website.

Willnat, Metzgar to present research in China

rdorgan — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:32:25 +0000

Metzgar

Willnat

Professor Lars Willnat and assistant professor Emily Metzgar will be among 18 Hoosiers traveling to Indiana’s sister province of Zhejiang, China, over spring break to take part in a symposium on business relations between the U.S. and China.

The conference, “U.S.-China Business Cooperation in the 21st Century: U.S.-China economic and trade relations during the period of the post-global economic crisis,” will be led by IU’s Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business and the Center for International Business Education and Research. It will be at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.

March 14, Willnat and Metzgar will present their research on U.S. media attitudes toward China. It focuses on public perception of China and its people, and was collected in the form of a representative online survey of 1,012 American adults shortly after Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in January. (Read the results of the survey.)

“It’s sort of a general assessment of American opinion of China. The interest is not just economic issues, not just security issues, but cultural issues as well,” said Metzgar.

The conference is the second conducted as part of a three-year initiative exploring U.S.-China business relations in light of recent global economic circumstances, and regulatory and economic environments within the two countries.

“The trip is a return visit for a conference that IU held in 2009,” said associate professor Scott Kennedy, delegation leader and director of RCCPB. “The real distinct feature of the current trip is an emphasis on helping Midwestern media understand China and report on China.”

Following the 2009 conference, Kennedy approached School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm about any prospective interest the school may have had in participating in the initiative, according to Metzgar. Hamm then talked to Metzgar and Willnat, each of whom have worked in Asia.

Metzgar worked with the National Defense University and the U.S. Institute of Peace, focusing largely on East Asian issues. She is also an alumna of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Willnat taught for four years at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has been a guest professor in Singapore and Malaysia.

“Lars and I identified some research that we wanted to do together that Scott thought would be useful for the work that he was doing, and he invited us to formally present this research at the conference,” said Metzgar.

The survey’s findings come at an unstable time for business in both countries. And many Hoosiers have certainly felt the brunt of that instability.

“There’s some anxiety about China in the Midwest, partly because the Midwest has such a manufacturing-based economy and a lot of the jobs that our parents might have had have moved to China where wages are so much lower,” said Greg Andrews, BA’87, managing editor of the Indianapolis Business Journal, who also will travel with the group. He'll be blogging during the trip at the IBJ website.

“I think when an economy grows quickly, and at some point China’s economy will actually be larger than that of the United States, there’s a tendency to view that country as a threat,” he said. “In some ways it does create challenges for Indiana, but in other ways there are actually opportunities and ways the Indiana economy could benefit.”

Andrews cited American “anxiety” during the 1980s toward Japan’s growing economy, which eventually provided great growth here at home.

“Obviously, now Japan has auto plants around the state that employ thousands of people,” he said. “Some of those plants that were a little more controversial back then are certainly seen as beneficial to the economy now.”

As the delegation’s departure draws nearer, Kennedy said he is fortunate to have such a mixed group of academics, business professionals and journalists on the trip.

“I think everyone’s very excited,” he said. “We’ve put in several months preparation for the trip. We’re ready to go.”

Spring Speaker Series features alumni panels

SoJ Web Report — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:21:15 +0000

Learn more about the Speaker Series.
Speaker Series: Counts' photo inspires Margolick's new book (Feb. 12)
Ibold guest of Kling Center Speaker Series (Feb. 9)
Ibold to talk on 'Dissent at Distance' (Feb. 9)

The School of Journalism is launching its spring Speaker Series, but with a twist.

In observance of the school’s 100th anniversary and year-long centennial celebration, the series will feature panels of notable alumni, among them Pulitzer Prize winners and media organization leaders. These panels are among the many events scheduled throughout 2011, with the school's main event a celebration Sept. 16-18.

"As we commemorate 100 years journalism education at IU, we're thrilled to celebrate our alumni and their contributions to the profession,” said Beth Moellers, School of Journalism director of communications. “We are eager to hear their insights about journalism and connect them to our students and our community."

The two events are the Will Counts Memorial Lecture in Photojournalism featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalists and the Roy W. Howard Lecture on Media Leadership featuring leaders in the newspaper industry.

Speaker Series events are free and open to the public.

The Will Counts Memorial Lecture on Photojournalism
7 p.m. March 2
Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave.

Michel du Cille, BA’85, is a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and director of photography at The Washington Post. He shared his first Pulitzer in the 1986 Spot News Photography category with coverage of the November 1985 eruption of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano. In 1988, du Cille received a second Pulitzer, this time in the Feature Photography category, for his photo essay on crack cocaine addicts in a Miami housing project. He shared in his third Pulitzer in 2008 with two Post reporters on a series they produced on Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Melissa Farlow, BA’74, is a freelancer whose work has appeared in National Geographic magazine, among others. She was a staff photographer at the Pittsburgh Press, the (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of desegregation in the Louisville public schools. She worked in three African countries for Women in the Material World, a book comparing women’s roles in different cultures.

Bill Foley, '77, BA’07, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for spot news of victims and survivors of a massacre in Beirut. For 30 years and in 47 countries, he has worked in news, creative editorial and corporate photography, as well as with a number of nonprofit organizations. Foley is a professor at Marian University in Indianapolis.

The late Will Counts was known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographs of the Little Rock Central High School desegregation in 1957. After a career shooting for Associated Press, Counts taught for 32 years at the IU School of Journalism.

The Roy W. Howard Lecture on Media Leadership
7:30 p.m. March 31
Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium (EP220)

Gerould Kern, BA’71, was named senior vice-president and editor of the Chicago Tribune in July 2008. He joined the newspaper in 1991 and has held a number of senior editing roles. Since becoming editor, Kern has directed a strategic reorganization of the news operation, including expansion of local, investigative and digital staffing.

Paul Tash, BA’76, is CEO of the St. Petersburg Times and Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which offers training for professional journalists and which owns Times Publishing. He has served on boards of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Associated Press and the Newspaper Association of America. In 2008, his newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Carolyn Washburn, BA’84, earlier this year was appointed editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer after leading newspapers such as The Des Moines Register and Idaho Statesman. She was Gannett’s Editor of the Year in 2008. In 2010, The Register won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

Leading Scripps Howard Newspapers for four decades, Roy W. Howard also traveled widely to bring global news to his audience. The school houses his vast archives and co-sponsors the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

For more information, check out the school’s Speaker Series page.

IU still in first, two students place in Hearst sports writing contest

SoJ Web Report — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:48:44 +0000

Brubeck places third in Hearst enterprise reporting division (Feb. 9)
Three win Dow Jones editing internships (Jan. 17)
Scholarship application deadline Jan. 17 (Jan. 6)

IU still is in first place and two students placed in individual contests after the latest round of the Intercollegiate Writing Competition of the 51st annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation's Journalism Awards Program.

Sean Morrison received sixth place and Rachel Stark eighth in the college sports writing contest, the fourth of six of the competition’s writing rounds. Jayson Jenks of the University of Kansas won first place. First through fifth place winners receive scholarships.

The program includes six writing contests, three broadcast news competitions, three photojournalism and two multimedia competitions offering up to $500,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. The top five winning schools receive matching grants. The contests are staged over several months, with the school with the highest cumulative points winning a medallion. Final awards are announced in April.

IU students also have collected prizes in other categories in the series so far.

James Brosher, BAJ’10, won third place and Peter Stevenson won 10th place in news and sports photojournalism.
Danielle Paquette earning sixth place and Jessica Haney taking eighth place in the in-depth writing category, one of the six of the Intercollegiate Writing Competition.
Journalism student Caitlin Johnston took first place honors in the college opinion writing competition.
In December, journalism students Biz Carson and Kelly Cochran finished sixth and ninth, respectively, in the feature writing category.

Last year, IU finished first in the Hearst Journalism Awards Intercollegiate Writing Competition after its student journalists accumulated the most points over the series of contests. Rachel Stark finished in the top 10 in the individual contest and competed for a national title in New York in June.

Indiana University School of Journalism » Twitter

French revisits Pulitzer Prize-winning story

Related

IU students sweep Keating competition

Related

Columnist Brooks to lead fall Speaker Series

Related

Students, faculty earn SPJ state honors

Related

Jump-start your job, internshipsearch at Career Cafes

Related

IU tops Hearst for second year, three students to compete at nationals

Related

News bureau to cover women’s Final Four

Related

Willnat, Metzgar to present research in China

Related

Spring Speaker Series features alumni panels

Related

IU still in first, two students place in Hearst sports writing contest

Related