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Past Pulitzer Prize winners
Last week was one of the biggest events in the history of the Journalism school. All of the journalism students could go for free so there was no reason not to go. Journalism classes were canceled for the centennial so we were able to go to the events. There were many events to kick off the celebration including Freedom Sings, a multimedia presentation on the First Amendment by using banned music from across the decades.

One of my favorite events was the past Pulitzer Prize winners sharing the stories for which they won one of the most esteemed journalism awards. Jacqui Banaszynski, who teaches intermediate writing and advanced reporting, shared her story AIDS in the Heartland about the life of a gay couple dying of AIDS. I found it interesting how diverse the stories were. Banaszynski’s story, she said, was a love story. The other stories were investigations and watchdog stories.

On Friday there was a technology summit. I heard from people who are implementing different models of journalism including such as Propublica.org, which is investigative reporting that is supported a large donation (or endowment). It’s goal is to find abuses of power. In a world where there is less room and money to devote to investigative journalism, it is great to be able to have opportunities to support this vital watchdog role.

The restaurant was busy that weekend. As I was refilling waters, I could hear discussions about journalism at pretty much each table. It was really interesting to just hear snippets of conversations—a lot of the time it revolved around the future of the industry—the same theme of the entire conference.

The centennial brought in some big names such as Ken Paulson, editor of USA Today and editors from the New York Times, St. Petersbug Times and the Kansas City Star, just to name a few. This just goes to prove that the MU School of Journalism is top notch. The new Reynolds Journalism Institute provided a great backdrop for this event. The building is finished and it is great, just in time for the Centennial. So much work went into it, I think that it went really well and was a complete success.

As part of Society of Professional Journalists executive board, I was able to go to Atlanta for the national SPJ conference. It was worth taking some time off of school and work to attend. When we got there, I first went a program on what to expect in the first five years in the industry as well as how to craft a powerful resume.

My favorite part of the conference was the presentations on narrative writing. There was a Pulitzer prize winning author who spoke about trusting our own voices. If there was a way that we want to tell a story, then the story should be told that way. There was another features write with the St. Petersburg Times. She spoke about ways to search for story ideas as well as how to write a profile that really gets at the true character of a person. They both spoke about the importance of realizing a “universal truth” to each story. This overarching theme allows the story to have more meaning to an audience.

I really enjoyed the sessions on features and narrative writing. It was pretty great to be able to hear from people who are doing the type of journalism that I could see myself liking… a lot. I admire this type of journalism, which is almost like fiction storytelling, but it is all true. This makes the stories resonate with an audience and it is certainly more powerful when the facts are true.

Another supersession that I enjoyed was when Charlayne Hunter-Gault, foreign correspondent for NPR, spoke about integrating the University of Georgia and the state of journalism today.

We explored Atlanta, (or Hotlanta, which actually wasn’t very hot). When we visited Atlantic Station, we happened upon an outdoor arts festival. I bought a homemade necklace, and we ate cheesecake on the patio of the Cheesecake Bistro. We also found a cute Italian restaurant by the Fox Theater as well as had some delicious southern cooking at Mary Macs. It almost was as if we ate our way through Atlanta, which was just fine with me.

So the conference was small, yet fulfilling, and I hope to learn more about the state of journalism at the wonderful Journalism Centennial tomorrow through Friday.

After my conference on poverty, I went to stay with my aunt and uncle who live in San Francisco. It was great to be able to visit them- it had been a couple of years since I’d been out there last. I knew my mom wanted to be there, but it was nice to have some one-on-one time with them. I visited my grandpa in Palo Alto on one day and then we had a nice family dinner where my other aunt and uncle stopped by.

Then since they had to work on Monday, I made a day of it. I visited my aunt’s office and then we went out to a sushi restaurant where it rotates around and you grab whichever sushi you want. When my aunt grabbed the raw calamari, I knew that the limit of my cuisine curiosity ended there. Needless to say, I did not try it. After my meal, I visited the modern art museum or (MOMA) and saw the Frieda Kahlo exhibit. It was super crowded but definitely worth it to be able to see those unforgettable works in person.

I also had a nerve-wracking bus ride to the Haight (or hippie central). While the bus was uncomfortable, it was great to explore the city and be able to see some sights. Earlier in the week I visited Pier 39 and had some delicious clam chowder. Then I was able to visit the public radio station KQED—the most listened to public radio station in the United States. I met up with a someone who runs a health show that introduced me to everyone at the station including the former news director who was really excited about convergence. I walked out of his office wanting to work there. The huge bowl of dark chocolate sitting out reaffirmed that desire. If anything was a sign, that was.

All in all, it was a great trip full of excitement before school starts Monday–A mini-vacation that was greatly needed.

Last week, I traveled to San Francisco for a conference on poverty. It was put on by the National Network of Presbyterian College Women—and my church paid my way. Last year the conference was in D.C., but I thought that the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge was a significant indicator that I should go again this year.

At first the topics did not seem to tie into the theme of The Power of Poverty much. We talked about race, class and gender and the intersections among them. I found that what really resonated with me was the discussion about class. With everyone so quick to classify themselves as in the middle class, class as a topic is generally glossed over. However, I learned that class actually includes more than I would have expected, and the divisions among class have very little to do with a person’s income. I learned that it actually has more to do with knowledge of middle class values, and access to resources such as education, emotional connections, coping strategies and health resources.

This really opened my ideas to understanding the different classes. For example, if a person won 10 million dollars–that would not automatically make them in the upper class (two generations are needed to change class) but rather what would make them mobile within class would be acting and having the understanding of the upper class and so forth. I really enjoyed the discussions, and I learned that it actually had a lot to do with poverty because it is all interwoven.

What opened my eyes to poverty was our visit to the Tenderloin district—one of the most concentrated poor districts in San Francisco. We walked the streets and saw a man pull out needles out of a black bag, smelled pot on the streets and say people just standing around looking hungry, but not necessarily begging. When we returned to the Network Ministries (an outreach nonprofit in the area) to discuss what we had seen, it seemed as if each girl saw a different thing. The buildings weren’t decrepit, the people seemed to have a sense of community, but we all saw that there was a need for something to be done. With less funding for mental health services, many people are not getting the help that they need. Network Ministries helps prostituted women leave that lifestyle as well as provides other services including counseling.

After this workshop, I left refreshed. After seeing and hearing all of this, it is easy to become really discouraged about all the poverty in all the different forms that exist. However, I live in a community where there is poverty as well – maybe not as severe as the Tenderloin district- but still I could make a change if I decided to. And you know what? It is possible if I find my niche and a way to contribute that I could make a difference. I just need to find where I fit.

This week I started to anchor at kbia– the radio NPR affiliate. I was a bit nervous to do it by myself, but I was able to do it and have some fun with it. Anchorining consists of compiling the newscasts from AP stories and student stories. There is so much responsibility in deciding what is relevant to the listening area, what stories fit the time allotted and editing them down. Then of course doing them live. I do four live broadcasts after the national news - one at 4, 4:30, 5 and 5:30. I did them all on Monday with the help of a grad student. Yesterday I only did the one at 4 p.m because I had to leave early.

What I’ve learned so far includes the importance of keeping news tight to the time allotted. For example I have either 1:30 or 1:45 minutes to do the newscast. This means choosing shorter stories that affect our listening area. Also, pronouncing words correctly is KEY. I really screwed up yesterday with the word “pseudoephedrine” and it was really embarrassing. But it’s live and the only thing to do is just continue. My coworkers at the restaurant were really nice and said how much they enjoyed listening to me on the radio. That made me feel good despite the mispronunciations.

You can listen to one of my podcasted broadcasts here

I am completing my last week at KBIA, NPR affiliate, this week. I have really enjoyed my time there. I am thinking that I would like to work there as part of my editing class next semester. Just the atmosphere is greatly different from KOMU (the NBC affiliate). It has a laid-back nature, but everyone is working on what they need to. It is a smaller newsroom with more opportunities to work on stories. In the coming months, I would like to work on longer-form stories with tons of natural sound.
Yesterday I worked on a story out of Boonville about a development issue. It was more complicated than most stories that I work on just because I have no background knowledge of development issues. I read a previous article 3 times to try to comprehend the issues. A reporter needs to know about a lot, or at least learn how to understand… I LEARNED how to understand more about development. Listen to it here

Our convergence class hooked us up with some freebies—including a free ticket to Ira Glass, host of This American Life. My friend from Lawrence was in town and we ventured to Jesse Hall together. It was great because he opened with his voice among the darkness. He said that he tried to persuade the producers of the show to have the entire show in darkness. They told him that maybe that would fly in Lawrence, Kans., but not here.

It was one of the most inspiring performances/ speakers that I have ever witnessed. We are just about halfway through the semester, which means that I am incredibly burned out with pretty much everything. Thus, to hear from someone who has the same perspective on journalism and his own formula for making it work, I was enthralled. Journalism can be about people and life, not just hard news.

Glass talked about how he got into radio. And what was really amusing about it was he played one of his radio stories eight years in that was self-admittedly really awful. It is okay to suck, at least initially. And it may take awhile to find that voice. He then shared his formula for a great story, which includes motion. There is always a bigger “thing” in his stories. Everything moves in that story to a greater thing—clues or information or something that is essential to the story. He also mentioned that there can be a little something in a story that is just there purely for the enjoyment of the journalist or highlighting the humor lightheadedness of life.

Among his advice to aspiring journalists, he played some interesting and FUNNY stories. One of his stories that I really enjoyed was when he went to the Oreo cookie factory, he was actually surprised that it smelled, well, like cookies since he was so used to Oreos being a processed food. Who knew that Oreos smelled like cookies. Only Ira Glass.

Journalism is all about communication. No matter the venue or the way of telling the story, reporting is still at the center of the field. Radio is going on the Internet. The Internet is going to phones. Phones are being used to upload stories to the Internet. All of this multimedia convergence is taking over the field. And reporters are tackling the challenges.

At SPJ we put on a convergence program with presenters that have worked in the multimedia field. They were not trained in online media, yet took on the new job descriptions since journalism is all about convergence.

Brent Martin, Managing Editor of MissouriNet discussed the problems of convergence including obscure working hours and increased workload with less funds to support those products. However, telling a story and communicating this is still the center of convergence. Jason Rosenbaum of the Columbia Daily Tribune, is a recent graduate and writes a blog for the newspaper. He spoke to the challenges of being a newspaper reporter as well as being a blogger. He said that once you get into the field, it is possible to learn how to take on the roles of convergence.

Our last speaker was Antionio French, Editor of PubDef, which is a St. Louis based political blog. French mentioned that this is really a product of today by feeling “cool and productive” through measuring the membership.and constant updates to get more readers.

Despite the cold weather and my perpetual runny nose, I decided to go to the Media Fair this week. I did not feel in my best state of mind to go get an internship but thought that I could get good advice from the recruiters. The Media Fair is where recruiters come in and hold open interviews for students in the journalism school. I decided to get some advice on what I should do to prepare myself for a summer internship.

I learned that they look for students with experience in daily newspapers. Even though convergence is a great thing, the emphasis is still reporting and working on deadline. Recruiters like to see that potential interns can write especially on multiple deadlines as well as cover breaking news. This is the experience that I still need to gain.

Last night there was a newspaper reception with a more casual gathering. A forum on diversity followed this. Few students showed up to learn about the state of diversity of the media, but I learned that there is still a lot of work to be done to promote a diverse newsroom. This becomes especially important considering newsrooms are being reduced, which takes away the potential for hiring a diverse news staff.

All in all, I’m glad that I decided to go and learn what experience I need to gain to have a reputable internship next summer and the following summers.

Discussing Watergate 35 years later, Bob Bradlee, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein present at the convention in D.C.
Citizen journalism is in. Blogging is in. Technology is definitely in when it comes to journalism. These and other trends I learned at the Society of Professional Journalists” Convention in Washington D.C. Hundreds of journalists used their reporters’ notebooks for a different cause- to record information at various classes from Oct. 4-7, 2007. This experience not only allowed our chapter to learn about how to get a job or how to report on various issues, but also allowed us to meet professionals in the field and realize that SPJ is so much bigger than just our group at Mizzou.

Among the classes that I went to which included a forum on climate change, how to take great photos, how to write interesting feature stories, my favorite sessions were the “super sessions” led by heavyweight journalists. One of these was by Ken Paulson, editor of USA Today, who led a class titled “From Superman to Subpoenas” that traced the cause of the “toxic” environment for journalists today as well as advice on how to unite a voice on 1st amendment issues to serve the American people. Editor Len Downie was also there to discuss the changing face and Internet presence of The Washington Post.

A big topic for this year’s conference was the federal shield law that is being debated in the Senate as well as the House and if it is necessary. Of course a majority of the crowd was definitely for the federal shield law. One forum brought in someone from the other side, which led to some heated discussion. One interesting fact was that Hurst had received 80 subpoenas last year alone. It definitely showed the trend of the government wanting the information that journalists have and the role of journalists to protect their sources.

The most attended session was with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discussing Watergate 35 years later. With them was Ben Bradlee (editor of The Washington Post at the time) as well as Scott Armstrong from the Senate Watergate Investigating Committee, Alicia Shepard (author of Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate) and Daniel Shore from the dinosaur days of CBS moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS. What a powerhouse! I felt so honored to even be in the same room as them. When they all took the stage, many rushed to take photos proving that celebrity journalism is indeed a reality. Hearing the stories around Watergate was amazing because that case broke the idea of regularity in government and brought the importance of the watchdog role of journalism to light.

Taking a call (or picking up a prestigious phone) at the National Press Club, I was among greatness with the photos on the wall.