The WORD’s Blog

This historic moment included three WORD senior editors: Jonathan Mena, Jacqueline Fernandez and Kisha Allison. Read about it here.

- The WORD
- The WORD Blog
- The WORD on YouTube
- The WORD on Facebook
- The WORD on Twitter
- The WORD’s Twitter Pics
- The WORD is an UWIRE Affiliate
- Current TV: “theWORDonline”
- The WORD staff at 2009 Presidential Inauguration
- The WORD staff at 2008 Democratic National Convention
- The WORD invited to the New American Media National Ethnic Media Expo & Awards, Atlanta, GA June, 2009.

More later.

Because I was so wrapped up in trying to get my students credentials for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver in August, and getting them prepped once they were notified by New America Media that three were going, and trying later for a WORD presence at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis (my trying was not as serious nor as successful as my efforts for the DNC in Denver) and then the Presidential Inaugural in D.C. (which they accomplished by themselves), I had slacked off a lot.

And I am still playing catch-up.

Lesson 7.

More should be done to encourage student contact with professional journalists. My Ford Foundation project, for example, allowed students to work alongside professional journalists in the field. Arrangements like this can more productive than merely inviting professional journalists to be guest speakers in class (though I don’t disapprove of guest speakers but in my experience too many pros show up and blow big-time smoke, and are rarely candid about the dynamics of their newsrooms nor candid about the ethical quagmires they must negotiate in order to do their jobs and look themselves in the mirror).

More examples: Students working alongside professional journalists at the New Hampshire Primaries and at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and at the Presidential Inauguration though the latter was more about pageantry. 

Imaginative projects can prepare students for the best internships and apprenticeships. 

 

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… instead of the above headline from the recent issue of the Hunter Alumni magazine article about Kisha Allison, Jonathan Mena and Jacqueline Fernandez at the Democratic National Convention. Why?

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This is a copy of an email I sent to NAM yesterday, regarding its publishing of two news videos produced by my senior editors, senior producers Jonathan Mena and Jacqueline Fernandez, about the gay rights protest rally at NYC City Hall.

Hi,

Just a note regarding my student senior editors’, senior producers’ video that NAM graciously noted on its front page November 16. The “Word” is actually spelled, uppercase, WORD and it is not an official part of my department’s journalism program.

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A writer for Hunter’s alumni magazine is working on an article about my students trip to Denver to report on the Democratic National Convention. I’m not sure when it will be published but I thought I would publish the questions she asked of me via email and my responses. I’m still working to document the trip so responding to the query was beneficial for me. And it might be a decent reading for anyone interested in innovative ways of teaching undergraduate journalism, especially in light of this economic crunch that could seriously defer students’ plans to attend graduate journalism schools.

 

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… that I’ve fallen behind on this blog.

I’m in St. Petersburg, Florida, right now for a workshop of several days at the Poynter Institute, having left yesterday as CNN was contacting Jonathan Mena & Jacqueline Fernandez about their reporting on the protest at the gates of Hofstra University, Long Island, the site of the last presidential debate. Fernandez got roughed up as did several protesters. The New York Civil Liberties Union has issued a statement along with the Nassau County Civil Liberties Union demanding an investigation of the use of horses by the NCPD. CNN eventually published M&F’s broadcast on its iReports.

Mena said that CNN might interview them later. Mena, Fernandez and Kisha Allison – the WORD trio at the Democratic National Convention – have been on a roll unlike any Hunter journalism students in recent memory. And what they do is infectious. I can’t wait to see what other student journalists are or will be doing.

Sometime tonight, after this first workshop, I plan to start catching up.