Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter, they are losing their allure for many people – particularly the younger generation. — Verne G. Kopytof, NYT, February 21.

Blogging’s soaring popularity reminded me of the mass appeal of  Citizen Band Radio when it was hot. Everyone had a handle. T.B. Knight was my moniker. After a while the sizzle faded. The amateurs had had enough. And the airwave returned  to the highway cops and the truckers who were using it before its mass appeal.  QMfE, “The same thing’s going to happen to blogging,” I told my students.

Wrote Gopytof: Former bloggers said they were too busy to write lengthy posts and were uninspired by a lack of readers. Others said they had no interest in creating a blog because social networking did a good enough job keeping them in touch with friends and family. [NYT article here.]

I encouraged my student reporters at the 2008 Democratic National Convention to experiment with blogging and they didn’t like the rewriting that I required them to do to post their blogs. Also, I was new to wordpress and it was too much to expect them to pick up on wordpress while they hustling for stories the Convention.

I was doing way too much copyediting and editing and layout. When we returned to campus, I noticed increased excitement – not action, just excitement — about getting students to blog either for the world or just as an intranet. I wasn’t excited.

The technology would evolve, I was thinking, and millions of bloggers would move on just as happened with CB. But where they would specially move was beyond my imagination. They  moved where personal information could easily be exchanged and writing was not paramount and multimedia was made simple and they could attract a group that would be interested in their mewing.

The heavyweights will continue to blog on — and facebook and twitter and … !!!

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. 

 

I’ve begun to notice signs of a growing awareness that most undergraduate journalism programs aren’t very good. Here is an example of one sign: An email from the Institute for Humane Studies in Arlington, Virginia:

 

Dear Editor in Chief,
… 

We have a workshop specifically for student journalists interested in career advice and
expanding their analytical tools and skills. We also have 11 other seminars on various topics related to the ideas of a free society. We bring together students from around the world who are interested in politics and ideas to seek a better understanding of issues like environmental concerns, globalization, or the financial crisis, and who want to become familiar with the foundations of free speech or a free press. I’m highlighting a few that I believe will hold the most appeal for your newsroom, but I encourage you to look at our entire lineup.

 

IHS wants a lot of money for workshop topics that would be best covered in course materials.

More later.

… 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?

Media is so vague though Journalism obviously is part of the media kingdom and too many undergraduate media programs are weak but their popularity conceals the shortcomings. I’m not splitting hairs nor am I concerned with what political and editorial decisions were involved in this editorial decision. The College helped with funding for the Denver trip to the Democratic National Convention and offered to help with expenses for the D.C. trip. So, I ain’t sniping. Just wondering.

At the time the article was being prepared, we – Mena, Allison, Fernandez, New America Media, which also helped with funding for the Denver trip, NAM editor Anthony Advincula, who has been strongly supporting the students, and I – weren’t sure if press credentials would be available since millions of people wanted to attend the inauguration and legions and legions of journalists wanted press access.

The students were insistent that they were going to go regardless of the availability of the press credentials. From January, 2008, to January, 2009, – encompassing the New Hampshire Primaries, Democratic National Convention, Presidential Inauguration and everything else not mentioned here – they were embarked on a remarkable journey, trekking, it seems, from one historical event to another where they demonstrated remarkable aplomb for gaining access to news events where  professional journalists were thwarted.

A hell of a learning experience, that’s for sure.

The alumni magazine article became available as Fernandez and Mena returned from the Presidential Inauguration where they stood shoulder to shoulder with journalists from around the world.  Allison couldn’t make the trip because of a sudden emergency demanding her attention. However, Luis Mostacero, another WORD writer who also writes part-time for the Long Island-based Noticia Hispanoamericana, trekked south as if he was filling in for her. Actually, Fernandez, Mena and Allison had been concerned about recruiting him and other students involved with the multimedia news reporting project funded by the Ford Foundation. The project, plus help from NAM and the College, helped them on their historic paths.

For this most recent historic trek, Fernandez came up with housing and Mostacero, who got his press credentials via his newspaper, helped the other two WORD writers get their credentials.

As of this date, only the print version is available. I’m not sure when the pdf-version will be available.

Below, pictures from Mena’s photobucket:

 

Jacqueline Fernandez, 2009 President Inauguration

Jonathan Mena, 2009 Presidential Inauguration

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.

It’s a faculty-supervised publication started by me and some students several years ago [with support from the College Administration] with the hope that my department would eventually officially embrace it and its concept [requiring students in J-classes to publish] as an official department project.

So far, it hasn’t.

And, nope, I’m not asking for a clarification or a correction. This is an FYI.

Thanks much for all NAM has done for my students. J. Mena and J. Fernandez as well as Kisha Allison, who reported on the Democratic National Convention via help from NAM [and the College Administration], are working on several other projects that I hope would
interest NAM. One is to help recruit their successors because they are graduating in the spring.

Sincerely,

Gregg Morris
Assistant Professor
Editor, the WORD

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.

 

QUESTIONS

1. How did this trip come about?

THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE ADDRESSES QUESTIONS 1, 2, AND 3: I became professionally and personally interested in ethnic and immigrant news and community issues several years ago and started working on projects with an organization called the Independent Press Association of New York, which is now known as New York Community Media Alliance. It’s a organization that works with ethnic and immigrant publications in NYC. About 90 members.

That led to contact with New America Media. During this period, and because of Hunter’s cultural, ethnic and demographic diversities, I looked for programs and opportunities to address my students interests and needs as well as my own. I was also trying to develop innovative methods for teaching journalism. That, all together, led to various projects that led to my getting a Ford Foundation grant to experiment with a multimedia ethnic news reporting project for students and all that led to the WORD (hunerword.com), via Kisha Allison and Jonathan Mena, being invited by NYCMA to report on the New Hampshire primaries with several NYCMA members.

That success of Allison and Mena – remember, they were actually jockeying for stories with pros from local community news publications — led to an invitation by New America Media for the WORD, via my students, to be invited to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. NAM got the students press access and provided some funding for the trip. Allison, Mena and I invited Jacqueline Fernandez because of her interests in ethnic/immigrant news and community issues and, equally important, because she was a charter enrollee of my first multimedia ethnic reporting class. There were two other students we wanted to invite — charter members of my first  multimedia ethnic reporting class – but there wasn’t enough funding. It has to be said, however, that the College was very generous with helping us financially with the trip.

Funds from the Ford grant + the College’s support [via the Prez and Provost] + funding from New America Media resulted in the students’ air fare and hotel costs as well as major in-city transportation being covered. I think much if not all of their out-of-pocket expenses were covered. The students were determined to go regardless of how their expenses were to be covered but the College made it easy for them to focus on the assignment and not worry about post-convention credit card expenses.

Please note: Allison and Mena were not in my first multimedia ethnic reporting class. They were enrollees in my basic reporting classes but demonstrated a very clear interest in ethnic/immigrant news and community issues. And they were very talented.

2. How did you choose the students who would be traveling with you to Denver? The answer is above.

3. How was the trip financed? What role did Hunter play in helping to offset travel and other costs? ANSWERED ABOVE.

4. What did you hope the students would learn on this trip?

ANSWWER: Besides hoping that this very real-world experience would, at what appeared to be a moment of significant history in the making, enhance their classroom experiences, I was also hoping that this instructor would learn better ways of teaching. I am regularly experimenting with innovative ways of teaching journalism, such as requiring students to publish articles in their introductory and introductory-advanced news writing classes [most undergraduate instructors don't]. So, based on what I saw in New Hampshire with Allison and Mena, I was hoping to enrich their journalism education by their exposure to real world challenges as well as their exposure to real world journalists and then learning for myself a better way of teaching my classes. For example, instead of inviting pros to my classroom for guest lectures about the real well of journalism, I had an opportunity to immerse some students in a real world exercise that was going down in the history books. And I was evaluating them as I evaluated myself.

 

Are you happy with the outcome? ANSWER: I am very, very, very pleased. I believe this trip opened new vistas for teaching journalism to students as the real world of journalism is radically changing. It’s safe to say, I think, that Mena-Allison-Fernandez have been pioneers for the next step in journalism education. They help the WORD to get prominent notice and certainly generated attention about Hunter. There is a lot that can be accomplished in a classroom, of course, but there is a lot that can’t, which is why good instructors encourage their students to apply for internships: To get as much practical experience as possible. But I have to say this experience crammed a lot more into my students than what they might have gotten from a regular newsroom internship. Obviously, most internships don’t allow interns to go to a national convention.

And this trip allowed a real evaluation of my classroom instruction because I was able to see how students’ basic boot camp instruction really prepares them for the next step. But I have to point out these students’ commitment and drive were exceptional: They were up around 6 a.m. and their work day ended around 3 a.m.

Also, there was an interesting synergy between instructor and student. This was not a for-credit exercise, which meant that student and instructor had to relate to each other in a nontraditional way. That is: As peers and not as peers.

There was definitely a give-and-take going on as the teacher-student relationship required new boundaries. The students were treated as professional journalists and they reacted as professional journalists, which meant that the normal class model of professor leading (no matter how benevolent) and students following was tossed as soon as the students and professor arrived at the media center where all the journalists were bivouacked.

5. What were some of the highlights of the trip? ANSWER: Some I witnessed and some I learned about. LEARNED: Mena and Fernandez getting access to the convention floor for Biden’s acceptance speech. They did several interviews there. Mena and Fernandez broadcasting live via the internet — that’s not taught in any class here at Hunter. Allison’s relentless pursuit of caucuses dealing with issues pertinent to issues in the black community here in NYC. I was awed by her persistence. OBSERVED: Allison was the only one who published articles in NAM’s website, a site for professional journalists and writers.  Mena and Fernandez, however, participated in a NAM internet broadcast as well as producing content for the the WORD via Youtube. I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD FIND A WAY TO WRITE ABOUT THIS WITHOUT OFFENDING OUR NMA HOSTS: MENA AND FERNANDEZ TECHNICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE WAY AHEAD OF THE NAM PRODUCERS. WAY AHEAD. I can provide more LEARNED and OBSERVED if you want but these are the ones I most remember now.

6. What are your thoughts on the pieces of journalism that your students produced while in Denver? ANSWERED ABOVE.

7. Did you also help organize your students’ reporting trip to New Hampshire during the primary season? YES. ANSWERED ABOVE.

8. What do real-world reporting experiences provide to journalism students that classroom time cannot? ANSWERED ABOVE, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THIS: Students in my advanced reporting classes are required to attend City Council and Community Board meetings for reporting assignments as well as visit State Supreme Court for research assignments. I would love to squeeze in a reporting assignment requiring a visit to the State Legislature. But these kind of assignments, as important as they are, are no where near what Allison, Mena and Fernandez did. I would like to find a way to require my colleagues to give their J-students more real-world out of class assignments but I could best spend my time trying to learn to walk on water. More and more students, however, know the score.

 

9. Is this the first time that you traveled with your students to a political convention? ANSWER: Yes. Would you do it again? Why or why not? ANSWER: Absolutely yes. I believe such experiences can significantly enhance the learning experience of students, even if they don’t want journalism careers, per se. I believe such experiences give students the opportunities to evaluate if they really want to go into the business. These kind of experiences, however, are not for most students though can be food for many students. I hope that makes sense. Students involved in such activities have to be self-starters and have to be willing to take risks and have to learn from their mistakes. Which raises the question: Did the dynamic trio make mistakes? I don’t know, I didn’t observe any. But if there were I truly believe they did what the pros do: Quickly compensate when things go wrong.

10. What is your official title — and how long have you been teaching at Hunter? ANSWER: Assistant Professor. I forgot how many years. About 15, I think. If you need more specifics about this, I can get them to you sometime this week.

11. Anything else you’d like to add? NOPE. You ask really thorough questions. Where do you want me to drop off the DVD of high-res pictures?

-30-

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.

I can’t:

From Left to right: Kisha Allison, Jonathan Mena and Jacqueline Fernandez.

I have about 40 students enrolled in three writing classes, two advanced, and I can’t even begin to think about chasing the debates or some of the other events planned in the New York City metro area even though I can feel the heat of the chase. Their plan: Blog, Video blog, publish, publish, publish.

My message was [Subject: The Bunny Says ... If It Was Alive ...]:

… that you three really don’t need to consult with me anymore. You, perhaps, need me as a consultant or someone to bounce ideas off or someone to help with logistics like how to get press passes or what do you think of this or we need a second camera or a Best Boy or chauffeur [ugh] to you help with this or that, etcetera.

But you are way beyond the point of needing to meet with me to strategize or develop plans.

You will probably need access to my office, yep.

Because classes have started, and I have 35 students I’m not going to be able to keep up with you in terms of strategy sessions and stuff, more like logistical help.

Also, all of you are so hot as a group that you can check out possible funding from the College Auxiliary Board for funding, the application process starts soon and you have faculty and staff contacts in F/M, Black and Latino Studies, Long Distance Learning  (the old name) and Asian American Studies and a whole lot more.

So, go for it. Don’t burn out.

Meanwhile, I will be following up on Manhattan Cable, CUNY-TV, Oni and some other stuff. Two of you are doing Independent Studies with me and one is “in” two of my classes so we can meet once a month or so but you are really way ahead of me.

 

There were times in Denver when I was observing them as if they were taking a final exam. There were times I was observing and wondering where, in the course of our student-teacher relationship, I was successful and unsuccessful, where improvement on my part would have meant improvement on their part.

I would have given them all A-pluses.