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The Minnesota Journalism Center, the outreach arm of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, announced the winners of the annual Premack awards on March 5. The winners are: the Minneapolis Star Tribune in the Metro Daily category; the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder in the Weekly category; and the Mankato Free Press in the Opinion Writing category. Wy Spano and D.J. Leary of Politics in Minnesota were selected as the Graven Award winners for their contributions to Minnesota journalism. The press release for the awards is available online at http://www.mjc.umn.edu/premackpressrelease.pdf.
Professor Brian Southwell spoke at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, MD, in February to AIP’s Advisory Board, which includes news directors, scientists, and other scientific professionals from around the country.
Professor Gary Schwitzer hosted the following guest lecturers in his JOUR8192 health journalism graduate seminar: Ellen Benavides, MHA, health policy consultant; Mary Jo Kreitzer, RN, PhD, UMN Center for Spirituality & Healing; Sherrill Zehr, RN, PhD, management consultant; Stephen Schondelmeyer, Pharm.D., PhD, Director UMN PRIME Institute.
SJMC instructor Chris Ison hosted the following guest lecturers in his News Reporting and Writing class: Golden Valley Police Sgt. Nate Gove, speaking about reporter/police relationships; Star Tribune writing coach Laurie Hertzel, speaking about "altlernatives to the inverted pyramid story”; Minnesota Daily freelance editor Steve Snyder, speaking about how to freelance and get full-time journalism jobs at the Daily. Ison also had several guests in his Media Ethics class, including adjunct instructor and retired Star Tribune photographer Mike Zerby, speaking about photojournalism ethics, Star Tribune investigative reporter Dan Browning, speaking on anonymous sources and his experience posing as a hitman while a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, and author and columnist Jeremy Iggers, speaking about the pros, cons, and origins of civic journalism.
A new online alumni directory is available for all alumni of the University of Minnesota. The directory, called M Alumni Online, is a service of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and contains listings for more than 350,000 University of Minnesota alumni. For more information about the online alumni directory, visit http://www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/UMN/.
Save the date: SJMC Spring Celebration on May 5. The SJMC's annual Spring Celebration, honoring scholarship/fellowship recipients and graduating students, will be held on Thursday, May 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Radisson Metrodome Hotel. All SJMC alumni who are members of the U of M Alumni Association are invited; the event is $10 per person and alumni may bring a guest. Formal invitations will be sent in early April. For more information, contact mnjrnctr@umn.edu.
Aaron Brown, the anchor of "News Night with Aaron Brown," CNN's flagship evening newscast, and a former student of the SJMC, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Minnesota Alumni Association's 101st Annual Celebration, Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at Coffman Memorial Union and Northrop Auditorium. The social hour and dinner will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Coffman; the program will begin at 8 p.m. in Northrop. For more information, visit www.alumni.umn.edu/annualcelebration.
SJMC graduate student Pam Nettleton spoke on journalism ethics on FM107 talk radio on the "Lori and Julia" show. Nettleton says, "This was rather like trying to discuss brain surgery with Paris Hilton, but, ah well."
Chris Ison was quoted in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder newspaper on Feb. 23, concerning media coverage of businessman Reggie Fowler's bid to purchase the Minnesota Vikings football team.
Professor Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, is on the cover of the March/April issue of Minnesota, the magazine of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. In the cover story, entitled “You Can’t Trust the Government,” Kirtley shares her thoughts on why a free press is vital to democracy. Kirtley was quoted in a number of recent print stories, including quotes in Slate, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the New York Sun. She was a guest on several radio shows, including the Jack Rice Show on WCCO, discussing the recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals involving reporters who have been found in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury, and the Chicago Public Radio show “Odyssey,” discussing reporters’ privilege. She was interviewed on WCCO radio on Feb. 28, 2005, discussing the E! channel’s plans to re-enact portions of the Michael Jackson trial using actors to play the roles, and was also a guest on Gary Eichten's Midday show on Minnesota Public Radio on March 8, 2005, discussing "Network News After Dan Rather."
Professor Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, has been named one of “10 Minnesotans Who Are Changing Our Lives” in the March 2005 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine. Kirtley’s profile in the piece, entitled “Changing the Way We Stay Free,” calls Kirtley an “unflinching spokesperson for the First Amendment” and highlights her work to defend the right of the press in making information accessible to the public.
Professor Gary Schwitzer has been awarded a University Faculty Summer Research Fellowship for Summer, 2005 for his project, “Outreach to journalism decision-makers about best practices in health journalism.”
Lou Raguse, senior SJMC journalism major, won second place in Competition Two of the Television Broadcast News Competition, part of the national William Randolph Hearst awards. Forty-eight students from 31 journalism schools competed in Competition Two, which was the “Television News” category. Raguse was honored for two news packages he prepared for Ken Stone’s fall JOUR4451 Electronic Newswriting and Reporting class. Raguse’s award includes a $1500 scholarship.
A photograph from Professor Dona Schwartz’s series, "In the Kitchen," is included in the 11th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts.
More than 300 photographers from the U.S. and Canada responded to the call for entries to the exhibition. The winners will be on display in the Main Gallery at the Griffin from February 25 through May 15, 2005
Emily Johns, SJMC journalism major, was awarded third place in the In-Depth Writing Competition of the 2004-05 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. 70 students from 38 journalism programs across the country competed in the category. Johns’ award includes a $1000 scholarship.
The Minnesota Daily received an All-American rating with four marks of distinction from the Associated Collegiate Press for the paper’s work in the fall semester of 2005. This is the ACP critique service’s highest award. To be inducted into the ACP Hall of Fame, a publication must earn 10 All-American ratings within 11 years; this is the Daily’s third in three years.
Pam Nettleton, graduate student and instructor of record for JOUR3173, has published a book, William Shakespeare, Playwright and Poet. The book was published by Compass Point Books.
Professor Gary Schwitzer's article, "Beyond cures, breakthroughs and news releases: ideas for covering health and medicine" was published as the feature piece on the Poynter Institute website on March 1. The article is available at http://poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=78806&sid=2.
Professor Jane Kirtley was a panelist for "Journalists Under Fire," presented as part of Communication Week 2005 at the University of Miami (FL) on March 3.
The Institute for New Media Studies will host a New Media Research Breakfast onThursday, March 24, 2005 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in 100 Murphy Hall. Shane Nackerud of the University Library’s Uthink project will demonstrate the system, including how to set up a blog and start blogging. He will also demonstrate other features of the system like changing the look and feel of a blog, and using a blog to keep track of library database citations through our "Find It" linking service. He will also talk about the future of UThink. Contact inms@umn.edu for more information.
The Midwest Journalism Conference, co-sponsored by the SJMC’s Minnesota Journalism Center, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association of Electronic Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Associated Press, will be held on April 1-2 at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington, MN. For schedule and registration, visit: http://www.nbna.info/conference.html
The April “Emerging Digerati” lecture, sponsored by the Institute for New Media Studies, will take place on Monday, April 4, 2005 at the Weisman Art Museum from 6-7:30 p.m. The lecture will feature Douglas Geers, assistant professor in the U of M School of Music, a composer who works extensively with technology in composition, performance, and multimedia collaborations; Abinadi Meza, a multimedia artist based in the Twin Cities and an adjunct faculty member of the U of M Department of Art; and Greg Scranton, instructor in the area of Time & Interactivity in the Department of Art. For more information contact inms@umn.edu.
The SJMC will host the annual Midwest Graduate Student Conference on April 15 and 16, 2005. The conference provides an opportunity for graduate students from several Big Ten schools to meet and present their research in a supportive environment. Interested graduate students should submit an extended abstract (1000 words maximum) of a completed research or of a work in progress by February 10, 2005. Acceptance notices will be sent by March 10, 2005. Submit proposals to Adina Schneeweis at giur0002@umn.edu or place hard copies in her mailbox in Murphy 119. For more information, visit the conference website at http://midwestconf.sjmc.umn.edu/ or contact Adina Schneeweis at giur0002@umn.edu or Katie Foss at beckx058@umn.edu.
The Minnesota Journalism Center will host the 28th annual Frank Premack Memorial Awards on April 18, 2005. This year’s event will feature a conversation with Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Coffman Memorial Union Theater on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank. The event is free and open to the public; no RSVP is needed to attend. For more information contact the Minnesota Journalism Center at (612) 626-1723 or mnjrnctr@umn.edu.
The SJMC's annual Spring Celebration, honoring scholarship/fellowship recipients and graduating students, will be held on Thursday, May 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Radisson Metrodome Hotel. Formal invitations will be sent in early April; for more information, contact mnjrnctr@umn.edu.
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March 2005