journalism

Shedding light on traffic tragedies: Tribune reporter wins Feldman Award

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:24:32 +0000

Shedding light on traffic tragedies: Tribune reporter wins Feldman Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/23/2024 - 10:24

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

Business reporter Sarah Freishtat is no stranger to the challenges of covering transportation in a bustling city like Chicago. So when a fellow Tribune reporter forwarded her an email about a journalism award centered on transportation, submitting one of her stories was a no-brainer.

“I saw what the backstory of the award was, with Casey’s story and what her family was trying to do, and I was really inspired by that,” Freishtat said. “I really appreciated the award’s focus on transportation because it really affects people’s day-to-day lives.”

Her story, “Serious Crashes With Pedestrians and Cyclists Often Fail To Lead to Tickets or Charges: ‘We Can’t Be OK With This,’” explores the issue of vehicular accidents in which victims are injured and no one is charged. It also is the 2024 recipient of the Casey Feldman Award for Transportation Safety Reporting.

The reporting award honors Casey Feldman, a Fordham University journalism student who was killed by a distracted driver in 2009. It is sponsored by EndDD.org, which was created by the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation to end distracted driving, and by the journalism department at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information.

Two judges evaluated the submissions: Justin George, an editor at the Cowboy State Daily, and Chuck Plunkett, who directs the capstone journalism program ��Ƶ News Corps at ��Ƶ Boulder. George was formerly a transportation writer at The Washington Post, and Plunkett was formerly the editorial page editor for The Denver Post.

“Sarah Freishtat’s impactful story was an example of a transportation beat reporter showing unparalleled expertise, uncovering a clearly ignored failure of justice and public safety sitting right under everyone’s noses,” George said.

Vehicular crashes involving pedestrians had been on her radar for some time when she heard about two separate pedestrian accidents where a youth was struck while crossing the street. One involved then-17-year-old Nakari Campbell, who spent so many weeks recovering that she celebrated her 18th birthday in a rehabilitation center. Ja’lon James, 11, was crossing the street with his brother one morning when he was hit and did not survive. Neither family has discovered who was behind the wheel of the cars that changed their lives.

“I give a lot of credit to the families I spoke with, because it’s not easy to sit down and relive what is often the worst day of their lives—and I’m deeply appreciative of them letting me into their homes and into their lives,” Freishtat said. “Sitting in Ja’lon’s family’s living room talking to his mother and grandmother really drives home why this issue is important to talk about and why we do this.”

Reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson, of the San Francisco Chronicle, were recognized with an honorable mention for their project, which explored police chases. Their multimedia series looks into the statistics and methodology of police chases through storytelling, infographics and video footage.

Freishtat received a first-place prize of $3,000.

A Chicago Tribune reporter investigated how traffic accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists rarely lead to charges, despite the deep impact on families.

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Journalism Day makes triumphant return to Boulder

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 15:15:05 +0000

Journalism Day makes triumphant return to Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/08/2024 - 09:15

By Iris Serrano
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18) and Jack Moody

The last time the Colorado Student Media Association held its tentpole celebration of high school journalism in Boulder, most Americans got their news in print or on TV. Facebook didn’t yet exist. And the most advanced thing you could do on a mobile phone was place a call.

J-Day, too, has changed as young people increasingly ask thoughtful questions about the future of the industry and its need to innovate.

But pessimism was nowhere in sight last week at the University of Colorado Boulder, which welcomed more than 1,400 high school students and advisors for a day of learning about journalism, the media and more.

Shelby Javernick, director of student recruitment and outreach at the College of Media, Communication and Information, has regularly attended J-Day in the past, when it was held at Colorado State University, “so I had an idea of what to expect, in terms of energy and enthusiasm,” she said. “But my expectations were completely blown away, in terms of the number of students, their passion and curiosity for learning about the media, and how they engaged with speakers, our campus and each other.”

Students had the opportunity to hear from industry and academic experts who discussed topics like social media, generative artificial intelligence and career readiness. Some of the most popular sessions included a panel featuring representatives of ��Ƶ Boulder student media organizations, a career prep session with 9News personalities, and multiple talks about sports journalism. Hundreds of students also attended tours of the campus, CMCI studios and academic spaces, and the campuses’ sports media operations.

For students like Colton Kominski, who’s active with Longmont High School’s yearbook, the event gave a new perspective on how to do his work effectively.

“The photography and videography session highlighted the importance of capturing people and their stories—and whether that’s through emotion, action or being spontaneous, it showed me the power that you can have in your photography,” said Kominski, a senior. “When you’re done with the yearbook, it’s like a time capsule—it will be held in the hands of your classmates for years to come.”

In her opening remarks, Lori Bergen, CMCI’s founding dean and a former reporter, spoke to the need for students to lead the charge as the news industry changes.

“I hope you leave here inspired about the craft of journalism and the importance of the media in today’s world, even as the industry adapts and innovates in the face of new challenges,” Bergen said.

Bigger than the news

While it’s called J-Day, the event isn’t just about journalism and the news—which is why it’s such a natural fit for CMCI. In addition to its journalism department, CMCI incorporates communication, information science, media studies and other related fields, challenging both students and faculty to explore the areas where these changing disciplines intersect—fertile ground for the careers of tomorrow.

“Journalism includes telling stories in a more interesting, intriguing and immersive way to get people to care about something,” Javernick said. “Within our college, there's a lot of overlap with journalism—everything connects because we're always going to need good storytellers.”

High school students who attended the workshops said the sessions reflected the balance CMCI aims to offer in its academic programs, including an emphasis on leadership and communication skills useful in any career—not just journalism.

Marley Rich, a junior from Aspen High School, said she enjoyed a session on how to be an editor for student media.

“I’m definitely going to try and connect with the other members of the staff more, and not isolate myself just because I’m editing their work,” said Rich, adding that the chance to see journalism “not as a concept, but actually as a career, has been really enlightening.”

Career insights

CMCI welcomed back Savannah Sellers (Jour’13), anchor for NBC News’ Morning News Now, as the keynote speaker. From the network’s New York headquarters, she offered words of encouragement from the perspective of someone who had once been in the shoes of the students in the room.

“Exploring journalism as a career opportunity can lead you to so many fantastic things in your life, and incredible opportunities,” she said. “It is a fun, rewarding, fulfilling path that is only getting more interesting, no matter if it’s changing. Also, I will say that ��Ƶ Boulder was a fabulous place to study it.”

Sellers knows a thing or two about those changes: She is a co-host on Stay Tuned, a daily NBC news program aimed at younger viewers and delivered via Snapchat. She encouraged the audience to continue to make strides as journalism evolves.

“We need young people who are interested and invested in getting the true and correct information—getting real journalism onto any and all platforms that consumers are migrating to—and you are best positioned to be able to do that,” Sellers said.

Having the opportunity to learn from an alumna like Sellers inspired many students, including Kominski, of Longmont.

“Hearing from Savannah Sellers was so amazing, because now I know it’s possible to get into this career and make it my own,” he said.

That’s a perspective Iris Berkeley (Jour’01), operations manager for the student-run Radio 1190 station, recalled from her own time as a ��Ƶ Boulder student.

“As an undergrad, I was heavily involved in student media, including not only Radio 1190 but also ��Ƶ’s campus press,” said Berkeley, who attended J-Day along with student representatives for the station. “Both of those activities were hugely important when it came to establishing a career, and just helping me figure out what I loved most about the media field.”

From those opportunities as a campus journalist, Berkeley has enjoyed a varied career in media and communication that has included radio production, hosting and DJing.

That sense of possibility is what Patrick Moring, executive board president for the Colorado Student Media Association, wants for the students who bring such enthusiasm to J-Day.

“J-Day fires students up, it gets students excited,” said Moring, also the advisor for Rampart High School’s television broadcast program. “It gives them ideas about the tools that they need to work on if they want to have a career in this field and be a better journalist.”

More than 1,400 Colorado high school students and advisors visited CMCI to sharpen storytelling skills and learn about careers in media and communication.

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Demonstrative democracy: At forum, students show energy, curiosity about engaging with politics

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:32:25 +0000

Demonstrative democracy: At forum, students show energy, curiosity about engaging with politics Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/02/2024 - 15:32

By Joe Arney
Photos by Arielle Wiedenbeck

In sports, it’s often said, offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

For Cody Walizer, when it comes to politics, that’s inverted—good defense can win a debate, but it’s offense that wins elections. And that’s unusual because of how little time candidates spend on offense when they are sparring onstage.

“When someone has an opportunity to build, to go on the offense, but choose to play defense, that’s a bad sign for their position,” Walizer, an assistant teaching professor of communication in the College of Media, Communication and Information, said. “It’s also a sign maybe they’re trying to play these political games, as opposed to being a good debater.”

Walizer was one of nearly a dozen panelists speaking at a voter engagement fair put on by CMCI, ��Ƶ Student Government and the Office of the Chancellor, in association with ��Ƶ Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs. ��Ƶ 150 students attended on Tuesday night to ask questions about politics and elections, register to vote, and learn how to become involved in local elections.

Walizer was invited to participate because of his expertise in debate. He captained his high school debate team and has extensive experience coaching debaters, and said, “I can very firmly state that I have never seen a presidential or vice presidential debate that was a good debate.”

That’s because politicians rarely play offense, which Walizer described as constructing arguments and showing why your side is right. Instead, they play defense—deconstructing arguments and saying why the other side is wrong.

Three panels answered questions submitted by students ahead of time, which covered issues such as the role social media plays in political messaging, how ideology plays out with voters, and how students can involve themselves and help ensure electoral integrity.

Not taking sides

Leah Sprain, an associate professor of communication and director of the university’s Center for Communication and Democratic Engagement, co-moderated the event and frequently praised the quality of questions that students contributed.

Sprain studies democratic engagement, particularly how to support the ways people come together to make decisions on public issues—enabling participation, designing better meetings or rethinking civic norms. When she has worked to help other groups structure their meetings more effectively, she found participants may assume more knowledge about a particular issue than they actually possess.

“They wanted to hear more about how this election would have consequences throughout their lives,” Sprain said. “They were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.”

Of nearly 200 student registrants, dozens submitted questions, “which is a proportion of interest you don’t typically see, especially when some people are registering for things like extra course credit.”

Some of the liveliest discussion concerned social media’s capacity for good and harm, through generative artificial intelligence, advertising and the like. Sandra Ristovska, associate professor of media studies, and Alex Siegel, associate professor of political science, said elections have always been shaped by new technologies. Siegel said the railroad and telegraph helped create a national audience for Abraham Lincoln by offering more timely coverage of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

“They were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.”
Leah Sprain, associate professor, communication

Bogus content isn’t new, Ristovska said, and recent research suggests we’re good at not letting it influence how we vote, but in India’s elections earlier this year, “deepfakes did contribute to sexual harassment of women, the intimidation of journalists and the intimidation of human rights activists in the country,” she said. “We need to be paying more attention to those things.”

Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor of political science, talked about an essay she has students write at the start of her undergraduate course on modern ideologies. Each student describes his or her ideology; she consistently finds students support a mix of free-market economics and social justice issues, like reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights.

That’s not a coalition you typically see in the United States, she said, as those issues are claimed, respectively, by the right and left of the spectrum. Ferguson said she’s intrigued by Vice President Kamala Harris’ attempt to signal support for both camps “as a way to peel away voters who would otherwise sit out elections or vote Republican.”

“It’s really exciting to me to see her doing the very thing that my class exercise would tell you is the strategy to win an election in the United States.”

Other presenters included Chuck Plunkett, director of ��Ƶ News Corps; Toby Hopp, associate professor of advertising; Patrick Deneen, a visiting scholar at the university’s Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization; Molly Fitzpatrick (PolSci’11), Boulder County clerk; and junior Grace Covney, a tri-executive with ��Ƶ Student Government.

Learning to lead through government

Tyler Rowan, another ��ƵSG tri-executive and a junior studying international affairs, said he hoped the energy of the room translated into active participants in the election.

He got into student government not for partisan reasons, he said, but because “I wanted to make the most out of school and learn how to lead. Student government has taught me that—it’s taken a majority of my time, but I’m very passionate about it and it’s the best decision I ever made.”

That youthful energy was exciting for Walizer to see, as well.

“The emotional intelligence students need to have to be asking things about how do I engage in politics in a way that’s healthy, how do I have conversations with my roommates in a way that’s respectful—those are not things I’ve seen asked in a situation like this before,” he said.

In addition to being open to all ��Ƶ Boulder students, the discussion was livestreamed to audiences at Colorado Mesa University, in Grand Junction, and Fort Lewis College, in Durango. It was followed by a live viewing of the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz.

Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI, kicked off the event by encouraging students to seek out difficult conversations as a way to learn and grow.

“On our campus, we really are in a place where difficult conversations can and should occur,” Bergen said. “When we approach those with courage and curiosity and care and consistency, that’s when learning and growth and progress really happen.”

CMCI faculty panelists praised students for raising thoughtful, serious, nonpartisan questions about how to be active citizens.

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We’re not going to agree. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 15:22:24 +0000

We’re not going to agree. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/19/2024 - 09:22

By Joe Arney

How do you get that neighbor, relative or coworker to change their mind about abortion, gun control or immigration?

You won’t. And Matthew Koschmann wishes you’d stop trying.

The associate professor of communication at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information said our personal experiences should have taught us by now that those who don’t agree with us won’t be swayed by us correcting the information that’s led them to their beliefs.

“If anything, it’s the opposite,” Koschmann said. “We live in a very information rich—if not gluttonous—environment, and more information does not necessarily make us change our minds. … Most of us don’t say, ‘Oh, thank you for correcting me on my assumptions about the world.’”

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk to each other, a theme Koschmann returned to during Monday’s Difficult Dialogues series hosted by the university’s Center for Humanities & the Arts. He was part of a panel examining political polarization and how to stay good neighbors at a time of deep division in the United States.

“If you can’t talk about something, you can’t fix it,” said Jennifer Ho, director of the center, in opening the discussion. “So, how do we find a way forward—how do we stay good neighbors, no matter what results happen in November or in January?”

Polarization and the press

“If we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us—which is very difficult.”
Angie Chuang, associate professor, journalism

The panel also featured Angie Chuang, an associate professor of journalism at CMCI and a former journalist whose research looks at race and identity, especially as presented by the media.

“The news media is part of the problem,” she said. “It informs people, and creates this rich source of information, but it oftentimes polarizes people.”

It’s a problem that’s arguably gotten worse in the digital age, as the number of publications and platforms has mushroomed. Instead of the mid-19th century penny presses, clickbait proliferates through alternative news sites.

“The news media is not there to improve our national dialog or improve our nuanced understanding,” Chuang said. “There are individual journalists who are trying really hard, and there are organizations trying to fight this—but as a marketplace, it is trying to get advertising money. Understand that, and you become a savvier media consumer.”

Chuang and Koschmann were joined on the panel by Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, as well as moderator Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor in the university’s department of political science.

If you’ve tried to have conversations with people who don’t share your views, you know how difficult the proposition can be. Chuang said our social identities—race, gender, sexuality, religion and others—are seen as essential to who we are, so when that becomes the topic, discussion quickly veers off course.

“If I were to say, ‘Michelle, your views on the economy and foreign trade are just totally ignorant, and I can’t even understand why you think the way you do,’” Chuang said to Ferguson, “it comes off differently than if I say, ‘Michelle your views on race are completely ignorant.’

“If I say, tell me your experience based on your identities, that is a different conversation than, ‘Why is your position on policing or affirmative action the way it is?’ If we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us—which is very difficult.”

Defusing disagreements

As the mayor of a city with a well-publicized progressive bent, you might expect Brockett’s days are spent on friendly territory, but spoke about the difficult conversations he’s had with residents on any number of issues. He defuses such situations by offering to learn about how the other person formed their viewpoint, and sharing materials that demonstrate where he’s coming from.

It doesn’t always work, he said. Once, he sent a peer-reviewed paper to a resident to shine light on an issue, which she countered by sending a thesis proposal from a master’s student that she found online.

“On almost any topic, you can find something to support a position, any position, somewhere on the internet,” Brockett said. Online, he said, “many of us are accustomed to getting feedback loop, hearing the same viewpoints over and over again—and then it becomes inconceivable to you how other people might think something different.”

The panelists agreed that those difficult conversations are worth having because when you find a moment of connection, it’s authentic and validating. Just don’t go in expecting to bring people around to your ideological corner.

“If you are interested in being influential and persuasive in implementing change in your community, the most effective thing you can do is not explicitly try to change people’s minds,” Koschmann said. “Try to live a beautiful life of human flourishing, that is attractive and winsome, that draws people to you—and then people say, ‘What’s going on, tell me more about your interests and why you’re happy.’”

Two CMCI professors took part in a community roundtable to explore how we can stay good neighbors amid intense polarization.

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Reaping rewards of riveting river reporting

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 18:14:26 +0000

Reaping rewards of riveting river reporting Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/11/2024 - 12:14

By Joe Arney

Like a river, a good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. So, when Luke Runyon was experimenting with a new format to tell the story of the Colorado River, he traced its geography to help move listeners along.

He’s not the first to tell the story of the Colorado River from its high-altitude headwaters to its Mexican mouth. But as he experimented with long-form narrative for a six-part podcast series, Runyon found bringing his listeners along on a journey down the river made for more compelling storytelling.

“I really wanted this series to focus on human stories—the people who are adapting to water scarcity and climate change in real time,” said Runyon, co-director of The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information. “When it comes to covering water, you can get bogged down in the day-to-day negotiations between states or policymakers, and for this series, I wanted to dispense with the bickering and share what was happening on the ground.”

That series, “Thirst Gap: Learning to Live With Less on the Colorado River,” drew widespread acclaim upon its release in spring 2023. Last month, the project won a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, awarded to projects that exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.

It’s among the most prestigious honors in journalism and is quite the honor for a reporter and editor who, when he first moved from covering agriculture to water issues, wasn’t sure he’d have enough news to cover.

“I was a little worried, at first,” Runyon said of moving from the agriculture beat at Harvest Public Media and KUNC to covering water full-time for the NPR member station in 2017. “But now, I could name 10 other reporters throughout the West focused solely on water. There has been an explosion of interest in the river in the last four or five years, and a lot of pent-up demand for these stories.”

‘One of the best things I’ve ever done’

That demand is driven by a growing population that has strained the complex compact apportioning water in the Southwest—a troubling trend exacerbated by a changing climate. But Runyon’s work resonates with his audience because he is effective at finding the right voices and showing how, even amid partisan paralysis, concerns about water are making unlikely bedfellows—like between ranchers and rafters.

“When it comes to covering water, you can get bogged down in the day-to-day negotiations between states or policymakers, and for this series, I wanted to dispense with the bickering and share what was happening on the ground.”
Luke Runyon, co-director, The Water Desk

Runyon augmented his storytelling skills through a Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, which he completed in 2022. He called the experience “one of the best things I’ve ever done,” whether it was auditing courses that gave him a broader perspective on the topics he tackled in “Thirst Gap” or meeting like-minded colleagues who supported him as he broke ground on the project.

“It really was helpful for me to be thinking about these bigger, broader questions as I was getting into that series,” said Runyon, who was quick to credit his editor and sound designer for helping each episode shine.

The Scripps fellowship is administered by CMCI’s Center for Environmental Journalism. Hillary Rosner, the center’s assistant director, recalled Runyon’s enthusiasm for the program as a fellow; he organized a field trip to Estes Park, Loveland and other locations to demonstrate how water is moved across Colorado.

“As a fellow, he was a real asset—partly because of his enthusiasm and partly because he really understands how water in the West intersects with so many aspects of our lives,” Rosner said. “He’s able to share that knowledge in a way that I think can inspire new ideas, and you see that in the podcast, especially.”

The Murrow award, she said, is incredibly validating for CEJ and the fellowship, which attracts journalists from National Geographic, The New Yorker, CNN, The Guardian, PBS, NPR and others eager to sit in on classes to broaden their perspectives and spend time digging deep into important environmental issues.

“Luke’s podcast is exactly the kind of in-depth project that is really hard to do in the absence of something like this fellowship,” Rosner said.

Guiding other reporters on the path

Now, in his role with CMCI’s Water Desk, Runyon is helping other reporters engage these crucial issues. On any given day, he may be fielding calls from journalists struggling to make sense of water policy, running webinars or training events for newsrooms, or offering an editor’s perspective on how partner news organizations can collaborate to pursue a project.

“I was looking to flex some different journalistic muscles and learn some new skills in a news landscape that’s changing very rapidly,” Runyon said. “Journalism is a lot more collaborative now—you get a lot more done via partnerships, due to limited resources that news organizations have—and my goal is to be a resource for reporters and make sure the water journalism happening in the West is the best it can be.”

The podcast format itself presented a new challenge for Runyon, who is more used to writing a few minutes’ worth of copy for a broadcast. But he relished the chance to try something new.

“It was refreshing to find a new way to tell a story that I think of from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep,” he said. “I’ve been on this beat now for seven years or so, and I’m still learning and still finding things that are surprising. And that’s what keeps me so interested in my work.”

Luke Runyon, co-director of CMCI’s Water Desk, earned a national Murrow Award for an in-depth podcast series on the declining Colorado River.

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Class acts: CMCI’s new faculty bring new ideas on A.I., identity, culture to Boulder

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:16:32 +0000

Class acts: CMCI’s new faculty bring new ideas on A.I., identity, culture to Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/22/2024 - 14:16

By Joe Arney
Photo by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm'18)

When asked why they choose the University of Colorado Boulder, students and faculty alike tend to cite its location, along with academic prestige, research successes and access to opportunity.

That was a big draw for Joe Izaguirre III, as well. But it wasn’t the mountains he had in mind when he signed on as an assistant professor of communication at the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Izaguirre studies how political power influences Latin identities from the lens of public rhetoric and rhetorical histories. Plenty of the source material for his book includes texts produced by activists who lived in the Colorado area.

“I hadn’t thought of this, but I’ll be able to hand-deliver the book to families who participated, instead of just dropping it in the mail,” he said. “It feels like an opportunity to have a more personal connection to the things I’ve been studying.”

Izaguirre is among the seven new tenure-track faculty joining CMCI this fall. The college also is welcoming seven nontenure-track faculty, including new appointments for professors who previously held different roles.

“I’m so excited to welcome our new faculty to CMCI,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college. “As the media, communication, design and information landscape continues to dramatically change, the new perspectives these professors bring will ensure our students get a cutting-edge, immediately applicable education.”

“It was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating.”
Dinfin K. Mulupi, assistant professor, journalism

Design thinking

For the first time, this year’s incoming cohort includes faculty from the environmental design program, which formally integrated with CMCI over the summer. Though there are no changes for current students, faculty in the program are enthusiastic about the chance to collaborate with colleagues eager to explore new applications for their work.

Martín Paddack, a teaching associate professor who joins CMCI and ENVD following seven years at Howard University, has a wealth of interests around architecture and sustainability, including participatory design—“understanding how we identify where there is need and trying to create connections with community for design.”

“I always try to inculcate into students that it’s not about coming up with an idea and saying, here’s the answer,” said Paddack, who also is founder and principal of the Washington, D.C.-based DesignMAP firm. “It comes down to communication—asking the right questions and really listening so you can identify where the needs are. If you are prescriptive, and don’t listen to your community, that’s when design starts to fail.”

Paddack brings a diverse set of interests—architecture, sustainability, social responsibility, writing, painting, woodworking—to the classroom, as well as a global perspective: He was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Peru and Uruguay before moving to D.C. as a boy. He also taught in South America and completed a painting residency in Barcelona. He helped set up a fabrication lab at Howard to ensure students developed both practical architecture experience.

“That’s something I really like about environmental design at ��Ƶ—the focus on how we can apply sustainable principles across four different areas, and an emphasis on doing hands-on fabrication so that students learn the theory, but also how to apply it,” he said.

‘Great experience’ connecting with students

Most new faculty who join CMCI say they feel an instant rapport with professors in their departments, which makes the college feel like home well before they start. That was true for Dinfin K. Mulupi, as well, but she felt an equally strong connection to the journalism students she taught as part of the interview process.

“I was fascinated by their interest in learning the research behind journalism practices,” said Mulupi, a native of Kenya who came to CMCI via the PhD program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

A discussion she led critiquing news coverage of immigration, Mulupi said, sparked so much insightful discussion that she felt bad moving on to the next topic.

“It was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating,” she said. “When you’re a professor, you are creating knowledge with your students, and they were so attentive and involved that I know it will be a privilege to teach them.”

Mulupi’s research looks at sexism and sexual harassment in newsrooms, and came from working on her thesis as the #MeToo movement gained momentum. She was among the first scholars to explore the topic in Kenyan newsrooms; her work has since expanded to more than 20 countries.

It’s an important topic at a time when the news industry is contracting, as “when you have a newsroom culture with sexism, harassment, racism and bigotry, you lose talented journalists who don’t feel safe and included,” she said. “I am also focusing on solutions, especially exploring how we can build safer, more inclusive newsrooms that produce news content that serves the diverse needs and interests of a wider audience.”

Pooja Iyer, who joined CMCI from the University of Texas Austin, where she completed her doctoral work in the spring. She’s also doing timely work, researching the ethics around how advertising firms collect and use data in the course of connecting to consumers.

“In my industry days, I realized my own cognitive dissonance—asking how granular we could get on a target audience while having ad blockers on my computer,” said Iyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design. “I believe the advertising world can play a more ethical role in how and why they’re using data, and how they’re protecting customers—because there isn’t enough literacy around this.”

It’s something her student will need to consider as they graduate, she said.

“Whether you’re in creative, account management, media planning, it doesn’t matter—you will be working with data,” Iyer said. “So, how can we best empower you to be ethical about the use of that data? As educators, that really needs to be front and center for our students.”

Incoming professors bring an interest in cutting-edge topics at a time when the media landscape is undergoing dramatic change.

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Influential media conference becoming a CMCI showcase

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 16:11:04 +0000

Influential media conference becoming a CMCI showcase Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:11

By Iris Serrano

Empowered by social media and generative artificial intelligence, fake news is spreading faster than ever online—and it’s becoming harder to avoid, let alone identify.

Muhammad Ali hopes his research helps users battle back against malicious misinformation.

Ali, a PhD student studying journalism in the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder, analyzed how extremist organizations use stories and messaging on social media platforms to enforce their ideologies to individuals and networks.

“Platforms like Facebook and X are increasingly recognized as hotbeds for extremist narratives,” Ali said. “There is still a big gap in understanding the personal and psychological aspects of online radicalization, but the findings of this research show us how we can protect ourselves from propaganda.”

“The college does a great job promoting a diversity of viewpoints, research interests and intercollegiate venues.”
Kyle Harris

Ali was among the CMCI students and faculty recognized with best paper awards at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, which took place Aug. 8 to 11 in Philadelphia. All told, CMCI won five awards and presented 47 peer-reviewed papers at AEJMC.

“Our college was created to catalyze and nurture research like Muhammad’s, which doesn’t fall into any single category,” said Patrick Ferrucci, chair of the journalism department at CMCI. “The cross-disciplinary approach to our doctoral programs means our students are challenged to bring an unconventional approach to research and problem-solving. It was incredible to see that recognized over and over at this year’s conference.”

Another CMCI best paper publication also turned on social media trends. Kyle Harris, a PhD student in the advertising, public relations and media design department, co-wrote a paper on disability influencers and self-representation on Instagram with his mentor, Erin Willis, an associate professor. Their research, which conducted a visual and textual analysis of the narrative discourse of 14 influencers to see how they represent invisible and visible illness—won second-place honors.

“I owe a lot to the APRD department and CMCI for believing in me and my research and valuing my contributions, and providing the resources and support to shepherd the work of Dr. Willis and myself to the conference,” Harris said. “The college does a great job promoting a diversity of viewpoints, research interests and intercollegiate venues.”

A full list of CMCI presentations at AEJMC follows. Names in bold are CMCI faculty and students. In addition, many CMCI faculty and students in journalism, APRD and media studies moderated or served on panels, or led workshops, in addition to serving as heads of different divisions.

With multiple best paper awards, CMCI is building an impressive reputation at the annual AEJMC conference.

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In ‘other’ news: Can coverage be balanced when it comes to race, gender?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:32:00 +0000

In ‘other’ news: Can coverage be balanced when it comes to race, gender? Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/06/2024 - 09:32

By Joe Arney

When early reports of Donald Trump’s behavior at the National Association of Black Journalists convention started to trickle in, Angie Chuang’s first thoughts were not as much about the candidate as they were about the men and women in attendance at the conference.

As a reporter, Chuang—now an associate professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder—was a member of the Asian American Journalists Association who attended many conferences like last week’s NABJ event.

“Going to conferences like that as a young reporter was so important to my career development, my morale and my mental health,” Chuang said. “They became moments for me to say I existed in this white world, but I can be with a group that relates to this and can get help with things I may not be able to ask about in the newsroom. They were times of revitalization for me.”

That sense of community and support was especially important to Chuang as the first reporter tasked with covering race and ethnicity for The Oregonian. At the time, in the early 2000s, newsrooms were beginning to come to grips with the need to diversify both their coverage and their correspondents.

The economic maelstrom devastating media companies has arrested efforts to bring more voices of color to newsrooms, she said, with less Black representation in the industry today than a decade ago.

“I expect a lot of journalists who did go to the NABJ event had to pay for their expenses, or take vacation days to attend,” Chuang said. “What’s lost in this discussion is the entire event shifted to this focus on Trump and the internal conflict in the organization, and I’m certain that as a result, journalists and students who went lost out on some of that solidarity.”

When low key goes high profile

NABJ and news organizations like it have welcomed presidential candidates to speak for decades—Chuang recalls seeing contenders like Bill Bradley and George W. Bush accept invitations—and those talks never generate much in the way of headlines. As Trump spoke—casting doubt on Vice President Kamala Harris’ Black heritage and belittling the female journalists hosting the panel—news organizations began immediately reporting his invective.

“I can’t blame the reporters who feel these moments are worth covering, because I feel as conflicted as they do.”
Angie Chuang, associate professor, journalism

Ironically—or perhaps not—Chuang said an issue worth discussing in a conference like this one is how to cover a candidate with a long history of making coded remarks that are racist or misogynistic. She said there’s a clear generational divide separating older journalists—who see their role as objectively reporting what newsmakers say—and younger ones who want to challenge lies and hate speech.

It is refreshing, she said, to see journalists thinking more critically about their place in writing that first draft of history, and while Trump is causing a lot of professional soul searching, much of that dates back to the 1990s and the establishment of the 24-hour news cycle. Suddenly, the ho-hum became headline news as broadcasters raced to fill airtime.

“The mainstream media lost context as the loudest, most outrageous personalities were able to insert themselves into the discourse around the most important issues,” she said.

Chuang said she’s grateful to not be in a position to decide what’s news and what’s not when it comes to Trump—the mainstream media has been excoriated for the bothsidesism it employed in covering the 2016 presidential campaign—but she is the author of a forthcoming book, American Otherness in Journalism: News Media Constructions of Identity and Belonging, that she’s had to extensively recast to consider the profound changes in how journalists think about and do their work in the Trump age. The book is due out next fall.

“It’s about how the mainstream news media has constructed American identity—and how it is conditional and different when people are either people of color or immigrants, or perceived as other in some way,” she said. “Trump has dramatically shifted the narrative with his coded speech about race—and talent for inserting himself into stories about race to ensure all the attention goes to him.”

Was the insatiable coverage of Trump’s remarks an example of important coverage of a newsmaker, or just amplifying red meat for his base? Even as a scholar whose expertise is the role of culture in constructing identities, and a reporter who covered such topics, Chuang admitted she isn’t always sure.

“It is impossible to ignore these things, because they are racist and misogynistic, and they are emblematic of who he is,” she said. “And yet, it has this way of sucking the life out of all political discussion, crowding out more important issues and stories.

“We really need to train reporters to give more context, to take a breath and not just focus on being first out there. And I know that’s really hard, because the rewards for being first and getting those clicks ahead of the crowd are well established at this point. So I can’t blame the reporters who feel these moments are worth covering, because I feel as conflicted as they do.”

Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast of The Associated Press.

When Donald Trump got the headlines from last week’s NABJ conference, it obscured the lost opportunity for reporters of color to share ideas on how to cover controversial newsmakers.

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Seeing what develops from an instantly iconic photo

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 23:54:08 +0000

Seeing what develops from an instantly iconic photo Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/15/2024 - 17:54

By Joe Arney

The facial expression Donald Trump is making. The positions of the Secret Service agents trying to shield him. The angle of the American flag and the unbroken shade of blue sky in the backdrop.

Ross Taylor has total recall of what he called “the perfect news photo,” taken in the moments after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“The composition truly helps this photo stand out,” said Taylor, an assistant professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder and an award-winning photojournalist. He described what he called “a perfect circle of entry” beginning with the agents, moving to Trump’s bloodied face and raised fist, and a clean background that helps the viewer understand what’s happening.

“It’s emblematic of the journalists who put themselves out there—when others are running away from violence, they respond so we can have a better understanding of what happened.”
Ross Taylor, assistant professor, journalism

“But what really makes it iconic is the flag,” he said. He first saw it while scrolling through X (formerly Twitter), and “while I saw other versions of this scene, without the flag, they don’t hold the same aesthetic strength as this one.”

The photo was taken by Evan Vucci, a longtime photographer with The Associated Press who Taylor counts as a friend. He was unsurprised by reports that Vucci raced forward to get the photo as others fled for safety.

“Evan and others in that sphere are fearless,” Taylor said. “Evan has said he’s more of an operator than a photographer—that he knows how to maneuver through these kinds of situations. A lot of people can compose an image, but can you operate under such duress and stress in an unbelievable short amount of time?

“It’s emblematic of the journalists who put themselves out there—when others are running away from violence, they respond so we can have a better understanding of what happened and what it means.”

For Taylor, the image will join the likes of the firefighters raising the flag over the fallen World Trade Center or the execution of a Vietcong fighter—the kind of image that explains an event and shapes our collective reaction to it. That will be the case however the 2024 presidential election is decided; Taylor said its influence on the election was one of the first things he thought about upon first seeing the photo.

“There’s no way around it—it will have an influence, perhaps already has had an influence,” he said. “If he wins, we’ll remember this as being emblematic of his rise toward his second term as president. I’m not sure how he and others will use it to advance an agenda, but we’ll soon see for ourselves.

“No doubt, this photograph documented a key moment in our history—and that’s the power of photojournalism.”

Photo by Evan Vucci of The Associated Press.

A CMCI expert and photojournalist explains what makes the AP photo of Trump being shot so iconic.

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Accomplished journalists join newest class of Scripps Fellows

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 20:24:06 +0000

Accomplished journalists join newest class of Scripps Fellows Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 06/22/2024 - 14:24

By Iris Serrano

The College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder has named five exceptional journalists to its 2024-25 class of Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism.

“This year’s terrific incoming class of Ted Scripps Fellows hails from around the country and works across multiple platforms, including photography, podcasts, documentary, long-form narrative and daily news,” said Hillary Rosner, assistant director of the Center for Environmental Journalism—which oversees the Scripps Fellows program—and a teaching assistant professor at CMCI. “Together, they bring decades of experience and expertise to ��Ƶ Boulder, where they will learn from university researchers and share their knowledge with the community.”

Established in 1993, the Ted Scripps Fellowship has been based at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1997. The program, which is supported by a grant from the Scripps Howard Fund, aims to give full-time journalists working in any medium the knowledge and tools to report on today’s pressing environmental issues in ways that resonate with diverse audiences. Over a nine-month period, fellows attend classes at the University of Colorado Boulder, participate in weekly seminars and field trips, and pursue their own journalistic projects on a wide range of environmental topics.

The incoming class includes:

Steven Bedard, co-founder and editor, BioGraphic. Bedard has spent the last 25 years writing and producing science stories on everything from archaeology to evolution. During the fellowship, he will explore how species are responding to global change, looking at the intersection between systems-scale events and the individual organisms’ biology.

Taylor Dolven, reporter, The Boston Globe. Dolven focuses on how transportation intersects with climate change and economic inequality. Previously, as a reporter at the Miami Herald, she exposed how cruise companies kept workers at sea without pay during the pandemic. As a fellow, Dolven will research how Americans’ reliance on cars and the transition to electric vehicles impacts lithium-rich communities in South America.

Catherine (Cat) Jaffee, founder and audio producer, House of Pod. Jaffee will spend her fellowship developing an audio series that explores how both ecosystems and human bodies repair themselves, and how overlapping biomedical and bioengineered solutions apply to both. Jaffee has produced more than 1,000 podcast episodes for outlets such as PBS and National Geographic.

Neeta Satam, independent photojournalist. Satam is an Indian photojournalist and National Geographic explorer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and elsewhere. As a fellow, she will expand a long-term project that documents the impact of climate change on a community in the Himalayas, with an emphasis on gender inequity.

Leah Varjacques, visual journalist and documentary producer. Varjacques has produced and edited digital and television documentaries for The New York Times, The Atlantic and Vice News, where she won an Emmy in 2021. She plans to study climate adaptation and human geography to produce a short documentary about the impacts of Indonesia's future capital city on East Borneo's Indigenous people.

The new class of Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism will expand their work at CMCI to share and educate the community through documentaries, audio series and research.

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