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Overby Center announces fall schedule of programs

Posted on: August 24th, 2019 by ldrucker

The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi has announced its fall lineup of programs focusing on the future of journalism, politics and the upcoming election in Mississippi.

“This fall’s programs offer great conversations with and about nationally recognized experts,” said Charles Overby, chairman of the center. “The audience will also have an opportunity to join these conversations.”

Each event will take place in the Overby Center Auditorium at 555 Grove Loop. The programs are free and open to the public, and parking will be available in the lot adjacent to the auditorium. The schedule includes:

Thursday, September 5, 5:30 p.m. — PLOTTING THE FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALISM 

Walter E. Hussman Jr., a third-generation newspaperman who is the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, will discuss the future of news media and discuss his strategy of giving iPads to subscribers and other innovations to keep newspapers vibrant in the community. Hussman, who is president of his own media company, WEHCO, will talk with Charles Overby.

Wednesday, October 2, 5:30 p.m. —THE BATTLE BETWEEN TRUMP AND THE PRESS 

Peter J. Boyer, a veteran political journalist and an Ole Miss alumnus who has extensively covered the evolution of American politics and analyzed the intersection of politics and the press, returns to campus for a conversation with Overby Fellow Curtis Wilkie about the nasty relationship between the President and the news media.

Wednesday, October 16, 5:30 p.m. — LOOKING AHEAD TO THE MISSISSIPPI ELECTIONS 

Two veteran Mississippi political handlers, Austin Barbour, a Republican, and Brandon Jones, a Democrat, analyze the upcoming state elections, following up on their initial assessments in an Overby program last fall. They will be joined in the discussion by Overby and Wilkie.

Wednesday, October 30, 5:30 p.m. — THE FIGHT FOR PRESS FREEDOM 

David E. McCraw, the top newsroom lawyer for The New York Times who became a social media sensation with his response to the Trump campaign’s threat to sue the newspaper for libel, recounts his experiences at The Times during the most turbulent era for journalism in generations. McCraw, a vice president and assistant general counsel will talk about his new book, “Truth in Our Times,” and the struggle for press freedom in an age of alternative facts with Overby and Greg Brock, a retired Times editor who is now an Overby Fellow.

Wednesday, November 20, 5:30 p.m. — FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA 

The screening of a documentary about one of the most powerful voices of the civil rights movement, Mississippi’s legendary sharecropper and activist, the late Fannie Lou Hamer, will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s director, Joy Elaine Davenport. Mrs. Hamer’s testimony as a Mississippi freedom Democrat at the 1964 Democratic Convention stirred the nation.

Overby Center program asks: Are Centrist Politics Doomed?

Posted on: March 28th, 2019 by ldrucker

At a time when American politics seem hopelessly polarized, a pair of prominent figures from the two major parties discussed the prospects for more centrist views at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics’ program in April.

Stuart Stevens, a native Mississippian who managed Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, and David Baria, a Democratic leader in the Mississippi legislature, were guests in a conversation that included Charles Overby, the chairman of the center, and Overby Fellow Curtis Wilkie. Both Overby and Wilkie have long experience covering national politics as journalists.

The event was held in the Overby Center Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus. Like all Overby programs, was free and open to the public.

The program represents a return engagement to the Overby Center for Stevens, who has previously appeared to comment on American politics and to talk about his book, “The Last Season,” in which he wrote of accompanying his aging father to a complete season of Ole Miss football. Though a major player in national Republican circles, Stevens has become a fierce critic of President Donald Trump and his style of divisive politics.

During his tenure in the Mississippi House of Representatives, Baria, an attorney with offices in Jackson and the Gulf Coast, has become one of the Democratic Party’s most respected members in the legislature. Last year he served as the party’s nominee in an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Roger Wicker.

National political reporter Peter Boyer to headline Oct. 19 Overby Center event

Posted on: October 16th, 2018 by ldrucker

Showtime in American Politics: Boyer Headlines Next Overby Center Event

Peter Boyer, a nationally-known political reporter, will lead a discussion about the upcoming Congressional elections in a special program at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics next Friday, Oct. 19, at 11 a.m.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Overby Center Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus.

A native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast who attended Ole Miss, Boyer now serves as national correspondent for The Weekly Standard. His career has included important stints at The New Yorker magazine, Newsweek, and Fox News.

He first gained prominence as a correspondent for the PBS documentary series, “Frontline,” where he won an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody award for his reporting.

“Peter Boyer has been one of the finest journalists in America for decades,” said Stephen F. Hayes, editor-in-chief at The Weekly Standard. “He is the kind of reporter that ambitious young journalists read to learn how to write narrative nonfiction.”

Though his work has kept him on the East Coast, Boyer retains a familiarity with developments in Mississippi. Ten years ago he wrote a long piece for The New Yorker about the criminal investigation that engulfed Oxford attorney Dick Scruggs and other lawyers and judges. Earlier this year Boyer was the author of an article concerning the spirited race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Thad Cochran before his retirement.

Boyer is expected to talk about the contest – featuring Cochran’s appointed Republican successor, Cindy Hyde-Smith; the insurgent Chris McDaniel, who has the backing of the Tea Party wing of the GOP; and Mike Espy, a former Democratic congressman from Mississippi who is making his state party’s strongest bid in years for a Senate seat.

Boyer will also discuss the political fall-out from the recent battle involving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the electoral pull of President Trump and the chances for national Democrats to win control of at least one of the houses of Congress in the Nov. 6 election.

He will be joined in the conversation by Overby Fellow Curtis Wilkie, who covered national politics for a more than a quarter-century for The Boston Globe.

Former CEO of Meredith Group magazine publishing division signed copies of poetry book ‘Mississippi’

Posted on: October 10th, 2018 by ldrucker

James Autry signed copies of his new book Mississippi during a reception at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11 in the Overby Center lobby.

MISSISSIPPI is a collection of 77 poems from James A. Autry’s Nights Under A Tin Roof and Life After Mississippi. The author, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, newspaper reporter, national magazine editor and Fortune 500 executive, returns to his Mississippi roots to examine the forces which shaped him.

The book is published by Yoknapatawpha Press.

Check out this review of the book by HottyToddy.com Book Editor Allen Boyer.

“Autry was editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens, and later CEO of Meredith Group in charge of the publication of 16 major magazines,” said Yoknapatawpha Press Publisher Larry Wells. “He arranged for the Meredith Group to sponsor a magazine feature writing program at the School of Journalism. He is a member of Ole Miss Hall of Fame. Autry is an inspiration for Ole Miss students. His legendary career is proof that the sky’s the limit for our j-school grads.”

It’s rare that a CEO writes poetry recalling lessons learned under a tin roof. Autry, then president of the Meredith Group magazine publishing division, wrote verse whenever and wherever he could—in board rooms between meetings, in hotel lobbies, on airplanes, in limos and taxis. Poetry would not leave him alone.

In his preface to Mississippi, Autry calls his verse “pieces” of recollections because “their shape comes to me as stories and then as pieces of a larger story.” His poems achieve a remarkably dense texture of memory forming what John Mack Carter has called a bridge of “kinship” between poet and reader.

This collection of 77 poems from Autry’s Nights Under A Tin Roof and Life After Mississippi focuses on the rhythms of rural Southern life, an odyssey of country funerals, weddings, church revivals, family reunions, and courtships drawn from a unique American heritage.

The book is illustrated with 66 black and white photographs of the rural South taken by WPA photographers and the author’s step-mother, Lola Mae Autry.

Bill Moyers believes Autry is one of America’s leading contemporary poets and featured him in two PBS specials devoted to American poets. Moyers says of Autry’s verse, “We all need the shelter of the tin roof today against the storms raging in our world.”

Autry is the author of 14 books, a poet and consultant whose work has had a significant influence on leadership thinking. His book, Love and Profit, The Art of Caring Leadership, a collection of essays and poetry, won the prestigious Johnson, Smith & Knisely Award as the book that had the most impact on executive thinking in 1992. Love and Profit also has been published in Japanese, Swedish, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian, and is still in print in paperback.

In addition, Autry has written the introductions to several books, and his writings have appeared in many anthologies and magazines. In 1991 the Kentucky Poetry Review published a special James A. Autry issue. He is a founder of the Des Moines National Poetry Festival.

He received considerable national attention when he was one of the poets featured on Bill Moyers’ special series, “The Power of the Word.” Moyers featured him again in 2012 on Moyers & Company on PBS. Garrison Keillor has featured his work on “The Writer’s Corner” on public radio. Autry is also featured in three videos, “Love and Profit,” which won a “Telly” award, “Life and Work,” and “Spirit at Work.”

In 1998, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to the Humanities from Iowa Humanities Board and Foundation. He was also the founding chair of the Claremont Graduate University’s Humanities Center Board of Visitors.

Autry was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Mississippi and was elected to the Alumni Hall of Fame. He fulfilled his military service as a jet fighter pilot in Europe during the cold war and rose to the rank of Major in the Iowa Air National Guard.

Before taking early retirement in 1991 to pursue his present career, Autry was senior vice president and president of the Meredith Group, at the time a 500 million dollar magazine publishing operation with over 900 employees.

Autry lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife Sally Pederson, the former Lieutenant Governor of Iowa.

Why Ethical Business Is Good Business: Hearst TV leaders speak at School of Journalism and New Media

Posted on: October 4th, 2018 by ldrucker

Fred Young and Hank Price, two past and present top Hearst TV leaders, spoke Monday, Oct. 8 in the Overby Center auditorium. Young discussed “Why Ethical Business is Good Business.”

According to Hearst.com, Fred I. Young, was the senior vice president of News for Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., before retiring after a distinguished 46-year career. Young served in an advisory and consulting role with the company and its television stations.

He oversaw news operations at Hearst-Argyle TV stations in 26 markets throughout 22 states, according to Hearst.com, as well as the Hearst-Argyle Washington, D.C., News Bureau, which services the company’s television news departments. He had served as vice president of news upon Hearst-Argyle’s formation in August 1997 through the combination of Hearst Broadcasting and Argyle Television, Inc.

In March 2002, Young received a First Amendment Service Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation.

Hearst.com reports that Young joined Hearst Broadcasting in October 1962, serving for 25 years at WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, as vice president and general manager, news director, and in other news management positions. “During his years there, WTAE-TV received numerous local and national awards for quality programming and community service. He was also instrumental in the original campaign to admit television cameras into Pennsylvania courtrooms,” the website reports.

Young is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, from whom he received a Broadcaster of the Year Award. He is also past chairman of the Telecommunications Advisory Committee of Pennsylvania State University, and is a member of the Radio-Television News Directors’ Association. A graduate of Duquesne University, he is also a past president of the Congregation Brothers of Israel in Trenton, New Jersey.

Hank Price is president and general manager of WVTM 13, the Hearst Television NBC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. He also serves as director of leadership development for the Meek School of Journalism & New Media.

Before moving to WVTM 13 in January of 2015, Price was president and general manager of WXII 12, Hearst’s NBC affiliate in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During Price’s tenure, WXII 12 became the region’s dominant source of news and information on all platforms, including television, web and mobile. From 2000 until 2015, Price was also senior director of Northwestern University’s Media Management Center. He is co-author of Managing Today’s News Media: Audience First (Sage, 2015).

Prior to joining Hearst and Northwestern, Price was vice-president and general manager of WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned television station in Chicago. During that time, he was named a “Fifth Estater” by Broadcasting and Cable Magazine for innovative leadership in local news.

Before WBBM, Price spent 12 years with the Gannett Company in a variety of positions, including president and general manager of KARE 11 in Minneapolis, president and general manager of WFMY-TV in Greensboro, N.C., and vice-president for programming, marketing and research at WUSA-TV in Washington, DC.

Price, a native of Gulfport, Miss., worked his way through college at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he is a member of the School of Mass Communications and Journalism Hall of Fame.

School of Journalism and New Media leaders and students welcome MOST Conference visitors

Posted on: July 16th, 2018 by ldrucker

School of Journalism and New Media, Student Media and University of Mississippi Association of Black Journalists representatives spent Sunday evening, July 15, with hundreds of students on campus for the annual MOST Conference.

MOST, which stands for Mississippi Outreach to Scholastic Talent, brings top African-American high school students in the state to the UM campus each summer for workshops, networking opportunities, panel discussions, mentoring and more.

Participating were: Meek School Dean Will Norton; Assistant Dean Jennifer Simmons; Assistant Dean Patricia Thompson; Adjunct Instructor Bobby Steele; and DeAndria Turner, student manager of Rebel Radio and broadcast journalism major.

Street honored for making University of Mississippi more inclusive for LGBTQ students

Posted on: May 11th, 2018 by ldrucker

Robin Street, senior lecturer in journalism, has been recognized once again for her work to make the University of Mississippi more inclusive for all students.

The Allies Program recognized Street as the 2018 faculty recipient of the Vicki Mahan Ally of the Year Award. The award was created in 2015 to recognize the work of Vicki Mahan, who was retiring from the university. She created and ran the Allies Program for more than a decade.

The award recognizes individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make the university a welcoming, accepting, and inclusive place for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff.

Street, who organized and led a program last year called It Starts With MEek that promoted diversity and inclusivity, shares the award this year with Vice Chancellor Brandi Hephner Lebanc, the staff/administrator recipient.

Street is pictured with Kevin Cozart, operations coordinator, for the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies.

Confronting the opioid crisis in Mississippi event set for Friday, April 20 in Overby auditorium

Posted on: April 19th, 2018 by ldrucker

Four policy experts will confront the ongoing opioid crisis in Mississippi at 2 p.m. Friday, April 20, in the Overby Center auditorium at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media.

As the keynote event of the STEM Festival at the University of Mississippi, the panel will explore policy perspectives and opportunities that could slow the widespread abuse of strong prescription and non-prescription painkillers in Mississippi. Opioids, which include OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and Fentanyl, can cause respiratory failure and death in high doses.

Dr. Ben Banahan, director of the UM Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, is also the project director of the Mississippi Medicaid Evidence-Based Drug Utilization Review Program. He will talk about his work with the Pharmacy Quality Alliance to develop, test and implement opioid-related quality measures, as well as drug utilization review analysis that can help Mississippi Medicaid better manage opioid prescriptions. He will also discuss ways to identify Medicaid beneficiaries at high risk of opioid dependence and abuse for potential intervention and treatment.

Clint Crawford, director of addiction services at Lifecore Health Group in Tupelo, has been working in and around the addiction field in different facets since 1998. He will discuss barriers and inroads to effective substance abuse treatment, as well as safer healthcare and pain management.

“Getting to help patients regain their lives from the grips of the devastating disease of addiction is rewarding beyond words,” he said.

Crawford has authored four books. The latest is The Prison With No Bars: A Book for Families Dealing with Addict Loved Ones, written specifically for use in treatment centers, outpatient programs, and as self-work for friends and families of those struggling with addiction. Crawford,  along with Dale Phillips, is the co-founder of the REINS model of equine therapy, an equine therapy model designed to target and treat addiction and trauma.

Chad Clardy, business director of Mid-South for Addiction Campuses in Tupelo, will discuss opportunities for improved opioid addiction treatment in Mississippi. Although an addiction to pain pills nearly cost Clardy his life and his freedom, after only a year of treatment, he landed his first job in the recovery field.

A 2013 graduate of Ole Miss, he has also directed community outreach and marketing and has served in community relations, admissions and drug/alcohol counseling for several area treatment centers, including LifeCore and Oxford Treatment Center.

Dr. Randy Wadkins, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Mississippi, will talk about the role and potential of federal science policy in addressing the epidemic. He has spent over 27 years in cancer research, including stints at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

In 2015-2016, he was an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow in the Washington, D.C., office of Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-9; Memphis), where he handled healthcare policy.

The STEM Festival, April 20-21, will celebrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the University of Mississippi. For more information about the weekend events and updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/UMSTEMFest.

ACT 8 Experience: Kintzer speaks about recovering a brand and reaching broader audience through digital

Posted on: April 19th, 2018 by ldrucker

The ACT 8 Experience lineup today included a packed schedule of speakers.

Bonnie Kintzer, from Trusted Media Brands, spoke in the first session about recovering the brand from struggle. She returned to Trusted Media Brands, the parent company of Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home, and The Family Handyman after its bankruptcy.

“The key is to be adapting and adopting to the changes in culture and technology,” she said.

When Kintzer arrived at Trusted Media Brands, it had not adapted to these changes and was not getting information out to millennial markets focusing on an improved online delivery. Instead, magazines were just mailed. The younger market gets most of their media from the internet.

The company was still producing strong content, but it was reaching all consumers. The internet was needed to achieve that, but the company was not using the latest tech to do it.

“They were focusing on survival, not growth,” Kintzer said.

Shifting the focus to social media and improved web design, they began to bounce back, and now have two of the most popular brands on Pinterest. They focus on responsive, cross-platform design across all devices.

“Our approach is to create a strong personal relationship with the consumer,” she said.

Focusing on readers and analyzing how people interact online boosted the company to its current state. Kintzer said a new wave of employees skilled in both business and tech are needed in the industry now. Editors who can focus on and understand web traffic data are needed to keep business afloat.

By Brian Barisa

ACT 8 Experience speaker says print is still relevant, has many important qualities

Posted on: April 18th, 2018 by ldrucker

With the rise of everything digital, some believe print is no longer relevant. However, others believe print has many important qualities that affect how we learn and retain information.

Daniel Dejan, ETC print creative manager, Sappi North America, told the audience at the ACT 8 Experience Wednesday that printed magazines/catalogs/newspapers cause our brain to have higher rates of stimulated activity than merely reading off a screen.

When reading from print, four senses are activated: sight, haptics (touch), smell and sound. We see the layout and page design. Each print medium has a different type of paper that is uses and a different texture that readers feel. Sound comes in the smallest, minute detail of the crinkling and turning of the pages in our books. All these senses are activated when we are reading from print.

Dejan talked about how we read on a digital platform. Our heart rate and blood pressure decreases, which allows us to stop and enjoy what we’re reading.

“When we read from paper, we try to read every word and search for a narrative or story,” he said. “We read for content, which leads us to have a better understanding of the content.”

When reading on laptops and phones, we go into “skim mode” and are constantly searching for key words. We read for speed and look for imagery instead of trying to retain the information.

Dejan was just one of the speakers in the lineup this week for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media’s Magazine Innovation Center ACT 8 Experience. ACT stands for Amplify, Clarify and Testify.

To see the full schedule, visit the ACT 8 Experience website.

Use the hashtag #micact8 and @meekjournalism this week if you attend the conference.

By Leah Davis