MPB Conversations host Marshall Ramsey interviews Dr. Kathleen Wickham, professor of journalism, about her recently released book We Believed We Were Immortal: Twelve Reporters Who Covered the 1962 Integration Crisis at Ole Miss.
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
State Human Rights Campaign director speaks to public relations classes
Rob Hill, third from left, is the Mississippi Director for the Human Rights Campaign. This is the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.
Hill spoke to Robin Street’s Public Relations Case Studies class Nov. 16 about the HRC’s efforts to change attitudes about the LGBTQ public in Mississippi.
Pictured with Hill and Street are IMC students in the class, Amanda Hunt, far left, and Madison Stewart, far right. Photo by Kendrick Pittman.
Former School of Journalism and New Media student is now an editorial assistant for Vanity Fair
Last month, Sarah Bracy Penn, one of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media‘s 2015 graduates, visited and spoke to instructor Ellen Meacham’s editing class about her work at Vanity Fair in New York.
Penn works as an editorial assistant at Vanity Fair, and she interned with Harper’s BAZAAR. At the University of Mississippi, she was the writing editor for The Ole Miss Yearbook. She has also interned with ELLE Décor, House Beautiful, and Veranda as a marketing intern.
Penn graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism. She earned a master’s degree from New York University in 2016.
Beatty works behind the scenes for the Ole Miss Rebels
Videographer, journalist and social media guru are all words used to describe Kayla Beatty. Beatty is a senior at the University of Mississippi and in her second year working for Ole Miss Athletics in production.
As a journalism student, she has gained essential skills for working professionally in the field. As a main videographer for Ole Miss Athletics, Beatty has worked every sports event at Ole Miss. Her favorite sport is basketball, but not always.
“I grew up watching soccer,” she said. “I knew nothing about football, basketball or baseball.
She quickly learned the sports and now sometimes thinks she could coach them. Beatty works on a team of roughly nine to 12 people. Half of them are students. This a paid job, but her first year counted as internship credit.
“While I may not go into the sports production field, the skills and opportunities I have been given are out of this world,” said Beatty.
Before every basketball game, the team of videographers meet two hours before to begin testing equipment. There are multiple cameras around the Pavilion to get high and low shots. They check lighting, sound and angles to get the perfect shot at game time.
An hour before the game begins, they get into position. They start getting clips of the crowd, and the teams warm up. The team films everything that spectators see in the arena and what is posted throughout the game on social media.
Everything that the cameras in the arena pick up is sent immediately to the control room. There, staff members operate music, lights and everything you see on the jumbotron. They also quickly make graphics for social media and talk with SEC Sports.
“We all have headsets on so we know what we all are doing,” Beatty. “Communication is key in the industry.”
Beatty’s favorite video to capture is when she follows the ball closely on camera and gets the angle as it lands in the net. She uses a “slash camera” to achieve this. This was one of the hardest skills to perfect. She said she is still learning.
Videography and photography is all about practicing. When she first started, she shadowed an existing staff member to learn the basics.
“They take baby steps so they can ensure you will know everything before you are on your own,” she said. “A lot of basic skills I taught myself on my iPhone.”
After shadowing someone with experience, the videographers are on their own. After about a year, they usually end up having a shadow or “buddy” to teach.
Beatty said the most important piece of advice is know your equipment. Supervisor Hank Lena is their main support. Lena works the control room and is in charge of the team during the game.
“The staff is so talented,” Lena said. “They are always eager to learn. For my students, I am here to make sure they are getting the knowledge they will need to continue a career in production and journalism.”
Another favorite part of the job for Beatty is creating graphics for Ole Miss sports teams’ social media. Within minutes of the live footage, the staff sends Tweets, Instagram posts and Snapchats.
A great part of working for Ole Miss productions is they allow everyone to rotate positions. Everyone may have their preference, but they are given the opportunity to use a high camera, low camera or work in the control room. Staff is exposed to videography, still photography and social media.
“I get to play with toys and get paid,” said Beatty. “I get to work with the best cameras and equipment in the industry.”
Work does not feel like work when it is doing something you love. Everyday is different working in production.
“I love what I get to do for a living, so hiring people that are also so passionate about journalism is the best part,” said Lena.
A lot of hard work goes into what looks easy to the average viewer at a sporting event. From preparation to putting all the footage together at the end, students and staff move quickly.
Beatty said she wishes she had known about this job earlier in her college career because of the skills she has learned and the connections and people she has met. She hopes to continue learning as much as she can this upcoming basketball season.
By Kelly Zeidner
Oxford Stories
knzeidne@go.olemiss.edu
Atkins inducted into East Carolina University Educators Hall of Fame
Joe Atkins, longtime professor of journalism in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, was inducted into the East Carolina University Educators Hall of Fame in Greenville, North Carolina, Oct. 28.
Atkins received his undergraduate degree in English and philosophy from ECU in 1970. He later studied at the University of Munich and received a master’s degree in journalism from American University.
A veteran journalist and former congressional correspondent, Atkins has taught at Ole Miss since 1990. Sponsored by members of his graduating class at Sanford (North Carolina) Central High School, Atkins was recognized for his work as a writer, journalist, and advocate for social justice and for his many years of teaching.
Covering politics in the Trump era: New York Times correspondent Jonathan Martin speaks at UM
New York Times national correspondent, Jonathan Martin, visited students in an advanced reporting class at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media Monday, Oct. 23, offering advice and sharing details about his path to becoming one of the nation’s leading political reporters.
For the past four and half years, Martin has crossed the country to cover campaigns, elections and the larger political trends behind them. Prior to joining the Washington bureau of The Times, he worked as a senior writer for Politico, and has also been published in The New Republic, National Journal, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
New York Times national political correspondent Jonathan Martin joins a Meek School advanced reporting class Monday, Oct. 23.
Following a weekend touring the town of Oxford with his family and taking in the Ole Miss vs. LSU pre-game festivities in the Grove, Martin stayed in town an extra day to speak with students from the Meek School and the Trent Lott Leadership Institute.
Martin said some of his favorite parts of the job are traveling to places all over the country to write stories. He explained how his job works around the presidential cycle and that he is much busier “in the even years.”
“I kind of look at [this job] in two ways,” he said. “One, I’ve got campaigns and elections. Those have a start, a middle, and an end. It’s pretty straightforward: somebody wins, somebody loses…The other thing I do, which I think is so much more challenging, also it’s more enriching, is sort of looking at what’s happening in the country with the lens of our politics and how that’s informing what’s going on.”
Martin said covering national politics has become particularly complex in the past few years, as both the Democratic and Republican parties have faced challenges from within. He spoke about his experience working with the Trump administration, and said President Trump had come after him personally two to three times throughout the campaign.
Most recently, President Trump accused Martin of setting Tennessee Senator Bob Corker up by taping him without his awareness and capturing him saying, among other things, that Trump was recklessly tempting “World War III.” The Times later published the audio tape in which Corker could be heard asking to be recorded.
Martin also talked about how The Times correspondents respond to the President’s social media. He said The Times reporters have learned to discern whether: “This is an extraordinary moment in American history vs. He’s blowing off steam on Twitter once again; let’s see what’s actually happening.”
Offering some insider insight into The Times’ new policy on social media, which prohibits journalists from expressing partisan opinions, political views, or candidate endorsements, Martin said, although there has been a little pushback, most people support the new policy. He personally believes it offers useful guidance, and ultimately encourages people to think twice before they post.
Offering advice to anyone who wants to pursue a career in journalism, Martin said good reporting requires cultivating reliable sources: “It’s not complicated. Treat people like you want to be treated. Don’t always call them when you need something. And over-report…make more phone calls than you think you need. It’s easier to get things done working ahead, and your story (is)New going to be better for it.”
Article written by Savannah Smith
Snapchat news director Peter Hamby visits School of Journalism and New Media
By: Jake Woody
Snap Inc., creators of the hugely popular mobile application Snapchat, are looking to be the trendsetters for media outlets by reaching younger audiences with the news stories and features on their app.
Snapchat’s News Director Peter Hamby spoke to students at the University of Mississippi’s Overby Center on Thursday afternoon. He explained how Snapchat is looking to become a leader in the news world while holding on to their entertainment value. All in an effort to reach the younger generations with content and messages that older media corporations haven’t been able to tap into.
“In this moment of fake news and [companies] getting called up on Capitol Hill to testify about advertising and content, we don’t have that problem,” said Hamby. “Snapchat doesn’t have fake news. Snapchat employs journalists. Millions and millions of teenagers and college students and people under 30 are reading TheWashington Post, The New York Times, CNN, Buzzfeed, The Economist, and TheWall street Journal on Snapchat. They aren’t doing that on other platforms.”
Snapchat was only started in September of 2011, but the company has already grown tremendously in a short amount of time. According to a statistics search done by expandedramblings.com, Snapchat has around 173 million weekly users and around 301 million monthly users. Of those 173 million weekly users, 28 percent of them are U.S. millennials.
“A lot of people on Snapchat are not watching television,” said Hamby. “Six million people watch my show every week. Most of them are under 25. If you look at a Sunday show like Meet the Press three million people watch that. 80 percent of that audience is over 55. We have this huge opportunity to reach over 173 million young people with content they like and hopefully want to keep coming back to.”
According to Hamby, one of Snapchat’s major goals is to provide feedback to their consumers. He feels older media companies haven’t succeeded in drawing in younger audiences because they don’t give them a voice.
“I think in news and media too many decision-makers and content-producers don’t think about the basics,” said Hamby. “How is this or that person getting their news? I think they rely on what their friends in Washington and New York are reading, and they’re not just talking to young people.
“I use my [public] Snapchat account to talk to people about story selection. We’ve added polling recently where you can swipe up and vote on issues at stake in an episode. People like when you respond. Just listening is huge. The lack of listening has been a huge failure in Journalism.”
Snapchat isn’t just useful and entertaining for young people though. Bigger and older media companies are increasingly using Snapchat to help with stories, and companies and disaster teams are using the app to get feedback on their products and find and help those who are in need.
“Snapchat is a different experience because it opens the camera and allows our users to create their own content,” said Hamby. “From a news perspective, that’s incredible. The Snapchat map isn’t just used to see what party your friends are at. When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, people around Houston created over half a million snaps during that first weekend of their homes being flooded out. First responders were snapping rescues from choppers. They were able to help these people because these people just because they were Snapchat users and were posting it to maps. They were able to locate and help people they wouldn’t otherwise would have known were there and in danger.”
The internet is able to see events in real time over Snapchat. Hamby sees this as a huge plus for media networks looking for coverage on events.
“We have 173 million cameras,” said Hamby. “They’re giving us that content. It allows us to experience an on-the-ground feel for what these events are like. When tragedies happened in places like Las Vegas and Charlottesville, we had some of the best footage of the events just because people who were nearby or in the action pulled out their phone and got Snapchat video of the incidents.”
Snapchat is looking to continue to cater to younger crowds such as college students with several new features such as Campus Discovery, which allows school newspapers to produce content that looks and feels similar to content from big media corporations. All of this is to get younger people interested in reading and consuming news.
“There’s hyper-relevant content on these campuses,” said Hamby. “It’s really well done, glossy content that teaches students how to use modern CMS and not just for the web but also how to monetize it, and I think that can be a model for how we think about reaching more people with really premium content.”
Snapchat looks to continue to lead the charge in getting younger, less involved audiences involved in news and entertainment through their platform, and with more content and new releases on the way, they don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
School of Journalism and New Media alumnus named deputy White House press secretary
A Meek School alumnus has been named deputy White House press secretary.
Check out this story by The Daily Mississippian about J. Hogan Gidley, 41, of South Carolina, who is a 1998 graduate of the University of Mississippi with a degree in broadcast journalism and minor in political science.
Media outlets have reported that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has confirmed Gidley’s position in numerous press reports.
See the NewsWatch video here.
Gidley is pictured below with Meek School faculty members Senior Lecturer in Journalism Robin Street and Dr. Jim Lumpp. He returned to the Meek School to speak to students several years ago.
School’s broadcast students work sidelines for ESPN/SECN
Broadcast journalism students Annie Mapp and Kirsten Faulkner were on the sidelines of the Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt game Saturday, Oct. 14, working the parabolic mic for the ESPN/SECN broadcast.
The mic is used to enhance the noise from the field to make those watching at home feel like they are at the game.
Meek School students are regularly invited to work as runners, production assistants and utility workers alongside the main production crews for sports telecasts.
It’s a great way to learn, earn a little money and have fun.
“I enjoyed every minute of it,” Faulkner said.
Better Learning Through Listening in the Classroom
Photo by Pepper Taylor, October 13, 2017.
The concept of civil discourse is actually fairly hard to define says Dr. Graham Bodie, a visiting professor in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. Bodie, who researches and teaches strategies for improving listening behavior, recently led a workshop for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning titled, “The Role of Listening in Civil Discourse: Implementing the Listen First Model in the Classroom.”
Bodie began dispelling a number of myths about listening and respectful communication. For example, right now there is ample evidence that the public perceives our political landscape has become much less civil. However, Bodie shared some of the more impressive insults hurled by our country’s founding fathers, including this in a letter from Alexander Hamilton about John Adams:
“He is petty, mean, egotistic, erratic, eccentric, jealous natured, and hot-tempered … there are great and intrinsic defects in his character.”
(Of course, Adams got even with this reference to Hamilton: “That bastard brat of a Scottish peddler! His ambition, his restlessness and all his grandiose schemes come, I’m convinced, from a superabundance of secretions, which he couldn’t find enough whores to absorb!”)
With this type of rhetoric flying around for centuries, how do we keep the conversation on track in the classroom? Bodie told the crowd that any discussion of civil discourse has to start with one thing.
“How to listen to difference; how to find one thing, anything, you can agree with within the speech of one person, even if you mainly disagree,” Bodie said, “how to respect others by allowing them time and space to share opinion without fear of being shut down.”
Bodie says classrooms should be sites of social transformation where instructors and students find ways to communicate effectively.
“This is my bias, but I believe we best do that through teaching them to argue civilly.”
Though he recommends that students take an entire class on the subject when possible, he says educators from across the university can infuse their own curricula with opportunities for students to learn how to disagree effectively.
“Communication classes do a great job of teaching people how to argue, debate and speak their minds,” Bodie said, “but what students are really good at is standing up and saying ‘I believe…’ and then they sit down. We need to teach them to make an assertion and then defend it. Many of the beliefs we hold most dear are cultural truisms that we never question.”
One model requires the listener to start with a restatement: “What I heard you say is this,” and once there is that agreement, the listener has an opportunity to refute that statement.
To bring these strategies into the classroom, Bodie made a couple of key recommendations:
• Include your students in coming up with a working definition for what civility and listening to each other will look like in your classroom throughout the semester. Bodie says it’s nearly impossible to listen and be civil if you can’t agree on those parameters.
• Consider exploring the Listen First Project. This non-profit organization seeks to “encourage conversations towards increased respect and understanding” of differences. Students can take the “Listen First Pledge,” which says, “I will fully listen to and consider another’s views before sharing my own. I will prioritize respect and understanding in conversation. And I will encourage others to do the same.”
Bodie says there are three big myths about listening that contribute to the challenge of doing it effectively. Ultimately, listening is not tantamount to agreeing, it’s not a panacea that can solve all problems and it’s not easy. It is, however, important and it has always been in too short supply.
