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University of Mississippi journalism team studies Climate Change in Mississippi

Posted on: March 15th, 2021 by ldrucker

Climate Change in Mississippi

Nationally and globally, much of the conversation about climate change has been territorial and political.

In Mississippi, state leaders have spoken of it rarely, if ever. However, the state’s science, industrial, agricultural and energy sectors have been working to address change and devise strategies.

A desire to explore the issue more in-depth led University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media professors and students to study the topic within the state. The result is the project Climate Change in Mississippi that focuses on what is, not what if. Practices, not policy.

Journalist and Professor Charlie Mitchell, who helped lead the Climate Change in Mississippi project, said the premise was that too many people have formed opinions about climate change without seeing how it relates to their daily lives. The project aims to report this relevance as a factual resource among political chatter.

“Climate change is a super-broad topic and much reporting is along political lines or appeals to emotion,” he said. “The students worked to identify front-line people in Mississippi dealing with change directly or indirectly and tell their stories about what’s happening, what’s being researched and what’s expected. The point was to deal with fact, not speculation or opinion.”

Jared Poland, a senior integrated marketing communications major from Chattanooga, plans to work in public relations after graduation at an agency, non-profit, or for a political action committee.

“I saw this class as an opportunity to use my public relations skills to shed light on the effects of climate change felt by everyday Mississippians,” he said. “The depth reporting class gave me the opportunity to spend time creating a series of stories that describe at length the 2019 floods in the Mississippi Delta and how the backwater flooding related to climate change and affected individuals.”

Poland said he immersed himself in the issue, traveling to the Delta twice and spoke with community leaders, locals, a climatologist, and other knowledgeable individuals about the floods and the pumps.

“I was able to see firsthand the hardships they had faced due to the flooding and was able to speak with them about the proposed pump project that almost everyone believed was the solution to the floods,” he said. “I also learned about their lives, their families, their passions and their hardships caused by the floods.”

“Climate change is a super-broad topic and much reporting is along political lines or appeals to emotion,” he said. “The students worked to identify front-line people in Mississippi dealing with change directly or indirectly and tell their stories about what's happening, what's being researched and what's expected. The point was to deal with fact, not speculation or opinion.”

Charlie Mitchell

Journalist and Professor

Students honed their research, interviewing and writing skills and worked to become better at identifying relevant facts and sources, then weaved the information into a understandable and compelling narrative.

Mitchell said the school has a history of producing relevant depth reports on national and international topics ranging from the emerging economy in post-war Sri Lanka to the intersection of good food and poor health in the Mississippi Delta.

“Former Dean Norton identified this topic as crucial, and it was decided students here and students at the University of Nebraska would tackle the topic simultaneously,” he said.

The UM student reporting team included Danielle Angelo, Anne Florence Brown, Lydia Cates, Will Corley, Abbey Edmondson, Cody Farris, Jacob Meyers, Eliza Noe, Jared Poland, Billy Schuerman, Tamara Tyes and Lauren Wilson.

Team advisers included John Baker, Michael Fagans, Charles Mitchell, Will Norton Jr., Darren Sanefski and Hannah Vines.

Poland said the most interesting part is it’s an issue that has affected Delta residents since the early 1900s.

“The project that is believed to be the solution to the floods was originally proposed in 1941,” he said. “I was able to speak with individuals who have spent their entire life dealing with floods and fighting for solutions to prevent them.

“As someone deeply interested in politics, I was fascinated by the pumps project and the political discourse and conflicts that have unfolded surrounding it, including the EPA’s veto of the project in 2008. It has been a heavily contested political issue and remains one today.”

Poland said others who take the course should use it as an opportunity to deeply explore the topic.

“It was the first project of this size I have ever taken on, but with the help of my instructors, it truly was one of my favorite experiences during my time at Ole Miss,” he said.

William Schuerman is a senior journalism major with a print emphasis and an environmental studies minor.

“I enrolled in the class because, after I heard about the project, I knew there would be an opportunity to produce content about a subject I am very passionate about,” he said.

Schuerman, who hopes to work as a photojournalist and be published in National Geographic someday, said the class was different from other classes. He traveled across the state helping other students create multimedia.

“Projects like this are where I have learned the most in my time at the University of Mississippi, so it was a logical step forward for me,” he said. “… I feel that I always learn more when working in the field than purely sitting in the classroom.”

Professor Michael Fagans, a project adviser, said he tried to ask questions to get students thinking about how to better cover their story area and how to tell it with infographics, photos or illustrations.

“As with many of our ‘outside the classroom’ reporting opportunities, students learn valuable lessons when they get out into Mississippi and meet, interview and tell the stories of our residents,” he said.

Providing feedback and encouragement leads to growth, Fagans said.

“I hope that our students were able to gain insight into how to be better journalists, what kind of effort can go into a project and the value of getting out ‘into the field,’ sometimes, quite literally,” he said.

“I hope that, because of this project, people recognize that climate change is real and it is causing real repercussions, even in Mississippi. Mississippi is rural and not nearly as populated as other areas of the country that are experiencing major effects of climate change. So I feel like it often gets overlooked in the big picture of climate change."

Abby Edmonson

STUDENT JOURNALIST

Abbey Edmonson, a senior journalism major with minors in English and creative writing and an emphasis in social media, said she was curious about the effects of climate change in our state.

Her focus was on saltwater aquaculture on the Gulf Coast, where she traveled with Fagans and Schuerman.

“Throughout the trip, we interviewed several people who are involved in the commercial fishing industry, specifically the oyster industry,” she said. “We toured the last oyster-shucking house in Mississippi, watched how oysters are bred, and rode a boat out to an oyster farm. That trip is something I’ll hold onto forever because we got to interact firsthand with people who are experiencing real issues as a direct result of climate change.”

She said students also interviewed people about possible solutions in the works, which “added a bright spot to an otherwise disheartening situation.”

“I hope that, because of this project, people recognize that climate change is real, and it is causing real repercussions, even in Mississippi,” she said. “Mississippi is rural and not nearly as populated as other areas of the country that are experiencing major effects of climate change. So I feel like it often gets overlooked in the big picture of climate change.

“I wanted to learn more about it, because I honestly didn’t know much about it to begin with. I also wanted to be able to tell people about the changes that are visibly happening and, I think, are underrepresented in the media. Everything is so interconnected, and it’s important to recognize that when one area gets affected by climate change, other areas will follow.”

To learn more about the project and read student work, visit the Climate Change in Mississippi website.

UM School of Journalism and New Media student continues media work with Coca-Cola campus job

Posted on: March 11th, 2021 by ldrucker

Meagan Harkins, the face of Coca-Cola on campus, is using her undergraduate years to prepare for a career in creative media.

Harkins was named Coca-Cola campus ambassador after a friend thought she would be perfect for the position and told her about the opportunity.

The job entails sampling events, product drops, attending monthly webinars, bringing products to groups on campus, and running advertisements and information through her own social media account.

Meagan Harkins

“One of my main responsibilities is to bring brand love,” Harkins said.

Holland inspires University of Mississippi Association of Black Journalists students

Posted on: March 8th, 2021 by ldrucker

“There are few professions where you can make a difference and be guaranteed immortality. Journalism is one of them. Which is why you have to be so careful about what you put your name behind.”

That was just one of the memorable pieces of advice from journalism alumnus Jesse J. Holland to members of the University of Mississippi Association of Black Journalists at their March virtual meeting. Holland was one of the founders of the campus UMABJ chapter when he was a student in the early 1990s.

Jesse Holland Jr.

Holland shared anecdotes about his new book — “Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda” — and his experiences as a journalist, author, educator and comics strip creator. The new Black Panther book is an anthology of short stories from acclaimed writers like poet Nikki Giovanni, who wrote her first piece of fiction for the anthology. Holland edited the book and wrote one of the stories. It is scheduled for release on March 9.

“I truly enjoyed the session,” said AJ Norwood, broadcast journalism major and UMABJ president. “From the very beginning, I could tell that he is an absolutely amazing storyteller. The insight that he was able to provide to not only myself, but to other students that attended was so valuable.

“One of the main things that I learned from Mr. Holland was that you should utilize all of your resources and find mentors who are already doing what you’re doing. If you’re able to do that, learn from their mistakes because you shouldn’t have to make the same mistakes that they have made. It was an honor to moderate an event with someone with the credibility and grace of Jesse Holland.”

Jesse Holland

When he was a student at UM, Holland was a multiple-platform journalist long before it was embraced as something every journalist and communications specialist should be. He was Daily Mississippian editor-in-chief — only the second African-American editor in the student newspaper’s history. He hosted two Rebel Radio shows – one was The Night Train, a rap show that aired at midnight – and worked for the TV newscast and the yearbook. He and two student editor friends created a comic strip called Hippie and the Black Guy.

After he graduated, Holland was a writer for the Associated Press for 25 years. He covered the statehouse in South Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress and the White House, and he was on AP’s national race & ethnicity reporting team. He hosts the Saturday edition of C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, and was recently named assistant professor of journalism at George Washington University.

He is the author of two nonfiction books, but he is perhaps best known for writing two novels tied to Star Wars and Black Panther. His first Black Panther book was nominated for a national NAACP Image Award for best fiction in 2019.

“The publishing industry loves journalists because journalists know how to write, and journalists know and respect deadlines,” Holland said.

Jesse Holland

Holland’s conversation with the students lasted more than 90 minutes. He spoke at length about his work ethic – just one example: His C-SPAN gig requires him to get up at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings for a show that begins broadcasting at 7 a.m. – and how he fell in love with journalism after he figured out it was “the best way to meet interesting people, go interesting places and do interesting things.”

He talked about how UM students are lucky to benefit from the passionate “fraternity and sorority” of journalism graduates all across the nation who can help them, and he told detailed and sometimes amusing stories about a few who helped him along the way.

“There’s only one job you can do and you’re literally writing history on a daily basis,” he said. “…Years from now, when people read about the donations of Rosa Parks’ archives to the Library of Congress, they’re going to read that the person who discovered Rosa Parks’ material in a warehouse in New York where it had been languishing for 15 years was a guy named Jesse J. Holland. Years and years and years from now, when historians go back and read the stories from Ferguson, Missouri, and ask who was Michael Brown and what happened, the story they’re going to pull up was written by a guy named Jesse J. Holland.”

Remembering Joey Embry: Rebel’s legacy continues with latest scholar

Posted on: February 11th, 2021 by ldrucker

Lillian Lindsey, a University of Mississippi freshman from Water Valley, is the 2020-21 recipient of the Joey Embry Memorial Scholarship, expanding the legacy of a beloved student and football player.

Lindsey is an integrated marketing communications major in the UM School of Journalism and New Media. She hopes to work in the field of social media marketing after receiving her undergraduate degree.

“Since I was a little kid, I have wanted to attend Ole Miss,” she said. “Both of my parents went here, and I grew up so close that it always felt like home,” said Lindsey, a member of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and the Ole Miss women’s club volleyball team.

UM freshman Lillian Lindsey, an integrated marketing communications major from Water Valley, is the 2020-21 recipient of the Joey Embry Memorial Scholarship. Photo by Keli Lindsey Photography

Joey Embry, who the scholarship was named after, was actively involved on the Oxford campus and dedicated to his academic pursuits. He excelled academically, making both the UM Athletic Association and Southeastern Conference academic honor rolls, and left a positive impression on the Ole Miss community through his leadership and commitment on and off the playing field.

Tragically, Embry died in a drowning accident May 19, 1998, just before his fourth season with the Rebels. He was expected to be a major contributor on the offensive line.

The 1998 season was dedicated to Embry, and his teammates memorialized him by wearing his number on their helmets. To have his legacy present at Ole Miss and to keep his spirit alive, the Joey Embry Memorial Scholarship Fund was established to help other UM students.

“I am so thankful to have received this scholarship,” Lindsey said. “I’ve heard my dad speak of Joey Embry in the past and how much he thought of him when they played football together at Ole Miss.”

Stephen Lindsey was a kicker for the Rebels during the 1996 and 1997 football seasons.

“I’ve also known Joey’s brother, Brad, who taught me at Water Valley High School, and I’ve known his parents for years,” Lindsey said. “Knowing them makes this scholarship even more special to me.”

Embry scholars must be from Calhoun and Yalobusha counties – the Mississippi counties in which the Embrys have lived. Students interested in applying for the scholarship should speak with their high school guidance counselor.

Gwen Embry, Joey Embry’s mother, said she and her husband, Bill, know Lindsey and her family through church and are “very proud for her.”

Likewise, Joey Embry would be honored that his legacy is continuing in this way, she said.

“Joey gave everything for there to be this scholarship, and we want to make sure it’s used to the best of its ability – that the students will devote their time and efforts to school and keep their priorities in the right direction.”

The Joey Embry Memorial Scholarship Endowment is open to gifts from individuals and organizations. Checks may be mailed to the University of Mississippi Foundation, with the endowment noted in the memo line, to 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655. Gifts can also be made online by visiting https://give.olemiss.edu.

This story was originally written by Bill Dabney for UM Communications.

A ‘Gentle Insistence on Excellence’: Dr. Dupont will retire from UM School of Journalism and New Media after spring semester

Posted on: February 9th, 2021 by ldrucker

A 'Gentle Insistence on Excellence'

At the end of the spring semester, Dr. Nancy Dupont will retire from the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media. She has been a vital part of the school since 2006 – teaching across a wide swath of the curriculum and playing a critical role in the growth and achievements of the broadcast journalism program.

While the entire faculty will miss her, that absence will be strongly felt by Interim Dean Debora Wenger, who has worked with Dupont in one way or another for more than 30 years.

When Wenger moved to Charlotte, N.C. to produce the 11 o’clock news more than 30 years ago, Dupont was the 6 o’clock producer, supervising the station’s hour-long show.

“Despite the fact that she was under an incredible amount of pressure in that role, Nancy was always funny and fun to be around,” Wenger said.

Wenger’s responsibilities included coming into the station about 2 p.m. and monitoring the news feeds that came from the network and other sources so she could alert Dupont about any great video she should include in her show. She also helped write breaking news stories for the 6 p.m. news and led the production of the late show.

“My first impression (of Nancy) was that she was good at her job, and that I could learn something from her,” she said. “My second impression is that she was someone I wanted to be friends with because she sure knew how to make people laugh and to like her.”

Not much has changed, Wenger said.

“After 30+ years of knowing Nancy, I still learn things from her, and I still enjoy being her friend,” she said. “When my husband, Mitch, was interviewing for a job at the University of Mississippi, Nancy was the first person to put my name forward as a candidate for an open position in the then Department of Journalism.

“Once I got the job, she was a huge help in getting me settled into my new role – and for the past 10 years, she has been a source of great ideas for making our program stronger, and she has been a great advocate for me always.”

For many years, Dupont was the faculty adviser for NewsWatch Ole Miss, and Wenger said Dupont deserves immeasurable thanks and credit for taking the program to a higher level. She was also a key driver behind the curriculum development that has made our broadcast program a much more relevant and robust component of the school.

“My first impression (of Nancy) was that she was good at her job, and that I could learn something from her. My second impression is that she was someone I wanted to be friends with because she sure knew how to make people laugh and to like her.”

Debora Wenger

Interim dean

Dupont has served as chair of the Electronic News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was twice named chair of the news division of the Broadcast Education Association. In 2019, she was elected to a two-year term on the Broadcast Education Association Board of Directors.

Dupont’s scholarship is extensive. She co-authored the book Journalism of the Fallen Confederacy in 2014 and has authored a dozen or more book chapters. She has also been a prolific presenter at national and international conferences.

“I got an education at Loyola University in New Orleans, and set out to be a reporter,” Dupont said. “I soon tired of that, because the producers boss people around all day, and I wanted to be a producer.”

Dupont joined the UM faculty in 2006 after spending 17 years as a broadcast journalist and 13 years as a journalism educator. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1997.

Wenger said one of the things she has learned from Dupont is to keep her love of breaking news alive.

“Whenever a big story emerged in the state, Nancy was always the first person on the phone to me saying, ‘Who can we send,” she said. “A ‘go-get-’em’ journalist’s heart is alive and well in Dr. Dupont, and she’s helped to keep it beating strong in me as well.”

Dupont said Wenger is the “smartest person I have ever known.”

“She has such confidence in herself,” Dupont said. “She can do anything. She taught me how to be a good producer … She taught me to take the challenge.”

Wenger said Dupont has been a role model – someone who exemplifies what it means to be a teacher first.

“Though she was an excellent researcher and contributed countless service hours, she has always focused on students,” Wenger said. “That’s why I’m so glad that one of the ways we will honor her is by naming the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association Broadcast Adviser of the Year Award after Nancy.”

The MSPA Board of Advisers unanimously approved a request by the University of Mississippi School of Journalism & New Media to rename its Broadcast Adviser of the Year award in honor of Dupont.

“Dr. Dupont is a highly-decorated journalism educator and the long-time faculty adviser for the award-winning NewsWatch, UM’s daily live student-run news broadcast,” said Dr. R. J. Morgan, director of the MSPA. “Throughout her career, Dr. Dupont has been a friend to scholastic journalism and a mentor to generations of young communicators.

“As such, she embodies both the spirit and substance of those educators our adviser of the year awards seek to honor, and I think I speak for the entire board when I say we are incredibly excited to have her name attached to this honor going forward.”

Morgan said the award, which honors the state’s best high school broadcast adviser, will be awarded at the spring convention, to be held virtually on April 9. Dupont will be involved in the judging process.

According to some of Dupont’s colleagues, naming the award for her could not be more fitting.

"In all your teaching, I saw you set the highest standard of professional journalism practice, and the ‘students’ responded to that in ways that will be rewarding for them all through their careers. Your gentle insistence on excellence has been inspirational ..."

Charlie Mitchell

JOURNALIST AND PROFESSOR

Professor Charlie Mitchell said when he visited NewsWatch in action, it was clear that students were “at work” as opposed to “in a class.”

“This is not insignificant,” he said. “In all your teaching, I saw you set the highest standard of professional journalism practice, and the ‘students’ responded to that in ways that will be rewarding for them all through their careers.

“Your gentle insistence on excellence has been inspirational to me, too. While you engaged in serious scholarship, you also organized Broadcast Day and attracted every news director in Mississippi and several from Tennessee to visit campus and meet with students each year. This was truly service above self and, again, something to admire.”

Samir Husni, Ph.D., founder and director, professor and Hederman Lecturer of the Magazine Innovation Center, said the only silver lining after the horrors of Hurricane Katrina was that it provided the opportunity for the department to hire DuPont.

“Her combination of professionalism in the newsroom and classroom is unmatched,” he said. “From day one, she put both skills into the service of our students, and she excelled as a mentor and as a teacher. I’m very proud to have had the honor of working with her as a colleague and to also call her my friend. I wish her the best in her retirement.”

Iveta Imre, Ph.D., a UM assistant professor of journalism, said she is sad Dupont is leaving.

“Your endless energy and passion have been amazing to witness during the short time I have had the pleasure to work with you,” she said. “I was always amazed at your dedication to work with NewsWatch students day in and day out for hours on end, to help them grow into budding journalists and support them on their journey. You are leaving big shoes to fill.”

WREG-TV Memphis donates set to NewsWatch Ole Miss newscast

Posted on: February 5th, 2021 by ldrucker

Thanks to WREG-TV in Memphis, NewsWatch Ole Miss has a new set for its newscast.

Wes Pollard, creative services director at WREG-TV News Channel 3, worked in December and January with Steven Miller, Student Media Center broadcast engineer, to complete the project. Pieces of the WREG desk were taken apart, delivered to campus, and then reassembled in the NewsWatch Ole Miss studio.

WREG installed a new set at its Memphis studio last year and generously offered furniture from its previous set to the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media and the SMC. WREG General Manager Ron Walter was happy to see the desk go to a good home.

NewsWatch Ole Miss

“We are proud to support the aspiring young journalists and broadcasters in our area, knowing we may one day work alongside them,” Walter said. “The desk served our anchor teams very well, and we hope it does the same for University of Mississippi journalism students.”

Pictured in the photo at the new anchor desk are NewsWatch student staff members Madeleine Nolan, graphics producer; Artez Gibson, video producer; Brian Barisa, newscast manager; Justin Claas, sports director; and Alexandra Barfield, social media producer.

In spring semester 2021, the newscast is aired on Wednesdays and Fridays. You can learn more about NewsWatch at http://www.newswatcholemiss.com

University of Mississippi journalism grad Payne selected for national POLITICO Fellows program

Posted on: January 29th, 2021 by ldrucker

Daniel Payne started work this month as a POLITICO Fellow. Payne graduated in May 2020 from the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media. He was in the Honors College, a Taylor Medalist, and editor in chief of The Daily Mississippian, where he led a staff that won national journalism awards. He participated in Lens Collective and had a summer internship at a Washington news website. Following graduation, he was executive editor of The DeSoto (MS) Times-Tribune.

The POLITICO Fellows program offers four journalists an opportunity to work on teams throughout the newsroom reporting full time on politics and policy. The 12-month professional fellowship also includes a robust training component and work on enterprise reporting projects on policy areas with disproportionate impact on underrepresented communities. Upon successful completion of the program, each fellow is invited to a full-time reporting role at POLITICO.

Daniel Payne at his desk in Washington.

“Daniel is foremost a thoughtful journalist who has demonstrated serious commitment to his craft,” said Robin Turner, director of editorial diversity initiatives at POLITICO. “In addition to his solid journalism chops, he demonstrated strong leadership in pushing The DeSoto Times-Tribune toward a digital-first approach as the weekly newspaper’s executive editor. In addition to his compassionate approach to serving his community, Daniel impressed our selections committee with his aggressive accountability reporting on the pandemic, his role in redesigning the newspaper, his work on newsletters, and in his savvy, but responsible social media skills.”

Turner said that Payne, as a graduate of the University of Mississippi who hails from Tennessee, also offers a geographic perspective and background that often go missing in D.C.-area newsrooms. “In short, Daniel is a talented, creative and innovative contributor with fresh insight that any newsroom would welcome.”

Turner, who designed the professional fellowship with the support of POLITICO’s Editor in Chief Matt Kaminski, said that fellows are “full colleagues from Day One.”

“Daniel will be embedded as a reporter on two editorial teams and will learn how POLITICO launches new products. We are pleased that all of our fellows – those who have served previously, and those now serving as professional fellows – know they are respected and valued team members. They also help advance POLITICO’s editorial mission for delivering strong, independent and credible journalism on politics and policy – and with diverse voices and perspectives.”

Grad students Lucy Burnam and MacKenzie Ross caught up with Payne as he started his new job this week and asked him a few questions:

Q. Daniel, why did you apply for the fellowship?

A. I have always enjoyed POLITICO and the work that comes from its newsroom, especially all the work they do innovating digital journalism. When I saw that they would be bringing two fellows on board in January, I knew I had to apply.

Q. How do you feel about being a reporter in the nation’s capital in 2021?

A. I’m very excited about it. I think, especially over the last year or so, people have focused more on the importance of understanding how policies and politicians affect day-to-day life in the U.S. That makes the job of reporting important stories all the more exciting.

Q. How did your journalism and Honors classes, and your work at The Daily Mississippian, prepare you for this fellowship?

A. My experience at UM has been foundational in preparing me for this fellowship. I feel that, though I still have a lot to learn through professional experience, I’m ready to get to work in the world of journalism. The experience I got at The Daily Mississippian has proved to be monumental in my understanding and practice of reporting and editing. I can’t imagine being able to get this fellowship without the real-world education I got at the Student Media Center.

Q. What do you hope to learn from this fellowship?

A. I hope to sharpen my reporting and writing skills, and I also hope to learn about the diversity of opportunities available to someone who wants to report on politics. POLITICO has journalists working in many unique niches of politics and policy reporting, and I think working with different people who have different interests will give me a wealth of perspective on journalism today and my future in the field.

Here is the press release from POLITICO about the new Fellows:

POLITICO Announces Inaugural Class of The POLITICO Fellows

ARLINGTON, Va. — POLITICO today announced its inaugural class of The POLITICO Fellows, a competitive professional fellowship program that offers four enterprising journalists a front-row seat covering the biggest storylines dominating Washington.

The POLITICO Fellows program, which just began this week, seeks to empower journalists seeking to advance their careers in political and policy journalism. POLITICO is pleased to share that Jonathan Custodio, Anna Kambhampaty, Marissa Martinez and Jonathan “Daniel” Payne emerged from an outstanding and competitive applicant pool impressing the selections committee with their strong journalism skills, entrepreneurial spirit and unique contributions to newsroom diversity.

“The POLITICO Fellows builds on our strong commitment to develop newsroom talent as we deliver authoritative, independent politics and policy coverage with diverse voices and perspectives,” said Robin Turner, director of editorial diversity initiatives for POLITICO. “Our incoming cohort includes four very talented journalists, each with the demonstrated ability to lead teams, innovate and break news even beyond U.S. borders. We are proud of all of our fellows – past and present – and are pleased to partner with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in identifying and preparing these emerging newsroom leaders.”

The 12-month program will train professionals and provides a unique opportunity to cover the White House, Congress and policy areas such as health care, trade, technology and finance. Reporting opportunities will include in-depth exploration of how key policy issues disproportionately impact underrepresented communities.

“NABJ is proud to partner with POLITICO in creating this critical pipeline of diverse journalists who will become the next generation of political reporters. Now more than ever, it is important that people who represent Black and Brown communities are leaders in reporting on the government and policy issues that impact communities of color every day. We look forward to the dynamic work that will come from the 2021 cohort and extend our support to each of them,” said Dorothy Tucker, president of NABJ.

Participants receive total compensation of $60,000, plus benefits, and are invited for a full-time reporting role at POLITICO upon successful completion of the program. This professional fellowship program also features monthly workshops, mentoring and other training as well as editorial rotations for career exploration. Anna and Daniel begin their fellowships in the POLITICO newsroom this week. Jonathan and Marissa will begin their 12-month terms in June.

The 2021 POLITICO Fellows

Jonathan Custodio brought his Bronx-honed reporting skills to POLITICO in October as an intern in the New York office, where he contributes regularly to New York Playbook and the New York Real Estate newsletter and covers city campaigns. A member of NABJ, Jonathan’s work has been featured in ProPublica’s Electionland and the immigration news outlet Documented NY. A graduate of LaGuardia Community College and Lehman College, Jonathan also served as a reporting intern at The Chronicle of Higher Education and Bronx community newspaper Norwood News. The Pulitzer Center awarded Jonathan a grant in 2019 to do groundbreaking bilingual reporting on Afro Mexicans’ struggle for political, social and cultural recognition, which helped (along with decades of activists’ efforts) lead to unanimous vote by the Mexican Senate to ensure constitutional recognition for the disenfranchised community. Jonathan is a member of NABJ.

Anna Kambhampaty has spent the past year and a half as a reporter/researcher at Time Magazine, and delivered a major scoop– Anna broke the Justin Trudeau brownface story for Time in the midst of the 2019 Canadian election. A native of upstate New York, Anna brings a mix of skills to the newsroom: She studied information science at Cornell University while writing a column for the Cornell Daily Sun, and was an interactive web development intern at CNBC and a UX engineering intern at The New York Times before landing at Time. Since mid-2019, Anna has researched and reported on art, agriculture, politics, and history for Time, but developed a specialty at the intersection of politics, race and identity. Anna is a member of AAJA.

A native of Chicago, Marissa Martinez has already made a name for herself as a newsroom leader and editor in chief of the Daily Northwestern, during a tumultuous year for higher education. Marissa managed a staff of more than 80 journalists and reported on issues of race, health and education for the city, campus and investigative desks at The Daily, which serves as the only newspaper for the city of Evanston, Ill. Marissa, who speaks Spanish and has studied Portuguese and Arabic, created the newspaper’s first diversity and inclusion editor and has been interviewed by the Columbia Journalism Review for her work in newsroom diversity. Marissa currently covers COVID-19 as a reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. She is a past participant of the POLITICO Journalism Institute and is a member of NABJ, AAJA and NAHJ.

Daniel Payne has worked to push The DeSoto Times-Tribune toward a digital-first approach as the Mississippi newspaper’s executive editor for the past year. He emphasized aggressive accountability reporting on the pandemic and redesigned the newspaper, newsletters and social media accounts. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Daniel was editor in chief of The Daily Mississippian, where he also helped overhaul the newspaper’s website and workflow. Daniel has interned for the Global Post in Washington, D.C., and worked as a reporter and panelist for the Lens Collective researching, filming and editing short films on civil rights activists.

Study abroad in Rome this summer with the UM School of Journalism and New Media

Posted on: January 26th, 2021 by ldrucker

If you’ve ever dreamed of traveling abroad and studying in Italy, a group of professors from the School of Journalism and New Media are planning to offer classes there this summer.

From May 25 to June 21, you can explore Florence, Rome, Sorrento and Capri while earning six hours of integrated marketing communications and/or journalism credit with professors from the school.

Study Abroad Rome

Choose two of four classes on topics such as smartphone photography, international writing, issues in European media, and world communication systems while experiencing Italy.

In addition to courses, you’ll have access to some of the best museums in the world (as well as the best gelato in the world), get to see beautiful small Italian towns, take an Italian cooking class, and participate in a variety of other cultural excursions around Tuscany, Rome and the Amalfi Coast.

For more information, including courses, itinerary and price, visit www.omjabroad.com or email Dr. Jason Cain at jacain@olemiss.edu.

Professor seeks UM School of Journalism and New Media student volunteers for app project that provides free emotional support

Posted on: January 18th, 2021 by ldrucker

As we continue to be separated from each other due to COVID-19, several studies have documented increased levels of depression, stress and anxiety, and decreased levels of general mental well-being among students.

A University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media professor is hoping to change that by partnering with creators of an app that provides free emotional support. Professor Graham Bodie, Ph.D., is also seeking students from the school willing to participate as listeners through the app for other students in need.

Graham Bodie

The HearMe.App, created by Adam Lippin and his team,

allows people to seek and receive support at any time. Users download the app to their Android or Apple device, specify their preferred listener type (male-female, age range, time availability to chat, etc.), and either identify a topic for conversation or begin chatting.

“All conversations are text-based, and listeners go through minimal training in active and reflective listening before they are allowed to interact with users,” Bodie said. “To date, over 54,000 conversations have taken place on the app with 94 percent of support seekers reporting they ‘felt better after one chat.’”

At the outset of the pandemic, the HearMe.App team commissioned a survey of 350 American adults, Bodie said. Results indicated that a majority of 18- to 24-year-olds reported feeling less connected than before the pandemic, compared to a majority of those over 35 who reported feeling more connected.

“Those in the traditional college-aged cohort were the least satisfied with the emotional support they are currently receiving and more readily identified texting to be a viable means of seeking support (again, compared to those in older age cohorts),” Bodie said. “Our current studies thus target a key demographic likely to benefit the most from digital forms of emotional support.”

The studies will take place at the University of Mississippi and University of Minnesota. They will examine whether broad-based, communal emotional support, delivered through a free app, can mitigate stress among college students and the negative mental health effects of social isolation and loneliness resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

By any number of measures, 2020 was stressful, and 2021 might be best described as “the year of loneliness” if we continue to be separated from each other due to COVID, Bodie said.

“In March, U.S. American higher education institutions closed down most campus operations and dormitory housing, and began encouraging or mandating online courses in an effort to manage the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “By April, it was clear students were unlikely to return to campus for the remainder of the spring semester. As summer turned to fall, students continued to remain isolated, either at home or in a restricted and curfewed campus community.”

Bodie said general population studies find younger age groups reporting more impact from COVID-19 than older age groups, and students from disenfranchised groups are even more at risk of suffering from the consequences of the pandemic.

“Although most colleges and universities offer formal sources of support, these resources are generally underutilized,” he said.

Even if universities were able to convince more students to use mental health services, Bodie said the staffing alone would overwhelm personnel and overextend the financial capacities of higher education budgets. One answer to assisting students through crises is to strengthen social support networks.

Receiving high-quality support from friends and other informal help providers is vital for student coping, he said. However, COVID-19 precautions have disrupted students’ channels of seeking support. Some students are now socially isolated from peers, roommates, family members, and co-workers; and their social life has declined since March 2020.

Bodie said scholars are increasingly recognizing the need for colleges and universities to prioritize early prevention and intervention programming through platforms that allow students to adequately manage their mental health on or off campus.

He is looking for students to become listeners. While some might only be available for one session each week, others may have a few hours weekly to devote to the project.

“First, it does not take long to be a supportive shoulder for people, a keen ear available to listen in times of stress,” Bodie said. “Second, we hope students will seek support through the application as the semester progresses, whether they sign up as a listener or not.”

If you are interested in participating as a listener, click this link to answer the following short survey to get started.

Volunteer to “listen” on the app by emailing Bodie at at gbodie@olemiss.edu.

For more information about our journalism or integrated marketing communications programs visit jnm.olemiss.edu or email jour-imc@olemiss.edu.

Welcome back to the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media

Posted on: January 15th, 2021 by ldrucker

Dear Students,

Here’s hoping your time away from campus allowed you to reconnect and recharge – to reconnect with people you care about and to recharge your enthusiasm for learning and growth.

As we head into the spring semester, let me first acknowledge how proud I am of you – the fall was tough on everyone, but you met the challenges head on and did better than we could have imagined.

Interim Dean Debora Wenger

I, personally, have reasons to be hopeful that the spring semester is going to be better:

The vaccine rollout is ramping up and as more and more people are inoculated, that should make our campus and our communities safer in the coming months. In the meantime, we saw in the fall semester that following the university’s safety protocols does help to protect us, and we will continue to stick with what we know is a good thing. Please read your Monday Morning Memo carefully each week to stay on top of COVID testing and vaccination updates.
We also know more about what works and what doesn’t in this learning environment. You and your instructors should be better prepared this semester to focus on getting the most that we can out of our time in the classroom, online or on Zoom. Everyone has reason to head into the spring with more confidence.

We do recognize, though, that things won’t always be easy this semester. Please practice self-care and reach out to me, your faculty or any of our staff if you start to struggle. The earlier you seek help, the easier it will be to get back on track.

Remember, too, that the university provides counseling services. You can call the University Counseling Center at 662-915-3784, Monday-Friday (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) or the UM Dept. of Psychology at 662-915-7385.

We’ll try to communicate more often and look for additional ways to connect as the semester continues. We encourage you to follow us on social media – just log onto your favorite platform and look for “umjourimc”. In the meantime, stay safe and remember that we are stronger together.

Sincerely,

Dr. Deb Wenger
Interim Dean
drwenger@olemiss.edu
662-380-3046