Nothing ever happens on campus because …

Just as the fall semester was winding down for most of us, our CMA colleague at Hudson Valley Community College, Mathew Cantore, posted this bit of wisdom to the listserv. The result of a discussion between Mathew and his editor about why things weren’t getting covered on campus, this Top 10 List resonates with many of us. Mathew gave us permission to share. He’s posting this list in the newsroom at the Hudsonian. We encourage others to do the same.

Nothing ever happens on campus because…

1. Nothing ever happens on campus when you sit inside a pressroom with no windows and a closed door all day long.

2. Nothing ever happens on campus when you don’t seek out and read sources of information like our online daily campus news bulletin, Student Announcements, and the 14 regular newsletters put out by different departments on campus.

3. Nothing ever happens on campus when you’re not interested in it because it doesn’t affect you, it only affects 10,000 out of the other 13,000 students.

Chandler Award not for fans of “Friends” star Matthew Perry

It can be tough trying get recognition for religion coverage in your publication. Few contests offer such a specific category. But the Religion Newswriters Association does have a contest with a category specifically for Student Reporter of the Year. The first place award carries a $600 prize and up to $500 in travel to the RNA conference. Second place is $300 and third place is $150.

The award is called the Chandler Award and is…

awarded to the Student Writer of the Year for excellence in writing with emphasis on reporting skill and a grasp of religion issues that is fair, balanced and in accordance with journalistic standards. Named for Russell Chandler, former religion writer for The Los Angeles Times. This student contest is made possible through the Chandler Legacy Fund. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: May 1, 2008.

Full contest information and entry forms are available at the RNA website.

Washington student free press bill re-introduced

The Student Press Law Center is reporting that the Washington State Senate is going to again consider a bill protecting the free press rights of student journalists. Student press advocates fought to pass a similar bill last year to no avail. This bill is similar but caps the punitive damages students could have recovered from administrators. That seems to have been the main sticking point in the previous version.

Not only does the bill seek to protect student journalists, according to SPLC, it also contains this bit of news important to the media advisers:

The bill would forbid administrators at both high schools and colleges from firing, transferring or otherwise disciplining media advisers “for refusing to suppress the protected free expression rights of student journalists.”

The bill looks very similar to legislation passed in Illinois last year. Illinois is currently the only state with protection for media advisers, beginning June 1, 2008.

You can read the full story at SPLC.

Impress your administration — win an award! Part II

Prove to your administration that ethics aren’t dead at your publication — enter and win an award for that solid coverage of a particularly thorny issue the college president would prefer to just go away. The University of Oregon’s Payne Awards are just the place to get that recognition.

The Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism honor journalists who encourage public trust in the media by courageously practicing the highest standards of the profession in the face of political or economic pressures.

The Payne Awards seek entries from news organizations, individual journalists and student journalists in broadcasting, print or new media.

Nominations are being accepted until February 25, 2008, for ethical dilemmas encountered in 2007. Journalists and outlets can nominate themselves or be nominated by a third party.

Nomination forms can be found here.

Impress your administration — win an award!

Here’s a contest opportunity for college newspapers. Deadline is Feb. 15.

2007 Betty Gage Holland Award
The Betty Gage Holland Award recognizes campus journalists and their publications for distinguished service to honor and protect the integrity of public dialogue on America’s college campuses. An award of $1,000 is made to the winning journalist(s) and an additional $1,000 to the sponsoring newspaper or magazine.

Of special importance to judges are news stories, institutional editorials, personal commentaries or columns that single out for public examination any act that results in distortion or pollution of the public discourse. Use of open records or “sunshine” laws by campus newspapers or magazines is deemed particularly meritorious if the result is to let the people see the people’s business being done.

Nominations for the award may be made by or on behalf of any journalist(s) regularly enrolled in a university or college at time of publication and also by or on behalf of any campus newspaper or magazine, whether independent or university supported, that published the pertinent material.

Nominations for the 2007 calendar year and supporting documentation must be submitted no later than Feb. 15, 2008.

It’s a Good Read, Charlie Brown!

College Media Advisers are always on the lookout for books to recommend about the field of journalism. We’ve compiled a list from past discussions on the listserv here at the CMA board blog, with the help of Tom Winski at Lindsey Wilson College. This list is expected to grow, and if you have suggestions, please pass them on. Here’s a taste of some of those books. The full list can be found linked from the Resources page.

• The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men, and the New York Times by Nan
  Robertson
• The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
• And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
• Flashing Before My Eyes by Dick Schaap
• Literary Journalism, edited by Jean Chance and William McKeen
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• On the Record by Tom Wicker
• The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Register Now for the NY convention!

The Spring CMA New York Convention this year is bigger and better than ever, at two locations spanning a full week in March. Come for all of it or just a portion. You can register for any of the Media Pro Workshops at the Roosevelt Hotel March 13-15, or the traditional convention events at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square March 16-18, or both! Online Registration is available now. For more details, go to the CMA website.

Those pesky comments

The New York Times began adding a reader comments option to its news stories this week. Many newspapers have been doing this for some time. There are a few holdouts. Previously, the Times was only allowing comments to its blogs, and those were moderated. The reader comments to the news stories will also be moderated — in fact, Editor and Publisher reports that the Times has hired four part-time employees to “moderate” the comments.

The comments sections are popular among college newspaper websites, causing much debate about the value and headache caused by the interactive feature. A couple of sessions at the D.C. conference dealt with the issues surrounding reader comments, and a recent CMA listserv thread enjoyed a robust discussion about reader comments.

What I found most interesting about the news that The New York Times has dipped its toe into the murky waters of comments is that even the brass there don’t have the answers. This comment from NY Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt in E&P is quite revealing:

“As The New York Times transforms itself into a multimedia news and information platform — the printed newspaper plus a robust nytimes.com offering breaking news, blogs, interactive graphics, video and more — it is struggling with a vexing problem,.” he observes. “How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways?

“The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.”

Let’s all go to the movies

A popular pastime of CMA members is to see how many movies they can name that are about journalism or in some way feature a main character that is involved in journalism as a profession. The Inside CMA blog is taking the fun away from that by compiling a list of these many titles in one location. You can find it on our Movies list page. The list, featuring obvious titles such as “All the President’s Men” and “The Front Page” and not-so-obvious features such as “Knocked Up” or “Van Wilder,” is by no means complete. This list will evolve as I’m sure more titles are added or we divide it into more specific categories. Send us your suggestions or comments. And if you’d like other lists involving journalism topics, we’ll be happy to start compiling those as well. For now, pick a movie, pop some corn, kick back, and marvel at the truth and fiction of our chosen profession.

Assessment anyone?

The CMA board met with the executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Standards during the National College Media Convention in Washington, D.C., to discuss a potential partnership that would create a set of suggested guidelines for assessing student media. Several CMA members have recently posed questions about assessment guidelines, and CAS is very eager to work with CMA in developing standards. It would begin at the membership level, as CMA members would have a say in developing these standards, then it would go to the CMA board, and then to the CAS board for approval. The key here is that we keep content out of the assessment process, but there are plenty of other items that could be developed as standards. The board announced the possibility for working with CAS at the CMA advisory council meeting in D.C., and the new board will soon begin soliciting feedback and putting together one of those blue ribbon task force thingys to work on this project. Contact your nearest board member if you are interested in joining the force. More information will be forthcoming.