Media Day 2016 Media Messages Moving the Masses Presented by Mass Communications March 23, 2016 Clinton Bristow Jr. Dining Hall Alcorn State University ASU Media Day 2016 Presenters Therese Apel Therese Apel is the crime and breaking news reporter at The Clari- on-Ledger, a correspondent to USA Today, and a stringer for Thom- son Reuters. She has been with The Clarion-Ledger since 2010, after spending almost four years at the Daily Leader in Brookhaven. Apel began her journalism career at the Copiah County Courier when she was 15, writing high school sports and features for the weekly county newspaper. She was the first female sports editor at the Daily Mississippian and the first female sports director at the campus television station dur- ing her time at the University of Mississippi, where she graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. She has worked on high-pro- file cases such as the Jessica Chambers and Otis Byrd cases and the Delta State professor shooting, and has been interviewed about her reporting by the FOX News’ Shepard Smith and Greta Van Susteren, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Tamron Hall, and HLN’s Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell, among others. Timothy Crisler Timothy Crisler is the District Chair, Advisor & Instructor of Radio and Television Production and Broadcast Technology at Hinds Com- munity College, Utica Campus. He also is the Chief Executive Of- ficer of “The C Group” a privately own Public Relations and Com- munications Firm. Crisler has over 22 years in the multi-media and communications industry. Prior to starting his own company he was the Senior Corporate Communications Specialist and lead spokes- man for Entergy Nuclear fleet, Entergy Corporation, the fourth larg- est electricity producer in the United States. He has served in many capacities throughout his professional career. Prior to joining Entergy, for over a decade, Crisler was employed with Mississippi’s largest television station, NBC affiliate WLBT TV 3 as Senior News Producer. He is a native of Crystal Springs and the third child of Mrs. Flora Crisler and the late Mr. Thomas Crisler. He is a Cum Laude gradu- ate of Alcorn State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Communications. He received his Masters of Science Degree in Mass Communications with emphasizes in Public Relations and Marketing from Mississippi College. Crisler’s Motto is “Do what you can, while you can, because only what’s done for Christ will last”. ASU Media Day 2016 Presenters Jan Griffey A native of Natchez, Miss., Jan Griffey has spent 30 years in the newspaper business. She began her career as a summer intern during college at The Natchez (Miss.) Dem- ocrat and has continued to work for the company that owns it — Boone News- papers — her entire career. Boone Newspapers, headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala., owns or manages more than 50 daily and weekly newsmedia companies. Griffey began her full-time journalism career as a reporter at The Ironton Tribune in Ironton, Ohio. She was managing editor of that newspaper when she left there to go to work as news editor at The Galveston (Texas) Daily News. She worked as manag- ing editor of the Niles Daily Star in Niles, Mich., for 20 years. In Niles, she interviewed the likes of Rosa Parks and Stevie Wonder. Her newsrooms and her stories have won numerous state press association awards. Griffey was president and publisher of that newspaper operation when she left in 2008 to return to the South as editor and associate publisher of the Shelby County Newspapers, a company of weekly newspapers and magazines located in the Metro Birmingham area. She returned to her native Natchez as editor and associate pub- lisher of The Natchez Democrat in July 2014. In August 2015, she accepted the job of editor of The Vicksburg Post, where she works today. Griffey earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in marketing and management from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, She served for two years as managing editor of The Vermilion, the university’s student newspaper. Beunkka Davis Beunkka Davis is a 2015 alumnae of the Alcorn State University Mass Communications Department. While a student at Alcorn, she served as a staff writer for the Campus Chronicle Newspaper. She also worked as a media assistant in the School of AREAS Division of Media and Communications,. An outstanding student, Davis won several awards including “Most Diverse Student Radio Show” as well as awards for her work with ASU-TV 13. She also interned with the Mississippi Link Newspaper where she was afforded the opportunity to attend Black Press Week 2015 in Washington, D.C. Davis graduated at top of her class with a 3.5 GPA. Currently Davis works as a Public Relations Officer with the Soft- ware and Information Industry Association (SIIA). She is also a graduate student in the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University. Davis is a member of the Alpha Omnicron Sigma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society as well as a member of the NABJ and her local chapter of the NAACP. ASU Media Day 2016 Presenters Jackie Hampton Jackie Hampton, a native of Jackson, MS, is Publisher of the Mississippi Link Newspaper, a weekly publication that has served the community for over 22 years. She is a mem- ber of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) where she serves on the Board of Directors and chairs the Scholarship Committee of the NNPA Foundation. Under her leadership, the foundation has awarded over 160 journalism scholarships to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Over the years students from Alcorn State University have been recipients of these schol- arships as well as other students attending HBCU’s in the state of Mississippi. Her passion in the newspaper industry is marketing. She believes that publishing an excellent paper and maintaining a great website is the key to successful sales and marketing and finding the right people is the key to maintaining a top notch publica- tion. She is extremely proud of the talented Mississippi Link team for continuing to produce an impressive publication which readers and advertisers continue to praise. On March 26, 2015 while in Washington DC for Black Press Week, she was one of several female publishers honored during the fifth annual Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon and Issues Forum held at the National Press Club Ballroom, sponsored by the Trice Edney News Wire. She is one of fifty publishers featured in the book Getting The Word Out by Rosetta Miller Perry. Kip Smith Roosevelt ‘Kip” Smith is the Chief Photographer at WJTV - Channel 12 where he has worked for 29 years. He has held the following positions at Channel 12: News Photographer for 4 years, Sports Photographer for 5 years, Assignments Manager for 14 years and Chief Photographer for past 6 years. Smith is a 1981 graduate of Vicksburg High School. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi where he was a start- ing member of the USM Golden Eagles Football Team. They were better known as the “NASTY BUNCH”. He majored in Radio, Television and Film. He minored in Coaching. Smith has spent his entire professional career at Channel 12. He received the following awards: Best Story in a Series ( The series was called ‘ Bars Behind Bars)’, Best Spot News Story ( Amtrak Train Derailment), Best Feature Story and Best Sports Feature. Smith has covered many big stories but the following were national headlines: Medgar Evers Trial which convicted Byron DeLa Beckwith, Three Civil Rights Workers’ murder trial which convicted Edgar Ray Kil- len, Vernom Dahmer murder trial which convicted Sam Bowers and the Chris Epps Bribery Case. Smith married his college sweetheart, Arlean Smith also of Vicksburg. They are the proud parents of one daughter, Miss Adrianna Rose Smith. His professional mentors are: Walter Saddler and the late Bert Case. Mr. Smith’s work philosophy is simple ---- “Let the video tell story.” ASU Media Day 2016 Presenters Xhevrije West Xhevrije West is a writer and editor based in Dallas, Texas. Currently, she serves as the Online News Editor for TheMReport.com. She also contributes to the print magazine every month. She has worked for a number of publica- tions including The Syracuse New Times, Dallas Flow Magazine, and Bellwethr Magazine. She completed her bachelor’s at Alcorn State University and went on to complete her master’s at Syracuse University. Cedric Tillman Cedric Tillman is a videographer with the Vicksburg-Warren School District and a freelance photographer. He is a graduate of the Mass Communications department at Alcorn State University. ASU Media Day 2016 Keynote Speaker Melissa Faith Payne A Mississippi girl, Melissa is excited to return to television news in her home state. Born in Vicks- burg, Mississippi, and a graduate of Alcorn State University, Melissa enjoys being the hometown girl. Her first television job sent her to Salt Lake City, Utah,where she worked as a producer. She then returned to Mississippi, where she took a job as an Anchor/Reporter at WMDN in Meridian. Within two years, Melissa began working at WJTV in Jackson. A seasoned and award winning journalist, she’s covered a wide range of stories, including Hurricane Katrina, the Frank Melton trial, and the Avis Banks case. No stranger to the public eye, Melissa once appeared on “Touched by An Angel” and even filmed a pilot for a TV show called “The Dewzy House.” A former beauty queen, Melissa was crowned MissVicksburg, and was a Top Ten finalist in the Miss Utah USA pageant.