Digital Strategy for Rural Community Newspapers Carolina J-School Offers Online Master’S Degree
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A publication of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Summer 2010 The Reese FelTs DigiTal News PRojecT The mccoRmick projecT: DigiTal straTegy FoR RuRal commuNiTy NewsPaPeRs caRoliNa j-school offeRs oNliNe masTeR’s DegRee CONTENTS 6 9 16 3 DEan JEan FolkertS: Connecting 4 thE Reese FEltS Digital NewS PRoject: Digital intElligEnce FoR a Changing woRlD 6 thE McCormiCk PRoject: Digital StRatEgy FoR rural Community nEwspapers 9 Fighting to SavE a MoUntain anD itS PEoPlE 12 CaROLINA J-SCHOOL oFFERS ONLINE MaStER’S DEgREE 14 16 anD Pregnant: thE effectS oF media intervEntion on teen pregnanCy attitudes 16 Ad StudentS creatE ‘Destination’ bRanDing Campaign FoR FoX spoRtS CaRolinaS 18 37 th FRame – thE best oF CaRolina PhotoJournalism 24 WWW2010 anD thE specter oF big Data 26 ConSidering ‘thE big thaw’ 28 ‘yoU're reaDy’ – New yoRk times whitE house Correspondent HelEnE Cooper addresses 2010 CaRolina J-school gRaduates Cover photo from the school’s 37 th Frame exhibition (see story on page 18). John Adkisson trey buie of Paris, ky., reacts while bowling with his grandparents at Corvette lanes. buie bowls in a children's league in Paris. “they usually have bumpers,” buie's grandmother Sherry Phifer said. SUMMER 2010 1 CONTENTS School of Journalism and Mass Communication Jean Folkerts Jay Eubank Dean Director of Career Services 919.962.1204 and Special Programs [email protected] 919.962.4518 [email protected] Dulcie Straughan Senior Associate Dean Monica Hill 919.962.9003 Director, North Carolina [email protected] Scholastic Media Association Anne Johnston 919.962.4639 Associate Dean for [email protected] Graduate Studies 919.962.4286 Jennifer Gallina [email protected] Director of Research Administration Joe Bob Hester 919.843.8186 Associate Dean for [email protected] Undergraduate Studies 919.843.8290 Stephanie Willen Brown 18 28 [email protected] Park Library Director 919.843.8300 Speed Hallman [email protected] Associate Dean for Development and David Alexander Alumni Affairs Director of Information 919.962.9467 Technology and Services [email protected] 919.962.0281 [email protected] 30 aboUt that FinE print: what are thE proMises Louise Spieler to bE kept? Associate Dean for Kyle York Professional Education Assistant to the Dean for and Strategic Initiatives Communications 919.843.8137 919.966.3323 Experimental Course creates international 31 [email protected] [email protected] exchangE thRoUgh MobilE devices Maura Murphy Associate Dean for 2010 n.C. hallS oF Fame inductionS anD Business and Finance 32 919.843.8287 Next Generation LeadershiP awards [email protected] 34 o’RourkE: ‘Journalism iS deaD’ Editors Morgan Ellis, kyle york PUbliC relationS celEbRates 20th anniversaRy 35 Art Director at CaRolina’S J-school karen hibbert Design 36 nEwS bRiefs UnC Design Services Printer 39 Donors to thE school Clinch valley Printing Co., inc. Read the Carolina Communicator online at jomc.unc.edu/carolinacommunicator. Carolina Communicator is a publication of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. © Copyright 2010, UnC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. all rights reserved. address corrections: amy bugno School of Journalism and Mass Communication Campus box 3365, Carroll hall Chapel hill, n.C. 27599-3365 [email protected] 919.962.3037 2 CaROLINA CoMMUNICATOR FROM THE DEAN Dean Jean Folkerts: Connecting CAroLinA’S J-schooL StudentS Won A nAtional championship tHiS year. They Finished FirSt ovErall in the intErCollegiAtE CoMpEtition oF the HearSt Journalism Awards, ConSidered the puLitzErS oF College Journalism. our alumni and friends set a new record for giving to the school in fiscal year 2010 with more than $7.7 million in private gifts. a recent article in “Journalism and Mass Communication Educator” indicated that from 1999 to 2008 students and faculty in the J-school presented more papers at the association for Education in Journalism and Mass Carolina is now one of only two journalism schools in the Communication annual meetings than did any other school country to have two knight chairs – and both of our chairs are with the exception of the University of Florida. Florida has 60 focused on digital media. Read on page 6 about knight Chair full-time faculty and 200 graduate students. UnC has about Penny abernathy’s work with the McCormick Foundation and 45 faculty and 100 graduate students. this speaks to the rural community newspapers in north Carolina. productivity of our research faculty and the mentoring they the school has just launched a unique, innovative online provide for our graduate students. master’s in technology and communication (MATC) aimed these three accomplishments are a great tribute to the qual- at working professionals. it’s the only curriculum of its kind ity of the school, and they are more than coincidences. they among our peer programs nationwide. Read more about the go hand in hand. MATC on page 12. the extraordinary support from alumni and friends allows as part of the Carnegie-knight initiative on the Future us to innovate and to seize new opportunities for our of Journalism Education, our students are producing the students. Consistent, broad-based support and involvement news21 multimedia documentary project – “Powering a from alumni are cornerstones of any great school. i like to nation” (poweringanation.org) – which has won more than believe we earn and honor that support with the work of our 40 regional, national and international awards. our news21 students and faculty. student journalists broke news about the gulf oil spill response when they obtained a copy of a bP contract with Carolina has been a leader nationally in adapting journalism oil spill workers banning them from speaking to the media. education to a new media environment undergoing massive change. we’re now leveraging our leadership position to go i’m proud of the drive, the professionalism and the optimism further and intensify our focus on digital media. of our students. and i’m honored to work with the faculty, staff and alumni – the Carolina J-school community – that an estate gift by Carolina alumnus Reese Felts is funding an together create what many believe is the best journalism experimental digital news and audience research initiative. and mass communication school in the world. it will function as a research center that studies products, audiences and communities that form around the news. Monty Cook, J-school alumnus and former editor of the thank you, baltimore Sun and baltimoresun.com, is leading the project. Monty tells us more about his vision in his story on page 4. the knight Foundation combined new and existing funds to create a $1.7 million knight Chair in Digital advertising that Jean Folkerts increases our work on the business side of digital media. SUMMER 2010 3 The Reese Felts DIGITAL NEWSROOM Digital News Project: Digital intelligence for a changing world by Monty Cook A team oF Wireless, untEthered Student rEportErS, pHotoGrApherS, videoGrApherS, MuLtimediA proDucerS Monty Cook AnD editorS ArE launchinG A DiGital news project At CAroLinA to help definE new StAndards For mediA. the Reese Felts Digital news Project, funded by a $4.1 mil- lion estate gift from alumnus Reese Felts, will be a collection of insightful, imaginative and entertaining digital sites and spaces that provide the foundation for studying journalism trends, audience behaviors and the information ecosystem. a mix of student-produced journalism and external content will sustain the project’s publications, products and applications. the decline of so-called mainstream media has been well documented. traditional media companies overestimated their own businesses and underestimated the internet and other digital media as catalysts for expansive cultural change. the survival of journalism now depends as much on under- standing those cultural changes in media habits – and adapting to them – as it does finding business models that will support it. Using the curiosity of experimentation and research – and capitalizing on the experience, the quality of scholarship and thought, and the creativity of Carolina’s J-school – our mission is to help industries, companies and entrepreneurs create innovative solutions for content, advertising and mar- keting against the changing backdrop of technology, culture and business models. 4 CaROLINA CoMMUNICATOR DIGITAL NEWSROOM our newsroom will be fertile ground for experimentation the Reese Felts Digital news Project leverages ongoing and research beyond the standard digital methods of blog- research in the school, and the project’s website will provide ging, social media, content aggregation and curation. the a platform for industry recognition of the school’s research. definition of journalistic content is expanding to include vast we will encourage research partnerships with traditional amounts of raw data and user-generated content. geocoding, and new media organizations, opening a portion of the site databases, gaming, animation and data visualization each to companies for testing innovative products with audiences. have a role to play in helping journalists compile information and the newsroom will provide a forum for testing new tech- and foster greater understanding of issues by media users. nology, hardware, software, plug-ins and platforms. a recent study by the Pew Research Center found that, for we view ourselves as partners with our users, students and the first time, more people acknowledge getting their news faculty, our community, companies in the digital space and and information online rather than from a newspaper. and the news industry. an astounding 75 percent of us who get news online are Stay tuned for more developments. ♦ being informed through e-mail or social media networks. the tipping point between traditional news sources and the Monty Cook is the executive producer of the Reese Felts Digital most basic digital platform, the web browser, has passed.