FALL 2011 Vol. 6, No. 1 INSIDESTORY WWW.JOURNALISM.CUNY.EDU CUNY J-School Makes Commitment to Ethnic and Community Press

By Carmel Delshad, Class of 2011

t sprang up two months after the 9/11 attacks, a news site to give a voice to communities of New Yorkers who were unfairly tarred by the deadly actions of ex- tremists. In short order, Voices That Must Be Heard grew beyond a predominantly Muslim audience to encompass the city’s vast array of ethnic groups. IA decade later, the CUNY Graduate School of Journal- ism acquired the website from the New York Community Media Alliance and on Sept. 8, relaunched it as Voices of NY. Its goal remains to showcase the work of the ethnic and community press, while adding multimedia content and broader coverage. “Voices of NY offers a different take on an event or issue that may or may not be covered by the The new Center will aim to raise journalism standards through education and training.

mainstream media,” said Editor Bernard Stein, a J-School John Smock professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Voices of NY is part of a larger initiative by the J-School to establish a Center for Community and Ethnic Media that would serve as a hub of research, training, and profes- The community and ethnic media team: Voices of NY Editor Bernard Stein; Executive Director Garry Pierre- sional support for community and ethnic publications in Pierre; Urban Reporting Program Director Sarah Bartlett; Voices of NY Assistant Editor Jehangir Khattak the New York City area. Overseeing the project are Execu- tive Director Garry Pierre-Pierre, who is also publisher groundwork for these efforts by raising $1.1 million from Last June, the School took another major step by of The Haitian Times, and Professor Sarah Bartlett, head the Ford Foundation and other donors over the past year. acquiring the Voices website, along with responsibility for of the J-School’s Urban Reporting Program. [See Dean’s Even as it seeks additional funds, it has been spending some administering the Ippies awards, which honor excellence in Corner, page 3.] of the money to offer free digital media workshops to local ethnic and community journalism. The School will host its The Center has several key goals. It will explore new editors who want to enhance their publications’ websites. first Ippies ceremony on Apr. 12, 2012, in its newsroom at digital tools for engaging audiences online and develop More than 200 journalists from about 30 news outlets such as 219 W. 40th Street. business models that can support quality journalism in KoreaDaily, Bangla Batrika, Gotham Gazette, The Pakistani At Voices of NY, students assist Stein and Assistant the media sector. It will continue to offer training to edi- Newspaper, and Caribbean People have taken part so far. Editor Jehangir Khattak by translating articles into English tors, reporters, and news and contributing their own work. executives to strengthen Meanwhile, roughly 80 news organizations have professional skills. It will partnered with Voices to have their stories published in focus on activities that English and disseminated to a wider audience online. A promote cross-cultural goal of Voices is to produce more original content that understanding among transcends neighborhood or ethnic boundaries. “The hope New York’s diverse com- is that we would connect communities to each other,” Stein munities. And it will find said, “and show them that they have issues of common ways for students of the concern.” n CUNY J-School and the city’s community and The Voices of NY site, unveiled three days ethnic publications to before the 10th anniversary of the work together. 9/11 attacks, showcases the work of The School laid the dozens of local publications.

IN THIS ISSUE: 2 Graduation Speaker • Cameroonian Journalist • New Smart Phone Requirement 3 CUNY Journalism Partnership • Dean’s Corner 4 Donor Roll • Tale of Two Scholarships 5 Summer Internships 6 Alumni News • On the Job in Alaska

vol. 6, no. 1 FALL 2011 1 New Yorker Editor David Remnick to Speak at 2011 Commencement

avid Remnick, longtime editor of The New Yorker, will address graduates at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s 2011 commencement on Dec. 14. DThe ceremony will take place at TheTimesCenter auditorium, adjacent to the J-School on West 41st Street in Manhattan. Remnick began his reporting career at The Washington Post in 1982 and became a staff writer at The New Yorker in 1992. He has written more than 100 stories for the magazine. Since he became editor in July 1998, the publication has won 30 National Magazine Awards. In 2000, Advertising Age named him Editor of the Year. Remnick’s most recent book, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, was pub- lished by Knopf Doubleday in April 2010. He is also the author of King of the World, Resur- rection, and Lenin’s Tomb, for which he received both the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and a George Polk Award for excellence in journalism. In September 2009, Remnick appeared at the CUNY J-School as part of its lunchtime Brown Bag Speaker Series, which features prominent journalists before an informal audi-

ence of students, faculty, alumni, and staff. In a conversation with Dean Steve Shepard John Smock in the newsroom, he discussed The New Yorker’s role in the changing media landscape, the future of long-form magazine journalism, and The New Yorker’s approach to covering stories. n

Cameroonian Agnes Taile Starts Term as Smart Phones Required International Journalist in Residence For All Students by Next Fall

By Evan Buxbaum, Class of 2012 with a keen eye for identifying government corruption. By Carmel Delshad, Class of 2011 “They don’t like it,” she said, “but to be honest, I don’t care.” gnes Taile left her native Cameroon after assail- Taile spent 24 hours in prison after broadcasting voting he smart phone has become an essential tool in ants, apparently unhappy with her reporting, irregularities following the 2004 presidential election. In reporting and disseminating news. Journalists and A beat her and left her for dead. This year, Taile 2008, she gained international recognition for her report- T ordinary citizens around the globe document ma- (pronounced Tally) will be at the CUNY Graduate ing during the conflict in Chad. As the first journalist jor happenings via mobile uploads of pictures, video, School of Journalism as its fifth International Journalist from Cameroon to cover the violence that erupted in and text to the Internet. From the tsunami in Japan to in Residence. N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, Taile exposed the Cameroonian the conflicts in the Middle East, some of the most dra- Taile, 31, has received awards and accolades for her government’s involvement in weapons trafficking. matic coverage has come from these devices. work covering government corruption, human rights Her work garnered widespread attention, and in 2009 Now, for the first time, the CUNY Graduate School of abuses, and injustice in her home country. Her bold she received the International Women’s Media Founda- Journalism is requiring all students to own a smart phone. reporting and tenacity have also made her a target on tion Courage in Journalism Award. Only days after ac- multiple occasions. cepting the honor, Taile was again subjected to a series of Three years after starting as a broadcast journalist in menacing phone calls. The intimidation intensified in De- 2002, she became the host of a news and opinion radio cember 2009 when Taile was confronted by local police program called “A vous la parole” (Have Your Say). The officers who taunted her by calling her “Lady Courage.” show was often critical of government corruption and Fearing escalating threats, Taile fled to the United Cameroon’s long-standing president, but promoted no States where she was granted asylum. She married here political agenda. “I don’t have anything against and settled in New York. Her 10-year-old son had anybody,” Taile said of her nation’s politicians. no passport when she left and, not knowing This photo of an unemployed Park’s Department worker was “I just want them to do their jobs.” where she was going, she decided to leave snapped with a droid phone by But, according to Taile, she started him in Cameroon. She is attempting to student Ajai Raj (‘12) for a story receiving anonymous threatening phone obtain a visa for him to join her here. on a Brooklyn food pantry. calls beginning in the fall of 2006. She The International Journalist in Resi- refused to give in to the intimidation and dence program is an initiative between denounced her harassers on the air. the CUNY J-School and the Commit- Then came Nov. 6, 2006 —the 24th tee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Taile’s The J-School recommends Android or iOS smart phones anniversary of Paul Biya’s presidency. presence at the School will give students capable of shooting high-resolution photos and recording That evening, three masked men broke a personal perspective on the plight of high-definition video. A data plan to deliver the content into Taile’s home and abducted her journalists for whom freedom of the quickly from the field is also necessary. at knifepoint. Taile said the men press is a matter of daily struggle. The new requirement will apply to next year’s incom- beat her, dragged her from Taile said she’s equally ing Class of 2013. However, the School “strongly recom- her house, and attempted to interested in developing her mended” to current students that they show up at the start strangle the life out of her. investigative reporting skills of the semester with a smart phone in their pocket. After being left for dead in and exploring entrepreneurial Class of 2012 student Ajai Raj said his Droid has a ravine, Taile managed to opportunities. In 2011, Taile already served him well. “I’ve used my phone to record crawl home, but she sus- launched the Cameroonian ambient sound and to take and post pictures,” he said. tained severe damage to news website, Le Septentrion “It’s a great tool, and much better than carrying an audio her vocal chords in the Info, and hopes to develop the recorder and a camera.” attack. Her show was site while at CUNY. Associate Professor Adam Glenn, who teaches Funda- canceled. The assailants But Taile’s mission goes mentals of Interactive Journalism, agreed that the ease of were never found. beyond personal growth. She use and portability of smart phones is their biggest draw. Taile recovered and wants to return to Cameroon “You stumble on a story and you have a video recorder, went back to work as a and help the country move a camera, and a note-taking device all in your pocket,” national radio and televi- forward. “There is a need for profes- he said. “While the pictures and the sound may not be sion correspondent. She sional journalists,” she said. “The more perfect, it lets you report the story instantly with amazing quickly reestablished herself we get tools and techniques, the better versatility.” n

J OHN S MOCK as a courageous journalist we can do it. Things can change.” n 2 www.journalism.cuny.edu CUNY Schools Explore Journalism DEAN’SCORNER Partnership “I Love the Energy of a Startup” he CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is spear- heading an effort to spotlight and support the best e are delighted to be planning the Center documentaries on development in Third World countries. T journalism being produced on CUNY undergradu- for Community and Ethnic Media here For the next 2½ years, Sarah travelled the world — to ate campuses. at the CUNY J-School. [See page 1.] Jamaica, the Philippines, Chile, and other hot spots. She Faculty and student editors from a dozen CUNY It’s a great fit for a school that is rooted, provided background research for six documentaries that schools gathered Sept. 16 at the J-School to discuss com- spiritually as well as physically, in the aired in Europe. She began freelancing pieces on economic mon concerns and learn more about an offer from the Wmost diverse city in the world. With one-third of its development issues. “I loved the writing,” she recalls. J-School to help move their news websites to WordPress population foreign-born, New York is home to more Back in the U.S. after eight years abroad, she signed on and to provide training in using WordPress and a variety than 350 community and ethnic newspapers published as a researcher at Fortune magazine, then joined Busi- of multimedia tools. in some 50 languages. To cite just a few remarkable nessWeek in 1983, writing stories about finance and Wall The goal is to create examples: the city has two Nepalese newspapers, seven Street. Five years later she moved to The New York Times, more attractive, video- Chinese publications, 14 Bangladeshi newspapers, and where, among other things, she covered the leveraged buy- and interactive-friendly 54 Spanish-language publications. news sites, and get under- A driving force behind our new Center is Professor graduate campuses on the Sarah Bartlett, a gifted journalist who runs our Urban same web platform. Many Reporting Program. A former reporter for BusinessWeek Lehman’s redesigned student site are on platforms that are and The New York Times, she is overseeing the Center’s difficult to use and carry significant charges. efforts and has already raised more than $1.1 million to Adopting a common platform would allow under- develop our research and training programs. Our five- graduate news outlets to feed their best content onto a year goal: $5.8 million. Sarah works directly with Execu- multimedia website featuring work by students across tive Director Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder and publisher the university. The cross-campus website could lead to of The Haitian Times, and Jehangir Khattak, a journalist easier sharing of content and could spur collaborative, from Pakistan who oversees our Voices of NY website, cross-campus reporting projects. which translates and aggregates the best stories from the Student news organizations at Lehman and City Col- diverse world of ethnic media. leges recently launched new websites with help from Sarah is also a friend and close colleague. When I the J-School. Several more undergraduate websites are was editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek, she was an assis- expected to move to WordPress this academic year. n tant managing editor who sat in the office next to mine. When I became founding dean of this School, I asked her, well before opening day in 2006, to help us develop the curriculum and get the School launched. She has played a major role in our success ever since. Matthew Goldstein Stephen B. Shepard Let me tell you a bit more about Sarah, especially Professor Sarah Bartlett Chancellor, The City Dean about how she came to be so interested in ethnic University of New York Judith Watson media. She was born in Buffalo, where her father was a out craze of the early 1990s, taking a leave to write a book Associate Dean Board of Advisers successful Buick dealer in the 1950s and 1960s. Because called The Money Machine, which penetrated the world of her parents lived much of the time in the Bahamas, she Henry Kravis and his KKR firm. I persuaded her to return Roz Abrams Norman Pearlstine to BusinessWeek in 1992 as an assistant managing editor WCBS-TV News Anchor Chief Content Officer Dean Baquet at Bloomberg News The planned Center for after the birth of her first child, Emilia, now a sophomore Managing Editor for News Howard Rubenstein at Vassar. (Her son Ian is a high school senior.) At BW, she of The New York Times President of Rubenstein ethnic media taps Bartlett’s presided over many of our best investigative stories during Merrill Brown Associates interest in the economic the Wall Street scandals of the 1990s. New Media Consultant Vivian Schiller She left BW in 1998 to join Oxygen Media, an early David Carey Chief Digital Officer well-being of New York City. startup targeted to women that sought to combine televi- of NBC News President of sion programming with the content being developed for Hearst Magazines Arthur Siskind and her older brother attended elementary school for Oxygen’s website. She quickly became editor-in-chief. Connie Chung Senior Adviser to News Corp. Television Journalist and Chairman Rupert Murdoch several years in Nassau – a racially and economically In 2002, Sarah was appointed to the Bloomberg chair in Anchor Richard Stengel stratified place that left a deep impression on this girl business journalism at Baruch College. Kevin Convey Managing Editor of Time of privilege. She intuitively grasped the importance of After I signed on to CUNY, Sarah drafted the syllabus Editor-in-Chief of the David Westin economic development in poorer countries and began for both the Urban Reporting Program and the Business New York Daily News President of ABC News a lifelong interest in indigenous cultures. & Economics concentration, then transferred to the fac- Jared Kushner Mark Whitaker When it came time for college, her father sat her ulty of the Journalism School when we opened in 2006. Publisher of Executive Vice-President and down for a talk. A child of the Depression born to Irish “I was fascinated by what journalism education could be The New York Observer Managing Editor immigrants, he wanted to instill in her the values he in this new era,” she says. “I’m still learning something Adam Moss of CNN Worldwide Editor-in-chief of Matthew Winkler had learned the hard way — including the importance new every day. I love the energy of a startup.” New York Magazine Editor-in-Chief of of earning your way in the world. Rather than pay her Now she has a new startup to energize her – one that Michael Oreskes Bloomberg News tuition, he said, he would lend her the money for her taps her longstanding interest in economic development Senior Managing Editor Mortimer Zuckerman college education, and he expected her to pay him in diverse communities. “Ethnic and community media at the Associated Press Chairman and Publisher of back. So instead of going to Oberlin, Sarah decided to have a civic impact and contribute to the economic well- John Paton the New York Daily News and go to school in England, where the public universities being of New York City,” she notes. “We’d like to help CEO of Journal Register U.S. News & World Report Company charged very modest tuition and where she could gain them fulfill both functions.” To which I can only add, her degree in three years, not four. Off she went to the “Amen.” University of Sussex, where she earned a B.A. in politi- INSIDESTORY cal science and a Master’s in development studies. Her

Amy Dunkin Patrick Wall Master’s thesis: the role of the Bahamas as a tax haven. J OHN S MOCK Editor Reporter And yes, she repaid her father’s loan. Carmel Delshad John Smock After graduation, she worked as a researcher for Stephen B. Shepard Reporter Photographer Dutch filmmaker Ludi Boeken, who was filming TV Dean, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Jermaine Taylor Nancy Novick Reporter Designer vol. 6, no. 1 FALL 2011 3 For more information about the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, go to our website: www.journalism.cuny.edu Gifts & pledges CUNY J-SCHOOL DONOR ROLL 2010-2011: Gifts made between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011

$1 Million + n behalf of the faculty and students of the CUNY Graduate School of Anita and David Saunders John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Journalism, I want to thank our many friends who have supported Leslie and Howard Shapiro The Tow Foundation our dream of creating one of the best graduate schools of journalism Mort Sheinman O Judith and Earle Silber $250,000-$499,999 in the country. You have made it possible for our young J-School to attract a j ohn s mock Snyder Cohn Anonymous talented, diverse student body, by offering them a world-class education in Susan and Louis Stamberg Ford Foundation the heart of New York City. Steven L. Stenton $100,000-$249,999 The past six years have been a wonderful period of growing and learning Roselyne C. Swig together. Thanks to the generosity of many good friends, we have awarded Dean Stephen B. Bloomberg L.P. Shepard Felice and Steven Wener The Carnegie Corporation of New York scholarships to 273 deserving students. And, unique among graduate journal- Michael J. Wolk The Hearst Foundations ism programs, we have supported our students in their paid summer internships at media companies $1-$99 The News Corporation Foundation across the U.S. and abroad – all because of the investment so many of you have made in our School. For more information about the Future Journalists Fund and ways to support the CUNY J- Seth Alpert $50,000-$99,999 Fritzie Andrade School, please contact Diana Robertson, director of development, at 646-758-7814 or visit our Roslyn Abrams Jennifer Avins website: journalism.cuny.edu/donate. Lambert Family Foundation Sally Brooks John Paton Thank you, again, to all who have given so generously to ensure the success of the CUNY Grad- Eliot Caroom Connie Chung and Maury Povich uate School of Journalism and the future of journalism. n Thomas F. Conlon $25,000-$49,999 Suzanne Ducat and Stanley Cohen Cecille and Gerald Friedler Cahill, Gordon & Reindel LLP Schlosstein-Hartley Family Foundation Marion Lister $100-$499 Adrienne Fulco $10,000-$24,999 Scripps Howard Foundation Susan Lyne Kirsten S. Beckwith The Fyvie Gemeinhardt Family Floyd Abrams Lynn Povich and Stephen B. Shepard Anne and Victor Navasky Aleen and Herbert Chabot Damian Ghigliotty Arnhold Foundation Karen Pennar Ron Chernow Katie Honan City University of New York $2,500-$4,999 Martin E. Segal David Diaz Ella and Howard Iams Barry Diller, IAC The Associated Press Paul Steiger Lois and Alan Fern Pearl and Thomas Laufer Dow Jones & Company The Sidney Hillman Foundation $500-$999 Risa Finkel Sandra J. Lee Hearst Magazines Sherrie and David Westin Cristina Alesci Judith Gingold and David Freeman Daniel Massey Journal Register Company $1,000-$2,499 Soma Golden and William Behr Ruth W. Friendly Kiernan McGrath Seryl and Charles Kushner Family The Atlantic Philanthropies Caplin & Drysdale Richard Glazer Ruth Morss Foundation Connie Bruck Ruth and Mortimer Caplin The Greenberg Foundation Collin Orcutt The McGraw-Hill Companies Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Cipa and Misha Dichter Sally N. Grinspan Vishal Persaud The New York Times Company Jennie and Richard DeScherer Marsha and Anthony Durniak Nancy Bobrowitz and Timothy Harper Dietra Reid The Starr Foundation Ehrenkranz Family Foundation Elizabeth A. Hylton Jody and Andrew Heyward Jack Schwartz Paul W. Sturm Melanie Shorin and Greg T. Feldman Mary S. Kuntz Betsy Carter and Gary Hoenig Edward J. Silberfarb $5,000-$9,999 William Goldman Deborah and Rocco Landesman Janklow Foundation Margaret and Gregory Smith The Correspondents Fund Gottsegen Family Foundation Carol and Eugene Ludwig Phyllis and Edward Kaplan Marjorie and Helmut Sonnenfeldt Constance Laibe Hays Family Myrna and Stephen D. Greenberg Susan Bay and Leonard Nimoy Juel Janis and Roger Langsdorf Elizabeth Surcouf International Reporting Project Cris Russell and Ben Heineman Geraldine Baum and Michael Oreskes Kimberly Syman and Jonathan Lyon Jane S. Tennen Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP Hunter College Research Foundation, CUNY Kathy and Richard Nettler Terri Thompson Press + Madeline and Marvin Kalb Elizabeth M. and Robert C. Sheehan J.L. and H.L. Rich Therese Wilson and Mark Friedman Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Sarah and Victor Kovner Jane Bryant Quinn and Carll Tucker Eric P. Ries Elizabeth and Michael Wolf Jean and Dan Rather Laura and Gary Lauder Barbara and Stephen Rosenfeld Nancy K. and Charles M. Wolfson Howard J. Rubenstein Jacqueline Leo Lisa and Joel Rubinstein Judith and Larry Zepelin

How Individuals Have Contributed to the J-School’s Success By Jermaine Taylor, Class of 2011

ince the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism was estab- ing scheme. A mother of three who was married to John Hays, lished in 2006, 273 students have benefited from the gen- a Christie’s auction house executive, she also wrote a book, The Serosity of individuals and families who have donated money Real Thing: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company. for scholarships. Among the students who have been named Constance Laibe Our donors “have made it possible for our young J-School Hays scholars are Bianca Seidman from the Class of 2011 and to attract a talented, diverse student body by offering them a Amital Isaac from 2012. “Anytime you’re chosen to receive an world-class education in the heart of New York City,” Dean Ste- award such as this, it is a huge pat on the back,” Seidman said. phen B. Shepard said. “When I found out more about her, I was even more pleased be- Indeed, much of the School’s success is due to the support cause she was a successful female reporter and mother who had of people such as John and Ann Laibe, parents of the late New a passion for identifying ills that needed to be exposed.” York Times business reporter Constance Laibe Hays, and former When they learned that their friend had been chosen to lead a financial industry executives Sheila and Bill Lambert, long-time Constance Laibe Hays new graduate journalism school in New York, Bill Lambert said, friends of the dean. he and his wife had only one question: “How can we help?” Sheila C on sta nc e h ays p ho t o: Marit z a W ild ateau The Laibes first funded a scholarship in 2006 in memory of their Sheila and Bill Lambert Lambert added, “We were thrilled to know that someone like daughter, a Harvard graduate who worked at The Times for nearly Steve – with all his experience and expertise – was taking on this two decades until her death in 2005. They had heard about the challenge.” new J-School from the New York Community Trust, which was The Lamberts – he, a former investment banker with Wasser- advising the family on setting up a memorial. Recently, they told stein Perella; she, a former executive at Moody’s Investor Ser- the School they were making arrangements to ensure that the vices – contributed a full-tuition scholarship for the first two years. scholarship continues. John Laibe said he and his wife were glad Then, in 2008, they pledged $150,000 to endow a scholarship to support an award “that perpetuates the qualities that charac- fund in the dean’s name. Earlier this year, they made the last pay- terized Connie’s life, like her kindness and professional dignity.” ment on that pledge, and the first award from the Stephen B. Hays distinguished herself at The Times by writing “Portraits Shepard Scholarship Fund will be granted to a student in next of Grief” profiles of 9/11 victims for a 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning year’s incoming Class of 2013. story package, and covering Martha Stewart’s trial and conviction “I am deeply touched by their friendship and generosity,” Shepa- in 2004 on charges of lying to federal investigators in a stock-trad- rd said. “They stepped up without any coaxing from me.” n

4 www.journalism.cuny.edu voices from the field

Students report on their summer internships

“Every story is about something broken. The roads don’t work. The government doesn’t work. And you can’t walk for more than a few minutes without arriv- ing at a house that still bears the mark- ings of Hurricane Katrina…It is hard to write a story without using the word “Katrina.” And one of the most impor- tant things to know is that I don’t know. That I wasn’t there, and that makes me an outsider. I tread carefully.” —Hannah Miet Levine The Times-Picayune, New Orleans

“I worked as a reporter for five years in Vietnam before coming to the CUNY J-School. I am not unfamiliar with the job. However, covering hyperlocal and neighborhood news [in Harlem] is Class of 2011 interns, top row: Al Barbarino, New York Daily News; An Phung, Jakarta Globe; middle: Channon Hodge totally new and different from the inter- (filming football legend Jim Brown,) The New York Times Video Unit; Nathan Frandino (interviewing a Chilean miner national and diplomatic news reporting rescued last year,) The Santiago Times; Felipe Cabrera, The Star-Ledger in Newark; bottom: Alissa Ambrose, Kyiv Post; that I did in my country. I must say that Carmel Delshad, National Public Radio in Cairo; Amy Stretten, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada. this new experience has helped bring me closer to realities, to a city’s real we stopped by local bars and ‘clubs’ in internship, and my sixth in journalism, one of the regular editors and I beat, to its people’s everyday lives.” order to interview them. Clara and I but the good news is that when you came up with two headlines that were —Tuan Nguyen were able to interview four girls during start out sweeping floors and scrap- featured prominently in the paper DNAinfo.com, New York our two nights there. While all the girls ing gum off seats, there’s nowhere to (“Phil-ing fine: Hughes ready for confirmed go but up. rehab”). Naturally, it’s taken a bit “For this week’s segment on the gardens that U.N. This summer of time to figure out how much editing of the founding fathers, we did about workers there At the end of my second at Scientific can be done to the reporters’ articles half a dozen interviews with experts in have hired American so – I didn’t want to show up as an intern the field – historians of science, agrono- week, I shouted out a them or their far, I feel like and slash and burn articles. In general, mists, archaeologists, Thomas Jefferson companions possible headline for the I’ve gone so I line edit for spelling and grammar experts, and authors – before winnow- before, the far up that I and lightly rewrite awkward sentences. ing things down to the two folks we’ll back cover that was used. payment was can glimpse I asked a lot of questions the first actually have on the show. Then comes in money, not heaven – and week or two to figure out what is the uncomfortable process of telling rice. Clara and it turns out appropriate as far as editing – and everyone else they didn’t make the cut – I are thinking it’s right here, even tracked changes on one docu- in the nicest possible way, of course.” —Ian Chant of doing a radio and print piece for this at these desks on every side of me, ment so that an editor could see what NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow, story…We are thinking of pitching the with people laughing about quarks and I did and tell me if it was appropriate New York story to Reuters when it is done.” brain scans and asteroids like it’s their or too heavy-handed. (It was in the —Ichi Vazquez job – because it is. Maybe, someday, it middle.) Also, at the end of my “We were looking into some leads on New Narratives, Monrovia, Liberia will be mine.” second week, I shouted out a possible prostitutes selling their services to U.N. —Lauren F. Friedman headline for the back cover (“Balk of workers in exchange for rice/goods. “I’m incredibly busy, but loving every Scientific American Mind/Scientific shame”) that was used, which was a Clara and I went out at night with our minute of it – truth be told, I already American, New York thrill.” driver Alvin and a friend of his who foresee the return to school as some- —Matt Draper knew where to find girls to talk to, and what of a letdown. This is my tenth “My first day on the job I shadowed New York Post Sports Desk, New York vol. 6, no. 1 FALL 2011 5 schoolnotes ALUMNI NEWS CLASS OF ’10: Amy Berryhilll is senior editor at CRN. CLASS OF ’08: Fritzi Andrade is developing web videos com. Courtney Carter is a production assistant at for Rodale magazines. Damian Ghigliotty is a reporter at WCBS-TV. Dan Chung is assistant producer at WBBM- FINS.com. AM, Chicago. Jessica Courtemanche is associate CLASS OF ’07: Leslie Caraballo is senior photo-video producer at Dan Rather Reports. Colby Hamilton is a editor at Gerson Lehrman Group. A political blog edited writer for the WNYC political blog, Empire. Christine by Andrew Greiner for NBCChicago.com won an Online Prentice is a reporter covering nonferrous metals at American News Association award for Online Topical Reporting/Blog- Metal Market. Andrea Swalec is a reporter/producer ging. Danny Massey, who covers labor for Crain’s New for DNAinfo.com. Teresa Tomassoni was named the York Business, was named to the City Hall News list of 40 second Stone & Holt Weeks Fellow entitling her to spend rising stars under 40. 12 weeks at The Washington Post and 12 weeks at NPR in Jeff Jarvis and his new book Public Parts. Washington. Peggy Truong is a reporter for International come out with a new book, Public Parts: How Sharing Business Times. faculty NEWS in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live. NY1 Noticias political reporter Juan Manuel Benítez Prof. Glenn Lewis, who directs the Journalism Program CLASS OF ’09: Rima Abdelkader is an assistant pro- (Broadcast News Writing & Production) was named to at York College and teaches Narrative and Feature Writ- ducer for a new NBC prime-time news magazine show, the list of 40 rising stars under 40 by City Hall News. ing at the J-School, was elected founding chair of the

“Rock Center with Brian Williams,” which premiered on Susan Farkas (Broadcast News Writing & Production) was CUNY Journalism Discipline Council. Dody Tsiantar J ohn S mock Oct. 31. Maria Clark is a new-media specialist for New nominated for an International Emmy Award for a film she (Craft of Journalism) helped launch ReinventingGreece. Orleans CityBusiness. Joel Schectman is a staff writer at co-produced on Cambodia. Prof. Jeff Jarvis, director of org, a website put together by a group of Greek-Ameri- The Record in Hackensack, NJ. the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, has can journalism students in Athens.

On the Job with Health & Science Adjunct Jennifer Smith which is changing and may not look like this for the rest By Patrick Wall, Class of 2011 of my lifetime,” she said. In addition to writing localized lead-up and post-trip his past summer, Jennifer Smith found herself more stories for Newsday, Smith posted daily text, photos, than 3,200 miles from home, her head shrouded in and videos to a special Tumblr blog she created. She T a mosquito net and a canister of “bear spray” shoved focused her reporting as much on the scientists as the into her pocket. Smith, who covers the environment landscape they studied. In the process, she said, she for Long Island’s Newsday and teaches environmental was able to practice a trick up the sleeve of every great reporting at the CUNY J-School, said it was her favorite science writer: “getting [scientists] to talk like humans.” assignment of the year. This fall, Smith is teaching a new seven-week Introduc- Smith won a reporting grant from the Marine Biologi- tion to Environmental Journalism course in the Health cal Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. to spend 10 days & Science Reporting Program. She plans to use her in July and August embedded at an ecological research summer travel experience to sell students on the ben- jennifer smith station at Toolik Lake on Alaska’s remote North Slope. efits of grant-funded research. During her visit, she watched scientists measure the She does, however, add a caveat about her Arctic impact of rising global temperatures on the Arctic. “It was Jennifer Smith wears a veil of mosquito netting during her stay excursion: “If you are a Candace Bushnell-type reporter, a passport to this wonderful, isolated, amazing landscape, last summer with ecological researchers at Toolik Lake in Alaska. this would not be your favorite hang-out.” n INSIDESTORY THE DEANS OF JOURNALISM PONDER THE FUTURE CUNY Graduate School of Journalism 219 W. 40th Street, Third Floor New York, NY 10018 JOHN SMOCK

How will we support quality journalism in the digital age? That was the question posed to the deans of the two preeminent graduate schools of journalism in New York: Stephen B. Shepard of CUNY and Nicholas Lemann of Columbia. The discussion, led by veteran business journalist Myron Kandel, took place Oct. 5 at The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. The deans traced the financial problems of mainstream media and the slow-to-emerge business models for digital operations. Shepard predicted that more news organizations would charge for their online content and suggested several ways they could develop new advertising revenue. “There is more good journalism produced by more people on more platforms than ever before,” he said. “We can and will find ways to monetize it.”