Communique Volume 54,2010 The University of Montana_______________________________________ School of Journalism J-alum Jason Begay joins faculty, Stubbs and Rott inherits McAuliffe's Reznet post bring home top Hearst awards Navajo Times New York Times. The reporter and J-School Times offered him The UM School of Journalism is the alumnus Jason Begay a two-year intern­ only one of the more than 100 accredited will join the faculty as ship, but Jason was journalism programs in the country an assistant professor eager to get back to score in the top 10 in the print, and director of Reznet to the West, so he photojournalism and broadcast competi­ beginning in August. accepted a job at tions of the Hearst Journalism Awards Jason will replace The Oregonian. After program for this academic year. Reznet founder two years, he took Two print students also qualified for Denny McAuliffe, at job at The Navajo the Hearst national championships in who resigned in Times in Gallup, New York City. October to return to N.M., where he was The Hearst competition involves a The Washington Post, a reporter covering series of contests throughout the year, where he is overnight tribal government with points awarded for students scoring news editor. Denny and education. in the top 20. At the came to Montana in Since April Jason end of the academic 1999 to teach for a has been acting year, photojour­ year and stayed for 10. editor of The Navajo nalism students He created Reznet and Times, an indepen­ ranked seventh, print built it into a top jour­ New J-faculty member Jason Begay dent newspaper students ranked nalism training and and one of the most eighth, and broadcast mentoring program for American Indian respected tribal papers in the nation. students ranked college students across the country. Jason will teach one course each ninth. The school’s Jason was among the first students semester, recruit and mentor students, overall ranking was Denny recruited to UM and mentored. and raise funds for and direct Reznet and sixth. He had earned an associate of arts other Native American initiatives. Now in its 50th degree in creative writing in 1996 from Denny raised more than $700,000 for year of handing the Institute of American Indian Arts the site and recruited Native American out scholarships, and had held a number of newspaper students around the country to write the Hearst Awards internships when he caught Denny’s eye. and take photographs for the website. are often referred Denny was determined to get him to Before Denny left for the Post, to as the collegiate UM, and succeeded. representatives of UM’s American Indian Pulitzers, and placing Jason had internships at the Duluth Support and Development Council in the competition is News Tribune and The Oakland Tribune honored him with a Pendleton blanket a major honor, said before coming to UM. After his studies called “The Record Keeper,” a design Dean Peggy Kuhr. here he worked a summer at The Wichita adapted from the work of Cherokee “I’m proud of our excellent placement Eagle and, upon graduation, accepted the artist and flautist Terry Lee Whetstone. in print, photo and broadcast,” Kuhr James Reston summer internship at The d said. “It shows we have a well-rounded program.” Roman Stubbs, who will take the reins as editor of the Montana Kaimin next fall, won first place in the person- See STUDENT, page 6 N-e u j s B r i e f s f r o i t i ► Three signature J-School projects • The latest Native News Honors students in the Pollner seminar, for the wrapped up at the end of spring Project revisited health care, an issue faculty and for the Pollner professors. semester. that students first looked at in the • In March, Rebecca Blumenstein, • The 2010 RTV student documentary second year of the project, now in its deputy managing editor and the interna­ Cannahusiness examined the issues 20th year. Eight reporters and eight tional editor of The Wall Street Journal, that surround the sale and use of medical photographers reported in-depth stories delivered the second annual Jeff Cole marijuana in Montana. Montanans from the state’s seven reservations, Distinguished Lecture. Her focus voted in 2004 to legalize marijuana for and looked at the access to health care was “Making Journalism and Global medical uses and at present more than of Indians who live off the reservation. Coverage Relevant in the Internet Age.” 12,000 people have signed up and are They were guided by three student copy Journalism has been reshaped by the authorized to buy marijuana from any editors, a photo and multimedia editor, recession, globalization and technology, of the 2,797 caregivers. The 19 students’ and their work was designed for print Blumenstein said. So the key is to make semester-long investigation found publication by a design editor and for journalism relevant, timely and trusted. that as traveling clinics make medical publication online by an online editor. For the Journal, she said, that means it marijuana cards more readily available to Professors Carol Van Valkenburg and will be newsier, pay more attention to walk-in patients, authorities are strug­ Jeremy Lurgio teach the course. You visual presentation, and have expanded gling to regulate the use and distribu­ can see the students’ work at: http:// international coverage. Blumenstein tion of the drug. Students interviewed nativenews.jour.umt.edu. talked about the importance of street doctors, legislators, police officers, • The Montana Journalism Review reporting, and advised students to get caregivers, patients and community this year is devoted to “Thriving and out of the office, learn another language, members about the impact of medical Surviving in a Multimedia World.” and travel overseas. marijuana on their lives. The interviews Among the stories is a look at how • The 53rd Dean Stone Lecture was reveal how Montana residents are magazines are trying to reach Gen Y, delivered in April by Caesar Andrews, struggling to find a balance between the whether the iPad will change personal former executive editor of the Detroit business, health and legal issues involved computing, a critique of Twitter in Free Press. He oversaw coverage that with medical marijuana. The last three covering news, the debate provoked by resulted in the paper’s winning the 2009 student documentaries can be viewed web comments to news stories and how Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting. Last online at montanapbs.org. journalism schools are teaching multi- spring he was a visiting professor at media reporting skills. The issue can be the University of Nevada-Reno. In his seen at: http://mjr.jour.umt.edu. lecture, “Journalists and ‘American Idol’: What We Can Learn,” he said the show is Communique ► The J-School hosted three major a model for finding a way to succeed in a Volume 54,2010 lectures last academic year: fast-changing media world. He said the • In the fall, T. Anthony Pollner performances - like much of journalism Published for Alumni and Friends Professor Chris Jones delivered the - are works in progress. And the public Pollner lecture, which he titled “Acci­ has a voice in the outcome. “You can’t Editor: Carol Van Valkenburg 72 dents.” He said many accidents come use the same game plan from 1979 [or Design: Printer Bowler '63 down to luck, good or bad, but what anytime in the past] and win,” he said. happens afterward, how we deal with “Take the best of what was there and © 2010 UM School of Journalism the happy accidents and cope with the move forward.” sad occurrences are part of what defines At the Dean Stone banquet the Send news and Class Notes to: us. He told about what he’d learned following evening, the school handed UM School of Journalism covering stories for Esquire, including out nearly $110,000 in scholarships and Don Anderson Hall working for a story as an EMT and a awards. Missoula, MT 59812 story he wrote about a man who had lost family members in an airplane crash ► From Aug. 7 through Oct. 23 The 406.243.4001 and later became an aviation accident University of Montana hosted “ Capture email •[email protected] investigator. And he praised the Pollner the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Visit us a t: www.jour.umt.edu family for turning the tragedy of their Photographsthe largest display of and on Facebook son Anthony’s death into an unforget­ Pulitzer Prize-winning photos ever table experience for the Kaimin staff, for shown in the United States. The photos 2 )■ W ould I |i w / AROUND T4-4E UUORLD were displayed in two galleries in the ► Advanced photojournalism students head of the Central Department of PARTV building and in a third in the taught by Associate Professor Keith Journalism and Mass Communication Social Science building. The exhibit drew Graham and Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, more visitors than any other in UM Jeremy Lurgio focused on Seeley Lake visited classes, met with faculty, and history. last fall as part of the program’s second participated in two public forums. (For year of the Montana Towns Project. more on the school’s budding relation­ ► Print journalism students landed a The previous year’s project focused on ship with Tribhuvan University, see handful of prime internships for this Corvallis, Mont. Students do documen­ Professor Clem Work’s faculty update.) summer. Carly Flandro rose from the tary photojournalism that looks at the ranks of 300 applicants to capture the people and places that make up these ► Student work posted online from coveted Seattle Times general assignment small towns.