COM-J EXCHANGE

Sulzberger Salutes Anniston area letter writers

2008-03-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

ANNISTON-- In a tradition on the eve of the Harry M. and Edel Ayers Lecture, the publisher of The New York Times spoke of the importance of letter writers to the life of a newspaper even as he hinted at some of the challenges his publication has faced recently and previewed what’s to come in his address here tomorrow.

Arthur Sulzberger,Jr., great-grandson of Adolph Ochs, who founded the New York Times in the late 19th century addressed a crowd of about 100 at the Anniston Natural Museum this evening at a banquet honoring those who have written letters to the editor of The Anniston Star.

For two decades, the Star has held this event each year to spotlight members of the public who engage via their comments in the paper.

Star Editor Bob Davis and Commentary Editor Phillip Tutor took turns reading letters that have been published over the last year. Many of those writers in attendance were recognized by Sulzberger who saluted the writers for their act he says is “critical to democracy.”

“Our country needs more people like you,” Sulzberger said.

The dinner is held the night before the Annual Harry M. Edel Ayers Lecture takes place at Jacksonville State University.

While the Star’s Publisher, H. Brandt Ayers described the dinner as “an informal evening with an informal guy,” Sulzberger appeared to stick mostly to prepared remarks that made brief mentions of his paper’s highly controversial article on Republican presidential candidate John McCain and editorial endorsement of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

In the age of the World Wide Web, where Sulzberger’s paper reportedly broke a story linking New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution operation, while circulation of the printed product is dropping, Sulzberger described the role of the newspaper in 2008 as an “authoritative convener of communities.”

He cited four reasons for why he thinks the public is more re-energized: 1) the tumultuous times facing the nation; 2) the search for answers and a desire to move forward; 3) digital tools that allow the public to be more empowered; and 4) recent move toward more inclusiveness.

According a front-page article in today’s Anniston Star, Sulzberger Is expected to address the evolving business realities brought by digital journalism.

We’ll see in a few hours.

Defining "community" in the wake of tragedy on campus

2008-03-07T19:51:00.001-08:00

This week we saw images of emotion, outpouring, sadness and determination on the pages of newspapers in North Carolina, Georgia and here in Alabama after two college students were murdered.

The Associated Press photo shown here is just one of the many images that were carried in photo galleries like the one on the Citizen-Times' Web site in Asheville, NC.

Here in Alabama at Auburn University, Lauren Burk was murdered while up at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, SGA President Eve Carson was shot to death.

While not the same degree of loss as the incidents at Northern Illinois University last month or Virginia Tech last year, these latest acts of violent crime remind us of how we may broadly define "community" in our news coverage.

Football rivalries are put aside when something like this happens. Even the geographic boundaries that might divide us are gone. Like no other medium, the local newspaper is poised to reflect this community in its coverage. It has an opportunity to gather the angles that the national media miss.

As much as it's normally considered a metropolitan newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gets the award for drawing together the communities touched by the tragedy. Both Carson and Burk were from Georgia. So, linking the murders geographically for readers was a no-brainer.

Less obvious to the general public are the emotions, feelings and reactions of those who sit in similar places as these victims of crime-- other college campuses.

As journalists, we have to reflect community as we tell the stories of citizens uniting with those closest to the scenes of these crimes.

It's not enough to run the Aassociated Press wire or the played-out "local reax" piece. It's about capturing and reflecting the community in the way we report the news of tragedy.

Sulzberger To Come to Alabama

2008-01-19T22:45:00.001-08:00

In less than two months, we'll see what the top man at The newspaper of record has to say about journalism in 2008.

Arthur Sulzberger, chairman of the New York Times Company will be the Harry M. and Edel Y. Ayers Lecturer this spring at Jacksonville State University on Wednesday, March 12.

It's ironic that he's coming this spring as we are about to launch an aggressive New York Times in the Classroom effort in the journalism department and several other departments on campus.

As this blog has been somewhat inactive over the last few months. We'll begin to more frequently update as we build up to the March 12th lecturer by Sulzberger.

Starting this Wednesday, students will be receiving a guaranteed copy of the New York Times each weekday. Heretofore, I have been using the NY Times Company-owned Tuscaloosa News as a teaching resource.

We'll see how it goes.

Tuscaloosa News scores touchdown in CTO coverage

2007-12-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

I know it's been months since I've updated this community journalism web log. Aside from not being in Anniston, Ala. this semester working directly with the Community Journalism program, I have not had the time to constantly monitor good examples of community journalism.

I still don't have much time. But, I had to pause to give Kudos to The Tuscaloosa News-- which has "OWNED" (as we say in the business) the coverage of Tuscaloosa's Central High journey to a state championship.

This morning, I couldn't wait to run outside and grab the new commemorative section that appears in today's edition.

I promise you it's not as YELLOW as it appears here (a lighting issue). But, you get the idea of what they were trying to portray -- even using the letters "CTO" (Central Taking Over), a rallying cry that comes from a rap developed by one of the Central High players. You can read more about that, in fact, in a story in The Tuscaloosa News' TV partner, WVUA.

The Tuscaloosa News also provided an audio slide show with the song and the lyrics.

But, today's special section is just the latest in outstanding coverage online-- which included photo galleries and minute-by-minute reports of the championship game against Deshler at Legion Field, which the Central Falcons won 24-7.

On Thursday night, Executive Sports Editor David Wasson did an official "In the Game" thread on the TNews discussion board. At the end, I saw at least 7 pages of postings that started at 6:14 p.m. and ran more than three hours to 9:17-- when it was clear that Falcons were going to bring that Class 4A home to Tuscaloosa.

I've worked in Atlanta television when the Falcons went to the Super Bowl and when the Braves went to the World Series. It's big news when your home team goes to a championship.

But, this story has a much greater significance outside of football. Take, for instance, the sharp contrast between a perfect 10-0 season and the 1-9 season Central high just a couple of years ago, following the split of the old Central High into three neighborhood schools.

Then, there was the whole debate about Central's new building -- whether it would be at the old site-- or in West end of Tuscaloosa. Then, there are often negative reports about how Central stacks up against the other high schools in the Tuscaloosa city schools in meeting AYP (Average Yearly Progress) goals .

For ONCE-- Central was in the spotlight and the whole city could rally around the high school. Even though it's a NEW (much smaller) Central High School-- the community could embrace the school as an athletic powerhouse again...the way it used to be when the much larger school was the largest in the state of Alabama.

The newspaper-- or the local information center (as newspapers today are called) played a role in rallying the community with its cross-media coverage in print and online. The video highlights from the game available on TuscTube are something one can't find ANYWHERE else. There's even an interview with Mayor Walt Maddox, who was at Legion Field for the big game Thursday. So, there's a community built around those who come to the Web site to see these videos-- and re-live this historic event.

Community-building-- an example of the influence a community news organization can have.

SPJ Region 3 Conference- Welcome to The Sun!

2007-03-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Community journalism in a college town is what we're seeing this weekend as we attend the Southeastern regional conference for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Technically, It's called Region 3. SPJ members, mostly college chapter members from the states of South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Alabama are gathered here in the home of Florida Gators.

This afternoon we had a chance to see the inside of The Gainesville Sun, a 50,000 circ. paper that is part of the New York Times Regional Group. It's actually kind of exciting to be here as the Florida Gators-- an SEC rival nonetheless, are playing in the Final Four in Atlanta. So you can feel the excitement.

Yes, I told the rental agent at the Gainesville Airport today--- "you gotta support the conference!" Love 'em or hate 'em, the Gators represent the Southeastern Conference and it would be nice to see them win two NCAA basketball titles in a row.

More interesting for this gathering of journalists is the role the outcome of tomorrow's game will have for The Gainesville Sun.

As editors held their afternoon meeting today, we were reminded how much revenue the paper generates based on this story. Apparently the morning after the Gators beat Ohio State for the Football National Title game, people were lined up outside the Sun's office to buy a commemorative copy of the newspaper. The paper sold other paraphernalia with the story on it as well.

Hey, The Sun's sister paper, The Tuscaloosa News, would do the same thing as would any newspaper.

But, it's interesting to hear that nonetheless.

More from Gainesville tomorrow as a full day of sessions on a wide range of journalism topics is scheduled.

Alabama’s temple of convergence?

2007-03-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

The folks at Media General rolled out the red carpet for the Knight Fellows today as my JN 503 Media Management & Operations class visited the Opelika-Auburn News and WRBL-TV3. I didn’t realize the grand opening for the new building was just last week. The new facility in some ways, resembles the News Center in Tampa and was designed by the same architect who did The Anniston Star.

Some have called that facility with WFLA-TV, TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune the Tample of Convergence.

Here in Alabama, eventually the newspaper’s sister TV station, WRBL-TV 30 miles away in Columbus, Ga. will have a FULL SET in the newspaper newsroom to do news programs out of East Alabama. Their lobby is equipped with flexible furniture so that it can double as a studio for the TV station.

From the time we started just before 10 this morning until 3:30pm when we had to bring things to a close in order to get the Fellows back to Anniston, we had managers from all the different units both in Columbus and Opelika as well as working reporters who do print, broadcast and online visit with the Fellows. I took a few photos and am assembling a little photo gallery that I’ll probably post online.

Like many newspapers these days, the OA News is publishing an alternative weekly tabloid for the college crowd with a small staff in Auburn. The Corner is actually reversed-published content from the Web. It also has a new women’s magazine that is reaching its first anniversary next month.

The OA News rounds out a list of SEVEN dailies in our state with new (Tuscaloosa, Mobile, Anniston, Talladega, Birmingham, Montgomery, Opelika) facilities. Three of these have opened within the past year. It’s a great time to be a journalist in Alabama with places that should attract NATIONAL attention. The publisher, who spent the most time with us today, is hoping to win BEST SMALL DAILY again when the APA awards are announced later this spring. They claim to be the only paper in the state that has had INCREASED circulation over the past THREE consecutive years. (I recall The Mobile Register also had increased circulation)

And, the best news of the day, I had a near 20-year reunion today with one of my high school classmates from Richmond, Va. who is a photojournalist at the OA News. You never know who you’ll run into on a class fieldtrip.

Journey to Cole Campbell's school

2007-02-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

RENO, Nev-- This posting from the Silver State comes a day after a two-day journalism conference highlighted by a tribute to Cole Campbell, the late dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism and former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Campbell was, in fact, looking forward to welcoming the more than150 people who attended the AEJMC Midwinter Conference here on his campus this weekend.

As a kickoff to the event Friday night, one of Cole’s friends, John Pauly, dean of the Diedrich College of Communication at Marquette University, gave the keynote address that was preceded by remarks from the president of AEJMC and the provost at University of Nevada-Reno.

“Dean Campbell was an impressive leader and his loss certainly saddens us all,” said Wayne Wanta, who teaches at the Missouri School of Journalism and serves as president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

“Cole had many dreams for this school, some of those are actually coming to fruition this spring,” said John Frederick, executive vice president and Provost of University of Nevada-Reno.

The hosting of the conference was one of those plans that had been two years in the making as the annual event is designed as an informal gathering for presentations of research-in-progress and reunions for friends in the world’s largest organization journalism educators.

While most of the day and half conference consisted of research paper presentations and panel discussions on industry issues, Pauly’s Friday night keynote was a chance to remember Campbell and consider the state of the field of journalism.

You can read more about Campbell's appointment as deah here.

Drawing on the work of some of Campbell’s public journalism cohorts such as Jay Rosen or Gil Thelen, Pauly criticized journalists as be “indifferent to process.”

“Public journalism wanted to make the profession more relational and less positions,” Pauly said. “Cole always thought of journalism as something done in collaboration with citizens.”

Pauly’s address, which was appropriately titeld “Journalism Matters,” a mantra that Campbell had posted on his Web page,” also included some frank reflection on Campbell’s sometimes tumultuous days at the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Campbell’s tenure at the Post-Dispatch coincided with Pauly’s term as head of the journalism program at St. Louis University.

Pauly criticized the 280-person staff at the Post-Dispatch as being “stodgy” and “resistant to change” with top reporters and a publisher he says undermined Campbell’s efforts to nudy a “lazy, under-achieving newspaper.”

“He just persevered in spite of this,” Pauly said. “Cole believed journalism was our shared rehearsal for public life and with enough practice we’d get it right,” he said.

Nearly two months after his death, Campbell, I suppose, would want those of us teaching journalism to do what we can to continue to try to “get it right.”

It’s an appropriate call for action as we leave this city where Cole Campbell ended his life and career prematurely.

The struggle continues.

My last AJC for a while?

2007-02-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

Whenever I go back and forth home to Virginia, I almost always stop to pick a few newspapers along the way. Rarely do I not get an Atlanta Journal-Constitution either coming or going.

One advantage of teaching in Anniston is that I can pick up a copy of the AJC in Anniston every day of the week. But, it looks like that's about the change.

My latest AJC came last weekend when I was in Kennesaw for SoCon07.

Thanks to my colleague Len Witt, who mentioned this on his PJNet blog, I learned that the AJC is about to go through a reorganization that will eliminate circulation to outlining areas like Anniston, which is about an hour west of Georgia's capital city.

Though I constantly get links to stories on the ajc.com website, I have refused to register to read the content because I just don't want the hassle of logging in every time I need to read an article.

Am I old school because I don't want to read a newspaper on the Internet? I just would prefer to read the printed edition when I can get it and appreciate the layout and design that I most admire about the AJC.

Oh yeh-- about the reorganization, Leonard seems to like the effort of what the AJC is calling an "enterprise department" that will focus on "unrelenting watchdog coverage, deep reporting, great storytelling, interesting profiles and trend stories."

Witt calls it "smartening up"

As a former broadcaster in the Atlanta market who relied on the AJC for content for my news program, I've got to wonder what this means for those producing electronic media in North Georgia everyday. It's always harder to rewrite those longer trend stories and deep reporting projects into 15 or 20-second stories (smile).

Seriously though, it does seem like the AJC has decided to be more strategic with its print and its Web product, which I might have to breakdown, log on and consume, especially since I won't be able to buy the print edition in Alabama.

We'll see.

West End Journal launches in Tuscaloosa

2007-02-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

A first-of-its-kind partnership launched in early 2007 between the journalism programs at the University of Alabama and Stillman College. The result of the collaboration is a community newspaper focused on West Tuscaloosa.

“I think Tuscaloosa is progressive enough to have something like this—a publication that’s a cross between the two institutions,” said Amanda Brozana, Stillman College journalism instructor and a doctoral student in the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Brozana and Former Dean Ed Mullins, spearheaded a two-day diversity workshop January 26-27, which was designed to bring students in UA’s depth reporting and beat reporting classes to the Stillman College for direct interaction with their counterparts who are enrolled in journalism courses there.

Most of the UA students who participated in workshop session on topics such as “the News Media and Race” and “Dialogue on Race” stayed overnight in the Stillman College dormitories.

The cross-institutional collaboration continued as each UA student is paired with a “buddy” from Stillman College.

According to Brozana, the goal of the buddy system was to ease the discomfort that often comes when working cross culturally.

Weeks after the January workshop, students have embraced the buddy system.

“You don’t have that awkwardness,” said John Stinson, a UA journalism student from Huntsville, who now is best friends with Gene McWhorter, who in addition to studying journalism at Stillman is on the College’s football team. “When you really look at it, their fears, prejudices and emotions are the same as ours.”

The January workshop culminated in students planning their first edition of The West End Journal, a community tabloid that will distributed to churches, businesses and various locations in the West Tuscaloosa community.

A grant from the Tuscaloosa Higher Education Consortium, which is based at the University of Alabama’s Office of Community Affairs, provided the seed funds for the the West End Journal that will also be supported by advertising the students from both institutions will solicit.

The West End Journal will have as its home base an office in Stillman College’s Cordell Wynn Humanities & Fine Arts Center.

UA journalism student Matt Dowd, is taking charge of the West End Journal’s Web site, which allows him to practice web journalism skills he hopes will eventually land him a job after graduation.

“The best part of this has been the newsroom setting,” said Dowd, a junior from Anniston. “The most useful part of this is the hands-on newsroom style experience.”

Stinson agrees noting how working on The West End Journal has been so different from his other journalism classes.

“I’ve learned the in’s and out’s of what it takes to produce a publication” Stinson said.

Am I E-Famous Yet?

2007-02-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

KENNESAW- Continuing to post from the SoCon07 gathering here on the Kennesaw State University campus. I just learned a new term. It's call E-famous?

the moderator of an afternoon workshop on blogging, Morgan McFarland, defines "e-famous" as the person being known because of what he or she has said online. In other words, people know you because of your online persona.

The big word of the afternoon workshops (now that we're into the second round) is learning new things.

Lots more to say later.

Why an "unconference?"

2007-02-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

KENNESAW-- The second day of the SoCon07 is half-over and there's only been more question-and-answer and discussion than two days of most conferences and convention.

That's what makes metro Atlanta's first-of-its kind social matchup of those interested in Web 2.0 different.

It's not about experts and authorities, but insights via what's called "collective intelligence."

"Rather than talking heads, everyone is invited to participate," said Leonard Witt, the Robert Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication here at Kennesaw State University, site of today's gathering.

We're told more than 100 people are in attendance, 90 of whom showed up for a dinner last night that last three hours as various tables of folks talked and talked and talked.

Speaking of collective intelligence, there's collective photo and image gathering as well. The photo using on this post came from blogOrlando, which apparently is covering this gathering like I am.

Maybe this afternoon, I'll learn how to add photo credits and cutlines to my photos. But for now, an in-text acknowledgement will have to suffice.

The concept of collective intelligence is quite appropriate for this gathering, which focused on the development of so-called Web 2.0 where everyone gets involved. The concept behind seeing the Internet this way is that in the Web 2.0 age, the more people go to a site, the smarter it gets.

Sounds like a wiki, those websites (i.e. Wikipedia) where visitors can make entries and change the information.

But to think this unconference is just about wikis would be quite understating its value.

The networking opportunities with others, who otherwise would be at their computers thinking about new ways to communicate to have fun and to get information, are endless.

It's lunchtime and then after that, there's a healthy menu of breakout sessions --so many that I can't decide which ones I want to attend.

Avatars a big issue in keynote session

2007-02-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

KENNESAW, Ga. --- Should you smile or frown on your AVATAR.? Here’s a question that I haven’t heard discussed before.

Just this week I was looking online for how to change, update your Avatar, the photo that you use when you post to discussion board.

Today, I’ve heard discussion about why this whole issue of what your Avatar says about you.

My first experience with an Avatar was on the Tuscaloosa News discussion board and they seemed to only lame generic graphics. I wanted to use my real photo.

“Ultimately there’s a huge amount of innovation to be done there,” said Christopher Klaus, the founder and CEO of Kaneva, an Atlanta-based social entertainment world.

Klaus’s session is in the question-and-answer stage now.

Good Morning from SoCon07?

2007-02-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

KENNESAW, Ga.-- It's already after 11am (nice to be in REAL time-- Eastern time today) and I'm sitting in a roomful of enthusiasts about social networking, the next thing for the Web and virtual communities.

I rolled out of bed at 3 a.m. Central Time to make the three-hour drive over from Tuscaloosa, Ala. to Kennesaw State University for the SoCon 07: the Unconference.

Even though I've been sick most of this week, the cold and pain medication the doctor gave me yesterday worked well and I'm at about 80 percent today.

Boy I'm glad I came over. I'll be posting from here at least a couple more times today.

Richmond to get second 10pm newscast

2007-02-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

The list of primetime newscasts produced by another station in the same market keeps growing. This time in my hometown, where starting next month, there will be TWO primetime news products produced by other stations.

Douglas Durden at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports this week that my old station-- WTVR-TV, a Raycom Media-owned CBS affiliate, will produce a new 10pm product on Richmond's CW station.

The CW News at 10 will debut March 6 on WUPV.

In an earlier post, I mentioned a similar event happening just a few weeks ago in Alabama's capital city of Montgomery.

Stillman, UA Students Focus on West Tuscaloosa

2007-01-30T21:01:00.000-08:00

A few days have passed, but the enthusiasm hasn't waned about a new community journalism effort in the city of Tuscaloosa. Specifically, the focus of this venture is the West side of Tuscaloosa, where stories are often overlooked.

This past weekend, about 50 students from the University of Alabama and Stillman College participated in a two-day Diversity Weekend Workshop at Stillman's Wynn Center.

Most observers would agree the gathering was unprecedented in both the number of students from both campuses who participated and the nature of the gathering.

It was not only about learning about covering news in a cross-cultural setting, but melding the cultures of a large traditionally state institution and a private historically black college with students from all over the country.

The difference in the student bodies was readily apparent on Friday evening as UA Professor Samantha Briggs facilitated a kick-off session on our assumptions about race.

We each had to write down jokes, stereotypes and adjectives used to describe blacks and whites. I learned some new ones while at the same time talked about an issue that's not so easy to discuss in a cross-cultural or interracial setting.

Instead of the polite discussions ending and students going their separate ways, the University of Alabama students stayed overnight Friday on the Stillman campus.

By the end of the session on Saturday, students from both institutions had picked a name for the new West Tuscaloosa newspaper that will debut in less than a month.

Look for stories about West Tuscaloosa in The West End Journal, a project to be produced by three journalism classes at Stillman and two at the University.

A special thanks to Luke Buckley from TUSK Magazine for taking the photos from the event.

Studying We The Media

2007-01-25T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today in our Media Management and Operations class, the Knight Fellows heard a wonderful report on the Dan Gillmor's We the Media Book.

It's a treatise on citizen journalism.

Gillmor's blog continue on the Backfence Web site.

Storytellers to headline conference here in Anniston

2007-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- This web log has actually already passed its first anniversary. It started in November 2005 as we prepared to host the first National Conference on Community Journalism here in Anniston, Ala.

But, I am reminded of the central day of the conference, February 9, 2006, when I posted more than I have the entire 15 months of the blog-- the third day of the conference.

Now, we are gearing up for our second community journalism conference, which is scheduled for March 6-8, 2007. The focus for this conference is on Storytelling.

This year, we will be co-hosting the event with the Society of Professional Journalists, which has posted a details of the conference on its Web site.

Death of a Newscast?

2007-01-24T18:15:00.000-08:00

This question caught my attention on the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)' Website. At first, I thought it was a story about a local newscast that was going away. When I clicked on Deb Wenger's article, I found it was a fresh piece (just posted this month) from a colleague at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Mass Communications about a subject near and dear to my heart-- local TV news.

She interviewed Terry Heaton of Audience Research & Development (AR&D), a consultant for dozens of local TV stations. In fact, AR&D was the consultant at one of stations where I produced local news more tha 10 years ago.

The thesis of the articlce is that if 28 percent of the coveted 18-49 demographic cite the Internet as the place they get their local news, the over-the-air, appointment-style local newscast is becoming a dinosaur.

I'm not sure that's a surprise. TV newscasts, like their legacy media cohort, the newspaper, have become somewhat irrelevant to millions of Americans.

The context for this article is the relatively new SPJ Journalism Education web blog.

The message in the article was aimed at educators, many of whom are still stuck in training print journalists and broadcast journalists.

I think Terry is right! (Did I say that about a consultant??) But, the real question is how do we convince our colleagues in journalism education circles that this is the case.

So the big news (besides the fact I agree with a consultant) is that local broadcast journalists have to think beyond the shows they produce, anchor or report for each day.

That's the old way of thinking about local news.

This is kind of line with the current issue of the RTNDA Communicator, which focuses on survival strategies for the 24/7 newsroom.

New Community for Political Junkies Open for Biz

2007-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

It’s launch day for a much-anticipated multimedia venture, Politico is coming on the scene just in time as the 2008 Presidential campaign buzz kicks up with the recent announcements by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and several others.

Here's their welcome note.

They were out the gate with a great welcome video.
Tonight is the President’s State of the Union and Politico is supposed to be up and running to cover it all.

I just learned today that Allbritton Communications, a privately-held company that owns Birmingham’s ABC 33/40 is a major backer for this new venture. That means we’ll see it draw on the resources of Washington DC’s WJLA-Channel 7’s and their hyperlocal. NewsChannel 8.

Politico is not just a Website, but a newspaper and a web-based TV program. It’s going to be awesome to follow this as it launches.

I can’t wait to see it all unfold.

A New Montgomery TV Newscast?

2007-01-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

It's a trend happening all over the country-- one television station does a newscast for another.

This time the trend takes us to Alabama's state capital-- Montgomery where there are currently two local television news operations, NBC affiliate WSFA and CBS affiliate WAKA-TV.

It's worth mentioning that Montgomery-based Raycom Media purchased Liberty Corporation, which owned WSFA.

But it's WAKA-TV that's in the news now as it offers the state's newest local newscast-- a 9pm newscast for a new CW network-affiliated station, WBMM, which is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting.

"We are excited to be working with Jim Caruthers and his team at CBS 8," SagamoreHill Broadcasting President Louis Wall said in a story posted on WAKA's site. "They are true professionals and we appreciate their vision in working with us to provide the River Region's first prime time news," he said.

Like similar agreements in other markets, the newscast is branded with the station that is providing newscast's brand. The station's talent produces an extra half-hour or hourlong program.

While some markets will take the late newscast and offer it an hour earlier on the second station, many re-run stories from earlier news programs. In markets like Richmond, Va, which has been doing a primetime newscast for Sinclair Broadcast Group's FOX station, WRLH, an entire anchor team was identified to staff the 10pm program.

In Montgomery, CBS 8 is owned by Charlotte-based Bahakel Communications, which did its own centralcasting between Charlotte FOX affiliate WCCB and Columbia, South Carolina ABC station, WOLO-TV.

I call these types of newscasts where one station does one for competing station, CONTRACTED newscasts. They're also known as news share agreements.

Do they provide MORE local news? Technically, on the station where the contracted newscasts airs, YES. But, there is no real NEW reporting staff that is informing the community.

So, on this web blog that focuses on community journalism, we have to ask whether this latest news share agreement really adds to the community journalism available in the Montgomery-Selma market.

For a while this same concept was tried in the Birmingham media market as WIAT CBS 42 did a 9pm newscast for WTTO WB 21. That was, of course, after Sinclair Broadcast Group stopped using its own centralcasting concept to produce local news.

But, it only lasted a few months. Recently, I got the following e-mail from CBS 42 anchor David Lamb:

We are no longer doing the news on CW21. We discontinued those broadcasts a while back. As always, you can check us out on CBS 42 and 10pm. Sorry for the inconvenience but I hope you will watch us at 10.

While two years, WTTO 21 promoted its anchor team that was a mix of local talent and national news personalities from the Sinclair NewsCentral operation, today the WTTO Website has been totally re-done as a primarily promotional site for the entertainment programming with the new green CW 21 brand and a tiny section devoted to CW 21 News Video, which is really the Associated Press Video service that available free to members.

So, we will watch to see what happens with Alabama's newest local newscast on WBMM CW Montgomery. Currently only Birmingham's WBRC and Mobile's WALA, both FOX affiliates offer primetime newscasts, which is 9pm in the Central Time Zone.

FOI Audit Not Just for Sunshine Week

2007-01-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

RICHMOND--- Usually around the month of March, newspapers around the country publish articles and editorials on the topic open government and fredom of information.

This week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is running results of a Freedom of Information Audit of Virginia's 142 cities and counties.

The articles are part of a four-day series, OPEN & SHUT, that started on New Year's Eve and concludes tomorrow (January 3, 2007).

Today's article focused on the area where reponses were most problematic- official business conducted via e-mail.

A few years ago, I was part of a similar test spearheaded by the Alabama Coalition for Open Government (ALACOG).

Each state has different laws. Here in the Old Dominion, the Freedom of Information Act dictates what documents are to be made available.

The Virginia Coalition's Web site is especially well-done and up-to-date.

The audit by reporters from 20 newspapers and the Associated Press was conducted last September.

It's refreshing to see this topic get coverage in my home state.

Tuscaloosa News Opens Web Log

2006-12-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

Big news tonight out of Tuscaloosa. Actually, I just discovered it, but it's probably been up for a while.

The Tuscaloosa News is opening up its Web site so that online subscribers can also add their content through a community-based Web log.

Check it out.

Knight Fellows Host Credibility Roundtable

2006-11-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- The Anniston Star should cover more positive things in the Anniston City Schools and not always play up the negative stories on its front pages.

Those were just some of the things eleven Anniston Star past and present readers shared in tonight's Credibility Roundtable held at the Anniston Star-Calhoun County Public Library main branch.

The lessons learned about what the newspaper is doing well and not so well are virtually endless.

The opportunities for adding a dimension to the research on community journalism are great.

The only glitch was a tape recorder on one side of the room that was not recording during the last 45 minutes of the roundtable. That creates an extra challenge with making the transcript.

But, we'll get there.

The important thing is that the Knight Fellows executed a fantastic community-based event. It's always hardest to do the first of anything.

We have a foundation on which to build in future years.

Much more on which to report tomorrow.

Countdown to Credibility- 90 minutes away

2006-11-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- So far no rain. That's a good sign as we quickly move into the final hour before the first Credibility Roundtable of the Knight Fellows in Community Journalism.

There are storms moving into Alabama and expected to be a factor in our weather situation in a few hours. It would be great if they held off until 9pm when the roundtable will be behind us.

As I transition from some afternoon research writing to getting dressed for the event, I am reminded of a rich discussion that occurred in our second afternoon pre-roundtable meeting.

Time did not permit me to explain that the first meeting was with members of the Anniston Star staff and the second was with the Knight Fellows enrolled in the Producing Community Journalism course. At both meetings, our guest moderators, Peggy Kuhr and Carol Nunnelley took the lead in gauging the expectations of those who are involved in the roundtable. The meetings gave us a chance to all get on the same page in terms of how things will proceed tonight.

One thing we realized in both meetings-- 90 minutes is not a lot of time. Traditionally, this is the longest you want to engage members of the community, but after time is factored in for the introductions and wrap-ups, there is not a lot of discussion time.

It's unclear how the time factor will influence our conversations tonight.

We hope there will be just enough time at the end for roundtable participants to complete a post-roundtable survey that will provide data that can be used to extend findings from the roundtable itself.

The question of numbers came up more in the second meeting. We agreed that the even a small crowd (5 or 6) will yield findings to add a much-needed dimension to the literature and give the paper some feedback it did not have about the Anniston City Schools.

The role and positioning of the Knight Fellows, Anniston Star editors and UA faculty was also greatly discussed in both meetings, with more clarification of those roles coming in the second meeting this afternoon.

It was decided that because the emphasis is on the members of the community, two Knight Fellows who have a connection to the Anniston City Schools through their involvement and/or background in education will be asked to sit at the table and be available as resource persons who speak ONLY when called on by the moderators.

The real speakers, the participants in the roundtable will be those from the community.

We'll see how it goes.

Countdown to Credibility- 5 hours to go

2006-11-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- The first of two final strategy sessions has ended and we're about to have a second session.

One participant for the roundtable just canceled, but another confirmed. The name cards have been made and the line-up for tonight has been confirmed.

The experience of the last-minute deadlines is always instructive.

The 2pm meeting awaits.

Countdown to Credibility-- 12 hours to go

2006-11-14T05:09:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- When we set the date for this roundtable, November 14 seemed so far away. Now it's finally here. I can't say much else is on my mind this morning.

I don't mind sharing that tonight's credibility roundtable was a big part of my morning prayers today. I think a lot of what will happen is in God's hands.

This is not just some class event or newspaper activity or community forum. Readership panels are a regular thing for The Star. What isn't regular is to have the University of Alabama and six of its graduate students attached to an activity like this.

It's been done at other universities where the school was in a different place from the newspaper partner. But the Star and the University of Alabama are already in bed together. Our "partnership" by way of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has existed for several years.

Tonight's roundtable is our first big public event since six outstanding Knight Fellows arrived here in August. That's why this is so important.

The setting, which I mentioned yesterday, is one that physically puts us in the very place where we want to be: the community.

It's going to be great. Sure there will be lots of little last-minute things to do today. There always are, Some people will complain that we waited until the last minute.

Still, I think the Knight Fellows, the students will gain a lot from even these last-minute things.

Now, let's get this day started.

Countdown to Credibility-- the PLACE and PEOPLE

2006-11-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- Ironically, the room where tomorrow's roundtable will take place is the Ayers room, named after the same family that owns The Anniston Star and via its parent company Consolidated Publishing.

Tonight we began assembling tables in a format that will maximize the opportunity for input. The U-shaped set-up should facilitate involvement and decrease the power dynamics that often can come with everyone sitting around a single table.

Professor Peggy Kuhr, formerly of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA, now at the Knight Chair for Press, Leadership and Community at the University of Kansas, will co-moderate with Carol Nunnelley, who is the director of the Roundtables project.

Kuhr's classes at the University of Kansas have conducted at least three of the roundtables that involved partnerships between journalism classes and newspapers. She brings a wealth of experience in negotiating the relationship between a news organization and its community.

Nunnelley is familiar with Anniston as she is a former managing editor of The Birmingham News.

The location for tomorrow night's event is ideal because it's centrally located in the HEART of the city on which we will be focusing our discussions.

Countdown to Credibility - 24 hours to go

2006-11-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- Tonight I begin a series of postings on the much-anticipated Credibility Roundtable that we'll be hosting tomorrow evening here in downtown Anniston.

Part a larger national program of the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Credibility Roundtables Project has been around for five years. When the project began in 2001, the newspaper editors aimed to tackle the public's big questions about news credibility.

Tomorrow night's roundtable will involve about 15 Anniston and Calhoun County residents in addressing the question how credible is The Anniston Star's coverage of the Anniston City Schools.

Earlier this evening, I went to the roundtable site, the Anniston/Calhoun County Main Library downtown to check out the place.

A view from Piedmont

2006-11-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

PIEDMONT-- A first for me today as I had a chance to drive north of Jacksonville, Ala. to the small community of Piedmont, Ala. The occasion for this trip was a class visit for the Knight Fellows in Community Journalism.

Not only was it a wonderful opportunity to see a community UP CLOSE, it was a chance to see the fall colors along Highway 21.

Consolidated Publishing recently purchased The Piedmont Journal and added it to the list week publications it prints at its Anniston facility. It also has a top-notch staff that is based in Jacksonville while they keep a strong presence IN the community.

Today we met some of the Piedmont Journal staff. I hope to visit again.

Blogging on Crime in Anniston

2006-11-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

Just discovered today that one our own here at The Anniston Star has his own blog that focuses on the crime in the Anniston/Calhoun County, Ala. area.

Check it out.

Andy Johns, who I just really got a chance to meet on Monday is doing a great job with this.

He and fellow Anniston Star reporter, Steve Ivey, are our resident bloggers. This whole web log thing takes a lot of time.

But it's fun if you get used to doing on a regular basis.

Andy seems to have that mastered.

You'll be seeing a lot more from them on Election Day.

Riding the "L"

2006-08-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

I guess I got the "authentic" Chicago experience last night as I and eight other colleagues attending the convention caught Chicago's famous elevated subway train, the "L," back to our hotel.

We went to Chicago's southside for dinner at the Negro League Cafe. The soul food (fried chicken, yams, green beans, mac 'and'cheese) was good even though the restaurant was loud and it was hard to have a conversation.

But, the best part of the trip for me was the ride back. Waiting for the train with a bunch of the editors and professor types who were along for the meal, I got a chance to chat and experience what it's like for the million-plus folks who use Chicago's transit system every day.

According to its web site, the Chicago Transit Authority (including the trains and buses) is the second largest in the nation and one of the few that serves two airports-- Midway Airport and O'Hare.

For many of us tourists, just getting a ticket was an experience. The station attendant noticed this large group of folks who had no idea of where we were going or what we were doing. She helped us buy our tickets and gave us transit maps.

All of a sudden the "L" is not just something I see on re-runs of ER, the hit NBC medical drama.

I've ridden the Chicago rail once before (back in 2000 when I was here for a seminar at Northwestern and wanted to go to a White Sox game).

But last night was different. It was different in not only who I was with, but also where I was coming from and the perspective I have on a city of which I'm learning more and more as the week progresses.

It was nice to get outside the convention hotel and experience some of what's REAL CHICAGO.

From Chicago's Black-Owned Media

2006-08-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Another highlight of this conference for me was hearing from some of the strongest voices from black-owned media in this town.

Roland Martin is a frequent guest on CNN and FOX News Channel. The white commentators like to feature him because he will give the "black perspective" on things.

But this 37-year-old, who I had the unexpected pleasure of escorting to his panel (as he was looking for the location), has recently taken the helm of one of the nation's oldest Black newspapers, The Chicago Defender.

I'll have to give all the history of the Defender later.

Not only is Martin running The Defender, he's doing talk radio on WVON, formerly known as "Voice of the Negro" (now "Voice of the Nation") every weekday morning.

Martin joined his boss, Melody Spann-Cooper, who is president and general manager along with Hermee Hartman, who owns several other media outlets to talk about "The Relevance of Black-owned Media."

Columbia College Journalism Professor Curtis Lawrence moderated this blockbuster panel that hit on so many business issues relating to black-owned media in the largest marketplace of the nation's third largest media market.

"What you get from black media is an authentic voice," said Hartman.

Martin, who worked at two major daily newspapers, the Austin American-Statesman and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before joining the Black Press as a reporter at The Houston Defender, gave some key insight to young journalists, who've recently faced the dilemma of whether to work in mainstream media or take a pay cut and report for the Black press.

"What is the value of the additional amount of money?" Martin asked. "I'd rather have the flexibility and freedom."

This panel was particularly interesting to me because I started my professional career in both a Black-owned radio station and as a stringer for a Black weekly newspaper.

Of course I didn't stay there, but I've always believed there is a unique place for people like Martin and his colleagues on this panel who are "keeping up the fight" to ensure that those authentic voices are heard.

Does that mean my voice (as one who worked in mainstream media) is less authentic?

That's a question to ponder following this forum.

For my purposes, the role of the Black-owned media in community journalism is not to be overlooked. I expect to be talking a lot about what's happening at WVON and The Chicago Defender in the coming weeks and months.

Columbia Prof. addresses MOE Luncheon

2006-08-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

The fact that dozens of student journalists are recognized for outstanding work is not really news at an SPJ Convention.

That happens every year and today (Friday) was no exception as student staffs from schools such as the Merrill School of Journalism (U-Md), Cronkite School of Journalism (Arizona State), and Montana State University picked up multiple honors at the Annual Mark of Excellence (MOE) Awards.

I lead with that because it's the reason several hundred people gathered for lunch. In fact, for the students, it's the highlight of the week.

But, the take-away point may come best from the keynote speaker, Sam Freedman, author of Letters to a Young Journalist and a professor at Columbia School of Journalism.

While acknowledging the public image of journalism is not as high as it was when he entered j-school in the mid 1970s, Freedman encouraged the young journalists in the audience, in particular, to re-double their efforts toward excellence.

"Because what we do is in short supply, that makes it even more important what we do," Freedman said. "What we do matters and it can't be replaced by amateurs."

By amateurs, Freedman was referring to the increasing number of folks doing exactly what I'm doing now-- blogging.

He made it clear that bloggers aren't journalists even though there are lots of journalists (i.e. George Daniels) who are using web logs as tools to get out information (whew!)

I like to think this is a form of reporting. But, not everyone who is reporting information is practices the tenants of journalism.

More on that later.

Oh, by the way, I did get Freedman to autograph a copy of his book.

News Breaks at chicagotribune.com

2006-08-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

How's that for a headline? Does it get you to read this blog posting? That was a question the leaders of the BEST convention session I've attended so far would want me to ask.

Charlie Meyerson and Danielle Gordon, senior producers for chicagotribune.com spent more than an hour helping me and eight of my colleagues think about AUDIENCE when writing for the web.

"It may be the end of Journalism That Takes Itself So Seriously That It Doesn't Bother To Figure Out How To Get People Interested In The First Place, " Meyerson said.

The session entitled, "Mindreading your audience," was a mix of tips from web producers and insights on how a website for one of the nation's major newspapers operates.

Traveling to the famous Tribune Tower was an experience in and of itself. I spent 10 minutes marveling at the quotes about journalism from the likes of Medill, Patrick Henry and McCormick that appear on the inside of the skyscraper.

But, once we went downstairs below the lobby to what once were the two levels for the presses of The Chicago Tribune, the action got even more interesting.

While Meyerson was talking about headline writing techniques for the Web and how to use web metrics to identify directions for online reporting, he and Gordon received an alert about a breaking story.

It wasn't a major story, but clearly the big story of the day for Chicago-- the closing of a famous department store on Chicago's State Street.

Gordon acknowledged that another news organization's website, a TV site in fact, had beat the Tribune to the punch in getting the story online for readers.

An hour later as the session begin to wind down, we saw how quickly the ChicagoTribune.com staff was able to get a photo of the story and a local story (not just A.P. wire copy) posted for readers along with a web poll.

It's that kind of reaction time that many of us who've worked in web journalism would like to see our sites have.

From a teaching standpoint, the talk about what to do when ordering stories on the Web's main page, how to develop relationships between online staff and print newsroom and most important skills for someone getting into web journalism are what made this off-site session invaluable.

I can't wait to do a more thorough recap of this later.

COM-J Exchange re-started

2006-08-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been almost a year since this blog was created as we marched up to the National Conference on Community Journalism in Anniston. That was in February 2006. The posting on my visit to WGN has nothing to do with community journalism per se. But, it's my first attempt to re-start communication online.

This week I'm in Chicago participating in the Society of Professional Journalists National Convention.

The conference is usually held in October. But, due to cost of holding a major conference in October in the Chicago area (very expensive), the staff decided to do an earlier meeting.

The last meeting was in Las Vegas in October 2005. So, this is the shortest period we've had between conventions in several years.

It's not a particularly convenient time for those of us in education because school is starting. But, nonetheless I'm here.

I hope to log in and post updates from various events throughout the week.

The opening reception tonight was held tonight at the River East Art Center.

Visiting WGN-TV

2006-08-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

As a young broadcast journalist, I grew up watching the news on Superstation WGN. In fact, when I produced weekend news in Richmond, Virginia, my anchor and I would watch the 10pm news on WGN before doing our own weekend newscast at 11pm.

We would marvel at the smoothness, professional presentation and obvious top-of-the-line technology at play at the Tribune-owned powerhouse station.

Even when I worked in Atlanta, I would routinely watch WGN News at Noon when it aired in our market at 1pm.

Today I got a chance to see the studios and staff of WGN-TV up close as I made a visit while here in Chicago for the Society of Professional Journalists Convention.

I was impressed with the sheer size of the station and the recently re-modeled newsroom and studio. Many people might think the WGN-TV operation is still in the historic Tribune Tower in downtown.

Actually, it is 20 minutes north of Chicago's famous loop. The radio station (WGN Radio) and TV moved there decades ago. The radio station is back in the Tower, but the station is in a plant it has held for four or five decades.

Wrapping Up the Day With Cole Campbell

2006-02-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Following the official premiere of "The Teaching Newspaper" video and another ON POINT presentation by yours truly and John Fleming, editor-at-large at The Anniston Star, a much smaller crowd that remains here in the Zannie Theatre talked about what was learned from the presentations and discussions today.

"Even though it is as old as journalism, community journalism is still an emergent concept," said Cole Campbell, director of the Reynolds School of Journalism at University of Nevado-Reno. " Community journalism is a conceptual blend."

"Community journalism is really a conceptual blend..by define an idea by pulling from two parent ideas. Teaching hospital pulls from the science of medicine and practice of medicine, he said.

"Conceptual blends are highly selective. Conceptual blends work because it sorts out the attributes of each parent concept that really work, that really make sense," said Campbell.

"One of the touchstone ideas throughout the day is the notion of intimacy," he said.

What are the ideas or the ideas, the theories that we can draw out of our conversation?

Here's a list of the some of the things the group came up as our daylong conversation concluded:
-Coherence, Meaning and Possibility

-Personal Connection
-Cultural Connection

-Community Transcends Geograpphy because of shared experience

-We're not telling a story, we're telling someone's story

-Cover the normal as well as the abnormal

-Interdependence with whom?

-"Hope to get the paper out" is a constraint

-Digital tech. overcomes barriers, offers feedback

-Concern: First responsibility to consumer

-Gathering point, stabilized through community conversation

-Community as a process

ISU Prof Looks At Consequence of Digital Future

2006-02-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Armed with statistics on new media use and technology lifestyle habits, the head of the Iowa State University's journalism school posed some tough questions about technologies such as social networking websites and cell phones.

Michael Bugeya kicked off the afternoon portion of the community journalism conversation with the day's first PowerPoint presentation. It was appropriate as technology was the center of his talk.

"I ask you to go back to Marshall McLuhan. Ask what is the media doing, what does it do best? That's why I have a lot of respect for printing," said Bugeya.

From his soon-to-be-released study of the consequences of administrators avoiding e-mail for two weeks to an upcoming panel on "the Ethics of Facebook," Bugeya posed tough questions about many media habits that are often taken for granted.

In addition to writing several articles for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bugeya has authored a book entitled Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age.

His theory of digital displacement exemplified by such habits as students using technology to socialize during class is an example of the concerns raised about the influence of new media use on everyday life and community and/or societal disagreement.

At this moment, Bugeya is part of an afternoon panel that is responding to some of his ideas.

JSU Prof Draws Link Between Journalism & Academy

2006-02-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

He's been one of the figures involved in the discussions about a Teaching Newspaper since the beginning. Today, Hardy Jackson, a history professor at Jacksonville State University made the link between his work as a historian and a columnist for The Anniston Star.

Jackson told his story during today's luncheon.

"Becoming a regular columnist and editorial writer was purely coincidence," Jackson said, who has published work not only in The Anniston Star, but also The Mobile Register.

Before doing his current stint as a columnist, he worked as an editorial writer for the Star.

Since starting his work with the Star, Jackson says the experience in journalism has had a positive impact on his work as a historian making his scholarly work "more accessible, more readable and more read."

But that's not only the old result of his dual work as a historian and a columnist.

"Wearing two hats has strengthened my connection with the community," Jackson said.

Jackson drew parallels between his work as an academic and a columnist in the three core areas of the academy: teaching, scholarship and service.

"Now that I think about it I have two jobs. I just wear one hat."

UA Team Reports Research on News & Community

2006-02-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

A University of Alabama journalism research team reported findings of their analysis of what academic researchers have to say about community journalism.

Wilson Lowrey, an assistant professor of journalism, led the team that included two UA Ph.D. students, Amanda Brozana and Jenn MacKay, in analyzing 70 research articles in 16 academic journals including titles such as the Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly and Political Communication.

From their qualitative analysis of the articles, they identified at least nine dimensions of news and community that appeared in the research articles:

1) community
2) Meeting Place
3) Field
4) Interpretive
5) journalism That Listens
6) Civic Leader
7) Advocate
8) Social Glue
9) Awareness of Social Differences

Some of the other key findings from the research-- 71% of the articles focused on daily newspapers while only 30% featured research on weekly newspapers and 12% on web sites.

"Most did not define community journalism directly," said Lowrey. "Many of the articles looked at the impact of community on the journalists or the news organization." Lowrey said.

Lowrey made a 15-minute ON POINT presentation, the second such talk of this day-long intense discussion.

Knight Chair Issues Call for Interdependent Newspapers

2006-02-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

In the second major address of today's daylong conversation on community journalism, one former newspaper editor challenged those attending today's conversation to look for new ways to be interdependent with their communities.

"A newspaper can't really be independent until it become interdependent with the community it serves, said Peggy Kuhr, Knight Chair on the Press, Leadership and the Community at the University of Kansas.

Unlike the previous presentations, Kuhr focused much of her address toward those journalism professors and students attending today's event. From turning students on to community as a source for stories to showing them the power of residents in a community to speak to an issue, Kuhr suggested a different strategy that those teaching journalism can use.

She previewed a soon-to-be released web site on which she and Ken Harwood are working that will go live next year. Covering Communities.org will be a resource for showing journalists and journalism students real strategies for the type of community-based reporting that fosters interdependence.

Kuhr also gave a list of three things those in the audience could do to foster interdependence:

1) Connect with expert listerners in your community
2) Join the Credibility Roundtable Project
3) Develop relationships with those on your campus

Evans: Community Newspapers focus on community values

2006-02-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Touting the challenges of empirically defining community journalism, University of Alabama Researcher William Evans listed some of the ways in which content analytic research can assist in the process.

Evans talked about an ongoing project that involved analyzing newspaper editorials. One of his biggest findings was that community newspapers and corporately-owned newspapers appear to differ in the way they discuss community values.

"I think we have a new species of editorial, one that focuses on community valuies," said William Evans, director of the Institute for Communication and Information Research at the state's flagship institution.

He used an example of the different ways in which The Anniston Star and the Tuscaloosa News opined on the recent rash of church burnings in West Alabama. The Star was more direct in explaining why the fires was inconsistent with the values of the state while the Tuscaloosa paper's editorial re-stated the facts of the story and simply suggested that no one should jump to conclusions.

While the example from this week was not included in their newspaper contnet analysis, it did show how community journalism here in Alabama can approach

Evans' findings were based on a pilot study of major newspapers.

Evans gave the first of several brief 15-minute ON POINT presentations where research results or efforts are the focus.

Harwood Launches First Discussion Panel

2006-02-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

In a style more akin to a sermon than a lecture, this morning Rich Harwood is preaching a message of hope, not a hope for newspapers but hope for a different type of public life, different role for newspapers in a community.

"When people look out in public life, community life in politics, they don't see themselves, " said Harwood. "When people look out into public life and co mmunity life, they believe their life is being personally distorted, disorted by those in the news media that heightens and sensationalizes the news."

Harwood challenged newspapers to do three things:

1) Engage people on the notion of the public good

2) Invest in Capacity of our communitys to create community

3) In our effort to do good, better journalism, avoid Becoming mechanistic in our respone

As of this moment, the first panel of journalists is responding to Harwood's opening address.

Conversation Begins

2006-02-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

The main event for the Conversation on Community Journalism is officially underway at the Zannie Theatre here in on the campus of the former Ft. McClellan.

As of this very moment, Conference Host and Director of the Knight Fellows in Community Journalism has just completed his opening remarks and the first panel has taken the stage.

"We need community journalism now more than ever before," said Rich Harwood, the first keynote speaker of the morning.

"The art of community journalism is to make the civic connections, but to make some money so that you can endure," said Waddle in his opening comments.

Conference Opens with Open House at The Teaching Newspaper

2006-02-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- We can say with certainty that the crowd has arrived. The First National Conversation on Community Journalism is, in fact, a reality.

The not-so-good digital photo above is our proof that the vision we all had of bringing the brightest minds on community journalism to one place is coming to fruition.

The shot here gives a brief glimpse of the lobby of The Anniston Star, which was transferred into a cocktail lounge tonight. Over the next 24 hours, we'll all talk, break bread, share, brainstorm and do a lot of other things as the mind of community journalism emerges.

Our dean, Cully Clark, Chris Waddle, the conference host, and Josephine Ayers, who did much of the planning for this conference, spoke this evening.

This was a first opportunity for most of those here to see the place that later this year becomes The Teaching Newspaper. Where will the teaching take place? How is the newsroom set up for this? A lot of those questions were answered with the "show-and-tell" that I saw going on this evening.

Much, much more tomorrow morning as everything shifts to the former Fort McClellan, where the Zannie Theatre is all decked out and ready for this major event.

It will be an exciting day.

Knight Foundation CEO in search of new ways to build community

2006-02-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

JACKSONVILLE, Ala-- It started as a crystal clear day. You could see clear to the top of the mountain. In fact, going into today's luncheon the former Anniston Star Editor Troy Turner pointed out to me the trail that goes to the mountain that sits in view of the Houston Cole Library on the beautiful campus of Jacksonville State University.

What a way to begin a posting about today's Ayers Lecture Series, which featured the man of the week-- the new CEO of Knight Foundation, Alberto Ibarguen.

I'm not even going to try to format this as a news story (a habit of mine when I'm blogging). I'm just going to note some highlights from the lecture that stuck out at me as I was taking it all in.

Highlight #1- Not Newspapers, New Media

Highlight #2- Community

Highlight #3- New Ways of Doing Things

Now for the details

Highlight #1 Not Newspapers, New Media

Perhaps most surprising to us is that the Knight Foundation is clearly not in the business of saving newspapers. That's the underlying point of many advocates for community journalism. If we can cover our communities, people will buy our papers.

Ibarguen, a former Miami Herald editor, has a different take

"The reach of newspapers is shrinking. to me that creates an extraordinary opportunity for us to identify the community journalism of the 21st century," said Ibarguen. "We're wedded to excellence in journalism, though not newspapers. The world is agnostic to platform and we need to reflect that."

Highlight #2- Community

It's probably no accident that Ibarguen spent a good deal of his address to a nearly capacity crowd on the 11th floor of JSU's Cole Library, talking about his experiences responding to Hurricane Katrina,

He talked about how he was able through the Knight Foundation to invest $1 million into helping Mississippi Gulf Coast develp a plan for rebuilding their communities.

Much of his examination of this region was through his experience watching the Sun-Herald in Biloxi continue to publish (via a presenting site in Columbus, Ga.) in spite of Katrina's destruction.

Highpoint #3- New Ways of Doing Things

Perhaps my favorite part of this speech was hearing Ibarguen, a seasoned print journalist, continue to ask for ideas for reaching audiences through new media.

This seemed to be a message not only for JSU and UA students in the room, but also the journalism professors who find themselves looking to the Knight Foundation to fund their NEEDS.

Ibarguen made it clear his foundation, which awards nearly $100 million in grants each year, is thinking more like a venture capitalist "seeding and inspiring" individuals who have new ways of building community.

"We're interested in new ways of teaching and new ways of disseminating information."

Acting as the master of ceremonies during today's luncheon and the lecture that followed was Jacksonville State University President Bill Meehan. At least two former JSU presidents were also in attendance as were a number of the Knight Chairs, who held a meeting on the JSU campus this morning.

This was the 17th year for the Harry M. and Edel Y. Ayers Lecture, an annual address by a journalist for journalism in honor of the former publisher of the Anniston Star and wife.

The clouds rolled in during the luncheon-- but I wouldn't say they had any impact on the clarity of vision that the top man at the Knight Foundation shared.

Former Miami newspaper editor salutes local letter writers

2006-02-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

ANNISTON-- For a week of discussions on the “Emerging Mind of Community Journalism” what better way to start things off than with those in the community.

I’ve been to a lot of banquets and dinners, but never one that shined the spotlight on those who talk back to the newspaper. Tonight’s meal was special because I had it in the presence of some of the people born and raised here in Calhoun County, Alabama.

Tonight’s letter writers banquet was about connecting with the people who through their written comments connect with their local newspaper.

“Writing letters to the editor is an integral part of what makes a newspaper a newspaper,” said Bob Davis, editor of The Anniston Star.

Before recently being named executive editor of the paper, Davis served for almost two years as the Star’s Editorial Page Editor. He succeeded John Fleming, who now serves as editor-at-large.

Both Fleming and Davis followed Chris Waddle, who as the Star’s longtime editorial page editor started the tradition of honoring letter writers.

Tonight’s event was the 17th such banquet.

Now Waddle is directing the Star’s new joint venture with The University of Alabama and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The first class of Knight Fellows in Community Journalism won’t arrive here in Anniston until later this fall. But, this week’s conference is the first official event held in conjunction with the journalism graduate program that’s nicknamed COM-J.

Appropriately, the CEO of the Knight Foundation was invited to serve as the keynote for this year’s letter writers banquet. Alberto Ibarguen told lots of war stories about his days as editor of The Miami Herald, an experience that brought him face-to-face with those in a community of exiles where 75 percent of the population was born someplace else.

“This is really what builds community,” said Ibarguen who recounted some of the experiences he had in receiving hundreds of e-mails and letters to the editor.

Tonight he recalled how the Miami community responded with some 8,000 letters to editor after the Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Elian Gonzalez story.

“Almost none of them were about our coverage. They were just citizens expressing their opinion [about the Gonzalez story],”Ibarguen said.

“I hope you appreciate the privilege you have,” the Knight Foundation CEO told the letter writers at tonight’s dinner.

As we look forward to tomorrow’s events, the audience shifts from residents in the Anniston-Calhoun County (Ala.) community to students and scholars as the Star’s Annual Ayers Lecture features Ibarguen in an afternoon address a few miles up the road at Jacksonville State University.

Ready..Set- GO!

2006-02-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, this is it!

Years of planning of anticipation, discussion, debate, disagreement-- all to a come to a head this week as the first OFFICIAL event of the Knight Fellows in Community Journalism kicks off in just hours.

Tomorrow the first pre-conference event, the Letter Writers Banquet takes place.

With all that's been going on with the regular semester, I've hardly had time to mentally prepare for this special event.

Today in my freshman-level introduction to journalism course, I showed a short clip from the video The New South Star, part of the Alabama Experience series.

This particular video is more than a decade old. It chronicles the history of Anniston and the philosophical foundations of The Star.

The occasion for our discussion of the Star was a culmination of a unit on the influence of corporate culture on journalism. I use two case studies as extremes-- the FOX News Channel on one end of the political spectrum and the Anniston Star on the other.

Moving beyond the discussion of liberal vs. conservative, I asked students to identify examples of COMMUNITY reporting in last Wednesday's edition of The Star.

They did pretty well with this exercise. We talked about the way the Star localized the Coretta Scott King story, the State of the Union address and the recent awards bestowed on the film Brokeback Mountain.

I mentioned to the students that I would spending most of the week in Anniston at a conference on community journalism. But, that was the extent of my preparation.

I could reflect and report more on today's classroom or I just get ready to trek over to Anniston.

I think I'll choose the latter.

If you happen to be reading this, expect more frequent reports and reflections throughout the week.

Franchising the news?

2006-01-31T07:13:00.000-08:00

Like many fast-food establishments, Chik-fil-A is always inviting people to help them expand by becoming an owner-operator.

Franchising is a part of the fast food business model. In a franchise, the basic Chik-fil-A concept is the same, but the person raking in the cash is a little different.

Can we ever become so "cookie-cutter" in our presentation of community journalism that we are, in effect, franchising our local news?

That's EXACTLY what one Chik-Fil-A customer thinks. He was one of ten customers at the Chik-Fil-A in Oxford, Ala. with whom we spoke informally yesterday.

It's part of our effort to open the dialogue about community news reporting and community journalism. We videotaped our short talks with the Chik-fil-A customers and will show them at the COM-J Conversation on Community Journalism next week.

Traveling all over country, this Chik-Fil-A customer who happened to be stopping in Oxford was simply saying that all the television news programs look the same no matter where you go.

His "theory" was that this was a directive from the television networks. As a former local TV news producer, I can tell you that is highly unlikely. But, he might have a point about the WAY WE PRODUCE the news.

Incidentally, he, like most of the nine other customers with whom we spoke, depended much more on television for their news and information than the local newspaper.

Only three of the 10 people had much to say about their local newspaper.

What do you think? Are we franchising local news?

THREE WEEKS and counting

2006-01-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Three weeks from today, we hope to see YOU in Anniston, Ala. for the National Conversation on Community Journalism.

I know this blog has been REAL QUIET the last two months-- since we started it in November. That's the nature of blogs that don't have much of an audience just yet.

We do hope everyone is as excited about the event as we are here at the University of Alabama.

Even if it's just one person talking about community journalism, I'll carry on (like an online diary).

Checking Out The Buckner Center

2005-11-18T04:08:00.000-08:00

This week, a core group representing the University of Alabama's Department of Journalism, The Anniston Star and our friends at Jacksonville State University gathered at the site of February's National Conference on Community Journalism.

After a brief session in the 250-seat theatre and a tour of the exhibit hall, we got a chance to taste some of the cuisine that makes the nearby Terra Cafe one of Anniston's premier Italian American restaurants.

The Cafe is just a few feet away from the theatre where our panels and discussions will convene.

Between the two is The Great Hall where the kick-off event, the 17th Annual Letter Writers Banquet, will take place on Tuesday, February 7th.

Monday's site visit was also yet another opportunity for the cultures-- the academic culture of the University and the newsroom culture of The Star-- to mix.

More importantly, we now have a "PICTURE IN OUR HEAD" of what this national conversation on community journalism will look like.

The Buckner Center is located in the Historic Spanish Colonial Revival District of former Fort McClellan. It's a three-mile drive from downtown Anniston.

Yes, it was also a chance for old friends like -- Josie Ayers of the The Anniston Star and UA Communication Dean Cully Clark (pictured here)-- to chat about the conference and our new partnership.

We'll have more on the plans for the February conference as the Com-J Exchange continues.

Welcome to COM-J Exchange

2005-11-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

It's been in the works for months as we prepare to launch the nation's first Teaching Newspaper. Today, we're taking another step forward in opening the conversation about community journalism-- a conversation that undergirds all that we'll be doing at The Teaching Newspaper.

This online dialogue is just one way that we hope to extend the activities in our classrooms both at our main campus in Tuscaloosa and on our new campus at The Anniston Star.

We look forward to a great deal of fruitful discussion.

The name "Exchange" implies a back-and-forth or a give and take. That's what we want to do as we chat about what's good and not so good about journalism.

Hopefully this exchange will include discussions about some of the articles on our COM-J website. The ideas posted there are intended to spark some dialogue about WHAT IS COMMUNITY JOURNALISM?

We hope the national conversation planned for February will be a place where much of what we've started here in the online environment will come to a head as we sit in the same room and EXCHANGE ideas.

Welcome to COM-J Exchange!