Apparently it’s now actually fall, though it’s felt like fall for several weeks now — at least for those of you teaching in classrooms across the country.
The turning of this season always felt like a good semester marker — the ball is rolling, the horse is officially out of the barn, and other cliches that you shouldn’t use in good writing but that really come in handy when you’re writing a newsletter. In any case, it feels like we’re settling into the routine of helping shape the future of journalism.
Good luck out there. Here’s this week’s roundup.
All is forgiven
Good news out of California. Officials rescinded a three-day suspension for a newspaper adviser at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School who stood by her students’ journalism work. The Student Press Law Center was pleased.
Looking for a classroom movie?
From the Global Investigative Journalism Network, “5 Must-See Films About Investigative Journalism from 2022.”
Journalism and the wrongfully convicted
Here’s a Twitter thread that outlines several cases in which journalists helped to get convictions overturned. It’s from Joseph Cranney, an investigative reporter with The Times-Picayune in New Orleans and founder of the Local Matters newsletter, which highlights great work being done by local journalists. If students are asking about Adnan Syed and the work of investigative journalists in overturning convictions, the list might come in handy for assignments, since most of your students weren’t born when Syed was convicted, and weren’t yet in high school when “Serial” premiered.
Somebody’s watching
Your students are sure to have thoughts on this one: “Tracked: How colleges use AI to monitor student protests,” from The Dallas Morning News and the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network. Students at the University of Miami in Poynter’s College Media Program knew something like this was going on.
Win $10,000
It’s time to prompt your students to think about applying for the 2023 Reynolds Journalism Institute Student Innovation Competition. From RJI: “The 2023 challenge is for students to come up with a utility journalism idea to test out in partnership with a local news source. Utility journalism, also known as service journalism, works to help communities solve problems, answer questions, and make big decisions in their lives. First place prize is $10,000!” Read more here. Deadline to enter is Oct. 15.
Students covering news deserts
Thanks to an alert newsletter reader who shared this from Washington Monthly: “The (Student) Paper of Record | The Ball State Daily News has filled a local journalism gap.” It’s a great reminder to ask you to please fill out the form from our partners at the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News, which is attempting to identify news/academic partnerships across the country, and identify the roles that student journalists can play in combating news deserts. If you work with a program that involves student journalists outside of traditional student media, will you let us know?
Take a look
Great lead alert! “14 hours in The Queue to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin” (GQ)
Poynter headlines
I’m always up to hear pitches from professors, advisers and students about the most pressing issues facing journalism in higher education. Here are two such pieces that ran recently. I’m especially interested in hearing from journalists of color.
- Reduce social media stress with these 9 tips (Colin Crawford and Ella Kuffour, Northwestern University)
- We need to teach student journalists about on-the-job harassment (Meg Heckman, Myojung Chung and Jody Santos, Northeastern University)
Headlines about higher ed
- Rethinking community college supports for single moms (Hechinger Report)
- (Johns) Hopkins’s Move to Create a Police Force Raises Concerns (Inside Higher Ed)
Great journalism to share with your students
- How the NFL blocks Black coaches (Washington Post)
- Five Years Since the Route 91 Massacre No One Knows a Damn Thing (Rolling Stone)
Diversity, equity and inclusion
- In memory of Henry Fuhrmann, who believed in us before we believed in ourselves (Los Angeles Times)
- Type Investigations Announces a New Initiative for Incarcerated Reporters (Type)
- Twitter’s new opt-in feature will remind you to add alt text to photo uploads (Tech Crunch)
This week’s Professor’s Press Pass
CNN anchor Cristiane Amanpour made headlines last week when she refused to cover her head for an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on U.S. soil. He canceled the interview in response. In this week’s Professor’s Press Pass, we look at this issue with a series of thoughtful questions to get your students thinking about press freedoms, religious rights and foreign influence.
One last thing
The corn kid — exploitative? Funny? This makes it seem like it’s all been pretty OK for the New Yorker. But let’s check in when he’s 16.
Resources for educators
- Help your students fill their news feeds with facts with the latest course from MediaWise’s Campus Correspondents. They can sign up for free.
- Subscribe to The Collective — Poynter’s monthly newsletter for journalists of color by journalists of color.
- Get access to a growing library of case studies — Professor’s Press Pass.
- Discuss election issues with experts. United Facts of America (online event) — Sept. 27-29. Get tickets.
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