The Working Journalists Seminar Series highlights current challenges, new directions, and the richness of diversity within the journalism field. The event is open to the public.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
7 p.m.
Kinni Theatre, UC

MEDIA CONVERGENCE:

Who, What, Where, When, How, Why?

A panel discussion on journalism's future

"Media convergence is the most significant development in the news industry in the last century. The ability to interchange text, audio, and visual communication over the Internet has fundamentally transformed the way news organizations operate. Throughout the history of journalism, it has been common for journalists to study one medium, such as traditional print or broadcast, and to anticipate a career working only in their chosen field. However, the 21st century journalist has fluidity to write and deliver news content in a variety of formats." 2003, "Convergence Journalism," a paper by Professors Carrie Criado and Camille Kraeplin, Southern Methodist University, presented to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. "With the Web, we could be witnessing the most important development in expressive media since the advent of writing." Jon Palfreman, a 2006 Nieman Fello Excerpted from Nieman Reports, Winter 2006 "Caught in the Web" To read his complete report: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/06-4NRwinter/p05-0604-palfreman.html

OPEN LETTER to UW-River Falls Journalism students from members of the UWRF Journalism Advisory Board. Column on wireless technology (Julio Ojeda-Zapata) Star Tribune - browse Multimedia choices (Regina McCombs) Latino Communications Network (Marco Fernandez Landoni) Capitol Chatter (Scott Wente)

MEDIA CONVERGENCE PANELISTS

Julio Ojeda-Zapata, consumer technology reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press
Regina McCombs, senior producer for multimedia at the Star Tribune
Marco Fernandez Landoni, editorial director, Latino Communications Network (LCN)
Scott Wente, Minnesota Capitol reporter for Forum Communications, (2002 UWRF Journalism Alumnus)
MODERATOR: Andris Straumanis, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism

 

DISCUSSION TOPICS

AUDIENCE
What does the public want, need, expect, demand from on-line news organizations? Ojeda-Zapata will talk about the technology and content from the consumer/audience perspective.

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION
What's involved in producing a multimedia site? McCombs will describe the skills needed to create and maintain a converged news Web site.

NEWSROOM RESTRUCTURING
What challenges do small-to medium-sized news organizations face in the transition to convergence? Landoni will discuss how his news organization grappled with the transition.

IMPACT ON REPORTERS
What new responsibilities do reporters have? Wente will describe the impact of convergence on reporters and the profession.

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Nov. 13-14

Norman Solomon

Normon Solomon, author and nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics, will visit UW-River Falls on November 13 and 14th.

 

Nov. 13, North Hall Auditorium (Rm. 222)

6:00 p.m. book signing
7:00 p.m. free public lecture

 

Nov. 14, "Coffee with The Times"

9 a.m. discussion led by Norman Solomon, University Center Theater (Rm. 320)

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - His latest book, "Made Love Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State" was published by PoliPointPress, October 2007.

Mr. Solomon has been writing his column, Media Beat (mediabeat.org) since 1992. His 2005 book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," was called "brutally persuasive" by the Los Angeles Times and "as must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come." "War Made Easy" has recently been made into a film of the same title, narrated by Sean Penn.

Norman Solomon is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts.

A collection of Solomon's columns won the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language. The award, presented by the National Council of Teachers of English, honored Solomon's book, "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media."

Solomon has appeared as a guest on many media outlets including the PBS "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, C-Span, public radio's "Marketplace," and NPR's "All Things Considered", "Morning Edition" and "Talk of the Nation." For more details visit www.normansolomon.com

 

2006-07 SERIES

Wing Young Huie Documentary Photographer

"9 MONTHS IN AMERICA "

7 p.m. Thursday, April 19

200 Ag Science

From one of the United States' most diverse areas (Hilo, Hawaii) to its least (Slope, North Dakota), Wing Young Huie and his wife, Tara, spent nine months traveling through 39 states on an "ethnocentric" tour of their homeland. The result is a collection of 105 color and black and white photographs.

 

Pamela Miller

"Reporting on Religion"

7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12

Blue Room, Rodli Commons

Pamela Miller is a reporter for the Star Tribune's Faith and Values section. She covers the faith culture and breaking news in religion and will talk about her responsibilities in covering the religion beat.

 

 

2005-06 Series

John Stefany
Thursday, March 23 , 2006

Presidents Room, Student Center
7 p.m.

John Stefany, an editor on the special projects team at the Star Tribune and a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), will talk about media coverage of gay and lesbian issues, including Western Wisconsin coverage of the Wisconsin marriage amendment. For background information, read "Getting the Marriage Story Right" at

http://www.nlgja.org/pubs/toolbox_marriage.htm

As an editor of the special projects team, Stefany coordinates projects between the Star Tribune newspaper and StarTribune.com. His background is in computer-assisted reporting, graphics editing and national/international news. Before joining the Star Tribune in 1994, he was an editor at The Milwaukee Journal.

Background information on the Wisconsin marriage amendment

 

 

Greg Borowski
September 22, 2005
7 p.m. River Room, Rodli Commons

Greg Borowski, reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and author of "First and Long: A black school, a white school and their season of dreams."

Excerpts from his book.

According to Badger Books, the book explores a unique high school football team. Through sports, Shorewood-Messmer partnership bridged two worlds, found success on and off the field. During a normal football season, Shorewood High School and Messmer High School would be natural rivals on the football field. They're located just over a mile apart. One is public, the other private. One is suburban, the other urban. One is white, the other black.

In the fall of 2001, the two schools joined on the football field, with Shorewood hoping to boost a lagging program and Messmer looking for a return to the football field after nearly two decades without a team. In a compelling new book, author Greg Borowski was granted full access to the team, from the locker room to the bus to the sidelines, to follow the historic season.

The team was the first ever public-private football partnership in Wisconsin and, of a few dozen like it in the nation, the only one to combine central city kids with those from an affluent suburb. In Milwaukee, one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the country, the experiment took on an importance greater than that of high school sports. For one tumultuous fall, for the players especially, it meant everything.

The new book -- First and Long: A black school, a white school and their season of dreams -- traces the season from the first nervous practices of August, when all is promise, to the final moments of the last game, when all dreams must end. The book, published by Badger Books, includes a Foreward by Vince Lombardi Jr., and is endorsed by Steve Rushin of Sports Illustrated, NFL great Willie Davis and Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys.

The book follows the players, from two different worlds, on the field and off, as they learn about overcoming differences, working together and staring down adversity. It is more than a book about football. It's a story about race in a divided community. It's a story about growing up in a time of turmoil. It's a story about working together and getting along.

It's a story about life.

This book takes readers inside the huddle and inside the hearts of a team they won't soon forget.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Greg Borowski, a Milwaukee native, is the City Hall reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He previously worked at the Lansing State Journal in Lansing, Mich., and the Chronicle-tribune in Marion, Ind. He has received dozens of awards for features, news and sports writing. Borowski is a graduate of Messmer High School, one of the schools depicted in the book, and Marquette University. First and Long is his first book. Borowski continued to follow the team during its more successful second season, covered in the Epilogue.

For more information about First and Long: A black school, a white school and their season of dreams, please see the book's official web site, www.firstandlong.com, or contact Badger Books at 800.928.2372 or Mary Lou Santovec at marylou@badgerbooks.com