Every semester this song plays in my head.
I know what a busy time this is, so I will get right to a grab bag of headlines, resources and links to help you start your semester strong.
So pack your lunch, tie your boots tight and most importantly — try not to get in a fight.
Thinking about starting a statehouse bureau for students at your school, or looking to improve one that’s already established? The University of Vermont’s Center for Community News has a new report out with loads of details from 17 different university statehouse efforts.
From ProPublica: “Does Your Local Museum or University Still Have Native American Remains?” I’d love for your students to find out.
Have you heard yet about this free speech/academia/cancel culture talk-piece? “A Lecturer Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job.” (New York Times)
I love this new video from NBCU Academy, “Your First Job in News.” Here’s some background.
Some welcome news: “Media businesses are slowly getting less white, male-dominated, stats from Condé, WSJ, NYT, others show.” (Digiday)
Less welcome news: “News job cuts jumped 20% last year.” (Axios)
“Here’s how journalists can best engage audiences on climate change” from the International Journalists’ Network might help those of you looking to amp up your climate change teaching, like focusing on scientists over politicians.
If you have any aspiring political reporters, this is a fun read: “The flailing, tedious thrill of reporting on the House leadership fight.” (Washington Post)
At Teachapalooza in June, we talked about open-source intelligence, or OSINT, and its potential future place in your classroom. Here’s a great example from The Washington Post, where reporters suspected the Chinese government wasn’t being truthful about COVID-19 death numbers and got creative about testing their hunches. OSINT seems challenging, but it’s often just a matter of creative brainstorming, then an application of journalistic rigor.
Heads up: “Joel Simon to Head New Initiative to Combat Growing Threats to Journalism.”
Open records requests for the win!
Bachelor’s degree dreams of community college students get stymied by red tape — and it’s getting worse (Hechinger Report)
The College Media Association has announced five $1,000 travel grants. CMA President-elect Jackie Alexander wrote via email, “The grant, named after late former president Kelley Lash, aims to support our mission in providing opportunities for education and learning for member advisers who have been unable to previously attend convention due to financial constraints. As part of our focus on recruiting, retaining and supporting college advisers from various backgrounds, specific consideration will be given to advisers at community colleges, tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving Institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, and faith-based universities.” Applications close Jan. 27.
This week’s Professor’s Press Pass
Phoenix police detained a Wall Street Journal Reporter reporting outside a bank around Thanksgiving. We’ll give you tips for leading a robust classroom discussion around his detainment — with a video to boot! Professor’s Press Pass is a subscription service that provides journalism educators with up-to-the-minute ethics and business case studies.
