Too Little, Too Late
by Bill Reader, Associate Professor
A recently reported scandal in the blue-collar L.A. suburb of Bell, California, shows how a lack of community journalism can result in obscene levels of corruption in local governments. The L.A. Times broke the story more than a decade after the city of Bell lost its strong community paper; the city government had only received token coverage for some time.
Media watcher Richard Brenneman summed up the story this way: “Not only did the [salaries] raise enough community ire to force the resignations of City Manager Robert Rizzo [salary $787,637], Police Chief Randy Adams [$457,000], and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia [$376,288], but the city councilmembers also voted to cut back their own salaries, which averaged bearly $100,000 — insane for a city of fewer than 40,000 residents.”
posted in: cj
July 29, 2010 | comments (0)
Small Papers, Big Courage
by Bill Reader, Associate Professor
In late June, I attended the annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, which this year was held in and around Richmond, Ky., and Eastern Kentucky University. ISWNE is a small but active group of mostly independent weekly newspaper editors from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and some other nations.
Part of the conference is an awards banquet, and this year’s Eugene Cervi Award for outstanding service went to the Gish family of Whitesburg, Ky., and their weekly newspaper, The Mountain Eagle.
posted in: cj
July 24, 2010 | comments (0)
Not Insignificant
by Bill Reader, Associate Professor
Several years ago, when the venerable Wall Street Journal was up for sale by Dow Jones and being aggressively pursued by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., we witnessed on a grand scale how the “community journalism” issue too often flies under the radar.
In nearly all of he media coverage of the run-up to Murdoch’s eventual purchase of the WSJ and its subsidiaries, the emphasis from media watchers, media scholars, and industry leaders was “what will happen to the Wall Street Journal”? Of almost no interest was “What will happen to the Ottaway Newspapers,” about two dozen community newspapers that were owned by Dow Jones and also up for sale. One of the few articles about the Ottaway papers, in the Boston Globe, quoted Murdoch as dismissing them as “those silly little Ottaway papers.”
posted in: cj
July 24, 2010 | comments (0)
Email update from Chelsea Toy (BSJ ’10)
by Robert Stewart, Director; Professor
I just received the following “report” from our top graduating senior, Chelsea Toy. She gave me permission to share it with you.
Life is great at Horse & Rider, and I’ve just finished my first big feature for our September issue.posted in: alumni
July 8, 2010 | comments (0)
How Long, O (Land)Lord?
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
A grad-student-to-be phoned this week to ask how long a lease she should sign.
She begins master’s classes in fall 2010, and the question is a pressing one. Rental properties go quickly in Athens.
posted in: grad students masters degree rental lease Athens
July 7, 2010 | comments (0)
Vote for Ryan Lytle!
by Robert Stewart, Director; Professor
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