• New West wins big
• NBC Dateline producer, alum visits J-school
• Senior Seminar hears from the pros
• Students interview for AP internships
• BEA award winner visits J-School
• J-school prof to promote book in November
• Photo students attend Oregon workshop

New West wins big

photo by Luke George

Jonathan Weber discusses the launching cost of new magazines in his Starting Your Own Magazine class at the J-School in 2004.

After only eight months in existence, an online news site based in Missoula won two awards in October from the Online News Association.

New West won awards in two categories for small sites, including the organization’s top prize, for general excellence. The second award was in the enterprise journalism category, for writer Hal Herring’s series called “Sex, Money and Meth Addiction: Inside the World of the Dasen Girls.” 

Other award winners in the general excellence categories for large sites and medium sites were The New York Times and the Spokesman Review. 

New West’s founder and editor in chief Jonathan Weber and its managing editor Courtney Lowery both have ties to the School of Journalism. Weber is an adjunct professor and was the school’s first Pollner professor. Lowery is a 2003 graduate and former editor of the Kaimin. 

In his announcement on New West about the awards, Weber wrote: “we couldn’t be happier.  Thanks to all of you for your support.”

                                                                                           -Anne Pettinger

photo by Sarah Galbraith

NBC Dateline Producer and UM Journalism School alum Shane Bishop speaks to journalism students last month, answering questions and highlighting his move from journalism student to producer at Dateline.

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Senior Seminar hears from the pros

photo by Sarah Galbraith

Gwen Florio (left), Olivia Nisbet Bucks and Bill Elsen explain the "dos and don'ts" of applying for internships and getting jobs in journalism.

Aspiring journalists need to learn to step outside their comfort zones to establish themselves in the competitive and often cutthroat newspaper business, a visiting trio of newspaper professionals told a senior class of University of Montana students.

Gwen Florio of the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, Olivia Nisbet Bucks of the Oregonian, and Bill Elsen of the Washington Post spoke to more than 20 journalism students about their experiences in working for newspapers across the country.

Bucks, a J-School alum, stressed the importance of networking with as many professionals as possible in pursuing a career in journalism. Journalism is very much about taking advantage of every possible opportunity, she said.

Elsen worked at the Washington Post for more than 30 years in a variety of areas. He has been a reporter, the paper’s recruiter and the national desk assignment editor.

Since his retirement from the Post, Elsen serves as a part-time editor for several publications as well as a traveling consultant to universities and conventions for student journalists.

He reiterated the significance of presenting oneself as not just another interested applicant on a desk overflowing with resumes.

In attending recruitment meetings and keeping in touch with potential employers,applicants can make themselves stand out in the congested field of journalism, Elsen said.

- Jacob Livingston

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Students interview for AP internships

photo by Ryan Brennecke

Associated Press Bureau Chief Jim Clarke, in charge of news operations in Wyoming and Montana, interviewed University of Montana students last month for possible AP internships.

BEA award winner visits J-School

photo by Ryan Brennecke

Larry Patrick, former president of the Broadcast Education Association, threw a pizza party for RTV students and shared his insight about the broadcast field.

The winner of the 2005 Broadcast Education Association’s Distinguished Education Service Award visited Missoula and met with UM journalism students last month.

While in Missoula, Larry Patrick, who travels extensively to colleges across the country, went to the R-TV senior seminar class and attended a taping of a MontanaPBS newsbrief. Patrick also sponsored a pizza party for the students, which has become a signature event at his campus visits. In addition, he met with Dean Jerry Brown, School of Journalism faculty, Dean of Law Ed Eck, and Montana Broadcaster’s Association President Greg MacDonald.

Patrick’s career has been long and varied. He is president of Patrick Communications and owner of Legend Communications, which currently owns 16 radio stations in Wyoming, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia.

He has consulted with broadcasting and cable companies, has testified in more than a dozen court cases as an expert witness and has worked as a professor at both the University of Tulsa and the University of Maryland.

Patrick earned a B.A. in telecommunications from the University of Kentucky, a master's in communications from the University of Tennessee, a doctorate in communications and management from Ohio University, and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

-Anne Pettinger

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J-school prof to promote book in November

To promote his recently released book,  “Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West,” University of Montana journalism professor Clem Work will be featured at two book signings this month.

The book tells the story of people sent to prison under the Montana Sedition Law – people whose only crime was voicing their disagreement with the government.

“That’s all these people did,” Work said. “Not one of them came even remotely close to posing any kind of danger to the country.”

The first event will be a reading and book signing Nov. 5, at the UM Bookstore. From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Work will read from his book, which tells the stories of 41 people who went to prison under Montana’s Sedition Law from 1918 to 1920.

The second reading is scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 27 at Barnes and Noble. Unlike the other, it is a reading only, not a signing.

Since its release in August, Work’s book has sold half the first printing, said Glenda Madden, marketing director at the University of New Mexico Press, Work’s publisher.

“Being within the current political context, this was just the perfect book at the perfect time,” Madden said. “Clem has a lot to be proud of.”

Work has already had one reading and signing. He estimates that about 50 people showed up at Fact and Fiction Bookstore on Oct. 14.

“There were more people than chairs,” Work said. “I signed quite a few books, so I guess that’s good.”

-Kristi Albertson

Photo students attend Oregon workshop

Two University of Montana journalism students traveled to Eugene, Ore., to participate in a two-day photography seminar on the weekend of Oct. 1-2.

“It is a great place to network and meet other journalists,” said Scott Poniewaz, one of two UM photography students who attended the seminar. Katie Hartley, a second-year graduate student, also attended.

The Flying Short Course, supported by Nikon and Canon, is a coast-to-coast workshop put on by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

The course wrapped up its cross-country trek at the University of Oregon in Eugene after having first stopped at Boston University’s College of Communication in Boston, Mass., and then at the University of Texas College of Communication School of Journalism in Austin.

This is first year that the course has implemented two-day stops at each of the three cities. The national traveling faculty makes presentations to the audience the first day, and local and regional faculty hold presentations and workshops the second day.

The course offers the chance for prospective journalists to meet face-to-face with professionals in the newspaper business and receive direct feedback.

“They just tear you apart, essentially,” Poniewaz said.

This year’s national traveling faculty included 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Deanne Fitzmaurice of the San Francisco Chronicle and the 2005 NPPA Newspaper Photographer of the Year award winner, Jim Gehrz of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.” Just about all the top editors in the region are there,” said Poniewaz. “By attending one of the conferences, they pick up on the fact that you are genuinely interested.”

-Jacob Livingston

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