• Distinguished alum comes home
• Schweitzer is hot stuff in classroom, too
• Journalism students form NAJA chapter
• Second annual pre-j party feeds freshmen
• Grad students test mettle on 3-hour trail ride
• Pollner Lecture to explore war blogs
• Students recognized for legislative coverage

Distinguished alum comes home

photo by Sarah Galbraith

Author Jim Grady,'72, meets in the journalism library with Emeritus Professor Bob McGiffert, left, and classmate Tom Cordingley, also '72, who runs the Grand Street Theater in Helena.

Jim Grady, who graduated from the University of Montana Journalism School in 1972, returned for Homecoming 2005, where he was one of three Distinguished Alumni honored by the university. A Shelby native, Grady is the 41st journalism graduate to be honored as a Distinguished Alum since 1960.

Grady wrote "Six Days of the Condor," the basis of the later movie "Three Days of the Condor." At UM, he gave a lecture that opened the university's new $100 million capital campaign. Later, he spoke about his career with J-School faculty and alum at a Friday afternoon reception in the journalism library.

Schweitzer is hot stuff in classroom, too

photo by Ryan Brennecke

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the nation's "hot governor" in 2005, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, spoke to Sally Mauk's Beginning Reporting for Broadcast class on Oct. 3. The governor offered students tips on asking precise questions when they conduct interviews; he also spoke about extracting liquid fuel from coal, a controversial source of energy that has the potential to change Montana.

-Ryan Brennecke

Top

Journalism students form NAJA chapter

photo by Ryan Brennecke

Luella Brien, a senior in print journalism, speaks to the Multicultural class to stir up interest in the Native American Journalists Association student chapter at UM.

Last month the University of Montana became one of a handful of schools in the nation to form a student chapter of the Native American Journalists Association.

All it took was a little healthy competition to get it started.

“Denny’s all, ‘Hey, we should beat OU,’” said senior print major Luella Brien, recalling journalism professor Denny McAuliffe’s enthusiasm for developing a student NAJA chapter before the University of Oklahoma.

NAJA works to increase the number of American Indian journalists and to improve communication between American Indians and the public through the media.

Although South Dakota State University in Brookings does have a student NAJA chapter, it is not chartered. If UM achieves McAuliffe’s goal of beating OU, it will be the first school in the nation with a chartered student NAJA chapter.

The group at UM is concerned with diversity of all types in the newsroom – not just American Indian, Brien said. “We want to instill in students in this university a sense of the importance of diversity in the news,” she said.

To achieve that, the club will monitor media outlets in Montana to see how thoroughly they cover minority issues. Club members will write letters to those journalists who are presenting a diverse spectrum to the public, as well as to those who need a little more work, Brien said. “We kind of want to serve as a watchdog,” she said.

The UM NAJA student chapter is open to all students, native and non-native, journalism majors and non-journalism majors alike. Meetings are biweekly.

-Kristi Albertson

Top

Journalism Advisory Council meets

photo by Sarah Galbraith

Members of the School of Journalism's Advisory Council in front of the construction site for the new journalism building, Sept. 30, 2005.The group met with Dean Jerry Brown the day before Homecoming.

Second annual pre-j party feeds freshmen

Dean Jerry Brown cooks hot dogs and burgers for the J-School's 2005 freshman party Sept. 22. Many new university students and prospective students attended the party in Missoula's Kiwanis Park, enjoying food and chatting with professors. photo by Sarah Galbraith

Top

Grad students test mettle on 3-hour trail ride

photo by Clem Work

Journalism grad students get acquainted on the Hiawatha Trail.

Nine J-School graduate students and faculty members, along with friends and family, embarked on a three-hour mountain biking trip through the scenic Bitterroot Mountains last month.

The group traveled to the Hiawatha Trail, which sits on the Montana-Idaho border, for some fun and for the incoming journalism graduate students to get to know one another, said professor Clem Work, the group’s leader and director of the journalism graduate program.

“It’s a spectacular route that goes across some high trestles and through some incredible tunnels,” he said. “Its most famous feature is a 1.6-mile long tunnel at the beginning that’s just pitch black.”

What was once a rich mining and railroad passage has been transformed into a major local and tourist destination by the Taft Tunnel Preservation Society, a grassroots Wallace non-profit organization, and the U.S. Forest Service.

The trail can be tackled in two ways: either a 30-mile round trip with 2,000 feet of elevation change, or as a 17-mile trek that ends with an elevation loss of 1,000 feet. The scenic path takes bicyclists through nine tunnels, over seven trestles and past waterfalls.

“I had mixed opinions between excitement and terror,” said Paul Brohaugh, a first-year graduate student. “I think my wife was more on the side of terror.”

- Jacob Livingston

Top

Pollner Lecture to explore war blogs

photo by Sarah Galbraith

Christine Boese

Christine Boese, the T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor in residence at the J –School this fall, will present a public lecture Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in the University Center Theater.

Boese, a writer for CNN Headline News and a pioneer in the Web log movement, plans to speak about her dual role during the Iraqi war writing updates on the Headline News double-tiered ticker and privately keeping blogs for journalists in Kyrgyzstan. The working title for the lecture is, “ ‘Big’ Media and ‘Little’  Bloggers: How Corporate Media Responded to Warblogging Journalists.”

“I started the war blogs because I wanted an independent source,” said Boese. “They were for kind of selfish reasons, because I wanted eyes on the ground to tell me what’s really going on.”

Boese acted as publicist, designer, host and liaison for Time magazine reporter Joshua Kucera’s Iraq War web log, “The Other Side,” and for Carolina Podesta’s blog “Ojo,” the only Spanish war blog reporting from Iraq.

“My idea of blogging is not an armchair quarterback,” said Boese. “My idea of blogging is a journalist who is there and active in what’s going on.”

Boese is spending the fall semester at the J-school, teaching a class on blogging and advising the Kaimin, the student newspaper.

“It was hard to unplug initially from the 24-hour news cycle, but now I’m functioning OK,” said Boese.  “I’m loving it here and meeting some wonderful folks and energetic students and faculty.” Boese’s lecture is open to the public at no charge.

- Keriann Lynch

Students recognized for legislative coverage

Two University of Montana broadcast students have won the annual E. B. Craney Award for their work in covering the Montana legislature. “The quality of their work was just outstanding,” said Denise Dowling, assistant professor in the Radio-Television Department. “We thought the work they were doing in the state was really unique.”

Beth Saboe and Tim Reilly spent spring 2005 in Helena covering the legislative sessions. The students produced daily radio reports as part of the Legislative News Project. The reports aired on more than 50 radio stations across the state.

Dowling and RTV professor Ray Ekness submitted several of the students’ broadcasts for the competition, which is sponsored by the Montana Broadcasters Association. The students’ segments won the award for non-commercial radio program of the year. Saboe and Reilly received the award at a banquet at Big Sky Resort in June.

“It was the closest thing to the Emmys I have ever seen,” Saboe said.

-Jacob Livingston

Top

return to J-School main page