Fall 2010 - St. Cloud State University

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U n d e r g r a d u a t e P r o g r a m Study Abroad Mass Communications Pilot Program in England, Fall 2009 four-day trip to London, an opinion article about their visit to Acklington Prison (most chose to write about differences between British and American prison systems), a broadcast news release about Durham, and a newsletter about their travels over the two-week break. At the end they compiled these into a media kit about their semester abroad. Two days of promotional events were held for Lionheart Radio in Alnwick marketplace in November as part of the Public Relations Cases and Campaigns class. This gave the students hands-on experience with a “real-life” project as well as developing a written campaign plan they can use in their professional portfolio. Student Dan Doherty, trainer James Boyd and student Richard Krueger. By Lisa Heinrich The group visited the London offices of Weber Shandwick, the world’s largest public relations firm. The group went to Durham University, the fifth-ranked university in England, to hear about the university’s media relations and tour the offices. Sixteen students in mass communications studied abroad last fall in SCSU’s British Studies Program in Alnwick, England. They took three upper-level courses and a course in contemporary Britain as part of a pilot program created and led by Dr. Lisa Heinrich. While there, they studied British media as much as possible. Fifteen students worked in pairs to broadcast weekly two-hour programs for Lionheart Radio, a community station in Alnwick that is developing a sister-station relationship with SCSU’s KVSC Radio. The Public Relations Writing course incorporated group field trips into writing assignments. The students wrote a news release and fact sheet about their trip to the Lake District, a speech about Edinburgh, two advertisements for their tour of the nearby coastal castles, a brochure about their travels during the one-week break, a feature article about their Faculty Arts Two mass communications faculty are artists as well as teachers and scholars. Marie Dick, who teaches research and theory, has displayed paintings and Mark Eden, who teaches graphic design and advertising, has been creating and presenting sound pieces. Eden’s recent “Ma Minute” is a 47-second composition compiled from material on nine separate tracks on Yo Yo Ma’s Solo album. The piece has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. It has also been presented internationally in Istanbul, Turkey. His “Scraps from a Solo Trumpet,” synthesized from an extended session with jazz trumpeter Jon Pemberton, offers a sonic slapstick and oblique tip of the hat to Carl Stalling and Harpo Marx. This piece was performed in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year and was performed as a dance collaboration with Amity Perry in New York City. It has been performed from San Francisco to Oxford, England, and 13 states in between. Dick, who studies media images of women and medicine, has collaborated with visual artist Keith Fox to create a series of 21 acrylic paintings called “GynTalk: Visual Fiction” that combine design and text with subtle three-dimensional elements like sand and Kleenex. “Art therapy is growing in acceptance as an important tool in healing,” Dick said, citing studies of art in healing and empowerment among people with breast cancer. For three years, she has worked with a team on a nationwide study of crisis communicatioin. Their most recent publication, “We tell people. It’s up to them to be prepared: Public relations practices of local emergency managers,” appeared in the Handbook of Crisis Communication. C Marie Dick and Keith Fox, GynTalk, Visual Fiction No. 7 •M A S S omments • • • • 10 The group heard from a reporter/editor for the county’s Northumberland Gazette newspaper about working for regional community publications in the twenty-first century. Perhaps the most interesting part of the talk was Robert Brooks’ demonstration of shorthand, which reporters in Britain are required to learn to record quotations accurately. The group visited BBC offices in Newcastle on Dec. 1, then the following day heard a speaker who had worked for BBC for 40 years. This was an excellent chance for the students to broaden their knowledge of international media and experience the differences and similarities firsthand while making significant progress toward their degrees. The involvement in Alnwick activities was a bonus for the community as well as the students and expanded the university’s ties in England. Visual and Audio Art
G r a d u a t e P r o g r a m International Students Global Perspecives on Media By Scott Ed Holte St. Cloud State’s graduate program in mass communications includes students from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Vietnam. These students bring a rich diversity of experience and knowledge to their classes to share with one another and with American students in seminars like diversity issues in mass media and international mass communications. Aneil Kotval, who grew up in Bombay, India, came to the United States in 2001. Last fall Kotval researched the images of India in the United States edition of Time Magazine. “The photographers were shooting those images in a way so as to reinforce the stereotypes of what India is and what people think of India,” Kotval said. “A lot of the shots were of poverty; a lot of them were about people’s struggle or corruption.” Time Magazine did not make any effort to portray the economic development that has occurred in India within the last decade, Kotval explained. “When you have lived in the U.S. for so long, but you know what the truth is in your home country, you do after a point start seeing certain patterns in the way your country is depicted.” The international students in the graduate program are all too familiar with the disparity between reality and the images present in U.S. media. Wara Karim’s research in diversity issues in mass media focused on the way that Islam is presented in the media. Her empirical research showed that American media were much more likely than media in other countries to associate Islam with terrorism. In reality, Karim says, the Qur’an teaches non-violence. Karim believes that these portrayals of Islam are due to American stereotypes of Muslims, as well as a misunderstanding of the Islamic concept of Jihad. Yohana Nevilya, a student from Indonesia, took diversity issues in mass media, and her research focused on press coverage of AIDS in Indonesia. “They don’t talk about it,” Nevilya said. “They don’t talk about condoms or preventing AIDS.” In the few instances when the Indonesian press did mention AIDS, they did not indicate that transmission can occur through sexual activity. Jacob Dankasa, of Nigeria, researched press freedom in Africa when he took seminar in international mass communications. “In some places in Africa you have good press freedom,” said Dankasa. However, this freedom is limited in other parts of Africa. Dankasa found that in some countries the freedom that was taken away during colonization was never returned. Cam Le, a student from Vietnam, reflected on the International Mass Communications seminar. “It was very useful not only to know what other classmates think about communicational issues in my region but also learn about issues all around the world,” she said. Two students from China are in the graduate program: Shuai Zhang and Chen Wang. Both Zhang and Wang expressed an appreciation for Wara Karim Country of Origin: Bangladesh Research Interests: Depiction of Islam and association of Islam with terrorism in the mainstream media. Student Spotlight Academic Conference: My paper, “Association of Islam with Terrorism: A Content Analysis of the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks in the United States, Hong Kong and Japanese Newspapers,” was accepted for presentation at the ACA/PCA Annual Conference 2010. Thesis Topic: News Sources in the Coverage of the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks: A Comparative study of Indian, Chinese and American Newspapers. Graduation Date: May 8, 2010 Future Plans: I would like to gain some professional experience in the field of mass communications after graduation. I believe that professional experience is always very useful. But in the long run, I aspire to pursue a Ph.D. in Mass Communications. I would also like to contribute to the improvement of journalistic practices in my home country. the opportunities available in the seminar on international mass communications to both share about Chinese media and learn about media in other countries. Zhang said the seminar in international mass communications opened her eyes to the diversity of the world. She believes the seminar format of American education is one of its greatest strengths. Naomi Maina, of Kenya, has similar feelings about the seminars on international mass communications and diversity issues in mass media. “Personally I find myself having more to say,” said Maina. “I have something to bring to the table.” Maina researched the way in which the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya was portrayed in American media. All of the students who graduate from this program leave with a global perspective of the issues in mass media. This is one of the greatest strengths of the graduate program. C •M A S S omments 11 • • • •
Page 1 and 2: St. Cloud State University Departme
Page 3 and 4: F e a u r e Sports By Scott Ed Holt
Page 5 and 6: a First Amendment Forum War Stories
Page 7 and 8: A w a r d s Broadcasting UTVS Award
Page 9: S t u d e n t M e d i a Media Conve

Fall 2010 - St. Cloud State University

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