Fall 2007 - SCOOP Magazine

ScoopSchool of Journalism and Electronic MediaThe University of TennesseeCelebrating60 YearsofJournalism EducationwithFall 2007

Editors’ LetterMilestones are always an exciting point, and this holdstrue as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Schoolof Journalism and Electronic Media at the University ofTennessee. Therefore, we welcome you to the fifth editionof Scoop magazine.Our society is faster with the advance of the Internetand as journalists, we need to respond by providing quicknews. Most major newspapers and networks have Websites that are constantly updated. With the public’s desirefor convenience, online networks have been popping upto help people keep in touch.Only five years ago — even though the Internet wasalready thriving —we wouldn’t have been able toimagine an online network like the one in “Creating aCommunity.” This story talks about a family faced withtragedy that was able to keep in touch with friends andfamily through a Web site.In addition to the Internet, the way we report and our technology has changed as well. In “Then and Now,” we see howtechnology has changed to help the way we bring news to the public.And with all this change in the media, our school has inceased as well. We are no longer the School of Journalsim, butthe School of Journalism and Electronic Media. As students in this generation, we have a vast amount of information at ourfingertips and we need to constantly absorb more information to compete with the media market.In “Retrospect,” Jake Wright reminds us just how far the School of Journalism has come since he was in one of the firstjournalism classes in 1946. His class was composed of only 12 journalism students. A number far less than the 425 studentscurrently enrolled in journalism and electronic media.Mollie Robinson and Sarah Euler are seniors injournalism and electronic media. After graduation,they both hope to work toward a future in themagazine industry.We hope you enjoy this issue of Scoop and will join the school in celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Scoop36 features4042465155*Technology**Increased audience participation creates a newdimension in journalism*Grass RootsLocal media fills social niches*Evolution of JEM*At 21, this single mother balances home life andcampus lifeStudents Through the YearsFormer University of Tennessee students reminisceon their experiences over the last 60 years44Creating a Community*A family facing tragedy finds comfort in an onlinenetwork*48fall 2007

16Scoopdepartments2Editor’s Letter62881012FarewellLeaving a lasting legacy: Lyn LepreWho We AreFor the Love of Teaching: Ed SprayWho We AreDane in the U.S.: Christel Damsbo-Madsen1081416From the WireTwo tracks of mindFrom the WireShoot to the moon521822Trade TipsMaking it in the cityResearch in the RoundBridging the gap: Catherine Luther12261824262832Then and NowBuilding blocksTennessee TraditionsNeyland StadiumPress PassportCrossing the seas of social awarenessA Thousand WordsConvergence14265961Pieces of Our ParkLighting the wayRetrospectLooking back: Jake Wright63Circle Viewfall 20072028

One in sixAmerican childrenlives in poverty.Together,we canchange that.

ScoopMagazine of the School of Journalism and Electronic MediaThe University of TennesseeEditors in ChiefManaging EditorEditorial Design DirectorsFeatures EditorsSarah EulerMollie RobinsonJulie ProffittKimberly HoodKate ParkerMaria SmurzynskaCatherine WootenEditorial StaffWritersKelly CavinessElizabeth CourtneyJennifer HayesPrincess PageLindy RiderAnne-Claire SiegertCopy ChiefCopy EditorResearch ChiefResearch EditorLaura Jane WalkerAnne WhitworthEmily MaddoxCourtney HackworthPhotographyPhotography EditorPhotography AssistantSamantha ThorntonNick MillerBusiness ManagerAdvertising DirectorsSales & MarketingMelina TaylorKristina D’AmbrosioRaquel GonzalezFaculty AdviserLyn LepreFor more information about Scoop,contact Lyn Lepre at:333 Communications BuildingKnoxville, TN 37996-0333Phone: (865) 974-4452E-mail: scoop@utk.eduThe University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution inthe provision of its education and employment programs and services. RO1-2910-098-001-07cover photo illustration by Samantha Thorton

Celebrating60yearsPlease join UT journalism alumni to support the Anniversary Fund in honor of theschool’s 60th anniversary. Regardless of the amount, your gift combined with that of otheralumni, can make a difference in our ability to enhance students’ educational experiences.A gift of $60 will support additions such as classroom softwareA gift of $600 will support ongoing needs such as equipment needsA gift of $6,000 will support graduate students in areas such as researchA gift of $60,000 will support endowments such as scholarshipsWith a donation of $60, you will recieve a 60th anniversary JEM T-shirtWith a donation of $160, you will recieve a 60th anniversary JEM totebagWith larger donations, you will recieve a surprise giftYES! I want to support the Journalism Anniversary Fund commemorating the 60th Anniversary!Enclosed is my check for: __$60 __$160 __$600 __$6,000 __Other $_____(Please make checks payable to the College of Communications & Information — JEM)Please Charge my:__ MasterCard __VISA __Discover #_____________________________________ exp__________Name: ________________________________________________________Address: ______________________________________________________Phone: ____________________ E-mail:_____________________________You may also honor an individual or event with your gift. My gift is made in honor of/to recognize:_____________________________________________________________Please mail completed form to: JEM Anniversary FundSchool of Journalism and Electronic Media1345 Circle Park302 Communications Bldg.Knoxville, TN 37996For more info, contact: School of Journalism & Electronic Media, 865-974-5155

Leaving a lasting legacyStory byJulie ProffittLepre assists the Scoop staff in the final days of class.fall 2007Dr. Lyn Lepre has touched many livesthroughout her teaching career. Althoughshe is closing her chapter here at theUniversity of Tennessee and opening anew one at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., shehas made a big impression at UT, and her legacy willlive on in the School of Journalism and ElectronicMedia. At Marist, she will continue to teach andshare her love of magazine with students.Lepre’s passion for magazines and her impeccabletalent as a teacher has made her loved by studentsand faculty members alike. “She is a really goodteacher. She puts all she has into it, and it’s reallyimportant for her that her students get a really goodexperience in the classroom,” said Naeemah Clark,fellow colleague and friend.Lepre realized her love for magazines whileattending Miami University of Ohio. Althoughphotos by Samantha Thorntonshe graduated with a degree in English,journalism was not far from her mind. Leprewent on to get a Master of Science degree injournalism from Ohio State University.In 1991, after working at Modern Bride forabout a year, Martha Stewart Living was next inline. An avid fan of the magazine, Lepre beganworking as an aditorial assistant for Susan Wyland,the editor in chief at the time. Wyland became ahuge inspiration to Lepre throughout her magazinecareer.While Lepre was working at Martha Stewart, sherealized teaching was where her heart belonged.“I realized that I could teach, about a subject thatI clearly love — it was the best of both worlds,”Lepre said. It was then Lepre found herself atthe University of Florida, where she received herdoctoral degree. While in attendance, she metsoon-to-be co-worker Naeemah Clark.

The two became friends andremained in contact after graduationas Lepre went on to teach at CaliforniaState University in Chico, and Clarkwent on to teach at the University ofTennessee.When the School of Journalism andElectronic Media began searching fora new magazine-track professor, Clarkpassed the information along to Lepre.“I had just had my twins and we wereliving in Chico, which was fine, butit was far away from our family backeast,” Lepre said. “The position was agreat opportunity at a university in agreat location.”After starting the job at UT, Lepreknew she had found the right placeto cultivate her love of teaching. “Itis a talented faculty, and they gave mewere doing,” Lepre said. Scoop gavestudents hands-on experience inthe magazine world without thepressures of a demanding job. “Ithink having that real practicalexperience, but in a classroom settingwhere it’s safe, is important,” Lepresaid. “You’re out there selling theads, and you’re creating the content,getting it off to the printer andsticking the labels on to mail themout.”When asked if she saw herself asa role model, she laughed. “I hopeat the end of the day I help studentsfind their talent, and if that meansbeing a mentor or a role model, thenI hope so.“I like to watch that spark insomebody’s eyes when they figure outthat magazine journalism is just whatthey want to do, and that maybe theynever had the chance before to reallyapply what they learned somewhereelse,” Lepre said. “I love to teach. Ilove being in this building workingwith students, teaching about asubject I am so passionate about.”The staff at Scoop would like tothank Lepre for everything shehas brought to the school. Herpassion for teaching and her lovefor the students is what makes herso special. Not only did she buildScoop, but she has given students thechance to break barriers and do tasksthey did not think possible. Leprehas given a whole new meaning tothe word teacher. She is a mentorand a friend.“Lepre is not only a great teacher and a great adviser, she is alsoa great mentor. I value her opinion and advice very much, and Iam very thankful that I had her as a professor.”-Chase Kehoe, former Scoop editor in chiefan opportunity to come in and do themagazine track and also be able toteach and start up a student publication— a student magazine.”Lepre, with the help of a groupof students, created Scoop. “I knewI wanted to start a magazine. I did alot of research in the different kindsof student publications that were outthere,” Lepre said.At the time, JEM did not havea magazine being distributed on aregular basis.What started out as abasic magazine class turned into afull-scale magazine workshop forthe students, and a milestone for theschool.Lepre was determined to get Scoopoff the ground and keep it going. At theend of the semester, the group of Scoopstudents presented their project to thefaculty — and the rest is history.“I thought this was somethingthat would both promote the schooland promote what the studentsLepre finds time to balance work and play with her twin daughters Ainsley (left) and Sarah.fall 2007

Who We AreFor the love of teachingEd Spray passes on his experience to the next generationstory byKristina D’AmbrosioPhoto by Lindy RiderAs a young boy, Ed Spraybuilt control rooms in thebasement of his house withexpectations of becoming apilot or astronaut. He would take a cardboardbox, put a piece of white paper infront of it and draw multiple televisionscreens. Then he would fly somewhere inhis imagination. Years later, his imaginedadventures came true when he became alive television director. “One day I am sittingin the control room, and I look up —oh my gosh, I’m doing what I was imagining— I mean, I am not traveling throughspace, but the same thing was happening,”Spray said.Spray was born in Seymour, Ind., asmall town of approximately 18,000 residents.The only one in his family to attenda university, Spray received his bachelor’sdegree in radio and television fromIndiana University in Bloomington andlater returned to obtain his master’s.His first “real” job was at an NBCaffiliatetelevision station in Chicago. Theoffer came from the program managerat WMAQ-TV, who happened to be inIndiana for the IU homecoming footballgame. A professor introduced Spray to theprogram manager, Harry Trigg, as one ofhis best students. Spray was offered a summerjob and, ultimately, a full-time position.Originally, he and his wife, Donna,had planned to travel across Europe upongraduation, but the offer was too good topass up. He decided to leave Indiana andventure out to the Windy City. “Here thisjob comes up in Chicago, it’s like, ‘Oh no! Ihave got to take it,’ and I did. And the restis history, as they say,” Spray said.Spray started as an associate directorand then became a television director. Hewas later hired by WBBM-TV, the CBSownedstation in Chicago, where he becameprogram manager. After eight years,Spray was transferred to Los Angeles tobecome the head of programming forKCBS-TV. He was later promoted to vicepresident of development, where he creatednew programs for CBS to air.CBS went through a period of cutbacks,and Spray was one of approximately 100employees let go. “I learned that everybodysome way or another will lose their job —that’s life. By losing my job, I learned whatis truly important and what is not. Youlose sight of those things until you hit thebottom,” Spray said. “I was just breezingalong going up, up, up and then, crash —what happened? All the people that usedto call me didn’t because I could no longercontribute to them.”Eager to move on in his career, Spraydecided to leave Los Angeles and followthrough with a profession in teaching.“L.A. is and always will be a young person’stown. I was 50 years old and withouta job in Los Angeles — it’s a tough thing,”Spray said. He decided to take on a newchallenge and jumped at an offer to bean instructor at Syracuse University. “Wewent there for two years, and in a perfectexample of how — I say this to the classesall the time — the most important thingsare the contacts you make along the waybecause you don’t get your breaks out ofnewspapers or looking at Web sites, youget them through the people who have theinside track.”A former co-worker from Los Angelescalled him after his second year at Syracuseand said he wanted Spray to come downto Knoxville to help start a cable networkand wanted him to be the programmingmanager. “So I came down and I thoughtthey were all crazy. You know, talkingabout home and garden television —who’s going to watch home and gardenfall 2007

Who We AreEd Spray, former Scripps Networks President, at the HGTV studios.television?” Spray asked. “But, I decided itwas a chance — I was 52 or 53 at the time— for me to do something else again andsomething different, unique, (something)I hadn’t done before. Plus, it was cold ashell in Syracuse, and it snowed a lot.”After relocating to Knoxville, Spray andhis two-person staff developed the initiallyslated programming for the first few yearsof Home and Garden Television. “Mainlywe developed the programs ourselves andhad to find producers to produce thembecause this particular genre of programming— home and garden — nobody hadreally done yet,” Spray said. “Nobody hadreally done decorating shows, do-it-yourselfshows or landscaping shows, so therewere no programs to buy. We would havebought them if we could.”The audience response to the new networkwas immense. “We never thought wewould get more than 25 million subscribers.Well, we have over 80 million now,and we almost have 100 percent clearancewithin the United States,” Spray said.“We just happened to get lucky. Peoplewanted that kind of information, and theycouldn’t get it anywhere else.”Knowing he was not quite ready to retire,Spray was prepared for yet anotherchallenge. “When I was transitioning, Ididn’t want to just stop cold turkey andjust go sit and read books or fish, so I knewI had to do something because I am kindof a type-A person,” Spray said. “Abouta year before I retired, the university approachedme and said, ‘We have this chairhere that we would like to have you consider,’and I kind of said, ‘Well, OK maybeI will do that,’ and I did, and this is mythird semester now.”Even though his office at ScrippsNetwork was bigger than most classroomsin the Communications and UniversityExtension Building, equipped with a fireplace,hardwood floors, a bank of televisionslining one wall, and windows onthree sides looking out onto a lake — aroom fit for the stars — he accepted thesacrifices he would have to make to followhis passion of teaching. “You have to haveyour mind in the right place,” he said.Photo provided by Ed SprayLife is a compromise ...sooner or later we all haveto do it ... just hold out aslong as possible and thencompromise at the highestpoint you can.Ed Spray, on his lifemantrafall 2007

Who We AreDane in the U.S.International journalism student Christel Damsbo-Madsen adjusts to life in theUnited States and explains her future career goals in Denmark.Story byChristel Damsbo-Madsen sits at her desk inher Apartment Residence Hall room wearingher University of Tennessee sweatshirtand black slippers. Her long blondhair and blue eyes show a warm personality that isopen to new experiences. Madsen is an internationalstudent from Hørsholm, Denmark, studying journalismat UT for the fall 2007 semester.Madsen studied at the Danish School of Journalismin Aarhus, Denmark, where she published articles forthe school newspaper. She also completed two internshipsand worked for a local paper over the summer.fall 2007photos provided by Christel Damsbo-MadsenCourtney Hackworth“I have wanted to study in the United States. It isdifficult to put a finger on why. I don’t know whetherit is the culture or the people, but things here are differentfrom European countries,” Madsen said.The adjustment to the U.S. school system is somethingto which Madsen is adjusting. “The DanishSchool of Journalism is not a university,” Madsen said.“UT is bigger, so much bigger!”Professor Mark Littmann has been teaching Madsensince her arrival at UT and was impressed with herquick transition. “How is it possible that a studentfresh off the plane from Denmark can step into a

senior/graduate-level writing-intensive class like‘Science Writing as Literature’ and perform brilliantly,both in class discussions and in her writing,when she is analyzing works about science, writtenartistically in a non-native language?”Another difference Madsen is dealing with is theclass schedule. In Denmark, students focus on onesubject for three weeks, do a final project and takeanother course thenext month. Here,during a semster,students take alltheir courses at thesame time.Despite the differences,she is using theopportunity to herfull advantage by takingtwo journalismcourses: “Magazineand Feature Writing”and “Science Writingas Literature.” In hercourses, she is improvingher Englishwriting skills andlearning differentways to compose featurestories.“I didn’t write inEnglish that muchin Denmark. It isnot difficult for me,but my vocabulary isso much smaller inEnglish. In Danish Ihave all these wordsto choose from, butin English I have tothink about things,”Madsen said.Damsbo-Madsen in front of The HillIn “Magazine and Feature Writing,” she is learningtechniques that she hopes to apply after shegraduates. “I would like to be a magazine journalistand also do documentaries,” Madsen said. “I haveno preference in the type of magazines, just somethingthat is interesting and challenging. I reallydon’t want to write for a newspaper. It is too fastpaced.”One journalistic variation between the U.S. andDenmark that confused Madsen is the way namesare referenced in print media. “I was really surprised,”Madsen said. “In Denmark we don’t reallyhave any rules relating to first and last names in anarticle. Something like that would never be done inDanish.”With the inf lux of new faces and experiences,Who We AreMadsen makes a considerable effort to keep in contactwith her friends back home. She writes a blog attravellog.dk chronicling her experiences in the UnitedStates.“I am so far away, and I want to update my friendsand family on what is going on. I figured that wouldbe easier than sending everyone e-mails. With myblog, people can just go and read it. I don’t updateit everyday, just everynow and then,” Madsensaid.“If I didn’t studyabroad, I would befinished in January.Now I have to start mythesis later,” Madsensaid. When she returnsto Denmark next semester,she will beginworking on her thesisin February and thensubmit it in April.Following the completionof her thesis, shewill graduate fromthe Danish School ofJournalism.“I am excited aboutgraduation — it seemedlike it was so far away.It is strange to finish,I’m excited, but I likeschool and studyingtoo,” Madsen said.“My experience hereis different, becauseI was able to be in adifferent city, countryand speak another language.I think in journalism it is more interesting todo it abroad than classes at home,” she said.In comparing the two programs, Madsen feels thatalthough she is not necessarily learning more at UTthan she would be in Denmark, the experience herehas helped her gain a wider perspective.“I am adapting to a new environment and differentpeople. I am learning to write magazine feature articlesin English. The aspect of being in another countrymakes it more interesting in itself,” Madsen said.Study-abroad programs not only positively inf luencestudents, they also make a vital impact on professors.“Christel was a joy to have in class,” PaulAshdown, Madsen’s professor for her feature-writingclass, said. “I’ve had dozens and dozens of internationalstudents in my classes over the years, andthey’ve all enriched my own teaching experience.”fall 2007

From the WireTwo Tracks of MindDJ Chris Grass explains his life as an Atlanta DJ and Editor for Turner StudiosStory bySamantha Thorntonphotos by Samantha ThorntonBalance is the key to success for Atlanta-based disc jockeyChris Grass. Grass graduated from the University ofTennessee in 1997, and has since excelled as a celebrateddisc jockey and an assistant editor for Time Warner/Turner Studios. The two demanding careers seem to clash, but Grassfinds common ground between them: “An editor’s job is to tell astory using images and sounds. A DJ is able to take the listener on ajourney through music, telling a story with sound.”Grass began his music career in the cavernous basement of AndyHolt Tower at UT’s college radio station, WUTK-FM. It was thereGrass deejayed a psychedelic rock show that helped him develop agreater taste for music. “During my time at WUTK, I was exposedto an insane amount of incredible music. I just felt that more peopleshould experience it, and I wanted to be the one to let them knowabout it,” he said.Grass’ journalism career with Time Warner/Turner Studios alsokeeps him on his toes. Focusing mainly in the post-production process,Grass is proficient with programs such as AVID, Final Cut andPhotoshop. However, his knowledge of these tools only makes himwant to learn more. Grass said he wants to expand his knowledge ofnewer programs developing in video editing.fall 2007THE MUSIC“I was well into music before I ever spun a record or CD as a DJin college or the clubs,” Grass said. “My friends tell me that I wasalways wanting to be the music person at parties, so I guess it startedthere!”Grass played the trombone in middle school through his freshmanyear of college and was largely influenced by what he listenedto as a child. “I grew up listening to big band jazz fusion … so youcould definitely say that jazz has influenced my tastes,” Grass said inan interview with Mudovibes, a Web site for music news and artistprofiles.He also credited rock bands Failure, Hum, My Bloody Valentine,Jawbox and The Clouds with contributing to his array of musicalpreferences. However, his first introduction to the ambient, bassfilledsounds of electronic music can be attributed to Front 242 andThe Orb, two DJs recognized for popularizing the music genre inBritain and the United States in the 1990s.After working late nights in the WUTK studios, Grass decided totake his story-making music public. Grass started his DJ gigs in theKnoxville music scene during the mid-1990s swing dance revival.He deejayed at the Hollywood Ballroom, once located in the same

uilding as the Underground, and also at Lord Lindsay, where heplayed a designated swing night.Mundovibes described Grass’ style as “… a melting pot of musicalgenres, flowing from cosmic downtempo funk and atmosphericdeep house to fiery Afro-Cuban grooves and the soulful fusion ofWest London broken beat, with a dash of dub and a sprinkling ofdrum ‘n’ bass thrown in for added flavor!”From the WireWHERE MUSIC AND EDITING OVERLAP“When I was a kid the walls of his bedroom were lined with CDracks completely overflowing — and if anything, it’s gotten worse,”recalled Grass’ brother, Thomas Grass, in reference to Chris Grass’abundant music collection. “I don’t know how he knows what hehas.” Today, Chris Grass’ midtown Atlanta apartment allows forlittle walking space in competition with his music collection of vinylrecords and CDs.His music-mixing efforts are just as convergent as the post-productionediting he does at work, combining turntables, a CD deck,a mixer and various mix boxes to make music. “Basically, I deejayusing vinyl and CD. I haven’t switched over to Serato/FinalScratch,simply because I spend most of my days around computers at Turner,and the last thing I want to do is deejay with my head buried in acomputer screen,” Grass said.New technology may benefit the working DJ, but Grass is comfortablewith traditional methods and said it helps him better connectwith his audience and his music. “The only thing computer andMP3 deejaying really seems to offer me, anyway, is the convenienceof having your entire music collection in one place. Lugging all thatvinyl around can get old pretty quickly, but I’ll always love my wax.”THE BIG CITYWhen Grass moved to Atlanta in 2001 he wasn’t sure what toexpect. Post-graduation in Knoxville, he worked as a production assistantfor WVLT-TV for a number of years, but left the comfortableposition to venture to a bigger city for professional and personal reasons.“Originally, Turner was not my primary reason for moving (toAtlanta), but it was my main reason for staying,” Grass said.So where does Grass find time to balance a 9-to-5 workweek withlate night DJ gigs in metro Atlanta? “Good question,” he said, “Idon’t have a lot of free time.” Typically, Grass works at Time Warner/Turner Studios during the workweek and deejays at Atlanta venuesincluding Halo Lounge, Bazzaar, Lava and Opera. But Grass doesn’thave to think twice about which career is most important.“I would love to continue working in both fields,” Grass said.“But right now my main focus is my career at Time Warner/TurnerStudios. My goal is to be an editor, plain and simple.” He also said hehas a deep desire to carry on both careers at the present, as both areequally rewarding in his life: He can tell a story with both careers.Grass said he usually deejays on Friday and Saturday nights from10 p.m. to 3 a.m., “with some random gigs thrown in throughout themonth.”MUSICOn Oct. 12-14, Grass showcased his skills at the EchoProject, a music festival outside of Atlanta promoting environmentalawareness. Headliners for the festival includeband names such as the Flaming Lips, Michael Franti andSpearhead, and Phil Lesh and Friends.Grass has also played alongside DJ notables Jazzanova,Kyoto Jazz Massive and Turntables on Hudson. DJ MikeZarin of Atlanta calls Grass a taste-maker. “He decides whatpeople are going to be into. He’s playing music that nobodyelse is playing in Atlanta.” Zarin said Grass gets a new recordbefore anyone else in the scene. “I’m pretty up to date, and he’salways got something I’ve never heard of.”Upper left: Although musicis going digital, Grassstill enjoys vinyl records.Right: Grass’ name wasprinted on the EchoProject flier with artiststhe Flamming Lips,Micharel Franti andSpearhead and more.fall 2007

From the WireClose to H meStory byElizabeth CourtneyAfter collaborating on student projects for videoproduction classes at the University of Tennesseealumni Daniel Callis and David Lane have continuedto work together on productions for Knoxville’s JupiterEntertainment. Callis was hired by the company in2004, and encouraged Lane to join him. Since then,the college friends have teamed-up to produce showslike Oxygen’s “Snapped,” A&E’s “City Confidential,”and The History Channel’s “Human Weapon.”Q:Lane is a producer and Callis is a productionspecialist working in photography and audio.How do your different roles contribute tocreating the final show?DC: There have been many times where it’s just been me andDave when we’ve gone on a local shoot. Dave has done hishard work setting up where we need to shoot, whether it’sjust footage or an interview, and I can handle the equipmentpart of it and shoot it.DL: Having worked together as students, Daniel can expectthat stuff on my end will be taken care of, and I can expectthat his end will be taken care of, and we don’t need muchcommunication.Q:How has working together as students helpedyour working relationship with each other?DC: It was a seamless crossover. We had experienced workingas a team, which is very important at a small company.When you are out in the field, you are always a small team,usually of three people, and that’s usually how it was with us,working on our (student) projects.DL: We came into it being able to work together as a betterteam than most of the people already there.Q:What did you learn at UT that has been mostrelevant to your career?DC: The photography part of it. Doug Edland really influencedme on that. He really taught us how to shoot — whatto look for; how to shoot so you’ll have something to editwhen you bring it back in house; telling the story through thecamera and making it easy for the editor.fall 2007DL: When I first started helping out on the projects, I sort oftook on contacting local businesses and contacting people atthe places we wanted to shoot. That really did help at Jupiter,because that is the exact same thing that I do now.

Q:What do you enjoy most about your job?DL: What I enjoy most is being able to work on a project andsee it through from inception to completion, and have a handin just about every aspect of that. To be just four years out ofcollege and have a say on national programs seen by hundredsof thousands of people is a pretty cool thing.DC: I like the variety. I’ve worked on several different showsand series. So I just enjoy every week or every month, orsometimes every day, doing something different.Q:What advice do youhave for someone whowants to work in productionin Knoxville?DL: My advice would be not toquestion the validity of theirexperience at UT, because thatexperience does actually carryover into production. Do asmuch as you can and be proudof what you do in college,because employers take noticeof that. In TV production, youare only as good as the showsthat you work on.DC: Don’t be satisfied withjust getting your job done.Put yourself out there. If youare good at a couple of thingsbut you’re not a hard worker,you’re not going to get veryfar. A lot of people will burnbridges because of that.Q:Why did you decide towork in Knoxville, andhow did you end up at the same company?DC: I stayed in Knoxville, partly because I met my wife at UT.But not many teachers even mentioned Jupiter Entertainment,and we had never heard of it. I by chance saw a flier up in oneof the hallways of the Communications Building. So I wentby just to drop my resume off and I saw the building and theequipment, and was just kind of blown away. I knew that it wasgoing to be my goal to try to go there.DL: I ended up staying in Knoxville because this is my hometown,and I had deep roots here. And Jupiter is one of the largestproducers in the city, so that worked out well.From the WireQ:Knowing each other in college led to workingtogether professionally. How would youencourage students to make contacts while atUT?DL: What Daniel said about not burning bridges also appliesin college. Because production is a small community, younever know who you’re going to end up working with again.Network in school, like you would network in the workplace.It will definitely help you maintain friendships and contactsonce you get out of college.Q:What was the mostexciting work experienceyou have had?DC: The coolest shoot I everwent on was for “Tools of theTrade: SWAT,” for NationalGeographic (Channel), and wewere featuring the SWAT teamin Tampa, Fla. We pulled up ona mission where they were doinga huge drug bust and I followedthem with their guns in hand.They bust down the door, andI’m catching it all on camera.DL: I had a parallel momentwith the SWAT Team in Reno.There was a shooting that dayof a judge by a sniper, and theproducer convinced the SWATteam to let us follow them asthey cleared rooms in nearby hotelsand houses. So we capturedvery intense moments. But I alsofilmed mine explosions in Braziland spent a week documentingthe Marines’ martial artsprogram.Q:What do you think ittakes to survive in the production world andwhy?DL: It takes versatility. You have to be willing to do whateverjob comes your way, whether it be editing, producing,writing or fetching food. You have to be able to do thosethings and not be stuck on one particular thing.DC: An example of you (Lane) doing that was the Marinesshow. You weren’t used to writing — producing had alwaysbeen your specialty — and that was a show where they onlywanted people to produce it if they would also write it. Soyou took the challenge, and you did it.fall 2007

Trade TipsBreaking intoFreelancingCompiled byAnne WhitworthQ:How do you getstarted in a freelancecareer?A:Iinternships, even if they’refall 2007would say first off youneed an internship. I thinkunpaid — my first two internshipswere unpaid, and I worked insanehours before going to New York tosave money — but a lot of people haveto start out in unpaid internships.Once you get in the door with aninternship, it could lead to anotherinternship. Also, a lot of internshipslead to freelancing. I was an internat Entertainment Weekly, and thenthey realized I did a great job andthey needed some solid freelancereporters, so they kept me on in thatcapacity. Another big thing I wouldsay to people who want to becomefreelancers is never turn down anA 2005 graduate of the University of Tennessee,Kristin Luna currently works out of New York asa freelance writer for several national magazinesand travel publications. At just 24, her hungerfor new places has taken her from a life inTennessee to residence in Arizona, Scotland,New York, the Netherlands and Denmark.Her next big adventure will be a move to SanFrancisco, where she plans to write full timeand continue her freelance work.assignment. Even now, when I don’tnecessarily need the extra money,I rarely turn down an assignmentbecause I feel like I never know whatan assignment is going to lead to.Q:What have youdone to make yourselfmarketable?A:It’s my networking. Myfriends in New York jokethat I’m a professionalnetworker because I like meetingpeople, and I go out and make aneffort to go to journalism events andmeet people. I ask for cards, and Ikeep in touch, and I send e-mailsand I follow up. Persistence pays off,especially in freelancing, because thething about freelancing is it is hard.You’re not getting a steady paycheck.It’s a profitable profession if you cansell stories because they pay reallywell for stories, but at the same time,if you’re lazy about it and if you justkind of sit around and don’t go outand pitch people, don’t go out andresearch story ideas … You have toread the magazines from cover tocover and figure out what works atwhat magazine, if they’ve done itbefore, why you offer a new angle,

why they would want your stories asopposed to hundreds of others whoare e-mailing them. I guess it takes acertain drive that a lot of people don’thave.Q:What kind ofadvice would you giveto UT students whowant to freelance?A:Start small while you’rein Knoxville. There are aton of publications herethat accept freelancers. Whether itpays or not, what you need now isclips. You need clips and publicationson your resume in order for the biggermagazines or newspapers to startcoming to you. It’s come to a pointwhere I get assignments I don’t reallyhave to pitch anymore. People e-mailme and say, “Oh, will you write us thisstory on this?” Which is so great — it’sless work I have to do coming up withassignments. I can’t stress enough howmuch having a diverse array of clips isgoing to help you when you’re lookingfor a job.Q:How importantis networking?A:The most important. I feellike it comes to a point whereif you have talent, you’rekind of on the same level as everyoneelse, because everyone who is workingin the industry obviously has some sortof talent. How else would they havegotten there? You need an edge to boostyou above the competition. You’ve gothundreds of people vying for the sameposition. Anything you can do to give youa leg up is important. Some people maythink it’s brown-nosing to network, butit’s helped me out. It’s helpful in any sortof journalism, but particularly if you’rewanting to be a freelancer, because youneed any connection you can get.Making itCompiled byNic MillerTrade Tipsin the cityVenturing to a big city and having your dream job has come true for UTgraduates. They have pursued their dreams by living and working inpopular cities. We asked a few graduates about the best part of workingin a big city. This is what they said.“It was probably the most risky thing I have ever done. … Larger cities havemore opportunities for more organizations.”-Carl Marxer, ’78, Atlanta“I meet a lot of people and am able to network withhin my industry. There area lot of new and different opprotunities that a small city might not offer.”-Mariam Djavadi, ‘06, New York“Network! Network! Network! I once was told that it does not matter whoyou know, the only thing that matters is who knows you. Really get to knowthose who can positively influence your career. Upon graduating I would encouragestudents to take as many professional development classes as possible.It’s true the more you know the further you go.”-Denise Beard, ‘03, Nashville“Traffic and parking are a nightmare in most big cities! Learn your wayaround quickly. Learn short cuts. Leave earlier than you want. It is better to beearly than late for appointments and events.”-Larry Lunsford, ’74, Miami“For your first job in communications, especially TV, get an apartment asclose to your office as possible. (In New York you’ll never afford Manhattan, sojust look for a place near the train.) The scant few hours you get at home willbe with your eyes shut. The rest of time you’ll be at work!”-Ryan McGee, ’93, Charlotte“The amount of experience I can receive in my industry in this market is unbelievable,and it doesn’t hurt that there is an amazing amount of cheap foodand happy hours around the corner from my office.”-Stephanie Shaw, ‘06, New York“The opportunities for both business and fun are endless. … It may soundcliche, but to make it in Chicago or any other big city (I’ve lived in New York andAtlanta, too) it takes preparation, persistence and perseverance. So, know whatyou want, learn how to get it, and don’t take no for an answer!”-LeeAnn Baker, ’02, Chicagofall 2007

fall 2007american red cross

60thAnniversary&1947-2007fall 2007

Research in the RoundBridging the gapOne UT professor seeks to show how media and society influence each otherThe relationships between media, culture and societyare complex, and with technology advancing atlightning speed, those relationships are only gettingmore complicated. Catherine Luther, associateprofessor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media,has made the study of media and society her life’s work. Overthe past 12 years, she has authored and co-authored severalpeer-reviewed articles and one book entitled “Press Images,National Identity, and Foreign Policy.” She has received numerousawards, including University of Tennessee research awardsand a Hewlett-Packard Innovative Technology award. Luther’sresearch has covered a wide range of subjects, but the majorityfocuses on the differences between Japanese and Americanmedia.The fascination with Japanese culture has early roots inLuther’s life, she said. “I was a military brat, and my father wasfall 2007Story Byphotos provided by Catherine LutherEmily Maddoxstationed at several bases in Japan, and so I developed an interestin Japanese culture and society at a very young age.” This interestdeveloped into an undergraduate double major in East AsianStudies and Communications from the University of Maryland.After graduation, Luther headed to the west coast, where shecombined her interest in journalism and her fascination withJapanese culture by becoming a reporter and later producer forJapanese broadcast news in Los Angeles and Japan.During her work in Japanese broadcast media, Luthernoticed subtle differences in the way the two systems work.“The news program formats (in Japan and the United States)are very similar. The only difference is that the (Japanese)field reporters tend to be a little stiff and predictable intheir reports,” she said. She attributes this lack of varietyto the increased government and corporate control of themedia in Japan.

Luther returned to the academic world to pursue her doctorateat the University of Minnesota. While she was there, she developedan interest in terrorism-related issues. After leaving Minnesota andaccepting a teaching position at the University of Tennessee, thisinterest continued to motivate her. She is currently conducting astudy of antiterrorism legislation in Japan and how the public perceivesits impact on their personal privacy.Though Luther has only recently been able to pursue this interest,she has already worked on articles dealing with terrorism andthe media. She and colleague Lyn Lepre have co-authored severalarticles on U.S. journalism programs’ incorporation of terrorismreporting into their curricula.“Maintaining objectivity is paramount,” Luther said. “I believethat, even for journalists, their own social identities comeinto play. During times of crisis, it is hard to keep one’s ownpersonal opinions from creeping into news stories.”Though Luther’s research has enabled her to understandinternational communication and diversity, it hasalso helped her understand the students in her classrooms.“Compared to 10 years ago, I think I am better aware of thediversity of student backgrounds and have grown to betterunderstand the types of cultural and social factors thatmight be impacting on their educational experiences hereat UT,” she said.When she is not conducting research, Luther teaches“Media and Diversity” and “Media and Society” classes atUT and acts as an adviser for graduate students. She alsoteaches electronic news gathering to undergraduates aswell as advanced communication theory courses to doctoralstudents. Because of her interest in and study of internationalmedia and diversity, she advises her students whohave an interest in research to step outside their comfortzones and study things they may not be used to. “In otherwords,” she said, “don’t just stick to theResearch in the Roundareas in which you are interested and the sources with which youare most comfortable. Expose yourself to different ideas.”That advice isn’t just for students, either. Luther does not mindbeing outside her own comfort zone in the classroom and encouragesstudents in all her classes to keep an open mind and to questioneverything they are taught. “Although this may be a bit hardon the instructors, I think it is really valuable,” she said.As for the future of media and journalism, Luther points tothe structure of the system. Large conglomerates will continueto dominate mainstream media, but new technology will allowsmall-scale media to grow. “Technology is continuously evolving,”she said, “so it will be interesting to see what type of news ‘channels’will be available to the public in the future.”above: Luther (right) with professorFumio Shimpo of the University ofTsukuba (left), pictured with Presidentof the House of Chancillors, SatsukiEda (center), in his office at Japan’sNational Diet Building.left: The National Diet Building iswhere Japan’s two parliamentaryhouses meet.opposite: Luther poses in the Ginzadistrict of Tokyo.fall 2007

Building BlocksAdvancing technology has driven changes in journalism and electronic mediacompiled byKimberly HoodRADIO:THEN:Every track was on its own record (then eventually itsown 8-track), so songs had to be manually selected andplayed. The station was full of shelves holding all thevarious tracks and albums. The original station broadcastfrom campus was WUOT, started in 1949, but in 1982WUTK-FM, 90.3, The Rock, came into being. WhenWUTK originally signed on, it was broadcast at only 128Watts — barely enough signal to be picked up where WestTown Mall is today.NOW:The shelves and drawers full of albums have been replacedby a computer. All tracks are stored digitally on a harddrive and a computer program selects songs and createsplaylists. WUTK now broadcasts at 1,000 Watts and isstreamed worldwide via the Internet. Today, WUTK’stechnology is on par with most corporate stations, whichhas made it an invaluable experience for students seekinga career in radio.EDITING:Everything was done by hand — stories were typedon typewriters, headlines were written and countedby hand and if anything needed to be movedaround, students used a ruler and a straightedge tocut the story apart and glue it back in the order theywanted.Everything is done on the computer. The computer takescare of counting the spaces allotted for letters and, if anythingneeds to be rearranged, it is only a matter of a fewkey strokes until it is copied and pasted. Also, today mostcopy editors are expected to be involved in the design andlayout of pages.fall 2007

BROADCASTCameras were huge by today’s standards and incredibly heavy.There was no such thing as a zoom. Instead, there were avarious lenses attached in a ring on the camera that could berotated around to change the angle. They required intenselybright lights in the studio which got so hot that they occasionallycaught fire or even exploded. Almost all editing wasdone “in the camera,” meaning that — if time permitted —film could be cut and repositioned, but aside from the orderof events all other aspects were broadcast exactly the waythey were recorded. As far as early television programming,all shows were produced locally because there was no suchthing as syndication.Photo provided by UT video and Photography servicesTHEN:Editing:Then and NowProfessor Bonnie Hufford has witnessedhow technology has changeda copy editing room first hand. In1985, when the College of Communicationgot its first editing lab,computers replaced the typewriters,blue pencils, rulers and straightedgesthat had previously been synonymouswith copy editing. However,Hufford will be quick to explain thatthe wonders of technology were notso wonderful at first. The first computerswere frequently on the blinkrequiring her and fellow professorsEd Caudill and James Crook tospend countless hours on the phoneIt was the day that the techsupport guy told me I wasgoing to need to get out thewelding kit that I finally drewthe line.NOW:Executive Director of UT-TV, Thomas Owens, said thatthe difference between broadcasting technology now andthen is that today’s is “lighter, smaller, more efficient anddigital.” Cameras are exponentially smaller as well as thestorage devices used with them. There is no film used inmodern broadcasting. All recordings are burned to a blueray disc, which is about the size of a CD, and saved in separatefiles on the computer where they can be edited andrearranged individually.with tech support tinkering with themotherboard to fix problems. “Itwas the day that the tech supportguy told me I was going to need toget out the welding kit that I finallydrew the line,” Hufford said. “I’ma professor not a computer technician.”Those computers were eventuallypassed on to the Beacon and thecopy editing lab was upgraded witha more user-friendly-- less likely tocause third degree burns-- computersystem; a welcome relief for copyediting but an added hassle for theBeacon. The computers were usedfor several years before the universitydonated the old computers to theBeacon where they were only usedbriefly and then salvaged for parts.fall 2007fall 2007

Tennessee TraditionsNeyland StadiumPhotos provided by ???fall 2007compiled byKate Parker! Neyland Stadium holds 100,879more people than it did at the first footballgame on Shields-Watkins Field.! Neyland Stadium is the third largestcollegiate football stadium, behindUniversity of Michigan and Penn State.! On March 16, 1921, in order to get asports field in working order, the universityheld a student holiday called CampusDay. The All Student’s Club organized aneffort to finish the field, which was beingused for baseball and football at thetime. Students dug ditches and shoveleddirt. Some of the coeds made lunch forthose working, and the rest is history.! Shields-Watkins Field was namedafter Col. W. S. Shields, president ofKnoxville City Bank, and his wife, UTTrustee Alice Watkins, who offered torelieve the debt of construction.! At the first football game onShields-Watkins field, Tennesseebeat Emory & Henry 27-0.! Neyland Stadium was named afterGen. Robert Reese Neyland, one ofTennessee’s most influential coaches.Neyland was named coach in 1926.Neyland’s teams won four nationalchampionship titles, and he holds anNCAA record for holding opponents to71 scoreless consecutive quarters.! Shields-Watkins field hasgone through more than 12renovation projects to becomethe Neyland Stadium we knowtoday.! Neyland Stadium is currently underrenovations, scheduled to be finished in2010, which will decrease student seatingby 3,000 due to club seats. NeylandStadium’s new club seats cost $16,000and require a donation of $100,000 overa five-year period. The renovations alsoinclude structural improvements andrepairs and the addition of concessionstands and restrooms. These renovationswill cost the university around$107 million.

It’s football timein Tennessee!! A football player, Charles Moore, from the 1891 football team,chose Tennessee’s school colors, orange and white. The idea came fromdaisies, which grew all over the Hill.The Volunteers did not wear orange and white jerseys until 1922 ina game against Emory & Henry.! The Volunteer Navy started in 1962 when George Mooney, formerVolunteer broadcaster, decided to park his boat outside NeylandStadium. The Vol Navy is sailing strong today with more than 200boats. Only two other stadiums are adjacent to water — Washingtonand Pittsburgh.! Right before the game, the Vols tap a sign that says “I will give myall for Tennessee today!” The sign is placed just above the doorway inthe team’s dressing room.! Running through the “T” started in 1964 with coach Doug Dickey,who moved the Volunteers team bench to the west side of the stadiumin order to make this tradition happen. Dickey also added the Power Tto the football helmets in 1964.! The Vol Walk is one of UT’s newest traditions. Beginning in 1990,the walk let fans get closer and feel more connected to Tennessee footballtradition.! Smokey was added to the Tennessee family in 1953 after a contestheld by the Pep Club. The original hound was chosen by a vote ata football game. “Brook’s Blue Smokey” was named the first Smokey,owned by the Rev. Bill Brooks. Smokey II was kidnapped in 1955 byUniversity of Kentucky students, and then in 1957 had a tiff with theBaylor Bear at the Sugar Bowl. Smokey VIII has more wins than anyother Smokey.! The Pride of the Southland Marching Band was organized afterthe Civil War ended and has represented UT at 10 consecutive presidentialinaugurations. “Rocky Top” was written in 1967 by Feliceand Boudleaux Bryant in a Gatlinburg hotel room. “Rocky Top” wasfirst played in 1972 under the direction of W. J. Julian, and quicklybecame UT’s unofficial, but beloved, fight song. “Down the Field” isTennessee’s official fight song, although it is not as well known.! The alma mater was chosen in 1928 in a contest created by professorL. S. Mayer of the UT men’s glee club. The winner was Mrs.John Meek of Chattanooga.fall 2007

Press PassportCrossing the sea ofsocial awarenessOne student’s journey to 11 countries in 100 daysStory byLaura Jane Walkerfall 2007

For Jessica Thomas, studentactivities aboard the24,000-ton passenger shipMV Explorer during thespring 2007 Semester at Sea did notvary from her normal routine atthe University of Tennessee. A seniorin journalism and electronicmedia, Thomas is also a member ofProgressive Student Alliance at UT.During her approximately 100 daysat sea, Thomas got a chance to expandher global perspective and internationalizeher social activism.The semester began at the Nassaupier of the Bahamas. Ports of callcovered four continents, includingstops in Salvador, Brazil; Chennai,India; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;and Kobe, Japan. Thomas says herregular school schedule was similarto her schedule at UT, with classesfrom 8 a.m. to noon. However, theports of call often interrupted thetypical day’s schedule.“Some days, we would have classeson Saturdays and Sundays,” Thomassaid. Her social activities, coined“aft-er” hours by the students forthe nautical term for the stern of aship, depended on Thomas’ energylevel. Balancing schoolwork, activismand touring the globe was taxing.“If there was a big event (on theboat) we would usually go. It justdepended on how much homeworkyou had — how tired you were. Youwere tired a lot on the boat. I went tobed probably earlier than I do normallyhere,” she said.Her seven-day stop in CapeTown, South Africa, representedmore than just the longest portof call, though. Thomas, who wasan active member of the ship’sDiversity Committee, participatedin an on-board ApartheidDay leading up to the week inSouth Africa. Apartheid, Thomasexplained, technically translatesto “separateness” and representsgovernment laws allowing Englishand Dutch descendants in SouthAfrica to gain power. Townshipswere developed for black SouthAfricans, who were pushed to theoutskirts as racial segregationprevailed under social and politicalforces from 1948 to 1994.While in Cape Town, Thomas visitedthese townships with friends.“Some people went (through thetownships) with a group from theSemester at Sea,” she said, but hervisits were more subtle. The realitiesof racial oppression and social injusticeare still prominent in SouthAfrica, even after apartheid wasdissolved.Cape Town’s Archbishop EmeritusDesmond Tutu, one of the top religiousleaders against apartheid, wasa guest lecturer in all of Thomas’classes. Tutu, she said, unlike otherleaders against apartheid, was notarrested as his friend and ally NelsonMandela was. He maintained hispassport and was able to gain globalsupport against apartheid.“He was really passionate abouttrying to empower us and keep usenergized to try and make goodchanges in the world,” she said. “Hetalked a lot about how young peopleare still optimistic and still hold alot of power in the world.”On board, before the stop in CapeTown, the Diversity Committee hadPress Passportan unannounced Apartheid Dayto help students better understandthe social injustice. Students whohad shaved their heads as part ofthe Semester at Sea tradition whencrossing the equator, Thomas included,were allowed certain rightsthroughout the day and representedthe “privileged” class. “(The privilegedclass) could use the pool andthe seventh deck. They could kickanyone off the machines in theworkout room,” she said, “so peopleorganized mock protests against it.… People actually got mad about it,which was surprising.”The effects of events like ApartheidDay carried over to other activistevents, like the Day of Silence.Thomas recalled that the 12-hourstance was in solidarity for “peoplewho were oppressed for any reason,like gender, race and AIDS.”The MV Explorer contained aminiculture of its own. Thomassaid students’ majors varied, althoughthere were quite a few businessmajors. “There were a lot ofbusiness classes, global economicsand a lot of biolog y and earth-type(classes),” she said. “Really most ofJessica Thomas traveled to many parts of the world, including South AfricaPhoto provided by Jessica Thomasfall 2007

Press Passportthe classes have to do with incorporatingglobal thought into different areas.”Thomas’ favorite class was her travelwritingclass. “If I had (that) job, thatwould be the sweetest job ever,” she said.The class emphasized using focusedfirst-person experiences — and not justa personal journal entry — to illustrateimportant issues. “It’s creative, but stillnon-fiction,” she said.Now back in the states, Thomas hasstarted an internship with the KnoxvilleVoice a bi-weekly alternative magazine.Her article about her experiences withTutu was published Sept. 6, 2007, andreflects her passion for travel writing.In her own words, Thomas expressedhow Semester at Sea impacted her, writing,“Holding fast to the words Tutuimparted, I was ready to come back toKnoxville and put my own ideas intoaction.”fall 2007Ashley Yeager

One in sixAmerican childrenlives in poverty.Together,we canchange that. fall 2007

ConvergenceA Thousand WordsScoop asked University ofTennessee Students to submitphotos depicting their interpretationof “convergence.”fall 2007

Photo By:Maria Smurzynska1,000 WordsSarah SpearTom BaylessSarah Spearfall 2007

Photo by Anne-Claire SiegertPhoto by Samantha ThorntonPhoto by Lindy RiderPhoto by Lindy RiderPhoto by Nick Miller

Photo by Jason Woehler“Only from the alliance of one workingwith and through the other are greatthings born.”-Antoine de Saint-ExuperyPhoto by Samantha ThorntonPhoto by Kirby Reitzfall 2007

Photo by Sara Kate Parker Photo by Elizabeth Courtney Photo by Samantha ThorntonPhoto by Tekeshia King Photo by Kirby Reitz Photo by Sara Kate Parkerfall 2007“So powerful is the light ofunity that it can illuminatethe whole earth.”-Baha’u’llah

Photo by Kimberly Hoodfall 2007

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advertisingart6photographydesign0public relationswritingeditingcommunications4051554246fall 2007

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Technology has redefined every aspect of life in terms ofpossibility and availability. A sound wave can progressfrom a radio station into the workplace, a news story canbreak and be posted on the Internet in the same hour, amovie can be ordered and instantly projected onto a high definitiontelevision screen, and a photograph can be taken and stored in afraction of a second on a memory card. These technological advanceshave redefined our perception of possibility. Technologicaladvances have erased the word “patience” and replaced it with theword “instantaneous.” New technology is redefining the idea ofjournalism.In 1983 the computer was named the Machine of the Year byTime magazine, but if renamed today, Time may call it the “Yearof the Computer.” Computers can record and store information,it can play music and movies and can even take pictures and video.But the phenomenon that now takes up the small space of aschool desk once dominated an entire office. Journalism professorand College of Communication and Information Dean EmeritusDwight Teeter, who received a doctorate in mass communicationat the University of Wisconsin, witnessed its introduction andevolution.What was your first interaction with a computer?The computer was a central processor about the size of a smallphone booth, and I had a hand in installing some of the first onesat the University of Kentucky in 1974. And I remember standingon a chair, and my arms weren’t strong enough to lift the motherboard,so I did it with my feet.How have computers changed the way you teach?They haven’t really changed the way I teach. For one thing, I don’tuse Blackboard (UT’s student-teacher file sharing system) becausethat has a tendency of crashing when you need it most. One thing I’venoticed about computers is e-mail. It’s no longer “Dear Dr. Teeter.” It’s“hey” or “hi.” Once, a student who didn’t show up to class called andsaid, “Dude, why’d you cut me?” and I said, “Dude, why did you keepcutting my class?” E-mail etiquette leaves something to be desired.Today, internships, practicums and study abroad are strongly emphasized.Was that so in the time computers came around?Internships and practicums were always important in any upstandingjournalism department, but during the ‘70s study abroadwas not emphasized nearly as much.The Internet has grown since its birth in 1969 from a networkof four computers to a network comprised of tens of millions. Ittakes the computer’s ability to store information to a whole newlevel and turns even the most complex inquiry into an instant answer.However, when the Internet first appeared, its potential wasnot readily perceived. Edward J. Meeman Distinguished ProfessorJames Stovall, who received his doctorate in mass communicationat the University of Tennessee, discussed his first experiences withthe Internet and where it is goingWhen you first encountered the Internet, did you immediatelysee the possibilities?This was something that came about in the early ‘90s and …we were all trying to figure it out. I started to see the possibilitiespretty quickly. For one thing, there is so much information availableso quickly. In the first five to six years the Internet was veryavailable to us. It was available in so many different levels, but wePhoto by Anne-Claire SeigertPhoto by Samantha ThorntonPhoto by Samantha ThorntonPhotoP h o t oby Anne-C l a i r eSeigertfall 2007

y Anne-Claire Seigertdidn’t foresee how it would be available to everyone like it is today.What was your first experience with the Internet?How do these recent innovations effect how and what yNo! I certainly mention HD, but it doesn’t really changeetc. … It (recent innovations in television) means that jourand reportingent audiences.access news wI remember the technician that we had at the university sat at my computer and said, “Hey, I want to show you something.”I think it was Netscape. The first Web site that I really looked at in depth … was the Library of Congress, andthey had loaded all the (Matthew B.) Brady Civil War photos. It was kind of a toy back then because you had no ideathat the technology would become soPhoto by Anne-Claire Seigertsophisticated.Where do you see it going?Can you reI saw highLas Vegas sevand it was fanPracticumLots of different directions. The short answer: I don’tknow. Nobody knows. The longer answer is that you can’t study abroadbegin to know what’s going and where we’re headed. I correlation withought for some time that the characteristic of the Web Yes! I stronthat will change journalism is the interactivity of it. News nitely need promedia at this point in history has meant that journalists who will becoproduce news like toy manufacturers produces toys. We ing abroad insell news to the public like they sell toys. The thing is that experiences shthe public wouldn’t return it. But recently, with blogs, Where do ythis characteristic has changed. The biggest difference the This is hardBackpack jourInternet makes on news is that the gap between the producersand the consumers goes away. That, frankly, scares editing on a lathe hell out of journalists.Viewers will cDuring the time the Internet came around, were intern-phonesships,practicums and study abroad popular?MagazinesWe’re doing things today that we might have conceived per. As photogof in the past, but the means would have been imagined their issue onquite differently. Study abroad is becoming more empha-Pausized. Since we can learn so quickly now, it prob-film and popuAshdownably becomes more important that we have experi-abouences in different places.How are mwhere tDigital photography provides another quick Magazinessee an influenway to report news to the consumer. Instantaneousphotographs can be shot and directly uploaded on-photographline in stunning quality. They accommodate the pre-eminent.ademand for breaking news images and keep Web What do yosites updated every minute. If the old saying is There is evsociety, meanitrue that a picture tells a thousand words, a digitalphotograph tells a thousand words in one breath. more specializAssociate professor of journalism Rob Heller, who Internshipsreceived his master’s degree in photojournalism tance do you pfrom Syracuse University, reflected on the effects I recently hof digital photography.To be a goodHow has digital photography affected the way Another thingyou teach?most successfIt changed everything. We don’t make prints. good networkWe don’t need to. Students hand everything in dig-countryitally, and we look at everything on the wall. Also, Although tyou gmore efficientstudents miss out on the magic in the darkroom.Not just the magic — but it’s the sort of slow, careful,disciplined work. In the darkroom you were more careful, and you weremore thoughtful when you work that way. I personally love shooting digital,but I don’t think I will ever shoot another roll of 35mm film — and that’sodd.What was your first experience with photography?I had a Kodak Instamatic. I still hold onto the Sony DKC-ID1, the firstdigital camera we bought here in the department. It’s essentially uselessnow.Where do you think digital photography is going?fall 2007

Grass RootsJennifer HayesLocal media fills social niches Story by:Photos by Elizabeth CourtneyWith the growing trend of media consolidationand conglomeration, three localprint publications have managed to findniche markets to cater to. The Oak RidgeObserver, Knoxville Voice, and Hellbender Press fill thevoid of what they call a lack of coverage on local issues.Knoxville Voice focuses on giving a progressive take onlocal issues. The Oak Ridge Observer is devoted to givingspecific specialized coverage of that community, andHellbender Press covers environmental issues affecting theKnoxville area. All the papers have taken similar pathsto fulfill the gap in coverage by starting independentlyowned and operated publications.Knoxville Voice was started in spring of 2006 by a publishernamed Dane Baker. Baker lived in Knoxville hiswhole life and studied journalism. Editor Elizabeth Wrightsaid Baker saw a need for a different kind of paper basedoff the state of local media.“I think he just saw a gap in reporting and in certain issuesthat weren’t getting attention that he felt like neededattention. He started it for that reason, to kind of give avoice to issues that weren’t covered by the mainstreammedia,” said Wright.Wright said the paper started out with a small staff oftwo people covering wire stories and little local coverage.Shortly after she came on as editor last fall, the paperstarted to focus more on local stories. Currently the paperhas 10 full time employees as well as several freelance reportersand interns.She said the paper tries to take a more in-depth lookat the issues and give a better context of them. Instead ofreporting on decisions that people in power make, theytry to report on how those decisions impact people’s lives.She thinks their methods are different rather than theirchoice of subject matter.“We’re obviously a progressive paper. It’s pretty obviousthat we write about issues that some people would seeas left of center, but I think it’s a mistake to think thatEast Tennessee and people in this region only want to hearabout the more conservative side of things,” said Wright.The paper focuses on many social issues including racism,poverty and abortion. Wright said those issues arefall 2007

ones their readers know about and that affect their lives.She said many of the topics they cover may not be thingsreaders of the daily newspaper may have to face. They tryto focus on subjects that impact real individuals in theirdaily lives.“It tends to focus more on trying to take away that topdown mentality that a lot of reporting has and talk to thereal people who are affected by things.”Their bi-weekly time frame doesn’t allow for coverageof the top crime stories of the day or breaking news, but itdoes allow for them to be more thorough. They sometimesare pressed to come up for different angles for stories sothey aren’t two weeks behind. Wright said the paper alsotries to cover all of Knoxville and not just focus on thedowntown area. They have written about North, East, andWest Knoxville and Blount County. She said the paperwants to continue to do a good job in keeping their coveragediverse.Wright said the goal of their paper is to be an outlet forthe community.“We’re just trying to bring the community together sothat their just not reading the paper and absorbing this informationin their own heads but that they’re connectingwith other people to talk about this kind of stuff,” Wrightsaid.The Oak Ridge Observer was started in a similar fashionthree years ago by former University of Tennessee graduateStan Mitchell. Mitchell began his career as a reporterfor The Oak Ridger, the local daily newspaper, but beganhearing complaints from residents about the lack of coverageof their area. Mitchell said The Oak Ridger had an areastrategy covering several surrounding areas including OakRidge.“The people in Oak Ridge, which is a city of almost30,000, were frustrated that a lot of times they couldn’t gettheir news out. So, for better than two years, I saw whatI perceived to be a need for an Oak Ridge-only paper,”Mitchell said.He had previous experience working on a weekly paperand observed a weekly could do more investigative reporting,cover stories that would be exclusive to the area andnot have to deal with the pressure of daily deadlines. Hefall 2007

and some friends had an opportunityto create a paper that addressed theseissues and went from there.Mitchell said they devote a considerableamount of the paper topolitics, covering council meetingsand other governmental issues. Hesaid they always try to include featurestories, community calendar,around-town news and cover the issuesaffecting schools.“There really is no news that’s toosmall once you get inside the paper,if its Oak Ridge-based. That’s whatpeople love about us. There’severything from an annualbook sale to a church’s petfest. People love the fact thatwe’ll run their small, little announcements,”Mitchell said.The paper has a large sectiondevoted to opinion becauseMitchell thinks that newspapersare a good way for peopleto discuss different topics. Hesaid there are lots of letters tothe editor and local columnistssharing their views. Mitchellsaid the paper doesn’t have aliberal or conservative slant,but they instead focus more oncommunity matters.“We weigh in editorially waymore on local issues … peoplerespect us because we have a position…wehave strong views onlocal issues,” said Mitchell. Hesaid most newspapers are afraidof making advertisers mad andbelieves people want to read a paperthat isn’t afraid to take a standon different matters.Although the paper is distributedfree of charge, it still has about 300paid subscribers. Mitchell stronglyfeels the majority of the subscriberswant to support a newspaper that isfocused on their area.“These people are very glad to havea locally owned paper and one that’sexclusively focused on Oak Ridge.The community feels like it’s theirnewspaper,” said Mitchell.Hellbender Press was started by UTjournalism students Rick Vaughnand Thomas Fraser. The two met infall 2007an environmental journalism classand started the paper with a $1,000investment with co-founder MikeKnapp in December 1998. Fraser, whois no longer with the paper, said thepaper is geared toward people concernedwith environmental issues.“It caters to those who think themainstream media does only a marginaljob reporting and addressingthe issues affecting the health of boththe public and the great outdoors ofEast Tennessee,” Fraser said.He said natural resource reportingis not completely absentin Knoxville. He said Hellbenderwants to accompany the environmentalreporting that is beingdone as well as give ideas thatare not necessarily conveyed bythe area press. Fraser said thatthe paper wants to further enhanceconnections with anglers,hunters, environmentalists andpreservationists.Fraser said the paper also encouragesdevelopment of localbusinesses by having affordableadvertisement.“The paper also serves animportant advertising resourcefor small businessesthat might otherwise be unableto afford print advertising,”Fraser said. He said thebusinesses that advertise inthe paper draw on the humanand natural resources in theKnoxville area.He said Hellbender hasbeen able to stay competitive againstmedia consolidation by maintainingspecific local coverage on acommunity.“Some of the greatest print publicationsthe world has ever seen arestruggling with declining readershipand advertising revenue,” Frasersaid. “Many are turning to intenselylocal and community coverage toboost their sagging fortunes.” He saidHellbender has followed that modelfrom the start and that is the reasonthe paper is still around nine yearslater.

Profile:Eva Mag--Targets Women--Focuses on local people,businesses, arts and entertainment--10,000 in circulation monthly--Distributed in over 280 locations inthe Knoxville area--Celebrating its 1st anniversaryProfile:Mundo Hispano Bilingual--Articles published in Englishand Spanish--Published Monthly--Free--30,000 in circulation monthly--Began in September 1999Profile:Perspectives--Focus on holistic health--Published bi-monthly--Free--Has been in publication for 20years--Received death threats in theearly days for “controversial”content, like yogaProfile:Out & About--Caters to the gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender community of Middleand East Tennessee-- Covers local and national news,sports, features, entertainment andopinion stories--Published monthly--12,000 distributed monthly--Free subscriptions to anywhere inthe United States (2,100 so far)fall 2007

A s time goes byThe journalism program at the University ofTennessee has come a long way in 60 years.Story byLindy RiderBy 1946, The New York Times had been reporting news for 96 years and TheWashington Post for 70 years. Several journalism schools were already in place atuniversities. The Missouri School of Journalism was the first, established in 1908,followed by Boston University’s Department of Journalism in 1916. News had alreadyreached the radio, made famous by President Roosevelt’s fireside chats throughouthis presidency, and television was quickly developing as an alternate news medium.It was time for Tennessee to join the revolution.In 1946 the Tennessee Press Association requested that the university “expand itsofferings in the field of journalism to enable the youth of the state to specialize in thisprofession,” and in 1947, the Department of Journalism was launched as a subset ofthe College of Business Administration. Before the School of Journalism was formed,journalism classes made up a small part of the English curriculum, beginning in1923. Three classes in news reporting, editing and feature writing were available tostudents who wanted to study “the fine art of letters as an expression of life.” For 24years the study of journalism remained a tiny sliver of academia at Tennessee, but inthe 1940s the time had come for the program to branch out.Julian Harriss, who became director of public relations after the death of StanleyJohnson, worked together with the dean of the business college, Wesley T. Glocker,to develop the new journalism program. They garnered most of their research fromprograms in the Midwest, and used input from the heads of local newspapers andpublic relations companies. They brought in Willis C. Tucker from the University ofKentucky to head the new department, and he saw the program through more thana quarter of a century.Harriss, in his new role as director of public relations at the university, publishedbrochures about the new department, which were passed around at fall registrationand managed to pique the interest of 142 students, of whom 90 were declared journalismmajors. The remaining 52 students were mostly agriculture and home economicsmajors who were allowed to take courses in journalism to complete their writingrequirements.Courses in the new journalism program covered news ethics and principles,fall 2007

THE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA SITS ON THE EDGE OF SUB-STANTIVE GROWTH AND CHANGE. A NEW CONVERGENCE LAB IS UNDER CONSTRUC-TION. INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES BRING THE WORLD TO US AND OUR STUDENTSTO THE WORLD. OUR ROOTS RUN DEEP AND OUR STRONG TRADITION OF INNOVATIVEJOURNALISM EDUCATION SETS THE STAGE FOR TODAY.The semi-weekly student newspaper The Orange and White served as the place for students to get practical experience, until April1965, when the paper evolved: It was then called The UT Daily Beacon and now was published 4 times a week.fall 2007

newspaper management and the history of journalism. TheOrange and White, a semi-weekly student paper, allowed journalismstudents to practice their craft outside the classroom.Tucker was given the burdensome task of finding spacewithin a university that was already outgrowing its student demand,based primarily on the influx of veterans entering theuniversity under the GI Bill. For the first several years, classeswere held in the old South College on the Hill. A section ofAyres Hall was partitioned on the third floor for a newsroom,which housed 20 typewriters on small oak tables, made bythe inmates of Brushy Mountain State Prison, and a hastilybuilt copy desk. Adjoining this room was an office so small itcould be mistaken for a coat closet. A United Press Teletypewas placed in the hallway. When the newsroom wasn’t beingused for class, students working for WUOT, East Tennessee’spublic radio station, wrote news broadcasts that were aired fiveafternoons a week.MORE THAN JUST PRINT JOURNALISMThe Department of Journalism quickly outgrew its coat closetexistence. In 1952, the department moved into Glocker Halland was given room to grow. The number of course offeringscontinued to increase, leading to the initial accreditation of thejournalism program by the American Council for Educationin Journalism in 1955.Further expansion of the program led to the addition of abroadcast sequence in 1953 and the official sanctioning of the“School of Journalism.” Enrollment in the broadcasting sequencewas low up until the late 1960s when baby boomersentered their college years. There were only one control roomwith two turntables and one audio-recorder. The equipmentwas never connected, so students had to simulate broadcasting.At this time WUOT was used as a partial student station,broadcasting on 3,000 watts. It currently broadcasts at 100,000watts and reaches parts of Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgiaand Virginia.Nearly a decade later the number of course offerings jumpedto 28 and included subjects such as public relations, press photography,graphic arts, journalism in high school and journalismin society. Journalism majors were required to use a typewriterproficiently before beginning professional courses.The ‘60s marked the era of a new kind of journalism inthe United States. The Vietnam War and the Civil RightsMovement embedded a sense of civic responsibility in thehearts of professional and budding journalists. In 1965, TheOrange and White became The UT Daily Beacon, and newsstories switched focus from soft news to hard news stories suchas germ warfare experiments in Vietnam and Supreme Courtdecisions concerning the unconstitutionality of laws designedto prohibit inter-racial marriage. From this point on, The DailyBeacon was viewed as a reputable source for news and continuedto gain recognition as one of the top daily campus newspapers.In 1969, the School of Journalism, under the newlyformed College of Communications, made its final move intothe $3 million Communications and University ExtensionBuilding in Circle Park.TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSITIONSIn the ‘70s, the school transitioned from manual typewritersto fully equipped electronic writing and editing labs. It receivedits first computers, which were roughly the size of cokemachines. The photography lab, barely big enough to accommodate16 students, consisted of one dark room, eight cubiclesfor enlarging and one dryer.Video production equipment was also developing. JimWatkins, a 1978 UT broadcast graduate and co-anchor forCW-11 news in New York, said, “The college had these cumbersome,old field cameras, attached by a cable to a heavy‘deck’ where the 3/4-inch tape was recording — very poor pictureand sound quality. The digital world wasn’t even a faintglimmer when I was in college — and for years after, for thatmatter. Now, with brilliant, low cost cameras, and all the influenceof the Internet, it is a whole different ballgame.”In the ‘70s, computers began to change the process ofproducing a newspaper. Edward J. Meeman DistinguisedProfessor and College of Communication and InformationDean Emeritus Kelly Leiter said, “The first computers wereused by journalism students in editing labs where they wouldrewrite and edit their stories for publication.”The 1970s also marked the inception of the departments ofbroadcast in 1971 and public relations in 1972. Tucker retiredas head of the journalism department in 1972 after 27 years ofservice to the university. Dozier C. Cade, who had previouslyheaded the journalism program at Georgia State University inneed a caption here but i don’t know whatfall 2007

Atlanta, succeeded him. Cade spent the next six years as directorof the UT School of Journalism. During that time he wasinstrumental in the establishment of the new public relationssequence. When Cade retired in 1978, James A. Crook tookhis place.By the mid-1980s, although the newspaper industry was notgrowing at this time, other mediums such as radio and televisionwere increasing in popularity as means of relaying news tothe public, and technology in the classroom was finally startingto catch up with the technology in the field. For those whowere dedicated to a career in print journalism, Leiter assuredthem that newspapers had provided “a legacy of public serviceunparalleled by any other institution or industry in the land”and that their future was not in danger.When Professor and Dean Emeritus Dwight L. Teeter arrivedat UT in 1990, scholarly productivity increased, andthe program had the kind of reputation and focus necessaryto support a major doctoral program. But a lack of fundingthroughout the 1990s made it difficult to meet the needs of theprogram.Ashdown said, “Enrollments increased, technologicalchanges abounded, and our faculty spent much of its timewith the doctoral program. We were understaffed and underfundedin relation to the size and scope of the program, notto mention the substantial changes facing the industry. We allworked very hard, and I think we had a high quality programdespite the challenges we faced.”LOOKING TO THE FUTUREAlthough technology has rocketed upwards through time,the basic skills required of a good journalist have remainedthe same. We have gone from typewriters to computers, fromchalkboards to whiteboards, from overhead projectors toPowerPoint presentations, from taking notes with only penciland paper to typing them on our personal laptop computersor recording them to podcasts for later use. However, famedAmerican journalist Edward R. Murrow put it best when hesaid, “The newest computer can merely compound, at speed,the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, andin the end the communicator will be confronted with the oldproblem, of what to say and how to say it.”Today, there are more than 50 faculty members in theCollege of Communication and Information, with 19 of thoseassigned to the School of Journalism and Electronic Media.Out of 88 courses offered within the college, 40 are dedicatedto the study of journalism and electronic media, and theschool is constantly looking to the future.“Most recently, I believe the school is shifting its focus towardthe Web and new media, and I have been happy to be apart of that shift,” said Dr. Jim Stovall, an Edward J. MeemanDistinguished Professor, began as a journalism student in1966 at the University of Tennessee and returned in 2005 toteach courses in online journalism. “What we are offering toour students now in terms of opportunities to practice journalismin all media — particularly the web — is rare amongthe top programs in the country. I am very proud to be both apart of UT’s past and its future.”Tales from J-School(as told by current JEM faculty and staff)“One day after class, a student approached me and hesitantlyinquired, ‘who is this L.B.J. that you mentioned severaltimes today?’ Lyndon B. Johnson had left the presidencyabout 15 years earlier, too long ago for this graduate studentto remember.”--from Dr. Dorothy Bowles“It probably was doing the Spring semester of 1992.Because of an overloaded law class, I was dropping studentswho did not show up in the first week so that others mightadd it.I fielded an outraged telephone query from a student:“Dude, why did you drop me from the law class?”Okay, so I’m from California and used to try to surf, but Iwas far beyond ‘dude,’ at least in my own mind.I said, “Why didn’t you come to class?”He said, “I was skiing in Colorado.”I said,“Dude, don’t they have telephones in Colorado?”--from Dr. Dwight Teeter“At the beginning of one spring semester a puzzled studentcalled because he couldn’t understand why he had notreceived his degree. He told me he had failed the requiredlaw course fall semester but, ‘technically I graduated fromUT in December.’ I laughed and told him, ‘technically, youdon’t have a degree from the University of Tennessee untilyou complete the law class.’ Still puzzled, he asked, ‘whatshould I do?’”--from Deborah Douglas“One of the great personalities of my undergraduate dayswas a kid named Gary Rockenfeld or “Rock” Rockenfeld.Rock sold ads for the Beacon, and one of his clients was ajewelry story. This store embarked on a “You Are Loved”campaign to try to sell jewelry around Valentine’s Day. Oneof the devices of this campaign was “You Are Loved” bumperstickers, and pretty soon Rock has pasted all of our carswith these bumper stickers. Most of us were okay with that,but one who wasn’t turned out to be Kelly Leiter. We allwere taking some course from Dr. Leiter that semester, andhe marched into class one day furious. He said that someonehad put a “You Are Loved” bumper sticker on his car andthat this was insulting because he took particular pride innot being loved. He was going to launch an investigation tofind out who had committed this heinous act, and when hefound this criminal he was going to sue and sue the jewelrystore and sue anyone else he could find. All of us lookedover at Rock, who was trying to make himself disappear intothe floor. Dr. Leiter knew who the perp was, of course, andeveryone eventually got a good laugh out of it.”--from Dr. Jim Stovallfall 2007

Studentsthrough the yearsFormer University of Tennessee students reminisce on their experiences over the last 60 years.Story byMelina TaylorPhotos provided by The VolunteerGame day. A massive sea of orange and whitestretches down Cumberland Avenue and wrapsaround campus until it reaches the TennesseeRiver. One of the most highly anticipated daysof the football season is finally here. Simultaneously, 109,000fans begin to descend on Neyland Stadium chanting “GOVOLS!” and singing “Rocky Top.” Georgia is about to surrenderto the Mighty Orange. As exciting as game days aretoday, they did not used to be this flamboyant. The campuswas not as big, and the students looked vastly different. Butthrough all these differences, thousands of students havewalked the campus of the University of Tennessee with themain purpose of advancing their education.A student from 60 years ago would not even recognizetoday’s campus. In 1948, Howard Taylor transferred toUT to pursue a degree in education. Circle Park was stilla grassy hill, there was not a six-story library, and the areasurrounding the Hill was mostly covered with houses.World War II had just ended, and UT saw a spike in enrollmentnumbers, including the amount of women whohad an interest in attending college. “I bet 90 percent of thepeople in my classes were people who had served in the AirForce or the Marines,” Taylor said.He had a first-hand experience of game day at UT becausehe lived in Neyland Stadium. “I lived in South StadiumHall, Room 439,” Taylor said. He had a great view of thefall 2007crowds and attended all the home football games. Duringthe games, he sat in the student section and was part of thecard club. “Under your seat everyone would have cards withnumbers on them. During the game whenever they wouldyell out a number you would hold up the cards over yourhead,” Taylor said. One popular phrase spelled out with thecards through many games was “Roll on Vols.”Since few students on campus owned a car, going homeon the weekends meant either hitchhiking or riding a bus.Most weekends were spent hanging out around campus. “Iwent to the ball games and sometimes went to the pool hallnext to Ellis & Ernest Drug Store,” which was across fromcampus, Taylor said.The food has also changed in the dining halls over theyears. One of the more popular places to eat was Sophie’sin the basement of Strong Hall. “They had real good foodin the cafeterias. Twenty-five cents got you a meal card, andyou just went through the line for real good home cookin’,”Taylor said.The end of the 1940s transitioned smoothly into the1950s with campus enrollment growing over the years. HalErnest, who was a senior in 1954, was extremely involved incampus life. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilonfraternity and participated in the Vol Pep Club, UT Theatre/Carousel Theatre, Nahheeyayli Club, wrote for The Orangeand White, the campus newspaper at the time, and was a

news announcer for WUOT-FM.Classes at UT were significantly smaller in size than today.Ernest had nothing but high praise for his professorsthroughout his four years at UT. “All professors were excellentat UT, and some were legendary, such as Dr. RuthStevens in history and Dr. Jimmy Walls in geology.” Inthe theatre department, Ernest said, “Dr. Paul Soper, FredFields and Russell Green were superb.”By the ‘50s, some students had cars, although they werefew and far between. In order to fix this problem, coupleswould triple and quadruple date. “The place to go, especiallywhen you had a date, was Highland Grill on KingstonPike. Highland’s had a sedate upper floor where touristswould dine in quiet surroundings on white tablecloths.Downstairs there was a jukebox, and it was wild!” Ernestsaid.Ernest said his singlegreatest moment in collegewas when he won Carnicusin 1954. “It may sound trivialnow, but until you hadbeen there and done thatyou had no idea of the blood,sweat, toil, and tears it tookfrom every man in the groupto win what, to this day,was considered one of thegreatest campus shows inAmerica,” Ernest said.The 1960s became a turbulentdecade with eachpassing year and the atmosphereon campus reflectedthe nation’s turmoil. But asalways, students struggledthrough the hard times andstill made fond memoriesCUTLINEduring their years at UT.Wallene Threadgill Leek was a freshman in 1960 andlived in the all-girl dorm New West. During this time allthe girls were under strict curfew rules. Every girl had tobe back in the dorm by 11 p.m. on weekdays and 12 p.m.on the weekends. If they were even a second late, theirpunishment was being “campused.” This meant theywere required to stay in the dorms for several nights ina row. “I can remember my dates holding my hand andrunning with me as hard as we could to avoid the doorshutting before I was inside,” Leek said.Leek, who participated in Who’s Who, Miss Universityof Tennessee, Torchbearer, Top Volunteer Beauty and theHomecoming Court, was also a Volunteer Cheerleaderfor three years. Most of her weekends were spent cheering.One of her more vivid memories, and an embarrassingone, happened her sophomore year when UT playedthe University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She wasthe last cheerleader to run onto the field and spontaneouslydecided to do a handspring. But there was oneproblem — she had never done one before. “I threw myhead down, I threw my feet up … but I forgot to putmy hands on the ground … and landed f lat on my backin Keenan Stadium, only to watch orange blurs jumpover me — those blurs were our football players,” Leeksaid. From that day on, her nickname became FluidCoordination.At the beginning of her last year of school PresidentKennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. As the nationmourned, so did the students. “I will never forget theNovember of my senior year when President Kennedyhad been assassinated. The entire campus went still. Wecried, and I remember being terrified,” Leek said.Unfortunately, more distressingtimes were about toengulf the country. In 1961the United States sent thefirst wave of troops acrossthe Pacific Ocean to enterVietnam. When the draftwas instated, many studentsfound themselves scramblingto keep high gradesin order not to go to war.Terry Phelan, who attendedUT from 1966 to 1970, sawthe effects the war took onhis fellow students. “Therewas a guy in my class thathad three missing fingerson one hand and no handon the other. It was intense,”Phelan said.During the last part ofthe decade, Humes Hall,North and South Carrickand Reese Hall were beingbuilt. At that time, women were not allowed to wearshorts under any circumstances, and Alabama wasTennessee’s biggest rival.Students had to stand in line in Alumni MemorialGym to sign up for classes that were scheduled threequarters out of the year, instead of today’s semestersystem. All students were required to take two years ofphysical education classes, boys had to take ROTC fortwo years, regardless of their majors, and classes wereheld on Saturday mornings.While he was at UT, Phelan met his wife, Connie,who graduated from UT in 1969. Connie lived in GreveHall and had to follow the strict curfew as well. Butnights alone in the girl’s dorm weren’t always boring.“We had panty raids,” Connie Phelan said. “Boys wouldraise a loud noise outside and girls would throw (pantiesand bras) out the window. The boys would hang themup in their rooms.” This happened on more than oneoccasion.fall 2007

The girls also had a habit of sunbathingon the roof of Greve Hall inthe afternoons. When Connie Phelanwould come home on the weekends,she said her dad would always askher if she was actually getting anystudying done.By the time Vietnam was comingto a close, Karen Buchsbaumtransferred from Western CarolinaUniversity to UT in 1972. The diversityof the journalism school’s facultymade the switch to UT an easyone. Buchsbaum spent her time writingfor The Daily Beacon and eventuallybecame the associate editor. Shealso joined Phi Mu Sorority, whereshe became the social chair. “Greekswere not too popular among the journalismstudents — so I kept this verylow key. Sometimes it was like livinga double life,” Buchsbaum said.The same year Buchsbaum came toUT, the Watergate scandal dominatedthe news constantly for the followingtwo years, which led to PresidentNixon’s resignation. Buchsbaum wasin her senior year at the time and wasworking for the Beacon. The ticker,or UPI machine, which pulled newsfrom The Associated Press, rangfall 2007once every time an important newsstory came through. When PresidentNixon resigned, “the ticker rang fivetimes I think,” Buchsbaum said.With the help of Bob Woodwardand Carl Bernstein,the famous reportersfrom TheWashington Postwho investigatedthe Watergatescandal, the journalismschool sawa spike in enrollmentas new studentswanted to beinvestigators andchange the world.Even though thenation was in politicalchaos, dailylife remained normal.Buchsbaumwore nice pantsoutfits with blazer-stylejackets andonly wore a pair ofblue jeans twicea year for GreekJersey Day. She ateat Smokey’s in theUniversity Center, Sophie’s, enjoyedSunday lunches at the Torch restauranton Cumberland Avenue andhamburgers from the original RubyTuesday’s. “Senior year (I) spent a lotof time at the Maltese Falcon bar inthe basement of Shelbourne Towers,drinking pitchers of hurricanes andoften singing along with the music,”Buchsbaum said.Back at school, the journalismdepartment required that all papersbe typed. This was a laborious taskwith manual typewriters. However,Buchsbaum was one of few studentsfortunate to own an electric typewriter.Eventually, erasable paperwas invented, but typing a paper stilltook a number of hours.Her first football experience inNeyland Stadium turned out to be aninteresting one. “My first game was ablind date — a law student — to theUT-Alabama game. It was arrangedby my new sorority sisters, againstmy better judgment. He showed upwearing a beige suit and an orangecowboy hat — I almost turned aroundand went back upstairs,” Buchsbaumsaid.In the last two and a half minutesUT lost the game to Alabama.Upon seeing the rowdy crowd andfeeling the low emotions of loosing,Buchsbaum knew she would have tobecome a big football fan to surviveat UT.Buchsbaum only had praises forher former professors and classes.“Government and the press withKelly Leiter was my favorite class. Itwas interesting and stimulating, andI learned to question and to nevertake things for face value. The lessonshave stayed with me for a lifetime.”Among other classes she enjoyedwere a magazine productionclass, also with Leiter, a public relationsclass with Sammy Lynn Puettand classes in Russian literature andLatin American studies.If she had to narrow it down toa single event in college that impactedher life more than any otherit would be “getting to know KellyLeiter and Sammy Lynn Puett. Thesetwo incredible individuals have been,and still are, an inspiration to me,”Buchsbaum said.Knoxville became the center ofattention in 1982 when the World’sFair came to town. Ronald Reaganwas president at the time and JanPhillips, who was a junior, rememberswatching Reagan’s motorcadedrive by. “The secret service was followinghis tinted-window car in anopen convertible with sunglassesand a lot of big guns. We stood on awall across from the field by GibbsHall, where his helicopter landed,and clapped for him as he passed.We also later sat up on the Hill, asthe security helicopters beat the treesfor snipers and watched as he left theFair after his speech — keeping ourhands in plain view,” Phillips said.Her first year, Phillips lived in theall-female dorm, Massey Hall. Withno air conditioning, radiator heatingand community bathrooms, alongwith fickle roommates, one whomoved in late one night and moved

out the following morning, Phillipsdecided she needed a change. “Istood in line in the lobby of GreveHall for three hours to be able totake an available spot in HumesHall, where I stayed for three years,”Phillips said.Standing in long lines was a normfor students on campus. Not onlydid you have to stand in line forroom changes, students also had toendure lines for football tickets andto register for classes. Sometimesthis process took many hours andby the time they reached the front,classes had already filled up.Phillips enjoyed taking writingclasses the most, as well as danceand Spanish, and her classes weremostly taken on the Hill, in theHumanities and Social SciencesBuilding and the Alumni MemorialGym.“Taking writing from professorWhite formed me into the writerthat I am today. I took a mystery/detective class from him, a sciencefiction/fantasy class, and a screenplay-writingclass.“I guess it all comes down to havingteachers who are constructivelycritical, yet encouraging, and whobelieve that you can accomplishanything you attempt, if you justapply yourself and keep focusedon achieving your goals,” Phillipssaid.Over the last 20 years, the universityhas transitioned smoothly,expanding its boundaries and itsstudent enrollment.Seannalyn Brandmeir attendedthe university from 1998 to 2002.Like many students, she came to UTbecause it was affordable and close toher hometown. Beginning as a premedicinemajor and graduating witha degree in Mass Communications,Brandmeir was involved in a varietyof campus activities includingUT College Democrats, nationalliaison for the Public RelationsStudent Society of America her senioryear, and a member of StudentGovernment Association. “I joinedSGA because I had a vision for UT,and I wanted to give back to myuniversity,” Brandmeir said.Like many other graduates, oneof the highlights in Brandmeir’scollege career was her first footballgame during her freshman yearwhen UT beat Florida at home 20-17in overtime. “My seats were in theend zone and we all ran out onto thefields. The goal posts came downthat night — one ended up in theriver and one was carried down tothe Strip,” Brandmeir said.Brandmeir remembers UT as beingone of the best experiences ofher life and one that directed herdown the pathway to her future. “Iwalked onto campus to be a doctor,and when I graduated I had a degreein communications and (was) on myway to a career in politics. Collegechanged my life,” she said.Over the last 60 years, UT haschanged the lives of thousands ofyoung people who walk onto campusevery year with the hopes offinding their calling and pursuingtheir dreams by receiving an advancededucation in one of the nation’stop universities.The campus has undergone extensiverenovations; technology hasenabled us to forgo long, frustratinglines; computers have made it easierto turn in more papers than wewould care to write; students havegone from wearing suits and dressesto sweat pants and f lip f lops;and campus has turned into a seaof bright, vibrant orange. But still,the students who walk campus eachyear are relatively the same.When we move to Knoxville ourfreshman year, we begin a four-yearjourney that will encompass thehighs and lows of becoming trueadults, the bubbling excitement ofchallenging our minds to stretchtheir limits and the unbreakablebonds of friendships with peoplewho will impact our lives in wayswe could have only imagined. Asthe student section at the footballgames chants, it really is “Great tobe a Tennessee Vol!”fall 2007

C Creating aommunityA family facing tragedy finds comfort in an online network.story byCatherine WootenSocial networking has never really appealed tome, and I always had a very one-dimensionalidea of what it was. Having a profile on thesocial networking site Facebook was my oneconcession, but I have never invested too much into it.I have always been more of a book and magazine kindof girl, with the Internet ranking more as a necessaryhassle in my life than anything else. Although my use ofsocial networking has not changed too drastically overthe last year, one unforeseeable event forever altered theway I feel about it.One afternoon last November, a friend called to see ifI had heard the news. Caroline Owen, a girl we had goneto school with for years, had been in a horrific car accident.She was on her way back to Clemson Universityafter spending her fall break at home in Knoxville. Itwas a rainy afternoon — the kind of rain even windshieldwipers cannot battle. Caroline was travelingthrough the mountains and had just crossed into SouthCarolina. She was on the phone with one of her olderbrothers, and after telling him she was going to pull offbecause she was having trouble seeing the road, theyhung up. Ten minutes later, Caroline started missingphone calls.It was a one-car accident. Caroline had hit a spot inthe road where water was f lowing across. Her mother,fall 2007Susan, described it as a “wrong place at the wrong time”occurrence. It was the kind of accident one is lucky to survive.Caroline did, but she was in critical condition. Shesuffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma. Fortwo weeks, her family did not know if she would live.The day of the wreck, a page was created for Carolineon CaringBridge.org, a Web site that allows people tobuild personalized Web pages to connect loved ones duringillness, treatment and recovery. The first post went upthat night, giving a brief description of what happened.“Writing on the Web site was for convenience at first.I had 150 e-mails in my inbox that first day. I couldn’tdeal with it mentally or time-wise,” Susan said. Insteadof being inundated with calls and e-mails from people allwanting to know the same information, the family coulduse the Web site to put the details in one place for everyoneto access.The day after the accident, Caroline’s college friendscreated a Facebook group. It is called “We Want OurCaroline Back,” and it, along with Caroline’s personalprofile, was quickly filled with messages from friends.For the next few weeks, the Owens were able to keepeveryone updated through daily journals. With constantchanges in Caroline’s health, the journals were a fast, easyway to keep track of the surgeries, progress and setbacks.The Owens were very honest in their posts, and they often

wrote more than one per day.When Caroline’s condition stabilized,the nature of the posts changed.Susan said, “In the beginning, whenCaroline was in a coma for threemonths, there wasn’t much to write.My posts were introspective — morereligious maybe. They forced me topick out the good things, and theykept me from thinking about whatcould happen.”Susan usually wrote onCaringBridge early in the morning orlate in the evening. She rarely misseda day.While the family was working tokeep everyone abreast of the situation,family and friends were leavingmessages for them on the site in theguestbook. This left the Knoxvillebasedfamily with constant access toa collection of prayers, encouragementand thoughts written from peopleacross the world. “The messagesare wonderful. Some are hilarious,others poignant, but most are upbeat— that’s been important. We have reconnectedwith old friends and longlostfamily members. That has been awonderful by-product,” Susan said.“There are so many people on therewe have never heard of, people wewill never meet who are out of stateand out of the country. Thishas been phenomenal, an act ofGod — people acting on gracewho we hope to stay connectedwith.”After her accident, Carolinebecame part of my daily life.A former classmate I had littlecontact with since high schoolwas, all of a sudden, someone Ithought about everydayAlthough social networkinggiants like MySpace andFacebook have been thrivingin our society, cause-centeredonline communities are gainingmomentum by allowingusers to create personal Websites, journals, receive messagesfrom visitors and networkwithin the site. CaringBridge,the Cancer Survivors Networkand the National Breast CancerFoundation are a few examplesof online communities dedicatedto connecting peoplefrom around the world andproviding support.Since the creation ofCaringBridge in 1997,75,000 families have createdWeb sites. There havebeen more than 478 millionvisits to sites and more than11 million messages left byloved ones. CaringBridge is usedin 40 countries, and it continuesto grow. I would read Susan’sjournals for up dates, but also toread her words, brimming withfaith, encouragement and, most ofall, hope. Facing an inconceivabletragedy, she would speak of smallgifts, like the colors of a sunrise orthe shape of the moon. It was as ifthe tables had turned, and I nowwas gaining strength from thewords of a woman who needed itmore than I could ever imagine.Susan is a remarkable woman —reading a handful of her journalswould solidify that for anyone. Shesaid, “I was always a journal person— this is just another form. Thisis a log for us to remember everythingthat happened. This is our record.”Since emerging from her coma,Thursday Nov. 23, 2006Good morning and HappyThanksgiving. For the Owenfamily, this is Thursday- wewill celebrate Thanksgivingwhen Caroline comes home!Susan and CAROLINE!Sun day Dec. 17, 2006While Caroline is still stableand is no longer experiencingacute problems, weare still waiting patientlyand waking up and recoveringfrom the brain injury.There is no specific timelinefor this process and there isnot much that the doctorscan do to speed itCaroline’s progress has continued toimprove, and she is now fully cognizant.Although she is still sufferingfrom some physical problems, she hasrecently taken her first assisted stepsacross a room. Because the Owens puta link to the video on their Web site,friends and family were able to watchher take those pivotal steps.“CaringBridge has been so good forCaroline,” Susan said. “I read to herwhat I wrote and what others wroteto reinforce her positive feelings.We found a quote book in Caroline’sthings, and we started putting our favoriteson the Web site. I later foundout that a woman whose world wascrumbling had taken the first quotewe posted and taped it to her mirror.Every time she was having a pityparty, she would read it to put thingsin perspective. It is incredible to hearthat little things that we put up therefall 2007

ednesday, Nov. 29, 2006There is no sunrise thismorning- not visible at least,rain is on the way. But, wedo know that the sunrise isthere, that’s faith-- knowingwhat is waiting for us, evenwithout being able to see itor touch it. We have faiththat Caroline will make itthrough this and be backwith us soon!Saturday, February 10, 2007The sunset was lovely, 20minutes of pure, clear color.Peach, orange, bloodorange then red, wow! Weshould all have time to spend20 minutes with someone welove watching a sunset.Have a wonderful nigvht’ssleep, dream good dreamsfor Caroline.Susan, David, ReidJay and WhitneyCAROLINE.Sunday, April 29, 2007We are peaceful and happytonight and that is a wonderfulsituation. Carolineis beginning to fall asleep,the lights are dim and thetelevision is on but very quiet.This seems like a normalnight from the years whenthe children were very small;Everyone is tucked in andthey are finally a few minutesavailable to you to donothing. It is a nice place tobe, whether you are at homewith children or family or inthe hospitalare impacting other people.”Susan said the journals went through stages — shecalled them stages of happiness. “The first stage was allabout necessity. It was about letting people know whatwas going on while we were living in the hospital. Thesecond stage was therapeutic. We were able to expresshow we were feeling since there was little to report. Thethird stage began when she woke up. There were goodthings to report, and it became a celebration. We arestill in this stage.”A few weeks ago, I was startled to see that Carolinehad updated her personal profile on Facebook. Althoughshe cannot type, with the help of friends and family, shehad changed her profile picture, uploaded a few photographs,posted a message and added a link to a video ofher in therapy. I have not seen Caroline in person, but,for me, her re-emergence in the online community madeher recovery feel very real. Caroline has been a fighterevery step of the way, and her strength and determinationhave paid off immensely.November 7, 2007, marked the one-year anniversaryof the accident. Caroline’s CaringBridge page had beenvisited 188,982 times. To put that in perspective, thatis an average of 517 times per day. Friends and familyhave left 3,950 messages for the Owens in the guestbook.These numbers grow everyday as the family continues tojournal on the site.Susan said, “Some nights I am too tired. I used to doit every night, but I can’t now. We do feel a responsibilityto keep it up after seeing the way it fanned out and multiplied.We have seen how much this means to people.We don’t want to drop it and leave people wonderingwhat happened. And it is wonderful to be able to sharethe good news.”For more information about the CaringBridge Web site, visitwww.CaringBridge.org.fall 2007

Thank youTo our supporters, we offer our most sincere thanks.from the Scoop staffThose who have made this issue of Scoop possible: Jim Powell, CovenantHealth and Pita Pit for their support; Rob Heller for his design and photographyadvice; Bonnie Hufford for her editing expertise; Chandra Eskridge,Deborah Douglas and the JEM faculty; the alumni for their stories, contributionsand support; Jake Wright; Hal Ernest; Threds; everyone who purchasedScoop T-shirts; and Lyn Lepre, our knowledgeable and patient leader.Fall 2007Scoop is published at the end of each spring and fall semester and is produced by Dr. Lyn Lepre’s “MagazineIndustry Workshop” class. This issue was printed by the University of Tennessee’s Graphic Arts Service inKnoxville, Tenn. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without writtenpermission. Write to the School of Journalism and Electronic Media, 333 Communications Building, Knoxville,TN 37996-0333, or email Scoop at scoop@utk.edu.fall 2007

Pieces of our ParkLightingthe Wayfall 2007Photo by Jordan Vest

It is hard to believe the statueUniversity of Tennesseestudents see everyday atthe entrance to Circle Parkall began with $1,000. The classesof 1928 through 1932 donated themoney to be used as a prize for acontest. The contest called for asculpture that would capture “thespirit of university youth and itsideal of service.” Yale School ofFine Arts student Theodore AndreBeck was announced the contestwinner on May 12, 1931.The first design was of a middle-agedman with a Grecian hairstyleand tunic. This design wasmodified after numerous complaintswere made over the design.The design was changed toshow a younger-looking man to becalled the Volunteer, and the hairstylewas more indefinite to avoidrelating it to any particular culture.The torch in his right handwas originally supposed to be alamp. The torch represents themaxim, “One that beareth a torchstandeth in shadow to give lightto others.” The design also set aGoddess of Winged Victory in hisleft hand, representing success.Later, a globe was added belowthe Goddess of Winged Victory tosuggest that victory over the challengesof the world, in times ofwar and peace, lay in the individual’sown hands. The statue wasnot actually cast and placed oncampus until after the Depressionand World War II. The universitydecided to go ahead and adopt andcopyright the design as the officialsymbol of the University in1932.The Volunteer and his torchwould finally find a place to standduring the physical expansion ofthe campus in the late 1960s. In1967 the necessary funds wereraised to cast the nine-foot-tallstatue. Controversy with thedesign would delay its initialHomecoming debut in 1967. Afterits last modification, the statuewas finally cast and placed inCircle Park on April 19, 1968.In 1937, the senior class awardedan outstanding member of thejunior class with a silver-platedmodel of the Torchbearer. The firstrecipient of the award was JohnFisher. In 1987, the Torchbearerwas again used for an awards ceremonythat honored distinguishedalumni. The 1988 honoree wasnone other than John Fisher, whoreceived the first Torchbearer 50years earlier.Today, the statue still stands tallPieces of our Parkat the front of Circle Park, and thetorch still burns. The Torchbearerhas even survived several pranksover the years. Thousands of studentscontinue walk by the statueon their way to and from class.Kim Giewont, a student in journalismand electronic media, commentedon what she thought aboutthe university’s symbol. “SinceI have several classes in CirclePark, I walk by the Torchbearereveryday. I think it’s cool that thestatue is the main focus of differentprojects in some of my classes.I’ve had to shoot the Torchbearerseveral times for photojournalismand video production classes.”Erin Hoskins, another JEMstudent, said she believes it representstradition at the school. “Ithink it’s part of our UT tradition,just like Neyland Stadium. It’s avery pretty area over there, andeveryone recognizes it,” she said.Students will continue to walkpast the statue for years to come,the light from the torch willcontinue to represent guidancefor incoming students, and theTorchbearer will continue to capture“the spirit of university youthand its ideal of service.”Photo by Samantha ThorntonPhoto by WHO WHO WHO??!!!Photo by Samantha Thorntonfall 2007

RetrospectLooking BackJake Wright, a 1948 alumnus of the School of Journalism tells us about the School’s humblebeginnings and comments on the changes in journalism and electronic media.Story byJake WrightPhotos by Samantha ThorntonThere I was, long since retired and involved in myeternal search for a workable golf swing, whenMollie and Sarah called and requested a Scooppiece by a relic from the first journalism class.My response is from a far different world of 60 years ago,but some important connections and standards provide acontinuing link between then and now.So take a stroll with me back in time.It was an early fall day in 1946. Practically all of the WorldWar II veterans were back in this country, and it seemedlike half of them were on the UT campus. Among themwas a student who had majored for two and half years inmath and physics at Murray State and Tufts and, for somereason still a mystery, found himself sitting in a class inAyers Hall with the intent of majoring in journalism. As Iremember, there were about 12 of us, evenly divided, maleand female.The window was open — no air conditioning, thank you— and the speaker, professor Willis Tucker, was the head ofthe new Department of Journalism. Willis Tucker — quiet,courteous, scholarly Willis Tucker — to this day for me arole model — was reading to the class an editorial in thenow defunct Knoxville Journal. He stopped. The Journalhad used the word “proven” as a verb, when it should haveused “proved,” the verb form, and should have used “proven”as an adjective, like in “proven processes.”Aha! The important connection that spans the years andspans the vehicles — respect for the language. OK, so nowand then we loosen the rules a little for things such as specialemphasis and alliteration.Our tool of the trade — notice the singular — was a manualSmith-Corona portable typewriter. Today's tools are anassortment of bewildering electronic products. For those ofmy era, the process of learning to use even the simplest ofthese late model marvels opens new frontiers in languageuse. Even the ancient telephone of our day has metamorphosedinto a miniature wireless edition that even — goodheavens! — takes pictures and comes with a 50-page usermanual.fall 2007

RetrospectJake Wright recalls his days at UT for Dr. Lepre andthe Scoop staff.And the camera phone is just the tip of the iceberg.From practically every research and developmental disciplineon the planet, new information is coming at us withsome sort of exponential speed. A few years ago, the headof the New York Public Library observed in a TV conversationwith Bill Moyers that a single edition of The NewYork Times carried more information than was available toa 1700-era Englishman in a lifetime.Whatever the comparison, today's journalism and electronicmedia students face a much greater challenge thanwe ever did. They deal with a wider range of complex newinformation and must present it in an intelligent and timelyway to readers and listeners — not to mention the policebeat in a modern culture where they can't build prisons fastenough to house the incoming residents.As an aside to the last sentence, I worked during thesummer of 1947 for the top-rated weekly newspaper, theCovington (Tenn.) Leader. The brothers Simonton, owners,hadn't locked the front doors to their homes in 30 years.That's when I learned that I might have some future in journalism.They offered me, after graduation, the job as editor,which I declined to join The Knoxville News-Sentinel.Pardon me, but I just realized that so far this verbal ramblehas been locked into print journalism, when a growingnumber of other forms were competing for our attention.Television is not exactly the new kid on the block anymore.So I found my 2006 issue of Scoop and re-educated myself,or found some new questions. Take “blog,” for example.It seems only a few months ago that “blog” was a strangenew word to me. The editors of my 1980 Random Houseand 1997 Webster's Collegiate dictionaries apparently neverheard of it. I went to Google, my know-it-all friend, andfound what appears to be a major new element in the transmissionof opinions and news. The Scoop issue, which carriedan article on “What It Means to be a Journalist,” hadseveral references to blogs and bloggers (One g or two? Mycomputer keeps putting wavy red lines under it.). I went tothe Scoop masthead and read that it is the “magazine of theSchool of Journalism and Electronic Media.” The “electronicmedia” term seems to vacuum up all kinds of word transmissiondevices — television, blogs, Web sites and all.The article left me with the impression that anyone witha blog or Web site or with a camera phone who sends apicture to a television station might be defined, by somestretch of the imagination, as a journalist. And the name ofthe school left me with the question of whether “journalism”and “electronic media” are mutually exclusive terms.Like the blogger with a personal message, I write letters tothe editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press on subjectsof interest to me. Am I thus still a journalist? One thing Iam is over my head with this definition subject.I ask the question because my career as a pure journalistmay have been a little short. After a year at the SentinelI moved to the corporate world — Provident InsuranceCompany in Chattanooga — where my writing responsibilitiesbecame wider through news releases, company magazines,sales promotion and advertising material, direct mail,and certain items with contractual implications where anentire afternoon might be devoted to the construction of asingle sentence.But whatever era the journalist works in, or how briefthe time, the old truism still applies, at least in my case,that printer's ink remains in the blood — with a touch oforange, I might add. I still copy read the editorial page ofthe Chattanooga Times. A frequent hobby while watchinga breaking news story on television is placing myself in thereporter's spot on camera. How would I come up with theright words to synchronize with the picture? I would needa little gestation time. I see myself staring into the camera,in panic, wordless.Many fond memories remain of my time as a student inthe first journalism class. Nostalgia always was presentduring my walks over the years across the campus to footballand basketball games and seeing the skyline changeto larger academic buildings and dormitories and to hugesports complexes. One area I hope doesn't change — selfish,I guess — is Ayers Hall and the quiet lawn down toCumberland Avenue.Time for my nap.Before I go, I commend all journalism students on beingengaged in one of life's more noble endeavors. After givingit some thought, after reading the first issue of Scoop, aftervisiting with Mollie and Sarah, and after thinking aboutthe scope of their educational world and their future challenges,I ask readers of my generation to swallow hard andjoin me in this solemn conclusion:These kids are smarter than us.Or should it be “smarter than we”?photo provided by Jake Wrightfall 2007

Circle Viewfall 2007Photo by Anne-Claire Seigert

fall 2007

Scoop MagazineSchool of Journalism and Electronic MediaUniversity of Tennessee333 Communications BuildingKnoxville, TN 37996 - 0333Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDUniv. of Tenn.KnoxvillePermit #481fall 2007