Broadcast Journalism with Tony and Cindy.

     Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio of Bangor’s Fox 22 news team visited Professor Sunny Skye Hughes’ Writing for the Mass Media class on Monday, hoping to inform and educate prospective students on the field of broadcast journalism. Tony is the channel’s producer, while Cindy is the stations lead reporter. Together, they are co-anchors at the news desk.

     Tony grauated Emerson College, majoring in broadcast journalism, as he had a major sports interest. While there, he was the sports director at two of the college’s news stations. After graduation, Tony was lucky enough to get a job in the New England area, where he wished to remain, working as a sports reporter for Channel 7 news. After about a year, the stations producer resigned, and Tony took the initiative to ask for the opportunity to be the stations producer. He has held the position ever since. Tony emphasizes on the fact that if you want something in life, and you get the opportunity, take advantage of it. “You can’t wait for it to come to you. You have to go out there and get it yourself.” That is exactly what he did, and it has been a great experience for him. In his time with the station, Tony has been able to grapple with WWE legend “The Honky Tonk Man”, been body-slammed by an Olympic gold medalist, has flown a plane, and has gotten the chance to meet and interview World Series Champion, Philadelphia Phillies superstars Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. Clearly, Tony’s strong work ethic have given him a fun responsibility, and the opportunity to work in a profession that he loves.

     Cindy took a much different route to get to where she id today. Since the age of 8, she has wanted to be some type of announcer. After walking into a station, saying that she had no experience, but wanted to be an anchor and would work for free as an intern, Cindy began to get her foot in the door of broadcast journalism. She began to take classes at NESCOM, but that was short-lived. After radio station B97 heard her voice, she was hired and would go on to host her own radio show for 9 years. In 2006, Channel 7 offered her a job as an anchor, and that is where she is today. The moral of the story, much like Tony’s: If you want something, it is up to you to go out and get it. Cindy sais that she doesn’t believe in having to work from the bottom up, stating “If you want something, go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Michaels and Consiglio began to take questions after giving a bried rundown of their history. They talked about the importance of making yourself standout in the industry. Both agreed that you can’t be afraid to do what it takes. Consiglio admitted that the starting salary in the field can be pretty rough, but that it gets better in time and comes with many rewards, such as the opportunities that he had previously stated.

     As the class came to a close, both continued to address the market and how journalism is progressively changing, the gratification a station gets by outdoing others, and the importance of making sure that your work is truly your own. “Don’t pplagiarize! You will lose your job!” stated Consiglio. Students were appreciative of their newly acquired knowledge as they thanked the news duo as they walked toward the exit.

-E.E CUMMINGS: Since Feeling Is First.-

Revision:

Since feeling is first, who pays attention to the syntax of things? Never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool.
While spring is in the world, my blood approves and kisses are a better fate than wisdom. Lady I swear by all flowers, don’t cry. The best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids’ flutter. It says we are for each other. Laugh, leaning back in my arms. Life is not a paragraph, and death is not a parenthesis.

Ideas For Broadcast Feature

1.) U-Maine Men’s Basketball Team First Home Game and Thoughts on the Season.

2.)Passadumkeag Sexual Assault Case

3.) Machias man indicted in boat joyriding

Nathan Stormer: Print Journalism

On November 3, 2008, Sunny Hughes’ CMJ 236 class was happy to welcome University of Maine Associate Professor, Nathan Storm, to speak in front of the class. During this hour long period, Stormer welcomed students to ask him questions of interest, and also made sure to point out matters of importance for those who plan on becoming a good print journalist.

Stormer first started off with his thoughts on objectivity, and the importance of the matter. He stated that when it comes to print writing, it is often important not only to think for yourself, but also consider how others may feel on the matter. Stormer made it clear that although it limits the writer and doesnt exactly give them the most creative license, it is important to contain your own wants, and to keep an open mind.

When asked if he believes that the audience in modern society is allowed to hear what they want to hear on certain issues, just by changing the channel or reading a different newspaper? Stormer responded: “I would say that it limits the writer to an extent, but people read news because they either need or want to know something. People will often understand things differently from what they’ve discerned.”

Stormer soon began to talk about the passion of a good journalist. He made it clear that if somebody is not passionate about what they are writing about, they will not try. However, he made it clear that passionless objectivity is not existent in a truly good journalist. If you are truly passionate about the industry, you will try your hardest to put everything that you can into each piece that you write.

Throughout the lecture, Stormer also made it a point talk about word choice. Though we have been taught to keep it simple, and to use everyday words when we are using a print medium, Stormer also emphasized the fact that by using completely non-jargon based language, we may sometimes lose important meaning on specific terms. He also stated that the general audience likes variety. Nobody wants to hear the same words repeater over and over again. This is where a thesaurus comes in handy. Stormer encouraged the students to use on on a regular basis in order to avoid repetitiveness and to ensure diversity.

Metaphors and analogies were also a big topic throughout the lecture, insisting that we should try to appeal to a universal audience and to think before constructing our own personal ideas. He made sure that the class understood that it is the writers job to realize the difference between things that are similar, but are not the same, and to write accordingly, such as the difference between debt and deficit spending: A topic that the general public would not know the difference between.

As class winded down, Stormers final topic was about word choice in order to avoid sexism, but to also ensure good writing. The topic of a lobsterman or lobster fisherman was immediately brought to his attention. The class then discussed what words could be used to take the place of these “man” terms. Unlike words such as policeman being changed to police officer, some words are much harder to give a new title to without sounding terrible. By the end of the class, lobster trapper was agreed apon, as no gender specification is included in the term.

Class ended, with future journalists gaining much more knowledge on the subject and a new perspective possibly as well. Stormer proved to be an eloquent orator, with a distinctive passion for his profession. The CMJ 236 class was lucky to have him as a guest speaker.

Semester Beat

ARTS/ CULTURE/ HUMANITIES/ MEDICINE

Paul Grosswiler Interview

On October 17, 2008, Sunny Hughes’ CMJ 236 class had the privilege of having head of the journalism department, Paul Grosswiler, speak about print journalism and his professional experiences in this field. This was initially intended to be a lecture, however, in order to keep students involved and interested, Grosswiler instead suggested an interview, allowing students to ask him questions and get a real look at what life as a print journalist is like.

After splitting up into their respective groups, students began to brainstorm and develop questions that they wished to ask Mr. Grosswiler. Before students asked these questions, however, Grosswiler first began to speak about print journalism, what his experiences and background with it were, and what he believes makes a good print journalist.

Grosswiler defined print journalism as “writing for the print media”, such as newspapers and magazines. He also spoke about his feelings on where hesaw the field heading as technology rapidly develops. He stated that print journalism has been around for a long time and that it hasnt died yet. Grosswiler instead believes that it simply transforms and whether paper is involved or not, it is still there, just with a different medium.

Grosswiler then spoke on his experiences in the field and allowed students to understand why he is a credible source when it comes to information about print journalism.

After gaining a bachelors degree in English, Paul Grosswiler attended the University of Missouri as graduate student, where he would ultimately get his start in print journalism. Due to the fact that he was not a big fan of being in front of the camera, Grosswiler made what he considers a “practical decision” by choosing the road to print journalism, rather than going into broadcasting.

During his time in Missouri, Grosswiler took his first steps toward this profession by writing for a small campus newspaper, covering topics such as the police beat and obituaries. His next job in print journalism would be much more promising, and of much more responsibility.

After deciding that he wanted to move to Maine, Grosswiler then got a job working for the Bangor Daily News as a copy editor. After serving an extended period of time at this position, he was later promoted to Assistant Features Editor–a postion he would hold for years.

Like many do after years in their professions, Grosswiler made the transition into the field of teaching. He would do so at the University of Maine, where he remains a professor to this very day.

Grosswiler then took some questions from the now intrigued students, before finally giving some advice for those intending to go into his field. He was asked what his dream job would be, and Grosswilerresponded that his ultimate goal in journalism would to be a muckraker. He believes that it is the best type of journalism because it really dug down deep for the truth. Though this term was originally seen as a negative, he believes that muckrakers themselves viewed this term as a positive because they were very corageous and their writings were meaningful.

Grosswiler then gave good, honest advice to Hughes’ class, letting them know that stories are only as good as your notes are: Implying to the students to take good notes. He also informed the students that the best stories have good leads, stating that the inverted period style of writing is the most effective. He then states that anyone could write a story if given time, stating that in order to be a good journalist, you need to know how to write on your feet.

After being asked what the hardest task he has been faced with in his professional career, and specifically if the incident where he previously made a statement about burning the flag while lecturing about first amendment rights in a class last fall was at the top of that list, Grosswiler responded by stating that “that was right up there.” Grosswiler then explained that often things are misinterpreted by others in the field of journalism, and that is just something that you kind of have to deal with.

As time expired, the class came to a close and all of the students went off for the weekend, now with more knowledge of print journalism and something that they may, like Grosswiler, one day call their profession.

Most important news this week!

The most important news of the week would have to be aobut the bailout bill introduced by the Bush administration that is supposed to spare us from an economical catastrophe in the form of a $700 billion insurance plan following the stock market crash. The only problem is, who gets the money? Who decides how it will be split? We are yet to find out.