ANNISTON, Ala. – To address the increasingly critical issue of relations between journalists and their communities, the Knight Fellows in Community Journalism program, a.k.a. “The Teaching Newspaper,” is hosting a conference Feb. 8-9 at The Anniston Star and nearby Jacksonville State University.
“A National Conversation on The Emerging Mind of Community Journalism” will address journalism’s need to provide skillful, authoritative news coverage and well-informed editorial leadership that is grounded in knowledge of local issues.
Community journalism is no small, niche affair. About 1,200 of the nation’s 1,450 dailies consider themselves community newspapers.
“With most American newspapers in the throes of massive change, community news is more critical than ever,” says Chris Waddle, director of the Knight Community Journalism Fellows program and president of the Ayers Family Institute for Community Journalism. “The way people relate to the media is vastly different, and it’s changing American society. The only way it’s holding steady is at the community level.”
“I think more news organizations of all kinds will learn to have a close relationship with the communities they serve,” Waddle says.
The Knight Fellows in Community Journalism program offers a University of Alabama master’s program inside The Anniston Star. The program is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation and former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, will present the annual Harry M. and Edel Y. Ayers Lecture on Feb. 8.
Ibargüen has been a newspaper executive since 1984, first at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and then at Newsday in New York. Under his leadership, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes, and El Nuevo Herald won the 2002 Ortega y Gasset Prize for journalism.
Other featured speakers include Richard C. Harwood, author of “Hope Unraveled”; Peggy Kuhr, Knight Chair on the Press, Leadership and Community at the University of Kansas; Michael Bugeja, author of “Interpersonal Divide”; and Cole Campbell, dean of journalism at the University of Nevada.
The conference fee is $200 per person for both days. The student fee will be discounted to $25 for Thursday’s conference only.
Starting in August, The Teaching Newspaper will welcome the first members of the master’s degree in community journalism program. The University of Alabama accredits the program inside The Anniston Star with the help of a $1.5 million, five-year grant from Knight Foundation.
Tuition and living stipends will be furnished to the six students, who will be known as Knight Community Journalism Fellows. They will immerse themselves in community journalism by studying, reporting and analyzing news that directly relates to the community a newspaper serves.
“In a sense, community journalism is a relationship that has some of the earmarks of a family: encouraging, celebrating, grieving and doing bad,” said H. Brandt Ayers, chairman and publisher of The Star. “It’s those qualities that affect people that are much stronger in community journalism than a national newspaper or a metropolitan newspaper.”
To register for the conference, please go online to www.comj.ua.edu – the Teaching Newspaper website – or by calling Ms. Amelia Rowe, Administrative Secretary, 256-235-3580 or emailing [email protected].
The Knight Fellows in Community Journalism program seeks graduate student applications on the same website or by contacting Chris Waddle, Director of the Teaching Newspaper, 256-235-3590 or [email protected]. The one-year master’s degree features a work project in place of a graduate thesis. Curriculum can be adapted to the individual needs of students interested in community journalism and seeking the advantage of learning inside a renowned example of a family-owned newspaper.
The Anniston Star frequently appears on lists of best small newspapers in the country. It is honored for its world view, the leadership of its editorial opinion and its contribution to journalism education.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Since its creation in 1950, Knight Foundation has approved more than $275 million in journalism grants. For more information, visit www.knightfoundation.org.